HEY SO THIS IS MY NEW STORY (Not new I've been writing this forever), but it's still very much so in the making. I'm basically posting it because I want feed back — to see if it's worth continuing really. I probably will no matter what though, let's be real. I have 70% or so of the plot planned out, and most of the ideas for it are already written down somewhere so I can just write them into the story. Plus Kakashi is SO freaking sexy and my one true love (has been since the beginning of Naruto when I started this journey :')) so it would be blasphemous not to finish this.

Anyway…

Naruto does not belong to me. Disclaimer shit. He belongs to Kishimoto, who has killed too many of my hopes, dreams, and other loves.

Enjoy the beginning!

"onee-chan, onee-chan, onee-chan, onee-chan—" Kushina cut off the adorable little pale blonde girl with a chuckle, ruffling her hair and pinching her cheek.

"Darling, please, the nurse deals with enough all day, she doesn't need your hyperactivity in addition. I'm excited to see your little nephew too, 'ttebane." Little icy blue eyes rolled at her 'sister', huffing and puffing her cheeks out as Kikyo crossed her arms over her chest. The nurse blushed and stammered, denying that the Hokage's little sister could possibly be annoying her in any way. Minato, ever the work-a-holic, swooped in with a whoosh of cloak, bending down to kiss his darling sister's head and taking his wife's hand in his own.

"And how is our boy doing today love?" The Yondaime Hokage was surely the picture of Konoha's finest and happiest, holding his wife's hand with the sparkle of something joyous in his eye and sister attached to his hip. Kushina had nothing but equal affection for him as well, smiling up at him while the nurse fidgeted with the ultrasound technology in order to show the family the little boy due in just a few weeks.

"Is that him?" Wide blue eyes stared up at the screen from her new place on her older sister(in-law)'s bed, resting beside her hip, while on all fours staring over at the machine. Her siblings exchanged a look, smiling at the amazed child, and Minato ruffled Kikyo's hair. She merely swatted his hand, too engrossed in looking at the tiny figure inside of Kushina's swollen stomach in fascination. Kikyo hurriedly asked the nurse to explain how they were able to tell that it was the baby, that the baby was healthy, that his limbs were growing properly and he wouldn't have syndactyly (webbed) digits when he was born, etc.

Kushina frowned at her language, much more advanced than nearly any eight year old she had ever met, and was reminded of her and Minato's constant worry—that they would come for her soon. While it was highly unlikely they would do it without the Yondaime Hokage's permission, the thought of their little sister (as Kushina had come to view her also) on the elder's radar did weigh heavily on Kushina's mind.

Kikyo was much too smart for her own good.

"Yes, that's going to be your oi (nephew) Kikyo." Minato patted her head once more as they heard shuffling and the door swing open, startling the poor nurse who was unused to all of the commotion in the infant ward.

"Minato-sensei!" A rough thirteen year old boy with gravity defying silver hair swept into the room, mask betraying no emotion, but uncovered eye showing that he was somewhat distressed. Almost instantly Minato was by his side, and Kikyo was sitting by her brother's wife, face as red as can be. Her aneki (older sister) spared her no embarrassment, pinching her cheek and drawing her attention away from the boy to leave the two men to their business.

"Hmm, I see your little crush hasn't wavered. Should I be worried about you liking older boys Kikyo?" She stared appalled at Kushina, mouth open wide and for once had nothing to say. Her older sister let out a hearty laugh, pushing Kikyo's hair out of her face as she pouted.

"Maa, Onee-chan! It's not funny. I'm almost eight!" Kushina looked up to Minato, ignoring her steaming companion for a moment, to tell him that the nurse was almost done and to take Kikyo with him to the Tower until she could leave to meet them. He picked up his now giggling little sister by the waist, spinning her to be on top of his shoulders, and bent down to kiss his wife and allow Kikyo to kiss her forehead at the same time. The two left the room, smiles and giggles, as they made their way to the Hokage tower, leaving Kushina to speak with the nurse about the best way for her to deliver the baby away from the hospital.

"MINATO, WHAT IS OUR SISTER DOING HERE RIGHT NOW 'TTEBANE!" Minato flinched at the unbridled anger in his wife's eyes, as Kikyo giggled at her aniki's fear of her. It was no secret that Kushina was a scary woman when she wanted to be, and this was no exception. The midwives, Hiruzen's wife and an ANBU woman, attempted to calm her and ordered Minato to begin his monitoring of her seal to keep it stable during delivery. While he wasn't overly concerned with that aspect, since this was carefully thought and planned out, it was only right to be cautious and safe about it. Kushina told Kikyo to stay off to the side, and she did so, keeping closer to her sister than the older woman probably would have liked, but stayed quiet so that there was no reason for them to make her leave.

The cave was surprisingly well lit, and while the labor process was a few hours in, Kikyo was drawn from the scroll that her brother had given her on ninjutsu by a strange shadow in a dark section of the cave. As soon as her eyes focused on the shape it was gone, and with it her suspicions. Really, Kikyo was only seven years old (about to be eight right before the genin exams, she would stress), and being the younger sister of the Fourth Hokage did well for her. It did, however mean she wasn't quite so suspicious of the world yet.

That said, don't let any of that paint the picture. Kikyo was quite the articulate seven year old, already proficient with projectiles—especially kunai, but her work with senbon and shuriken were steadily improving and definitely above par—and well on her way to becoming more than just good with taijutsu. While her ninjutsu wasn't bad per say, she knew that she needed more than just the entrance exam level jutsus in her arsenal. She had been nagging her older brother to show her how to preform his signature jutsu, Hiraishin, after he began teaching her a bit about seals and fuinjutsu in general, but he was fairly adamant that she not learn just yet. She was also well on her way to graduating in the next year with the twelve year olds, which would put her at about the same level as the Uchiha prodigy her brother spoke of. But as Minato stressed, she was going to have to work very hard to surpass the "Weasel."

Still, in recent years Kikyo had become quite the prodigy. Though she would never say it out loud, there was a reason for that. From the time she was born, Minato had been a seal master. Not a perfect one until close to the time that he became Yondaime Hokage, but he was proficient enough to do something somewhat…outlandish. He placed a seal on his sister, a chakra storage seal and an intricate one at that. The seal itself was fairly simple in consruction, but the way that it filtered and stored chakra enabled it, as both Kikyo and her chakra supply grew, the seal would grow with her. It would store just a small percentage of chakra daily, and Minato cleverly hid in her things a scroll she could only open when she had mastered fuuinjutsu herself.

Then she would be able to store more, or less, and draw upon it as she saw fit. Essentially: one massive chakra bank.

It was one of the reasons that she had more chakra than others her age, and that she was able to do better justu as well. As her chakra was drained each day during her sleep cycle, her body would produce just a little bit more, as if she were using it daily. So that naturally she would have more chakra to use and draw from during training or battle.

Returning to her scroll (Kikyo did not want to watch the birthing of her little nephew no matter how many times her brother and Kushina teased her about how 'educational' it was, should she ever pursue a medic-nin career), she ignored the ominous feeling creeping up her skin, choosing instead to push it to the back of her mind.

And that's exactly when everything went to shit.

Kikyo heard the soft thud of a body hitting the ground over Kushina's violent curses at her brother but had little time to react, a hooded figure quickly making light work of the midwives that had just finished bundling up her clean little nephew to hand to her sister.

How had I not sensed his presence?' Minato had no more time to think when the shadow took Naruto, freezing the new father in his tracks. Kikyo ran toward her sibling and without warning or sign, was effortlessly knocked to the side, her small frame hitting the wall of the cave behind her with such force that Kushina actually growled.

Her small eyes made contact with Kushina's, while she saw her brother attempt to fight the man, and through half-lidded eyes saw her sister whisper that she loved her. Her eyes couldn't shut though, she couldn't stop herself. She had to see. She had to see. The hooded figure tsked, a clone she guessed, appearing to her right and giving her a full view of his mask, orange swirls and a bright red eye peeking out.

Then all at once, her world went black.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had never felt as angry at the world as the moment he saw the empty look in the eyes of the little girl sitting before him. With pale blond hair and the iciest blue eyes he had ever seen, her rosy cheeks and sweet-natured disposition only made it harder for him. The man knew he was looking at no ordinary seven year old, and he opened his mouth to speak right as she cut him off.

"My brother died didn't he." Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she was too intelligent, too smart to be seven years old, but just because she felt as though she was an adult in a child's body, did not mean that anyone would believe that. The small girl looked no better or worse than she had before, except for a steeled expression that told the Third that there would a lot to discuss with her. "Kushina too…I don't want you to spare me because you think you know what is best. I need to know what happened and where Naruto is. He's my responsibility now, and I know Onee-chan and my aniki would agree with me."

The Third was almost surprised at how old she sounded, almost, and relented to tell her what happened. Not before warning her that this was information she couldn't share with anyone, not even her nephew, of course.

"Your sister-in-law, Kushina, offered to have the Nine-Tails sealed inside of her after the man who attacked her released it. Your brother realized that the power of the Nine-Tails' would be needed for the future, so he decided to seal the beast into Naruto. He had to use the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to cut its chakra in half, because all of its chakra would be too much for your nephew as an infant, and left only its yang chakra. The Nine Tails realized what your brother and sister wanted to do and attempted to kill Naruto before they could do so, so your brother and his wife used their own bodies to shield him…" The Third took a shaky breath, looking at the wall of the safe-house they were in and beginning to tell the story again, a far-away look in his eyes. Kikyo could tell he wasn't speaking as much to her as he was to himself then, and listened intently, focus never wavering. This was too much, but she had to bear it.

For Minato. Kushina. Naruto.

"I followed Minato to their location, but Kushina's barrier was too strong for me to penetrate, and Minato requested to me that I relay to the citizens of Konoha that they regard Naruto as a hero for helping to save the village. With that, Minato sealed the Nine-Tails into Naruto, adding his and Kushina's chakra to the seal so that they could watch him grow up and someday help him gain control of the Nine-Tails… But Minato had many enemies…" The Sandaime turned to the girl acknowledging her once more and handing her the bundle in his arms. She carefully held the smaller infant, looking up at the Third as he told her what was going to happen to them.

"Naruto will be an Uzumaki from now on. That was his mother's family name, though I'm sure you know that, but it will do you well to stick to it so that no one will know he is their child. You both will be safe this way. I will tell Konoha what has happened and what Minato requested of me, but I will not allow anyone to discuss the Nine-Tailed beast…perhaps this will keep some of the hatred at bay. Still…" Kikyo looked up from her nephew's face, where bright cerulean blue eyes peeked out of his lashes, so that she could meet the Third's gaze.

"I will stay with Naruto. I know that I can be recognizable…but I can change my last name too, to stay with him. I believe that the villagers will take your word if you tell them I am not Minato's sister…It's believable enough. We have no family to go to…" The Third sighed as he dropped into a seat next to the girl and leveled his gaze with her.

"I cannot raise you." Kikyo had expected this and thought long and hard for a moment, although her seven year old self was much more mature, she knew that human sentiment and familial relations were extremely important so she knew that there was only one place her and Naruto could guarantee they would stay together.

"The orphanage will take us. We can live on our own with the help of some of my brother's money and when Naruto is old enough…I'm in the academy already and I'm confident that I can graduate within the year if I spend enough time on training. Then I can provide for the two of us. You can tell the village I went missing." This caused the man beside her to tense up. Sarutobi was not shocked, he had heard of her maturity from members of the council and members of ANBU even, but he was still unprepared to see it up close…It was only a matter of time before she would be pursued. They liked to groom ninja young.

Minato would be furious with her if he heard how his precious imouto (little sister) was talking, as if she were an adult that could provide and take care of a child when she was still a child herself. Minato would absolutely murder Sarutobi for what he was about to do however.

"That is acceptable. Konoha will likely look at the both of you with contempt — the Kyuubi's chakra, though sealed, will still be able to be sensed for some time — but I will do whatever is in my power not to let this happen." Kikyo had seen everything she considered good in the world—besides her precious new nephew—destroyed that day, and she did not doubt that the Sandaime would try. She highly doubted the success of his endeavors though. And her eyes betrayed it, the cold, numbing bitterness of her brother's death for people who would likely condemn her nephew was clear in her features. She had no time to cry or mourn, staring down at the bundle in her arms. It was time to grow up. She stood and looked at the elderly man, speaking softly but with force.

"Then I will go now. If there is anything that you can gather for us…anything of my brother or Kushina's, or of our own, you'll know where to find us." The aloof look on her face coupled with the distant look in her eyes made Hiruzen's heart clench, and he rested his hand on her shoulder for a moment.

"I'll do whatever I can."

Those were the last kind words she heard from someone for weeks to come.

Something had truly changed in Kikyo that night. She didn't quite believe in reincarnation, but the Kyuubi attack had done a number of things. She hadn't known beforehand, or perhaps it was the trauma of losing her most precious people, that gave her the gift (and curse) of an eidetic memory. She could still see everything happen in perfect clarity…like a Sharingan without the extra abilities. She also found that she no longer enjoyed most of the things that she did before, preferring to read advanced scrolls and train, rather than read books and laze about or even get dango.

She had grown up in the blink of an eye, passed the point of childhood prematurely. While she would like to say it shocked her, Kikyo felt this fit her more than the child she had always had to force herself to be. Deep in the back of her mind she could recall very small bits and pieces of a familiar home, one completely different from her own, and a familiar family that looked nothing like hers. A life, possibly a past one, where she had only lived to be twenty five.

So it came as no surprise, and no little amount of annoyance, that she simply could not deal with the children in her classes at the academy.

Kikyo also could not be bothered to hear her Chuunin teacher speak. Ever.

Staring out at the bright sun and thinking about the time she could be spending training, practicing for the-

What was she practicing for?

The thought hit her light a ton of bricks and she struggled with it for a moment, realizing how distracted she had been lately. She had pushed her small body to the brink of exhaustion day after day, until her taijutsu teacher had commented on how advanced she had become. Her ninjutsu and genjustu and also drastically improved as she had set out on a 'mission' soon after her brother's death to retrieve any and all of their scrolls, through the Sandaime of course.

She was only eight now, but she knew with the work she'd been putting in she was at least chuunin level, so she should be able to graduate that year. But for what?

More often than she would admit, Kikyo found herself pondering this question at times, grief seizing her heart as her brother and Kushina's faces flashed in her mind. MinatoKushina-Naruto.

Naruto.

That was what for, or rather who for.

To protect Naruto. To be stronger than everyone and anyone in order to do so. To never lose another person she loved.

Not that she had many.

She was drawn to the presence outside of the classroom that flickered every now and then on her radar, which she had come to realize meant that she was actually sensing a familiar chakra presence. She had begun to sense chakra much better, especially this one, her ANBU stalker that frequently came to check that she was still in the academy while not watching Naruto. His chakra always left a slightly annoying sense of deja vu and familiarity, nagging at her that she should recognize the signature.

Whatever. Must be mind numbingly boring to watch children all day. Fleetingly, she wondered what sucker got stuck with that shit job.

Her thoughts turned to flashbacks of her brother first telling her of the elite squad of ninja known as the ANBU. Of how strenuous the training to become a member is, how there are children her age being preened and groomed for the position, and how she could be one of them some day if she chose. She also remembered the wince on his face as he said it with trepidation, knowing how much he hated the idea. He had always been overprotective of his baby sister, and thoroughly believed in letting children still be children when and while they can.

Shaking away the nostalgia, she returned her attention to the teacher who was just now scolding the class to pay attention, making the small boy next to her jerk guiltily. She rolled her eyes, focusing on her breathing and distracting herself by running through different hand signs in her mind for ninjutsu that she could practice later.

Really the teacher did nothing to frighten her. For a child of 29-going-on-9, the rest of the class was immature in that they had not come to realize that the teacher actually could not do anything to them to enforce control over the classroom. His power to maintain said control was completely dependent upon the fact that eight year olds—well, eleven and twelve considering she was younger than every other person in her class—had yet to realize that psychological intimidation that the teacher was using, in reality, would be nothing if they chose not to listen. What was he going to do? Intimidate her to death with threats that he could not, and would not, carry out? As if.

Focus was becoming a problem in such a boring class.

Her mind drifted back to her baby nephew back in the orphanage and it made Kikyo stiffen with annoyance. No matter her personal opinions on the matter, she needed to pay attention. To learn as much as she could, as efficiently as she could, in order to provide for her little family.

A flash of silver flicker flickered from the tree and she could faintly make out silver-grey hair as it became lost in the distance moments later.

A small smile tugged at her lips, one face clear in her mind as the only person she knew with that hair—that hair which she had drooled over and dreamt of many times. The hair of her not-so-long-ago crush. She resolved to trust her nagging gut more often.