Chapter 1: Prolouge

It was night time in Konoha, though one could be forgiven if you had said it was a warm summer's day. Konohagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was under attack. The attacker was not the army of an enemy village, the attacker was not even human, it was a blood red fox of monstrous proportions. The fox was by all definitions a demon and as such had a fitting title; Kyuubi no Youko. The attack left the village in flames burning so bright creating that illusion that night was day, the heat from these flames so intense that it could be felt all throughout the village.

The fox had appeared 15 weeks ago for some unknown reason, it had been roaming the country side, apparently in search of something, then one fell night it started on a rampage, killing all who stood in its way.

The ninja of Konoha were not simply going to let this demon destroy their home, everything that they had worked so hard to rebuild after the war with Iwagakure would be for naught if the Fox penetrated their line of defense. They fought with all the power they could muster, trying everything they knew to subdue the beast, but it was not enough. The monster was powerful, outrageously so, nothing seemed to work, they soon realized that if anyone could bring the monster down it would be the strongest in their village, the Fourth Hokage. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, even had his own doubts about whether he could defeat the Fox, he had discussed with his wife Kushina about his plan of attack when intelligence reports came through that the Fox was on a rampaging path towards Konoha.

FLASHBACK

'Minato-kun, what will you do?" A worried Kushina asked her beloved

There was no immediate reply, a long silence followed as he thought his answer through carefully, Kushina waited patiently, a trait most uncharacteristic of her

"I'm thinking that I may have to seal it. There doesn't seem to be any other way," the response while definite was not without pain, the sealing process was such that it required his life.

"Seal?" she inquired through narrowed eyes "Into what? This is the Kyuubi no Youko that we are talking about here, not the Nibi which is sealed into an iron ball or the Ichibi; sealed into a kettle. It will simply break free if the prison does not have a will of its own to hold it at bay. The Fox is simply to powerful."

While mostly curious, she was slightly suspicious, what did her husband know of sealing methods that would allow him to be able to seal the most powerful of Bijuu?

Minato drew a long breath before answering,

"Kushina-chan, I must seal it into a new born baby 3 days old at the most. It is the only way."

Kushina looked at the man she loved, though this look held no love, it was the one that she reserved for her most hated enemies. It was one that spoke of knowing unforgivable atrocities were committed by the soon to be dead.

"You cannot be serious you would be damning that child to a life of misery." She asked with a rather sharp edge to her voice, currently thinking about her unborn baby and what would happen if that fate was thrust upon it.

"I have no choice, one sacrifice his or her life to save the rest." There was no anger in his voice, only regret and disappointment for the current course of action.

She softened her gaze and then asked quietly "What if you and I…"

Minato interrupted "No, we are only mortal, there is nothing we can do, the sealing is the only method."

"Very well, what if aren't any babies born in the 3 day prior to the attack, then what?" seeing the apologetic look on Minato's face a sudden wave of realization swept over her.

"No, you will not use our child. I will not subject our own flesh and blood to that. I'm nowhere near giving birth yet any way." Kushina stood firm

"We can induce the pregnancy, as it stands, we will be leaving behind an orphan, and I would trust no one else with such a burden."

She was in shock "Orphan? What do you mean orphan?"

"The sealing…" he hesitated lightly "The sealing will require my life. I must summon the Shinigami to consummate the sealing."

She realized what he was saying, the bond that they shared was beyond the legal status of husband and wife, it was such that when one pair of the couple died, the other would die as well so they would be united in the afterlife and the remaining person would not be left lonely.

It took many days of arguing between Kushina and Minato before her resolve was finally broken and she agreed to have the sealing performed on their unborn baby.

END FLASHBACK

That brings us back to the present; the Konoha ninja were no longer trying to kill the beast, merely slow it down waiting for the Fourth Hokage to arrive.

Minato was in the hospital, holding his unconscious wife's hand as their child, a healthy young boy was removed though caesarean section. After the procedure, the genjutsu used to place her in an unconscious state was removed, allowing her to hold her child for the first and only time. She was enthralled by his little hand grasping around her finger as she nursed him. She was brought out of her reverie by a deep voice

"Kushina-hime, its time, I must go and perform the sealing before any more lives are lost." came Minato's voice, breaking into her thoughts

Then he leant over and said in a voice so low that only she could hear,

"I'll see you on the other side, Minato-koi." was Kushina's simple reply.

In a streak yellow that had earned him the title of 'Konoha's Yellow Flash' the Yondaime Hokage had disappeared to the battle field, knowing that his death would be the price for the victory he was about to achieve.

When he got to the battle grounds then was a unanimous cry from the ninja that their leader had arrived, that their shining hope had come to save the day, cheering him to victory.

Minato heard none of this, when he arrived he was in shock, never had he imagined the scale of destruction he was viewing. He was a man that had killed an enemy army on his own and yet to him this was even worse. Every sense was informing him of the tragedy that had occurred. The feeling of a blood soaked ground squelching as he walked, the sound of dying comrades that were not granted the mercy of a swift and painless death, the smell of burning flesh, the taste of the smoke thick in the air from all of the fires, and the sight, the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of lifeless bodies, ripped in to shreds, burnt, flattened by the Foxes great paws all dyed red with blood.

A man that appeared much too old to be on the battlefield approached him,

"Minato-kun, are you sure that this is for the best? You could teach me the hand signs for the jutsu and allow me to take your place." Sarutobi, the previous Hokage had asked.

"No old man, this is my responsibility, I will not shirk from my duties as Hokage." the tone of his voice indicated a will of steel that would likely never be changed.

"Jiraiya-sensei, Kakashi-kun please watch over him and if possible teach him a trick or two" he said as he addressed two men that appeared with the previous Hokage, Jiraiya a man in his mid 40's with a flowing mane of white hair and Kakashi, a boy in his mid-late teens with a cloth mask over the bottom half of his face and a mop of silver hair.

After they both gave their solemn promise to do all that they could for the boy Minato summoned Gambunta, the Toad boss.

"Minato, if I'm not much mistaken that's the Kyuubi. Don't tell me you seriously intend on taking on the most powerful of the Bijuu?" Gambunta's deep rumbling voice was heard all throughout the battle field.

"Afraid so Boss. I need you to keep him busy and me out of his reach while I make the final preparations for the sealing." was the reply and request by Minato.

"I will do what I can." was the only reply that Minato received for Gambunta had already jumped into the fray to occupy the Fox, ninjato drawn. The fox turned to be more than a tough adversary for the Toad boss. Every time the fox was open and Gambunta had a clear shot at it, it would simply swing its tails in defense, tails said to be able to cause tsunami's and crush mountains. While there was no large body of water to test this out on and the nearest mountain was Hokage monument – miles away in Konoha, the wide spread destruction seen in the forest trees was more than enough reason to make Gambunta try to dodge the blows instead of block.

Then Minato's voice rang through the sound of battle,

"It's ready! Kyuubi no Youko, I can't kill you but I can still seal you soul! Good bye you pitiful creature! Shiki Fuin!" he screamed.

Visible to only Minato and the Kyuubi a spectral entity appeared behind Minato, the Shinigami; it plunged its hand into the Kyuubi and tore out its soul placing it into the stomach of the newly born Naruto, where an intricate pattern appeared on his stomach.

As his last words, he spoke to Naruto,

"Naruto, please forgive your father for the burden I have place on you. I'm sorry for preventing you from meeting either of your parents, but this had to be done. Goodbye, my son."

The surrounding ninja couldn't see what was happening; all they knew was that the Kyuubi had disappeared. They started to rejoice, the crisis finally over. The rejoicing was brought to an abrupt end when their Hokage voice screamed out in pain. Sarutobi, Jiraiya and Kakashi all knew what was happening and tried as best they could to hold back their tears, but it was in vain, they could not and they finally allowed their tears to freely fall down their face. Just as suddenly as the screaming had started the screaming ended, Minato falling off of Gambunta's head was caught in Jiraiya's arms as the little bundle of cloth that was Naruto was caught in Kakashi's arms. Sarutobi had the responsibility of holding the crowd at bay telling them that this was neither the time nor the place to answer all of their questions. Gambunta was able to shed a single tear before he dispelled to the summoning realm as there was no human to anchor him to this realm.

It had already been decided that Sarutobi would once again take up the reins and become the Hokage after Minato had died from the sealing. He had clearly stated that questions could be asked later and any that were not of a classified nature would be answered, he was glad he had made that decision as he realized that over come with grief he could hardly answer the questions that would have been asked even if he wanted to.

Ok this is my first chapter and im making more. My plot is actually the mixture of some other peoples. Don't fret the only things im using is for the beginning parts then from there ill make it up as i go along as of now i for some reason am already planning on chapters from 9-12. Well this is me just rambling on so i just want to say please be gentle cause the next one will be alot better! Believe it! *slaps self* damn Naruto been watching his show for too long -_-

Next Chapter: Deal of Destiny