Prologue

Prelude to the Beginning

Disclaimer: I never will own Naruto. Unless Kishimoto goes clinically insane and dies, willing me to finish Naruto, it won't happen. Of course, the chances of Kishimoto doing that are zilch.

Minato was not having a good day. Papers and scrolls were scattered across his usually clean desk in stacks up to a foot high. Paperwork had built up to insane levels after taking a few days off to look after Kushina, and he swore it multiplied by exponents of ten each day he was off work. Why couldn't assistants actually do their jobs and file the papers while he was gone?

An ANBU burst in through the doors. Now that was unusual. Minato knew that all ANBU had some sort of commitment to entering through his window unless the situation warranted otherwise, if simply just to annoy him. He mentally groaned. Oh joy. "Hokage-sama! The Kyuubi is approaching Konoha. It will only be three days until it gets here. What do we do?" The ANBU was visibly panicking, which was saying something.

Yeah. Definitely not a good day. It was the worst day ever. Minato twisted around in his seat and glanced out the window where he could sense the approaching evil chakra. He could just see the edge of the Kyuubi's body over the horizon. Minato frowned, and reached out with his senses. He could use his chakra to "see" what was going on, to an extent. Though the technique was extremely limited, something as big and malevolent as the Kyuubi could be "seen" easily. Minato's eyes widened in shock and he swore violently. That... that... convoluted, twisted mass of chakra had chains, red chains running all over it, covered in a massive genjutsu. A minute later, and his mind was stuck in an endless loop of expletives.

"ANBU!" He snapped. The ANBU jerked to attention. "Take a message to the ANBU captain. Tell him to inform the civilians and begin evacuation. I will research a way to stop the Kyuubi. I want no one to disturb me unless it is an emergency until it is within sight of the west gate!"

The ANBU left immediately. He knew Minato. Even with the whole military might of Iwa at their doorstep, Minato had called it "a sticky situation". Minato was weird like that. If the Yondaime was calling this an emergency, then it was bad. In other words, it was much, much worse than what everyone else thought.

Minato sighed and rubbed his temples. This was absolutely, most definitely the worst day ever. Someone had managed to mold a huge amount of chakra and tame it to their own purposes. Someone was able to cast a massive, powerful genjutsu that not even the best of the Uchiha clan were able to match, to fool everyone into thinking it was the Kyuubi. Only one person he knew of could do this. Uchiha Madara, S-rank missing nin and owner of the Eien no Magenko Sharingan. Minato had believed the man to be dead.

Only someone with that Sharingan eye could control the Kyuubi. Maybe Minato would have to use his "other" chakra for this. His "other" chakra was that of a biju's, the Kyuubi no Ookami, or the Nine-tailed Wolf. He had become Kyuubi no Ookami by accident when he was experimenting with his Hiraishin technique before it was perfected. The technique had promptly drained all of his chakra and sent him to the demon realm, where he gained a biju form, a nine-tailed wolf. He had nine tails because the power he had held in the human realm was directly related to the power he would receive in the demon realm. Minato had been extremely powerful, even when he was human.

Thankfully, Kami was merciful. He was not killed and sent to the Lower Makai for his impertinence, and the goddess had ruled it as a simple accident. Minato shuddered. He had no wish to meet such a frightening woman again, especially after invading her realm, and he never found out why the gods had let him keep his biju powers. To live a relatively normal life (as normal as the life of the Yellow Flash could get), and to not be accused of being a demon, he had sealed away all of his biju chakra using a massive seal that involved his blood and his chakra. Lots of it. He'd drawn the seal a large underground cave, and the area had reeked of blood for days after that. While he could still use his biju chakra, it took a lot more effort and was far more difficult to control.

Minato sighed and drew on his biju chakra. He froze in shock. There was hardly any of it left, and where should have been a raging torrent, there was a thin trickle. He cursed his luck. Now he knew exactly where Madara had gotten the biju chakra to use for the pale imitation of the Kyuubi. Minato had met the fox several times in his biju form, and the actual fox could radiate massive amounts of killing intent above and beyond this imitation. The only conclusion Minato could form was that Madara had somehow found and broken the seal that kept Minato's biju chakra locked and usable only by Minato.

Minato was a seal master, and he highly doubted Madara had been able to unravel his seal by himself. The Uchiha would have just ruined the seal with Amaterasu, causing the potent chakra to rush out. While suicidal for anyone else, Madara could reign in the chakra and use it for his own purposes with no one else currently controlling it. Minato could already feel the remnants of his chakra returning to him and beginning to refill his usually empty biju reserves. He groaned, and his head met the desk with a thump. That left him with only one option, the option he hated the most. The Shiki Fuin. He continued banging his head against the desk. Damn Madara. Thump. Damn chakra. Thump. Damn biju. Thump. Why wasn't anything easy?

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Kami scowled, watching the scene below. She was standing in a dim room, with beautiful dusky-grey walls and a floating circular orb of water in the center. A small pond lay underneath the sphere, reflecting light like a puddle of quicksilver. Scenes flitted across the surface of the round ball of water, showing the approach of the Kyuubi look-a-like towards Konoha.

"Oh, come on, Kami, it's not too bad." The Shinigami, otherwise known as Karite, said. He had a rather nonchalant, laid back personality, and was a womanizer. Kami could attest to that, and had turned down his proposals many, many times.

"Not bad?! Not bad?! Look at that scene down there, and tell me that's not bad! Minato's going to end up sealed in his son, from what Matsuro told me. She's rarely wrong! Unless a smart mortal does something to screw with it, then her predictions are accurate. And no mortal can mess with this." Kami grabbed Karite by the collar of his ragged black robe and shook him violently. Kami was usually a very patient, kind woman, but when she was angry, she froze the target of her ire with an ice-cold glare and massive amounts of killing intent. No one messed with Kami. She had had a stressful day, with Madara messing around with her subjects, the biju.

Karite peered closely at the water sphere. "Well, besides the fact that Madara's soul is way overdue, what's the problem?"

"Minato," she hissed, "the Kyuubi no Ookami, my personal servant, is going to be sealed. He won't be able to follow my orders if you seal him in his kit! And he doesn't have any other choice, either. That…Uchiha took all of his chakra! What were Amaterasu and Tsukyomi thinking, giving that Sharingan to the Uchiha?! " Kami let go of Karite's collar and slumped into a cushy seat that had appeared out of nowhere. "What a mess."

"Well," Karite said, "since Minato's kit will eventually become a biju, due to Minato being a biju, then why don't you just have the Namikaze family serve you? The kid can just carry out your orders, and Minato can help and protect him from the idiotic villagers along the way. The child's his son, after all. That's the best option. Interfering ourselves could cause this dimension to collapse."

A slow, wide grin spread across Kami's face as the tension left her body. "You're right."

Karite grinned. "I always am. Will you go on a date with me now?"

He woke up hours later outside the room in a pile of rubble with a pounding headache, and the sight of a shinigami shaped hole in the wall did nothing to help.

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Minato scowled as he carefully inked out the last interlocking portion of the Shiki Fuin, glancing out the window as he did so. He had spent the past two days studying and drawing out the seal onto the scrolls he needed to use. The chakra he needed to seal didn't actually have a soul, but since Minato was the owner of it, he had no doubts that his soul would be dragged along and put into the jinnchuriki's body.

There were no newborn babies in the nursery or orphanage, and the youngest of them all was at least a day old. While he could technically use the seal on them, the pain would be so great that the child could die during the sealing, releasing the potent, soul-less chakra still under the control of Madara. He hoped that he wouldn't have to condemn his own son to this fate, but as things were now, with Kushina in labor, it seemed to be the only choice.

"Hokage-sama! The Kyuubi is nearly at the gates!" A chunin yelled. His name was Umino Iruka. He was panting, and chakra-depleted.

Minato cursed, snapped his scrolls shut with a flick of his wrists. "Are.." he hesitated, picking up the scrolls. "Are there any newborn children?" The I could use for sealing went unspoken.

"There is a blonde haired child that has just been born. The mother is dying of blood loss, however. That boy is the only one available!"

Minato's eyes widened. Kushina…and Naruto. He shook himself. No time for mourning now, not when the chakra construct was upon Konoha. He could mourn later, when he and his chakra were safely sealed inside his son. Now there had to be alterations to the seal. Naruto could use Minato's biju chakra, so there would be no need for the powerful suppression kanji. He could protect Naruto better, but he'd also have to limit how much chakra he put out so that Naruto's body could handle it. Naruto would eventually become a biju himself, so why not get him used to the foreign chakra early? He whipped out his scrolls again and quickly altered them.

The Yondaime used his Hiraishin technique to get to the hospital, where he almost flew to Kushina's side.

"Kushi-chan…hey." He blinked as his eyes filled with unshed tears.

"Minato…" Kushina faintly smirked, and she suddenly seemed like she was before, before she became Minato's wife, like the tomboyish, reckless kunoichi Minato fell in love with. "Go out there, and kick Kyuubi's ass!" She had winked at him and had held her fingers in quotation marks over her head when she said Kyuubi. Of course. Knowing about Minato's biju abilities had allowed her to draw the same conclusion Minato had, and she obviously didn't think that the chakra mass was the Kyuubi.

"I'll do that, k? But I have to use Naruto…" Minato faltered at his wife's expression. She seemed irritated.

"Well, then you go ahead and be the hero. Geez, stop worrying, and go beat the crap out of anyone who hurts Naru-kun. I'm dying, hon. You have to do it, by yourself." She smiled encouragingly at him.

"But.."

"No buts! Last time to say goodbye, so say it!" Her voice was getting weaker, even if she didn't know it.

Minato smiled then, not his usual cheesy grin. "Bye, then Kushi-chan."

Kushina closed her eyes. "Bye…Minato…"

Minato turned away. And Kushina was gone. He was living for Naruto now, and there would be hell to pay if anyone dared hurt his son while he was still alive. He cradled Naruto in his arms and teleported out of the hospital. He paused for a moment to summon Gamabunta, who quickly began hopping his way towards the west gate.

"Gaki. What's going on?"

"…Madara has erased the seal and is using the "other" chakra." Even if no one else was listening, Minato still thought it prudent to speak vaguely.

"Well then, whatcha going to do?" Gamabunta knew Minato's secret.

A newfound determination worked its way into Minato's eyes. "I'm going to use the Shiki Fuin." His arms shifted to allow Naruto to sleep in a more comfortable position. A cute yawn escaped the baby's mouth. Minato chuckled softly. "He looks just like me."

Gamabunta eyed Naruto. "That he does." The giant toad's head turned again to face the raging mass of chakra. "We're almost there."

"Good." Minato's eyes hardened into twin ice chips of blue. "Can you stall the demon while I prepare?"

The toad boss nodded and resolutely faced the twisted creature.

Minato knelt, still cradling Naruto in one arm, and slammed his hand onto the ground, or Gamabunta's head. The eight scrolls he had prepared earlier unrolled, with Naruto and Minato at the center. Minato bit his index finger, and drew the containing seal on Naruto stomach. He glanced once up at the Kyuubi and whispered the words, spreading his hand over his son's stomach.

"Shiki Fuin."

It was as if time had stopped. The chaos of the battlefield faded away, like an invisible cloak on Minato's senses. The sky darkened, and the "Kyuubi" howled in anger and confusion. Slowly, a massive, cloaked form that radiated power stepped out a void and faced Minato.

Minato sighed. Karite had always gone for the theatrics. He might as well go with the flow. "Shinigami-sama. I have a request of you to make."

A low voice rumbled from the depths of the cloaked figure. "Speak, human."

"I wish for you to seal that," Minato nodded towards the raging chakra mass, "thing into…" He choked back a sob and gestured at Naruto. "Please. And, lastly…" He was no longer talking to the Shinigami, instead looking down at Sarutobi Hiruzen, the previous Hokage, who stood below. "treat my son as a hero. He is not the Kyuubi." He turned away even as the Sandaime nodded. Minato knew that this wish was not likely to be respected, and that even if it wasn't, he could still protect his son.

Karite's eyes softened, even if Minato didn't know it. "Very well." He reached out with his hands and grasped the soul-less biju chakra and Minato's soul at the same time. A shudder could be seen as Minato's soul exited the body and was reunited with its chakra. The glowing red chains that previously restricted the chakra shattered while the genjutsu disguising it twisted and warped, showing the ninja below a Kyuubi that was distorting, as if pulled into a portal. Before the genjutsu could completely break, Karite seemingly sunk the hand holding Minato's soul into Naruto's stomach. "It is done."

The ninja watched was the "Kyuubi" vanished, while the body of their Yondaime fell from the sky where Gamabunta had disappeared. It landed in Hatake Kakashi's arms with a soft thump, while the Sandaime stood nearby. Naruto fell to the ground too, but no one noticed the comforting feeling yellow chakra that suddenly extended from the baby's body and gently lowered it to the earth.

Author's Notes:

This is my take on the "Minato is Kyuubi" plot. While I've seen few stories with this idea, those stories tend to be unrealistic. My story is also a spin off of the "Minato is sealed in Naruto" plot. What do you all think? Promising?

Maybe I rushed it a little, but….

Translations:

Karite means reaper in Japanese.

Matsuro means fate.

Amaterasu refers to the sun goddess.

Tsukyomi is a name for the moon goddess.

Kami is the highest god of the Naruto world.

Shiki Fuin is a seal that calls up the Shinigami to seal demons in exchange for your soul.