Chapter 1

Once upon a time, their lived a fox demon with nine tails, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. And he was so powerful that wherever he shook those tails, landslides and tsunamis would result. The suffering people gathered the great shinobi clans to fight this menace. Finally, risking his life one ninja was able to imprison its soul. Having defeated the demon, the brave shinobi died. That shinobi was the fourth Hokage, the fire shadow, champion of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

The wailing cries of the small infant pierce the disturbing silence of the night. Black spiral markings, strange looking kanji's pulsated from the stomach of the small boy and once the markings faded from sight the seal had completed its job. A lone figure approaches the infant, its tattered clothing once a sign that showed he was a elite shinobi, a proud ninja of Konoha, now just a broken shell of a man. Thick red blood dripped down his face from several cuts and lacerations, his hair caked with mud and dry blood, which should have shown dark streaked silver. He stared down at the child, his eyes the color of coal, and as he watched the child cry for affection, silent tears of sadness and rage fell down his face. That same tear stung his eye and what should have been a normal left eye, but was replaced by eerily solid red eye with three commas around the pupil. This man was known as Copy-nin Hatake Kakashi, wielder of the Sharingan.

"Damn demon. So your still alive, well that's easily rectified." He spat out, not bothering to hide his contempt for the boy.

A deadly looking kunai appeared in his hand, poised over the small bundle, just waiting for the right instant to strike. After a moment it began it's decent towards the wailing blond child. The blade was blocked by the sudden appearance of a black staff, and he knew the owner of said staff, whom was to be feared at that moment. This was the personal weapon of the Third Hokage and doubled as his summons. Unbridled fury burned through his eyes, his knuckles turning white from the strain from holding the staff steady.

"What do you think your doing, Kakashi?" Sarutobi said.

The man known as Kakashi turned his head towards the older man, the madness in his eyes barely concealed.

"Simple, Hokage-sama, I'm finishing the job that sensei started and rid the land of this demon." Kakashi said in a lazy manner.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that to happen." And with that a squad of ANBU appeared, as if summoned with a mere thought.

"Hatake Kakashi, I am here by placing you under house arrest, until such time as your actions can be judged. You will not be allowed to do any missions, and you'll be visiting a therapist to determine your mental state. Take him to his house and make sure that he stays there." Sarutobi ordered.

The four-man squad took charge of their prisoner and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sarutobi bent down, feeling all of his sixty-five years at the moment, and picked up the wailing infant, with said action caused the child to stop crying. The child opened his eyes and looked at the old man, then began to examining his rough snow white beard. The tiny child cooed and giggled, while playing with the old man's beard. Concern was etched on his face as he contemplated the boys' future, and while he was lost in thought, the impossible happened for the second time that day.

'What the hell?! When did this happen?' thought the old man.

Making sure that they were alone in the burnt out clearing, he teleported away in a swirl of leaves.

Later that night…

Jiraiya had entered the Hokage's office after receiving his sensei's summons. As soon as he was done here with the old man, he'd leave the village in order to mourn and heal after losing his greatest student. After losing Arashi, he felt rather hollow, as if someone had squeezed his heart in a vise grip. It was then that he noticed the crib in the corner of the room.

"So…" he started and didn't bother with the pleasantries on this visit.

"Fine, straight to the point then. I need you to perform a Binding Seal on the child in the crib." Sarutobi said, worry lines had sunken deeper into his face as he spoke each word.

"Please tell me your joking, right? What could you possible want me to bind on...," Jiraiya looked in the crib at the child, "...an infant less than a few hours old?" he asked. Even for him, putting a binding seal on a kid, was rather unheard of.

Sarutobi steepled his hands together lost in thought for a moment and then proceeded to pull out his pipe from within his official robes. Making sure that the tobacco in his pipe was well lit he started to speak.

"Because of the attack from Kyuubi, the boys' bloodline has been activated. As of right now, if anyone found out about it, it would be leaked throughout the entire village before daybreak. It would also alert the enemies of the clan that this boy belongs to, both inside and outside of the village, that there is still a survivor. He would be in constant danger, just for that reason alone. So I need you to bind his bloodline-limit, and when he reaches a level were he can protect himself from his enemies, I'll tell him about his family, clan history, and give him his full inheritance." The Hokage said.

"What about the seal? Are you just going to leave it on and not tell him about it?" Jiraiya asked exasperated. He walked to the window watching as countless shinobi were repairing buildings and rescuing trapped people.

"No, when he becomes of age I'll have you undo the bindings. Around the age of fourteen at least. I just hope his mothers' bloodline doesn't activate between now and then, binding or no, it could kick in when we least expect it to." the old man said.

"Who were his parents?" Jiraiya asked curious to find two bloodlines in one child, which doesn't happen very often.

"I can't tell you and I hope no one else asks either. All of the birth records that go back five years have been destroyed during the attack on the hospital and surrounding buildings. Let's say for now that his parents died during the attack."

"So, what's the brats' name?" Jiraiya asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Sarutobi stated.

"Well I don't know of any Uzumaki clan ever being in Konoha. Sensei, there is a problem with the sealing ceremony." He hesitated.

"What kind of problem?" the old man asked, sounding startled.

"There are certain side effects to the sealing process." He turned back from the window to look his old sensei in the eyes.

"Because of the kids' age and the type of binding you want me to do, a few possibilities could occur. Such as; extreme clumsiness, little too no hand eye coordination, impaired intelligence, an inability to control the volume of his voice, or hell it could be a combination of a few of them together. And we won't find out till he gets older, it could affect his ability to become a ninja. Are you sure you still want to go through with this?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, we have very little options concerning this situation." The Hokage said sadly.

"Well, where do you want me to place the seal? On his stomach perhaps?" Jiraiya asked.

"No, definitely not there of all places." Sarutobi practically shouted.

"Eh? Why not?" came the response.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, while puffing out small clouds of smoke from his pipe, wondering just how to broach the subject of such delicacy.

'Well plowing right on ahead seems to be working for me as of late, so here goes nothing…' Sarutobi thought.

"You can't put the seal on his stomach, because theDeadDemonImprisonmentsealisalreadyoccupyingthearea." Sarutobi finished in a rush.

Jiraiya blinked for a few seconds trying to decode exactly what the old coot had just said and utterly failing.

"Mind repeating that? Cause I could have sworn you just said the little brat had the Dead Demon Imprisonment seal occupying the stomach area." He asked as his eyes narrowed on his old sensei.

"Yes, I did." Came the curt response.

"Whoa, isn't that just fucking peachy. So the kid is the Kyuubi container. You know the demons' chakra will severely screw up his chakra control. Damn this kid is going to have it rough." A truer statement couldn't have been said at the moment.

A few hours later, dawn is not far off…

Jiraiya had been working tirelessly throughout the dwindling night, preparing for the second sealing of the day.

'I can't believe I'm going through with this.' He thought as he finished drawing the seals that he needed.

As of now everything in the village was still chaotic, as people were still looking for family members, rubble being cleared away, and the wounded being carted off to medical treatment. Konoha hospital looked as if it had seen better days, so most of the wounded were taken to recently setup medical tents for treatment. Several buildings in the village looked similar, if not worse. Fortunately Jiraiya didn't have time to look at these proceedings and quickly finished drawing all of the seals and lit the ceremonial candles needed for the ritual. The room being used was 10 x 12 x 8 and completely painted white before he began. Now the room was covered, floor to ceiling, in archaic seals, strange kanji's, and not one bit was put to waste. A knock on the door alerted him that sensei was waiting with Naruto. He opened the door and looked at the sleeping child, blond wisps of hair covered his head and three whisker like birth marks covered both sides of his face.

"Good timing Sensei, I just completed the necessary seals, so we can begin the ritual whenever your ready." Jiraiya said, small blotches of ink covered his hands and a few sprinkles littered the front of his red vest.

"One moment please." Sarutobi asked and received a nod in response.

"Please forgive me Naruto, this needs to be done for your sake, as well as for the sake of this village. One day I hope you understand what I'm doing is only to protect you. I hope I'm there to explain it all to you, when that time comes." The old man whispered to the little bundle in his arms.

The Hokage handed the child off to his one time student and renowned 'Super Pervert' and left the room. Jiraiya set little Naruto down in the center of the room, in the focal point of the main seal array. Altogether the seals in the room number up to ninety, separate and extremely complex designs, all performing their own specific task and working simultaneously strengthening each other. In other words all of the seals were a work of a genius or a certifiable madman to reach such a level of perfection. Jiraiya stood off in his designated 'safety' area and smeared a small amount of his blood on the main seal so it would activate. He began to perform the hand seals needed, which were performed rapidly and almost seemed like a blur of movement. After four minutes of these hand seals, he finished the ritual.

"Binding Seal." Jiraiya shouted at the top of his lungs.

After the first five seconds it seemed as if nothing had happened at all, but then the main seal array began to glow and pulsate an disturbing red. It quickly spread out to the other seals covering the room and the seals seemed to shift and move of their own violation. Their speed increase at an insane rate and slowly being drawn down onto Naruto. Red seal markings crept onto his skin, spinning and swirling about, moving towards his back. During the process Naruto woke up and screamed at the top of his tiny lungs, as if he was in the most intense pain imaginable, which happened to a very accurate, considering a full grown adult would have blackout from the pain by then. Finally the seals faded from his skin, leaving only the tiniest of birthmarks on his right shoulder blade, which was actually a constantly visible seal mark. He continued to wail until Jiraiya picked him up and began to gently rock him back and forth till he fell back to sleep. Jiraiya was tired from using so much chakra and quickly found the Hokage and gave back Naruto. He then went off to find someplace to sit and relax to regain his strength.

"Don't worry Naruto. Tomorrow morning during the village meeting, I'll announce you as the village savior. Then the Fourth's dream will be fulfilled, they will see you as a hero and not the demon incarnate." Sarutobi said to the sleeping child.

Of course, he didn't know how wrong he was.

Later that morning…

The entire village populous was gathered before the Hokage's tower, waiting for the reinstated Third Hokage to make his announcements. The village council was gathered in their meeting hall discussing important details concerning the reconstruction of the village, while the Hokage made his speech. Among the civilians and shinobi in the crowd, all of the major clans were present, eager for any news on what's happening. Sarutobi stepped out on his balcony with Naruto in his arms sleeping.

'Now comes the hard part.' Thought Sarutobi.

"People of Konoha, Kyuubi has been defeated." He exclaimed, which resulted in a loud breakout of cheers.

"Unfortunately, the Fourth Hokage, Kazama Arashi, died defeating the demon." Everyone at the meeting was shocked to learn that their beloved Fourth Hokage, was dead and it saddened them to new levels. Women could be heard sobbing throughout the crowd and some of the man had silent tears running down their faces. A great man had died and had become a legend in his own right.

"People of Konoha, the beast known as Kyuubi was defeated last night, by the Fourth riding a top his summons Gamabunta to meet the demon head on. While our brave shinobi forces distracted the fox, the fourth performed a Kinjutsu or a forbidden jutsu, which summon the Death God and sealed away the nine-tailed fox away into the stomach of a newborn baby, who's umbilical cord was freshly cut. This child is the hero of our village and jailer of the great demon lord. I present to you, Uzumaki Naruto."

Sarutobi held up the sleeping boy to the crowd, which was stunned into silence. Most thought were of disbelief, others confusion. But then a wave of anger flowed through the crowd as some mistook what the old Hokage had said and thought that the boy was the demon incarnate. Shouts of "Kill the Demon", "Smother it while it's weak", and "We should toss it to the wilderness" was heard throughout the crowd. Some people started to throw rocks, bottles, garbage, and whatever else was on hand at the now awake baby. The crowd was foaming at the mouths trying to bring as little bit of hurt they felt towards this child. To them he was nothing but the demon and not the child locking away the demon for their own safety.

Some of the people tried to storm the tower and Sarutobi had no choice but to call the ANBU for crowd control, which turned ugly real fast. All in all, the old man was disheartened at what his precious people tried to do to an innocent little boy and vowed to protect him from harm. Later he established a law stating that no one who was unaware of the Kyuubi being sealed in Naruto, would not be told and that the official history would state that the Kyuubi had died. And anyone who did break the law would be put to death immediately. Not even Naruto was to know about the Kyuubi being sealed into him, not until he was older and the Third had a chance to tell him. Sarutobi walked away from the balcony, echo's of the crowd screams could be heard throughout the tower. The crowd's bloodlust grew with every second and the attempts to rush the tower increased with every passing second. The guards surrounding the tower were hard pressed to keep out the enraged civilians.

Finally the ANBU appeared on the scene and immediately threw a few smoke bombs to drive the crowd back, while readying simple, yet harmless jutsu's that emitted a bright flash. Said flashes were enough to scare the crowd to disperse, until a few stragglers were left and arrested a few moments later. The Hokage was standing before the council, made up of Konoha's many great and powerful clans, both ninja and civilian alike. Apparently, one of Danzou's Root ANBU, had informed the council of the Third's speech to the village.

'Damn you Danzou, you and your Root, have been a thorn in my side since the time when I first became Hokage instead of you.' Sarutobi thought bitterly.

The 'Root' division of the ANBU, is Danzou' s own creation and only answer to him instead of the Hokage. Danzou had turned down the position of Hokage years' ago, preferring his seat on the council, where he could manipulate things at his leisure. Some of the other council members weren't as bad or they weren't as obvious as Danzou is.

'Even my old teammates are against me.' Sarutobi thought bitterly.

Sarutobi decided to start off the 'unexpected' emergency meeting of the village council.

"So, what is it that you wish to discuss?" he asked slowly, trying to feel out the mood in the chamber.

"Hokage-sama, a little birdie told us that the child currently in your office is the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune? Is this not correct?" Danzou asked, his voice was as gruff as a rockslide and colder than steel.

"Yes, Naruto is asleep right now. Why?" Sarutobi asked concerned with the way this line of questioning was going.

"So the demon is still alive within the infant?" said Hyuuga Hiashi, clan head of the Hyuuga clan, asked with a sneer to his voice, his pupil-less white eyes glaring daggers at the old man.

"Yes, but he has no control over Naruto or his actions." Stated the old man rather calmly.

"As much as we would want to believe you, Sarutobi-san, we can not go on your word alone, nor can we ignore the fact that it was your successor, whom placed the seal on the child and is no longer here to testify to the strength of his work. With that said and out of the way, a vote was cast earlier while you were in your office and the majority of the council feels that 'the vessel', should be executed immediately before he can become a threat later on and finish the job it started." Homura stated with enough venom in his voice to kill.

'Fuck!!!! This is bad.' Sarutobi thought and was desperately trying to think of a way for Naruto to live to see the next day.

"No." Sarutobi said calmly, belying what he was actually feeling.

"WHAT!", a few of the council members screamed, not really believing that the old fool would defy them.

"You heard me, your ears don't lap over. I made a promise to the child's father that he would be raised well and become a shinobi. And as Kami as my witness, that will happen." The old man said, leveling his steely gaze upon the entire council, unleashing enough killing intent to make most of the people present breakout in a steady sweat.

Surprisingly only one member was unaffected and chose to make his point known now that most of the council was silenced.

"I agree with the Hokage on this point." Danzou said breaking the silence.

The rest of the council looked at the elderly man like he just said that it was the end of the world and he was going to go run through the streets naked. The Hokage on the other hand, sensed where his old time rival might be going with this.

"I think the boy should become a shinobi. We'll make him into the most powerful weapon to ever be seen on this world and use him against our enemies. With him at our beck and call, the other shinobi villages wouldn't dare defy us or our power." Danzou said with a greedy little smile on his face. It took three seconds for the rest of the council to think about his plan and readily excepted it.

Sarutobi on the other hand was appalled at the very thought, which he subconsciously unleashed a large amount of chakra making everyone in the room quake with fear.

"You shall do no such thing! That boy is a hero and will not be made into an emotionless weapon, just to serve your needs. As Hokage that is my will and any who dare defy it will meet the end of my blade." Sarutobi said trying to restrain himself from killing everyone within the room.

And with that, he left the room, his robes billowing out behind him.

"Damn that fool! He's letting a opportunity slip right through his fingers." Homura said.

"Don't worry, we'll have other opportunities. We just need to be patient and wait for when his back is turned to make our move." Danzou said leaning back into his chair, looking to the entire world like nothing had been lost.