A blonde and bloodied bundle lay amid the dead and dying. No noise came from it, so presumably it, whatever it was, was either asleep or dead also. Though the latter would have caused a great deal of joy to a nearby village, the bundle was not dead. Nor was it asleep. Instead, the blanket-wrapped form was staring at the bruised sky above with clear blue eyes, far more lucid than they should have been for a babe mere hours old.

A figure appeared at the edge of a forest, on the south side of the battlefield, closest to the baby. It was cloaked in a darkness that seemed a separate being, yet part of the figure. The form advanced towards the newly created living-sacrifice-and-prison of the nine-tailed beast known as Kyuubi.

"Well, child. You are, it appears, to be made in the image of that which you hold," it said in a voice that held time hostage in its echoes. "Your future looks bleak indeed if you stay in this world. Perhaps if you were raised in another that would change… though my Brethren do not agree."

The shrouded figure bent, and gathered the newborn in its spinner's hands. Holding the child in its arms with the voluminous sleeves hiding it from view, the figure moved towards the forest's edge once again.

"You shall be raised by another of my children, one who knows what you should be taught. Your name shall be what you shall cause. Naruto."

Sadame smiled down at the newly-named infant. He returned her gaze with his own serious one, acknowledging their connection. He yawned, feeling safe.

In times to come, he would indeed live up to his name of maelstrom. But that is then. For now, he was content to sleep, secure in the knowledge that he would be loved.