Konoha's Nine Beasts

Summary: What if the Kyuubi had gotten in contact with Naruto at an early age? What if Naruto was destined to be, not just a Hokage, but a king? What if he was destined to conquer far more than just his village? This is the story of how Naruto, with the help of a few friends and the Kyuubi himself, organizes something that will shake the ninja world to its core. -Stronger and Smarter Naruto, BUT he isn't god. He actually has to work to get to be the best. Pairing(s) undecided. [Rated M just to be safe]

Note: This is a combo of a challenge and a personal idea. I just decided to mix them. Pairings are undecided as of yet.

Disclaimer: I do not own or am entitled legally to Naruto or any of the components of the franchise which I may use in this story. This is a fanfiction which I am writing just because I want to and I only own the ideas in my head that I'll put here if I feel like it.

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Alright people, the Dragon is back! Don't anybody worry, I've brought you all a brand new story. So come with me and let me give you a peek in my mind.

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Chapter 0 (Prologue): The Beginning

The Elemental Nations, the home of shinobi and beasts. It's a world that constantly changes and warps, continually forcing its inhabitants to adapt. It's a world dominated by five superpowers: The Lands of fire, earth, lightning, wind, and water; each nation holding thousands of shinobi at the ready.

However, in this world in which there is always a struggle of some sort, humans aren't always the most dangerous thing you can come across with. To name a few of the perils, there are the giant beast inhabit the Forest of Death in Konoha, Predator hawks roam the most remote peaks of Kumo, toxic plants in deserts of Suna, and so on.

And then there were Demons.

In particular, the nine tailed beasts were the ones that one really needed to worry about. That is not to say that there weren't other demons around, but the nine beasts were top of the food-chain. A single one of them had enough raw power to take down a legion of ninja.

Speaking of which, the strongest of the beasts, the Kyuubi, otherwise known as the nine-tailed beast, could be found rampaging against Konoha, the strongest ninja village of all the Elemental Nations. Nearly every Ninja from chunin rank upwards was engaging the beast in combat, pulling every trick they had with no reserve. The strategist group scrambled to find effective formations and the weaknesses on the beast, the medics were working overtime to fix up the troops, and the ninjas attacked with admirable ferocity, their bonds and teamwork with each other boosting their performance and helping them survive.

And despite this they were still only managing to keep the beast from advancing, keeping it from reaching the village as genin were assigned with escorting all villagers to safety. As it was, the beast had managed to destroy a few buildings in the building just by accident, mostly due to uprooted trees that were sent flying when the beast swatted at the defending ninja with his claws or tails, resulting in a few premature casualties. However, to the credit of the Konoha ninjas, about two or three hundred ninja from Konoha's forces were out on missions when the beast attacked, and fourth Hokage was momentarily absent, and somehow they were still managing to keep the beast in check at the moment.

By the time the fight had extended for roughly three quarters of an hour the forces of Konoha were still holding, but the supply of rested or healthy troops was growing thin, and the beast seemed to be unconcerned by most attacks. As a matter of fact, most chunin were having trouble scratching the beast at all and had to act in squads to have a significant effect on the beast, and the jounin were hitting it with techniques that would have killed nearly any man or woman, and yet barely phased the beast. Even with the power of the Hyuga, Inauzaki, Aburame, Uchiha, and all the other prominent clans, plus the third Hokage, who had retired recently, Konoha was still being pressed into a corner slowly but surely. The only sort of advantage that they seemed to have over the beast was sheer numbers and the fact that it was attacking in a very unrefined and scatter minded form.

In conclusion, things were not looking great for Konoha. However, just when they thought their defense was about to crack, a golden streak shot out from the forest, dashing towards the Kyuuby at speeds that even elite level jounin could barely track. Nevertheless, every single Konoha ninja recognized the golden streak, for there was only one man that could move like that on earth.

Like a god of thunder the fourth Hokage arrived in the scene, coated in a slight golden colored aura of chakra as he moved at supersonic speeds. In his arms, a small bundle of clothes. Streaking across the field, he landed a kick on the beast that resonated loudly across the field, a small shockwave exploding outwards as his foot made contact with the beast's hide. The fox growled as he felt the impact, which was easily the most powerful single attack he had been hit with all day.

"Everyone back up!" the fourth Hokage ordered, his voice leaving no room for arguing. All forces within a hundred meter radius of the Kage jumped back unquestioningly. Their fourth Hokage was considered the best ninja their village had to offer since their first Hokage, a genius in all aspects of strategy and combat, not to mention the sealing arts. When an SS ranked ninja said to back up, you backed up, especially when he was your Kage.

The Kage jumped up and golden light exploded outwards from his body, blinding the Kyuubi for just a moment, making the fox rear up and howl with sudden shock as he was momentarily blinded. As the Hokage landed to the ground, the aura of gold dissipated as he flashed through some hand signs and bit his thumb before slamming his hand on the ground. A cloud of smoke suddenly puffed into existence, towering almost as tall as the Kyuubi himself, and after a moment, the cloud dissipated to reveal a massive red toad, obviously the toad boss summon of the Kage's contract.

"What's going on?" The toad rumbled with a booming voice, flicking his eyes upwards to look at his summoner.

"Gambuta, I need you to stall the Kyuubi for a moment." The fourth Hokage replied without preamble, "I need only a minute."

Gambuta looked up at his summoner with wide eyes, and turned to look at the fox that had now almost recovered, and said fox was obviously not happy to be blinded for a moment.

Not having time to argue, nor to have the luxury of wasting an opportunity, Gambuta launched himself at the fox before it could fully recover, leaping on top of him and knocking him onto his belly as the massive toad suddenly slammed on him. Gambuta pulled out his short sword and tried to slice at the Kyuubi, who immediately used his tails to grab hold of Gambuta's arms in an attempt to wrestle his weapon away from his hands. The toad eventually had to let go of the sharp blade and leap back as the Kyuubi tried to buck him off his back.

"Hurry up Namikaze!" Gambuta shouted as he ducked under a red tail swatting at him with enough power to crush a mountainside.

"I only need a few more seconds!" The Hokage replied as he struggled to keep his writing perfect for the seal he needed. A single mistake could prove fatal. Luckily for him, he was used to high-speed movements and so he was able to avoid mistakes due to all the movement between the two giant beasts. He needed this to go perfectly.

The Kyuubi roared and charged at the boss toad summon, bearing its teeth as it came, forcing Gambuta to jump sideways to avoid being torn apart by the fox's deadly claws. Gambuta managed to angle his jump away from the Konoha troops, all of which watched in awe as their leader singlehandedly stalled the beast, giving the strategist team precious moments to organize the troops and come up with an strategy.

"Got it!" The blonde Hokage shouted in triumph, setting down his ink and brush in a sealing scroll as he looked down at his work: a newborn child that was painted with symbols across his entire body lay on the blanket that had enveloped him up until about a minute ago. The Kage smiled at him sweetly despite the current situation they all found themselves in, and did a simple hand sign before touching the baby gently over his heart. The seals retracted towards the location of the Kage's hand as if sucked in by a vortex, and contracted into a tattoo of a cross over the baby's heart.

"Namikaze-!" Gambuta shouted at him, making the Kage tear his gaze from his baby and look ahead as he saw the Kyuubi roar again. The Kage met te beast's eyes with a determined gaze, evenly staring at the imposing blood-red eyes of the demonic beast.

"Gambuta," the Hokage said without breaking eye-contact with the fox, "Hold him down for a moment. I need to get close."

Gambuta bearly had time to spare a glance above his head before the massive fox lunged at him. The toad gritted his teeth and, much to the surprise of the fox, lunged at him too, startling the fox just enough to give Gambuta the chance to hang on to him with a grapple. The Fourth Hokage, who had already started on making a long string of hand signs, and at the moment Gambuta had grappled with the fox, he had just about finished the signs required for the Jutsu.

smiled. Not a mocking smile, nor a victorious smile. It was a sad and yet happy smile. As if snapping from a daze the fox's eyes widened, and his roar drowned out the voice of the Hokage as he shouted the name of the jutsu.

As if by witchcraft, the grim reaper himself appeared behind the fourth, its ghostly white appearance and white-on-black eyes looking at the scene with an intimidating gaze that seemed mildly interested in the fight between the fox an the Kage. The Kage looked down at his son with a sad but relieved smile as he sensed the shinigami reach into him, grabbing a hold of his soul as a seal appeared on his belly, and an other spectral hand shot out from his belly and latched on to the fox.

The fox roared as he tried to pull himself away, but Gambuta somehow managed to hold him in place while the Hokage spent massive amounts of chakra to pull the fox's soul out of him. It was much harder than he thought it would be, until he realized the fox's corporal form was a result of his spirit. In other words, he was sealing the fox completely, both body and soul. The Hokage gritted his teeth and redoubled his effort, and soon the fox was jerked forward by the spectral hand, causing him to glow in a ghostly manner as the fox seemed to turn into a spirit before the eyes of the crowd of ninja, who could only stare in awe as the fox which they had struggled against for so long in this day was subdued.

The Reaper's hand held the ghostly red fox steady for a moment, before swiftly slammed him into the belly of the newborn baby, causing the point of contact between the fox and the newborn to radiate with blinding light, almost as if a star had been placed right on the baby's belly, forcing the onlookers to look away as to not be blinded by the light. However, the fourth Hokage, looked down at the baby and shed a single warm tear that landed right on top of the baby's heart.

The fox's spectral body became elongated and narrowed as he was sucked into the body of the baby, just as the Soul of the fourth Hokage was pulled out of his body. A large seal array was formed in the belly of the baby that was somehow in the shape of a simple sun: a spiraling inward ring surrounded by eight lines of equal that were evenly spaced, each line containing a complex array of symbols that defined the seal. By the time the fox had been sealed inside the baby, the blinding glow had died down, and the Kage's own soul was completely pulled out of him, save for a ghostly white chain that still linked the soul to his body. The ninjas, who had at that point turned back to look at the Kage, gapped in awe when they realized the demon-fox was gone, but soon the relief they felt was cut short when they saw the reaper floating behind their Hokage, making their blood run cold with fear.

Leaning forward as the shinigami pulled out a wicked looking knife, the Kage managed to speak a few last words to the child. "Be good Naruto, and always be proud of who you are and always be strong. I believe in you, just like your mother... We love you with every single fiber of our being. So grow strong my son. You are a descendant of the Last of the Namikaze and the last of the Uzumaki. You will make us proud, I know it... I love you kid. I entrust you with everything." the Kage concluded as tears began to run freely from his eyes. He closed his eyes and drew a last tiered breath. "I did my best. Goodbye Gambuta...Kushina... Here I come."

And the reaper brought down his knife, severing the soul of the Fourth Hokage, making his body crumple to the ground lifelessly as the reaper faded until it disappeared with the soul of the Kage still in his hand.

What followed was a deafening silence as the troops looked at the epicenter of the battle between the two giant beasts. The fox was gone, and the threat it represented to the village was gone with it, but there were no shouts of victory, no rejoicing upon the defeat of the fox, no cries of joy, not even laugh of relief. There was no sign of victory. Only the sound of silence and muted, cold hearted grief.

A rolling thundercloud chose to roll in over the village at this point, a single crash of thunder booming in the distance before rain started pouring over the battlefield. The village had survived with only minimal damage to its structures and only a few deaths of civilians and some ninja, which was impressive and very lucky in its self, but the Kyuubi had claimed the life of the most loved and respected figure in the village, the life of the greatest man to set foot on the village since it was founded.

The fourth Hokage was dead.

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BOOM! THAT'S THE PROLOGUE! I know its really short (about a third or a fourth of my usual length), but I rather see if anyone is interested in this first before extending this project. If I get enough interest on this project I'll continue it.
Anyhow! Please leave me a review or a comment about the chapter, tell me if you liked it or not. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

This is Dragon logging out!