Disclaimer: I do not own naruto

Prologue:

Once upon a time….

Years ago, before time as we know it, before the time of the ninjas, a woman by the name of Kaguya stole a mystical fruit from the world tree located within the Celestial realm. Upon eating it she gained great power, power to rival that of Kami himself. She ruled the human realm for several years, worshipped as a goddess until her power corrupted her. For with absolute power comes absolute corruption and she turned upon the humans. She declared that all chakra was hers and hers alone, that humanity was a blight upon 'her' world and she would not allow them to use 'her' chakra to destroy it. Her twin sons, Hagoromo and Hamura, stood against her. After a long war that left the lands half dead and Kaguya badly wounded, Kaguya merged with the World Tree in an attempt to save herself and gain power to defeat her sons. She became the Ten Tails, filled with more power than any mortal should hold. At this point the Shinigami and Kami stepped in and helped the twins with a seal. The seal stole the chakra from Kaguya and placed it within Hagoromo. While this happened Hamura sealed the wooden tree body that contained the soul of his mother into the darkside of the moon. He left to sit upon the moon and guard the seal while his brother, soon to become known as the Sage of Six Paths, wandered the world, using his chakra to heal the damage of the war.

As he felt his and his twin's lives coming to an end he sought a way to keep the seal upon their mother strong; for he knew that humans desired power and that one day they would seek to release her in a misguided attempt to gain power. He spilt the power up; at first nervous and only taking small parts until he gained confidence and released more. Eventually the ten tails power was all released into nine parts. The sage used natural energy to tie the power into a corporal body. He then wandered with his 'children,' as he called them, letting them see the new world that was blooming all around them.

Each of these bodies eventually took on an animal like form to resemble the animals they liked best. Upon this, they solidified and truly became the tailed beasts, a biju, real and not ghost like. Upon this moment, the Sage gave each a name. The names were lost to humans over time, instead replaced by a title of how many titles each had.

Each of these chosen favored animals had a clan in the Nature Plane, which humans call the summoner's realm. Seeing a way to gain power and get the annoying human Godlings to acknowledge them; said clans offered to take in each biju as a "Guardian" of a new seal that held Kaguya captive in the darkside of the moon. Seeing a solution to the defense of the seal he and his twin had made, the Sage summoned his twin from the moon for one last time; one last task. Each Biju combined a bit of their power with the clans into a seal; strengthening and surrounding the Sage and his brother's seal. The Biju's were called "Guardians" and Kami declared them apart of a "Heavenly Council" for their work in protecting the world from the dangerous Kaguya. Eventually the power of the Biju became too great and it upset the natural plane's balance. Seeing this they left back for the mortal realm, leaving behind their seat of power for the strongest of the animal clan to hold for them; the animals took the title of "Boss" rather than Guardian as they did not wish to replace the Biju's who they'd become fond of. As time passed the Toad clan suddenly gained a seal and seat upon the Heavenly Council. Through the secrets of their oil they had unlocked the ability to increase their affinity for natural energy like the Biju's had naturally. They called the state "sage mode" in honor of the Sage of 6 paths; through it the strongest of their kind gained the power almost like a Biju's. Seeing this they worked out how to add a new seal to the moon. As it went into effect, the other animal clans had to acknowledge their power as it worked and took the strain off the other 9 seals.

Years went by with no change…. Humans lost the knowledge of what had happened, of who Kaguya was, the purpose of the Biju's and the Heavenly Council. They came to call the great beasts "demons" simply because they were too powerful, too dangerous. In time they learned to seal them away and steal the Bijus power for themselves… this hurt and warped the tailed beasts, no longer were they content to sit in peace. Now they fought back; this was no longer the sweet world their father had traveled through with!

Once the many different animal clans had a contract scroll and many summoners; but as the years passed and the warring period came upon the humans their summoners numbers decreased. Soon contracts were hoarded among a particular family of humans and when they died, through war or age or disease, the contract was lost. As of today, almost a thousand years after the Sage passed away, the contracts are rare and the beasts of the nature plane have ceased to think of humans too much. It wasn't until one event that the animals within the natural plane were shaken from their contented lives. They had lived for long years simply content to take on humans as a summoner, using the power of the humans to increase their own prestige. But the consequences of the Minato Namikaze's actions upon the day he died shook their plane out of its complacent life.

Today within Konoha, the Yondaime is mostly famous for sealing the nine tails… but his greatest change wrought in his city was not that. His greatest change and gift given to Konoha was the change in schooling. A year into his term as Hokage he rewrote the rules of the pre-Academy and Academy. Raising the graduation age of the pre-academy, where he had them focus on all things intellectual and theory, to a minimum of 9, he halted the use of child soldiers in Konoha. The civilian's academy stayed mostly the same, focusing on practical things and getting their students apprenticed. The shinobi academy however changed drastically. Now one could only graduate at the age of 13 at the earliest and that only if you entered at the age of 9 to 11. No longer were students allowed to skip a year because each year focused on certain skills; the more dangerous lessons were held back until the last two years so that drop outs did not learn anything too dangerous. Instead of relying upon jounin sensei's to teach chakra control, trapping, stealth, and other vital skills, instead they were taught before graduation. Now the jounin's were able to focus on things like actual jutsu's, more advanced fighting styles, weaponry, and missions. This cut down on the strongest ninja's being taken out of mission duty for too long; and made the civilians and older ninjas happier knowing that their children would not have to kill too soon and would be granted a childhood. Some clans were upset; why were their children being denied the power that they had available to them at a young age? But their complaints were ignored for the most part as proof of the Yondaime's changes came about in the coming years. Now genin's were strong enough to be trusted with tasks and could protect their clients instead of relying upon the jounin alone. The age difference alone made more jounins willing to take on a team; since they weren't going to be babysitting snot nosed brats and instead had more mature (though hormonal) teenagers to lead more were willing to put in the time away from high paying missions and into teaching.

However the Yondaime never got to see this come to fruition; 3 years into his term his wife gave birth... and a masked man took the opportunity in her weakened seal holding back the nine tails to release it upon Konoha. Death and destruction followed; under control of a fully mature Sharigan, the nine tailed fox laid waste to Konoha. After a desperate battle, he summoned the boss summons of the Toads to hold back the crazed beast as he worked on a seal. Once it was finished, Minato summoned the Shinigami and took half of the nine tail's chakra with him to death as the rest was sealed within his newborn son by his dying wife.

Unbeknownst to Minato; Kurama, the nine tails', chakra and soul being halved into yin and yang and then subsequently losing one half to the Shinigami weakened the seal upon the moon greatly. The ripple was first felt by the fox tribe; but soon each Boss summon seated upon the Heavenly Council noticed. They summoned a meeting of all clans; they needed to know what happened, why the seal had suddenly decreased by half and shaken the moon. Once all were present, the foxes looking exhausted as the missing chakra now had to come from them instead of Kurama, a large toad stepped forward; Gamabunta.

All noticed his bandaged state and look of worry upon his brow.

"I know what has happened." He said and all went quiet. "I was summoned into battle against Kurama; except he was not himself. He did not speak, did not react to me. He merely attacked a human city blindly. And.. .the way he attacked was strange." He sighed and rubbed a webbed hand across his face. "It was.. as if he was struggling. He didn't use any of his most powerful attacks; almost like he.. didn't want to fight. But was forced too." He looked at the fox boss sadly. "I battled him to a standstill and then I was desummoned upon the death of my contractor. Minato did something stupid; he split Kurama in half, into Yin and Yang."

Growls from the gathered crowd were heard. To split someone like that was to split their soul! No wonder the seal was weakened!

"And then that blasted fool took half of Kurama within into the Shinigami's stomach. The other half was sealed I think." Gamabunta bowed deeply. "I am sorry... this… I do not know how to undo the damage done by my contractor."

Voices raised as they clambered; animals each talking, accusing, worried, wondering… what do they do now? A soft voice emerged from the water to one side. A large great white shark was circling about, behind him were, strangely enough, the dolphin, orca, and whale leaders.

"Perhaps... a solution we have?" He growled.

Hitotsuyanagi, a large dragon that was perched above them growled to quiet everyone so he could hear the sharks word.

"Speak Takasane. If you have a way to fix the toad's mistake…"

"Tis not his mistake." Iwamura, the large male orca hissed in amusement. "Tis human stupidity as usual. But yes. We do have an.. idea that ought to work. With help of course." The dolphin squeaked her agreement.

Takasane, the shark grinned, showing altogether too much teeth.

"Perhaps a new guardian ought to work? We do happen to have a... suitable potential yes."

Silence followed by interested murmurings. All the clans wanted to have their own Guardian; not only was it a huge power boost and prestigious, it was an honor to be one of those who held the seals up against the insane goddess Kaguya. If they had found a way… perhaps it would also open up a seat for other clans?

"We have a summoner; one Kisame Hoshigaki. The humans call him the tailless beast. His chakra reservoirs are... most impressive. I might even dare say he could challenge me. If we could teach him to walk the path of a Sage… perhaps he could become a guardian with our aid to strengthen the weakened seals?"

"We would support and aid the sharks." Nagai, a large male whale spoke in his deep echoing voice. "With our collective clans, the sharks could support a Guardian."

"We have decided to gather together and call ourselves the Sea Hunter clan." Iwamura, the orca followed up with his comment.

"We would just need… aid in figuring out this Sage business." The dolphin, Himeno, chuckled. "If Kisame could match his chakra with natural energy.. he should be strong enough! And we all know the seals; tis just a matter of power isn't it?"

The groups separated and began to talk amongst themselves. It sounded like a solid plan! And one they could all take advantage of later! If they could also find someone of suitable power…!

"You would.. choose a human to become a guardian?" Moromochi, the fox boss, asked tiredly. "Can he be trusted to not let her go?" She was merely being wary; if this could work she wanted it too! The loss of Kurama's power had hit her people hard and they were weakened right now as all of them poured their chakra and natural energy into the seal to try and make up for the loss. It had stopped the seal from breaking, but she knew it was too weak to stand for long. And should another clan attack; her people would be forced to choose between defending their land or releasing their seal.

"He is honest. He is loyal. He is hurting from betrayal himself." Takasane murmured softly. "He loves to fight, but is not berserk. He seeks to improve himself, but does not seek power for powers sake. He wants to live a life not clouded by lies… would this not be something he wants? He is also.. part shark already and our contractor."

"If this can work, I support you." Moromochi stated before curling up and sitting down.

"As do I." Gamabunta spoke up. "In fact… we will teach all the use of toad oil. Perhaps we have been too proud and greedy in keeping it to ourselves… if this can help fix what our contractor caused than it shall be done."

At this even the haughty dragon perked up and grinned. The toads had ever guarded their secret… and the power it brought!

"But beware;" Gamabunta continued; " To use it is to court death. I don't suppose you have seen the circle of stone toads?" He asked the crowd and received murmurs of assent. "They were all once alive, and all sought the power of a Sage. If you take in too much natural energy it turns you to stone. Our oil merely makes it easier to access… and easier to lose control."

At this some animals stirred at his words reminded them of something. There were places that caused one to.. change. To turn to coral, or stone, or burn up; was it the same way? The silent large scorpion spoke for the first time; "Does it... feel like power thrumming through your body? Like all sound is louder, colors brighter? If so… we know of a location. Shukaka's den when he last lived here. It is... odd and if you venture too far in you are turned into a quartz statue."

"Isubo left behind a coral reef where you turn to coral itself if you enter. Tis quite beautiful." A large octopus spoke up; Hikiane the leader of all in the ocean but the clans that claimed to be 'sea hunters.' "I admit that it does feel like… the water sings when you are about it."

Gamabunta nodded. "That sounds… very like what we have… I will have our elders talk to yours about how we train to ... try and keep our potential sages from killing themselves."

"So tis not reversible?" A voice called out.

"If it is... we have yet to find it." Gamabunta responded sadly.

"We thank you for this." Takasane spoke up. "We will find you once we have talked to Kisame and bring him here…"

"In the meantime… we will also be searching for more of these... places where one can access natural energy easier. I suspect they will be easy to find." Hiko, the scorpion said with amusement.

"And gather about us more contractors." The large brindled wolf perched on a rock above Hiko barked. "For each contractor does bring in more power to support a seal… and from what I have seen summoned beasts grow faster in strength and chakra. If we can strengthen ourselves maybe we won't need a human guardian." He grinned and eyed Gamabunta, remembering when they were both small and how the toad had grown faster once he'd been summoned. "Perhaps I ought to go speak to the old clans mine once favored…"

With that the clan boss's left, small clouds appearing where they once were as they transported out of there. It was time to hunt for power; hunt for contractors and keep Kagurya sealed. Territorial wars could continue after they were safe; till then it appeared that they would be focusing upon the mortal realm for once…

AN: My first fanfic tis started! Chapter one is really just starting the stage... next chapter you get to meet my OC, the main character. If you notice grammar or spelling errors let me know so I can change em.

This world is like canon but very much AU! I added a lot of things, got rid of some and warped others. So yes, I know my characters may act ooc, or somethings are very different and stuff.

Major difference is AGE. I upped the ages cause I felt like older genins made more sense. If you want more information than I provided I do happen to have a huge doc with background info and stuff.

Have an idea you think would work? Toss it my way; I love discussing world building and plots!

Not sure about pairings.