The Rising Sun: Chapter 1 – The Beast Inside.
"The boy will be great," Minato looked at his mentor in question. "You can tell by his eyes, they are strong, already he is peaking at the world, questioning everything." The boy himself, only fresh out of the womb looked up at the elderly man, completely ignoring the father. Still damp with blood and other liquids, his black hair was matted to his forehead, his eyes shining a deep grey, with an intelligence they should not have this early on.
"I do believe he will be Hiruzen, I do believe he will, it's just a shame that me and his mother will not be there to see him change the world." Minato looked out of the nursery window, resignation in is features, "The beast is coming, the scouts reckon it will reach the gates in an hour. He will be the sacrifice that will save the village and yet they will not see it, they will scorn him, deny him happiness and love. He will be completely cut off from the true heart of the village; the villagers inside it. My shinobi will understand, and yet even they will push him away, only more aware of what he will be capable of."
"So you intend to seal it within him then, you are certain?" Hiruzen replied, not even distaste in his voice. It was steel, strong even in the harshest realities. "How do you plan to do it?"
Minato looked towards the small bundle of papers lying in the crib, the last notes of the Eight Trigrams seal designed by his wife Kushina, and gave a nod. "It was her idea; she suggested a seal that in eventuality would allow Naruto to completely control the beast's chakra, without any adverse affects. It's complicated; even I cannot understand the intricacies of it." Even right before the end, your mind continued to work amazingly my dear. "Hiruzen, take care of him for the moment, I shall be back when it is time for the ritual." And with a flash he was gone; the seal notes had also disappeared.
Hiruzen looked at the child; refusing to let the pity he felt show on his face, for fear that Naruto would understand it. "Oh child, you will have your work cut out for you in persuading the masses that you are human, and not the beast that is outside the walls." The building shuddered, and he could feel the beast coming ever closer. He felt the malevolent chakra of the Nine-tailed Fox beginning to seep into his old bones, even from the many miles between them. It raised a deep unsettlement within him. Hundreds will be lost tonight, all on a whim. Its rage is founded and yet I can only worry that destroying the Leaf will not satiate it in case Minato fails.
The village was burning, and yet Minato could do nothing, a much more important task set for him. Standing on the open roof of the Hokage tower, he stared the Nine-tailed Fox down, preparing his chakra to use the Hiraishin to flash them out of the village. He could see already piles of bodies from where the fox had crushed, ripped and tore his way through them. That was totally discounting the people that had been obliterated completely by the flames it spewed.
He moved, disappearing from the roof. There was a yellow flash on the foxes head, and Minato heard the shouts of relief from his soldiers. The morale skyrocketing. He flared his chakra, and the two entities disappeared from the centre of the village.
"Get the wounded and gather the dead! The fourth will destroy this beast, we can do no more!" One of the elite Jonin shouted, barely heard over the cries and screams of the injured and grieving. And so it begun, the gathered shinobi began setting up field shelters, earth jutsu creating the walls and ceilings, the Medic Nin laying out the injured and covering the dead with white sheets.
"I need blood over here!"
"He's dead! Leave him! There are still those to save!" The harsh reality did not surprise Kakashi, after being in the service of the most brutal of divisions; ANBU. As he flitted in and out of the torn down buildings, he looked for stragglers, pausing every so often to listen for cries for help. But he found nothing, and not willing to go out of his assigned parameter, he turned back.
Minato had never moved so fast; fear, adrenaline and the desire to protect the village. He was alone; no other men were in the vicinity. Claws and teeth and tails flew for him, faster than the naked eye could track. But he moved, he had too.
The Fox roared, and all nine of its tails came towards him, and in a blink he was gone, reappearing on the Fox's snout. Its eyes... this isn't as much of a natural disaster as I thought. I need to warn the-The fist in his face was enough of a shock to break his thought. His body flew back and he landed on his back fifty feet down. Another fist came towards him and he tilted his head to the side, barely managing to avoid the strike, the force once again sent him flying.
"Who are you!?" Minato struggled back up, his eyes swollen and his nose broken, his chakra was already low from fighting the fox for so long, and he was finding slightly difficult to breathe. This meant broken ribs. This is not good, I can't last much longer, the fox might just win after all.
The Man in the mask looked on in apathy, the one eye hole glowing red with the mangekyou sharingan. "It does not matter who I am, what does, on the other hand, is the day of judgement for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It will be a crater on the map, and there will be nothing and no one left to prove that it existed!" He had spread his arms at this point; it all looked dramatic in Minato's eyes, but it bought him time to think and to plan. The fox was still in the background tearing holy murder through the forests around the village, getting ever closer to its target. And yet Minato could do nothing at the moment. I wish Kushina were here, but alas I will have to do. I cannot afford to let anyone else get killed. I need to get rid of him so I can get the fox.
Minato flashed towards the masked man, the infamous Rasengan forming in his right hand. He charged towards him, and forced his hand into the man's stomach. He didn't move, and Minato flew through him and barely spun and righted himself. "What the..."
"You cannot defeat me Fourth Hokage, face it, you and the village will perish." Minato looked at him and charged again, and as the masked man went intangible Minato flashed away, only to strike from the opposite direction with another Rasengan. The attack connected, the force sending the man flying. Minato took his chance and disappeared.
He once again appeared in front of the fox, after having placed the strongest sealing tags every two metres around the beast. He ran through hand seals at the speed of light. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu." There was a large burst of smoke, and there stood a large toad with a vest and a sword strapped to its back.
"Gamabunta!"Minato shouted, amplifying his voice using chakra, "You've got to pin him down! I need to seal him quickly!" While he spoke he quickly formed the same set of hand seals, and summoned a smaller messenger toad, sending it to get his child, in order to perform the sealing. He hadn't the time, nor chakra to receive it himself.
"You're kidding boy, do you have any idea what that is?! I'm the biggest toad in the summoning realm and yet it dwarfs me!" Even with the complaints the toad leaped, pulling the ninjato from its back and taking a swipe and one of the tails. The fox roared as its tail was slashed, and used another swat what it considered an insect away. Gamabunta landed swiftly, and spat a huge bullet of water at the beast.
All the while the toad had returned with the child, its tiny form in the toad's webbed hands. Minato took the child and gained a determined look. "Right Bunta! NOW!" The toad nodded and leaped high in the air, only to crash down on top of the fox.
Minato placed Naruto down on Gamabunta's head and clasped his hands together in the ram sign
"Seal!"
A shimmering dome of light appeared over the fox, and Minato felt a massive drain in his reserves. It was like a net had been thrown over them, and it began to stick to the fox like glue. It resisted, thrashing and roaring, its tails whipping back and forth in an effort to free itself, but it wasn't to be, as Minato formed a long chain of hand seals, finishing on the boar sign.
A shrine popped into existence and he quickly placed his child onto it. This is it Kushina, please forgive me for doing this to our son, but in order to save many one must be sacrifice. "Naruto, I love you, grow strong and never, ever forget that there are people who will stand by you. Even if you have to search for it, happiness will come to you. I am sorry." With that he made the last hand signs to the most forbidden jutsu that the Leaf had. "Fuinjustu; Shiki Fujin!"
Minato was too scared to turn and look at the otherworldly being now floating behind him. The death god shoved its hand through his stomach and reached into the fox's. The gods arm then started pulling backwards. And Minato felt pain. True, excruciating pain. The arm split in two, and so did the soul of the fox. It whined in agony as it started shrinking in size. He saw half of it go into the stomach of his child, and the other half he felt go through him. And it burned, the corrosive chakra of the demon started ravaging his chakra pathways, his skin was frying, and in his head an immense pressure built up.
Minato felt himself going, it was faint at first, but the feeling grew and he felt tired and weary. In a sense he was glad to be free of the responsibility of leading the village, to be free of pain, suffering and everything else. The last thing that he saw was the fox's physical mass disappearing, and the eight trigram seal appearing on his son's stomach. In one last flash of agony the death god ripped his soul out his body.
Then he felt nothing.
The rain poured, and the thunder flashed. Crowds gathered at the top of the Hokage monument to watch the mass funeral. After searching for days through what was left of the buildings -now only rubble- the death toll was in the hundreds. It had been decided unanimously by the remaining elders of the village to hold the funerals in one sitting.
The retired third Hokage had been reinstated as therefore was required to lead the processions. "The village – A proud monument of history, has seen many tragedies befall it. The first, second and third shinobi wars inflicted a loss on us all that left trenches in our hearts, souls and minds and so shall this. However we shall return. And we will be stronger. We will take this great loss of life and we will use it. To fuel the will of fire. To not let the sacrifices that these brave men, women and children made to protect this village go to waste." Here Hiruzen paused, to hide the emotions he felt roiling inside. "We have lost those dearest to us. Some have lost mothers, some fathers. Some have lost sons and others daughters. Some have lost spouses, others young love. Yes, we have all lost something. But we also must remember that there are still people around us, to help us through our grieving. May the will of fire burn greatly in our hearts and may we rise once again out of the ashes to be born anew!"
The crowds grew smiles as he spoke, and the fire in their eyes, dampened before, starting simmering once more. There was a minute silence in which the lost were remembered. Bunches of white roses placed around the bodies on the burning stacks. The bodies were set alight, all at once. The air reeked of death. And yet people remembered the third's words.
"Kakashi, it's time to go. You haven't eaten in days, it's not healthy." Kakashi stayed silent, looking at the pyre embers long after everyone else had left. He could feel nothing, say nothing. What was there to say, the last of the truly precious people he had were gone, only he was left of his team, only he was left of his family. He had been broken, reshaped and reformed, only to be broken worse than before. He felt like there was nothing that could fix him, not now, not after everything. He was an elite Jonin, and yet he was powerless to do anything but stare, hoping that this was all a joke and Minato, Rin and Obito would pop out from behind the embers. A look of exasperation, glee and 'did you think we were dead?' respectively.
"I'm fine, I would like to be left alone for a while now," Kakashi stated- it wasn't a request. "Please..." Guy looked on in worry, but didn't say anything else, turning on his heel and walking away. Hiruzen looked on in the distance, a frown marring his face. This has destroyed him, and yet I still have to tell him about Naruto, and what his father done to him. He tilted his hat further over his face in order to hide the tears slowly streaming down his cheeks. What a truly horrendous day, oh my darling wife, please wait for me, only a few years left.