Author's Note: After reading a few of the newer alternate universe stories out there, I decided to come with this one of my own design. As this is an AU story, just know that one of the major changes I made is that the Kyuubi was female in this world, not the usual sarcastic and sadistic little demon everyone is so accustomed to. In addition to that, Kushina Uzumaki (the woman usually known as Naruto's birth mother) never accompanied Minato to Konoha so she never got pregnant with Naruto. Hate me if you want, it's cool with me.
Though the story starts at Naruto's birth, after the prologue and first chapter it will be mainly set around the time of the anime.
"I…" indicates speech.
'I…' indicates inner thought.
'I...' indicates conversation with Kyuubi.
Do You...
Prologue: Kyuubi Child
The tears couldn't help but well up as he stared out upon the village from atop Mt. Hokage, watching the waves of black-clad villagers as they slowly made their way back to their own partially destroyed homes after this day of sadness. All he knew was that, deep inside, a part of his humanity was beginning to give way after all he had seen and done in the last six months since this chapter of his life had begun. He felt the innocence of childhood that had resided within him slipping away; in its absence it gave way to the kind of cold adult shinobi he had always seen populating the ranks of ANBU. And as he thought of this, he had to ask himself if it was really the man he wanted to become?
"Naruto?" She asked timidly as she approached from behind him. Kiba had told her where to find him, having really known the blonde-headed shinobi personally a good three years longer than she had.
"Yeah?" He replied, not really wanting to talk to anyone at that moment. He just wanted to be alone long enough to reach some measure of peace after all that had happened but he cared enough to let her at least try and talk to him.
"Do you want to talk?" She asked calmly, trying her best not to make him get any angrier or sadder than he already probably was. In the small forest behind her, a cold breeze had begun to blow with the scent of the coming rainfall despite the fact it had already rained so much today. The clouds above were growing darker and darker by the moment, a sign that it wouldn't be too long before they opened up once again and began to weep together with the village that they covered.She knew this but all she cared about was being with him at that moment; she wanted to protect him because she knew that no one else could right then. No one else could really understand the Kyuubi no kitsune like she could.
"I don't know. I wouldn't know what to talk about even if I tried, Hinata." For the first time since he heard her approaching, he turned to face her. His eyes were a deep shade of crimson as the anger that he felt manifested itself little by little but they did not seem enraged like usual, but rather there were the tiniest tears rolling down from either one. His cheeks were already red, not from his chakra but from having cried his eyes out time and time again in the last day as he sat up here so high above the rest of the village. Her heart couldn't help but break a little inside for him as she watched him; Naruto had always been so strong but this had utterly broken him like nothing else could.
She walked up to him cautiously, staring him straight in those blood-red eyes as she approached.
Without saying a word, she just wrapped her arms around his waist and held him there. Once again, he began to cry freely, a sign that his humanity wasn't completely gone but just hidden barely below the surface.
They stood there together for what felt like an eternity for him before he was finally ready to open up to her. He didn't know how to tell her what was going on in his mind it was nothing but a mess of jumbled and disorganized thoughts that rolled together like one gigantic whirlpool as it drained out of him. Slowly but surely, one single thought began to rise to the surface above all the rest so he decided to tell her it instead of trying to figure out just what he was feeling.
"Jiraiya told me a story last month when I asked him to tell me more about who I really was." Naruto murmured as she pulled her head back enough to gaze into his eyes. They were slowly fading back to the beautiful shade of blue that belonged on his face instead of the crimson they had been. "It was the story of the night I was sealed and the day he brought me to Kushina."
Thirteen years earlier.
The forest erupted in the screams of another two dozen dying shinobi as the monstrous demon queen Kyuubi no Yoko slashed through one more line of trees in the forest on the outskirts of village of Konohagakure no Sato. With just a simple swipe of her left paw, another group of trees and the few jonin and chunnin that hid amongst their bows were reduced to splintered branch and splattered blood.
Against the awesome might and size of such an unholy fiend... such a monster, even the most elite of Konoha's jonin were nothing but a herd of lambs to be slaughtered.
Minato covered his mouth with his free hand as he cradled the newborn infant in his other, trying to force the scent of blood that hung heavy in the air from his lips and nostrils. All around him, the screams of his villagers filled him with a grave sense of dread: one not for his own death but for the fear that he was too late to save anybody but the women and children who now huddled in fear at the base of the mountain where his face had been carved earlier that year. Why in the name of the shinigami was such a horrid creature attacking them? They had not done a thing to provoke her, not a thing to bring about her fatal wrath and yet here she was, destroying each and every one of Konoha's ninja that it could find.
The Yondaime looked down at the small little child that lay cradled in his left arm, a beautiful little baby boy with the tiniest cute little whisker marks on his cheeks and a tuft of blood red hair on the top of his head that put even the Kyuubi's crimson fur to shame.
A day earlier, he had found this little child alone near the natural hot spring near his manor, crying loudly for his parents. Strangely enough, no one in the village had reported a missing child and none of the newborns that had been reported in the census he had conducted earlier that year matched this one's description. So, Minato had taken the boy as his own for the time being despite knowing nothing about the tiny little baby beside his hair color.
Yet, with the situation that was taking place before them, Yondaime was starting to think he knew just why the Kyuubi was here.
'It's her son…. That-that's the only explanation!' Minato exclaimed inside, staring once more from the baby in his arms to the gargantuan beast that was decimating the ranks of jonin that were trying their utmost to stop it. It all made sense now; something that fearsome, something that completely enigmatic would only attack someone or someplace if it was protecting its child. He had heard the legends of the tailed beasts and their ability to take a human form but he had never thought that the Kyuubi would actually change into one, especially not to give birth when she would be most vulnerable. And since he was carrying the nearly newborn infant in his arms, it was only a matter of time before she picked up the child's scent and spotted the leader of the Namikaze clan. "Commander Umino, form your squadron around me!"
Immediately, one of the few ANBU squadrons with all their members still standing appeared beside him, led by Sado Umino and his wife and second in command Nois Umino.
"What are your orders, Lord Hokage?" Commander Sado asked from behind his porcelain serpent mask, his voice wavering as a sign of his obvious exhaustion in this battle. Beside him, his subordinates were all panting heavily at least two of the three of them were bleeding from various scars and slices all over their bodies. They all looked as though they were all just barely remaining on their feet but Minato knew that their resolve would not falter, even if it meant their deaths here tonight. The Yondaime prayed it would not come to that as it had with so many others so far but he was not stupid.
"I have a plan to stop it but I need your help." Minato Namikaze's voice was as iron and steeled as his will.
"Speak and we will obey." Umino and his subordinates knelt before their fearless leader, showing the respect and honor of the Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai and their dedication to the village they had sworn to protect.
"I think the Kyuubi is here for this child. If so, when I offer it to her she should retreat. If not, be prepared to retrieve the child and take it to Kushina Uzumaki in Kirigakure no Sato." He replied simply, his eyes watching the massive thrashing kitsune in the distance. Without even acknowledging their answer of obedience, he took a kunai out with his free hand and sliced a thin cut into his cheek. "Tell her I always wanted a family…"
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Two weeks later
"Minato asked ANBU to bring this child to you… Ms. Uzumaki. It was his last request." Jiraiya spoke as he placed the tiny little baby into her arms, taking care not to unwrap the boy from the blanket he was sleeping soundly in. Kushina's eyes went wide and misty as the Toad Sage told her of her lover's fate protecting the village he had loved so much. Jiraiya had been one of only three people who had known of the relationship his favorite pupil had shared with this young redheaded woman. They had made a beautiful couple but his village had needed him more and she just could not leave her home and so here she was. "His wanted you to know that he really did want a family with you, Kushina."
She gazed down at the precious sleeping child, a perfect boy with three tiny whisker marks on each cheek and a head of messy blonde hair much like Minato's but with a single line of crimson right down the left side of his head, the only remaining evidence of who's child it really was. Her heart broke as she looked upon him, the boy whose body was now a container for the Kyuubi's chakras thanks to the seal that the late Hokage had put upon his stomach when he died. He was so young and small and yet already had endured so much hardship. The tears that she had fought back since she saw Jiraiya coming finally began to fall freely.
"I can understand if can't deal with this right now, Kushina." Jiraiya murmured but it had only taken a second for her to make up her mind as she shook her head and smiled.
"My little Naruto…" She whispered as cradled the baby in her arms.
"Do you... know what you're getting yourself into?" The sannin asked but his words drowned out in her mind.
"…I'm your mother…"
Author's Note: Well there you have it, the prologue of this little tale. In case you're wondering about how I said Naruto's hair was red in the beginning but now it's blonde with a little red streak, it's because the seal that Yondaime used to seal up the Kyuubi also transferred a very little bit of Minato's chakra into his body as well and that affected his appearance.
Well I'm out. Review honestly and I'll be starting on the first chapter later on today. Peace.
