Caught In The Fire's Shadow

Chapter One

Minato completed the last seal. He felt an immediate but intangible disconnection between himself and the human plane. There was no need to look back to know he was anchored to the Shinigami, the reaper of souls.

He wasted little time in sealing off the Yang chakra of the Kyuubi. The chakra chains his wife was using to hold down the fox eased off a bit as the fox shrunk to half its size.

Kushina's face grew long with weariness and despair. She knew she was done for, there was little doubt about that. She was a Jinchuriki and her bijuu has been extracted. Her Uzumaki heritage is the only thing still keeping her alive. She gazed on her husband, his face was hard but calm. The Fourth Fire Shadow, the Yondaime Hokage, who despite her pleas has chosen to sacrifice his life to protect his village and the world.

Minato and Kushina's attention was drawn to child on the ground. They've entrusted the fate of the world into his hands. They had absolutely no doubt that he'll succeed.

The hulking beast loosely held down behind them narrowed its eyes. Not again, it thought, I'll never be a tool in the hands of another human. It swung its paw down, razor sharp claws aimed for the little bundle of life hurdled in blankets.

"Naruto!" Screamed his parents.

Instinctively they flickered into the path of the oncoming claw. It eviscerated and impaled them but they held still. A single half seal from Kushina firmed up the chains and held the beast in place. The fox braced itself up to incinerate the humans with a tailed beast ball, its bijuu dama, they couldn't possibly escape that.

Nothing happened.

Kyuubi gritted its canines together as realization dawned. The thrice damned Uzumaki woman is suppressing his chakra with her chains! Oh how it detests the Uzumakis and their snivelling seals. Bloody cheats the lot of them! It swung its head, sniffing a bloodline a thousand times more outrageously despicable than the vilest Uzumaki in existence. It snarled as even darker emotions were riled up.

"Sorry foxbait," croaked Kushina giving the fox a bloody grin, "you're not killing this kid!"

The fox's answering roar was hushed as a chain snapped its jaws together.

"I'm so sorry Minato," her voice was strange and eerily quiet, "I really wanted you to live."

His answering chuckle broke off into a throaty wheeze. "I kind of thought our retirement would be different. My hair full and white like Jiraiya-sensei, our faces lined with the years and happiness."

"I thought the ancient toad geezer said you'll be bald by 40."

"He's just a jealous old wart."

Both were quiet.

"I love you."

Minato's hand rose and touched his wife's cheek. "I was looking forward to an eternity with you, but I guess it's me and Kyuubi fighting to entertain Shinigami for all time."

Kushina grasped her husband's hand weakly. "I will wait for you. For all eternity. Find a way back to me," her voice broke painfully "don't make me come and get you."

Her husband drew her towards their infant son. They knew it was time if ever for the goodbyes. Kushina looked at her son with all her love, willing it to be imprinted on Naruto's soul.

"My angel, my baby, my son. I wish I could be there for you every hour of every day. To watch your first steps," her tears dripped down to splash her son, "to take you to the academy on your first day and bring you back home every day afterwards. To teach you how to hold a kunai and celebrate your graduation to genin with you. To cook for your team and tell you stories of my days as a genin. To stay awake at night, watching and praying as you embark on your first mission. To watch you fall in love and pursue the girl of your dreams. I know you'll be a great ninja. You're your father's son and an Uzumaki. Eat well Naruto-kun and love with all your heart. Don't let Jiraiya sensei corrupt you and stay away from the three shinobi vices!"

She was almost incoherent with her sobbing.

"I love you so, so much."

Minato smiled weakly. His life force was fading fast. He doesn't have his wife stamina nor her healing factor but his exceptional chakra control has helped him to partially blunt the pain and stem the blood loss.

"Kushina my darling," he held his voice steady, "It's time."

Her sobs subsided. "I didn't allow you to say a word." Her voice was a bit dull.

"Naruto," Minato touched his son's cheek, "your mother has said everything in our hearts. I believe in you. We will always be with you."

He made a hand seal.

"Eight Trigrams Seal. Complete."

Everything went dark.

Itachi hugged his baby brother closer as he trekked on into the night. He knew he should be afraid, he should be choking with the same fright that gripped him when that chill descended that, the creepy sensation of evil seeping into the air. Back then at that moment he knew that their entire lives would change yet again, and also not for the better.

He had raced into Sasuke's nursery, grabbed his brother from the crib and fled. He had to get out of the village, every moment the air became heavier with anticipation, greedily counting seconds. He scaled the eastern wall of Konoha and left the village behind.

Time stilled and changed. It was here.

Itachi was no longer afraid, all his energies were going into keeping his brother safe. The carnage had started in the village but he refused to look back, he plodded on. He lost all awareness of time and space, innately channeling chakra to strengthen his muscles and keep weariness at bay. But a five year olds body has its limited, he collapsed under a rocky protrusion and drew his brother closer. He would protect Sasuke.

It was almost peaceful, the distant commotion of battle more surreal and less likely to invade his earnestly guarded space. Weariness caught up and he almost nodded off, well until he felt the same creepy crawling evil stretching tentacles for him. Itachi scrambled up and glanced frantically for an escape route, all the while knowing it was too late to flee. He sensed the distortion in space and time even before it became visible to the human eye.

The sound was deafening as a giant plume of summoning fog rose sky high. It slowly dissipated as the figures emerged from within. The Yondaime, his wife and what looked like a wrapped bundle in the arms of Kushina Oba-chan. The significance of his role model being here and his favorite aunt looking pregnant no longer was however lost on Itachi as he surveyed the hulking monster before him. The Kyuubi no Yoko. He was petrified with fear as malevolence, anger and hatred rolled off the monster in waves.

Kushina Oba-chan swung into action releasing chakra chains, trapping the fox, the man, the baby and the two hidden Uchiha; helpless and unnoticed, Itachi had no choice but to be a first hand witness to the events that unfolded. It confirmed what he had feared, nothing would ever be the same again.

The legendary Uzumaki life force was fading. Kushina could feel life ebb away much like the silent leaf driven by the swift streams. She closed her eyes to her son's cries and hurdled closer to the cold and motionless body of her husband. She knew Minato was dead, his life faded as he completed the seal, but she focused on his dimming warmth and reminded herself of days when the sun was not as dark.

"Oba-chan?" the quiet voice of the child jolted her just enough to be reconnected to the world.

"Itachi-chan?" her voice was hoarse and barely audible. What on Kami's earth was a five year old boy doing in a place like this! "You are here? All this while? How?"

"Hai," he was so brave trying so hard to keep the quiver from his voice. "I wanted to run and get help but I couldn't go with Sasuke and I didn't want to leave my otouto, I failed ..."

"No Itachi-chan." She was firm and she channeled the dying embers of her strength into her voice. "You are a brave, brave boy. The bravest I know. It is time for you to be strong and take care of your brothers." Kushina nodded slightly towards Naruto.

Itachi looked at the baby on the ground. The light of his chakra was brilliantly blinding, no longer the dull red of a dying sunset but a brilliant blue interspersed here and there with sudden fiery bursts of red. He suddenly glanced back at the two adults before him. The Yondaime was empty and lightless, but his oba-chan's light was dying out fast.

"Oba-chan, your light is fading. What can I do?" the boy asked desperately, fear no longer restrained in his voice.

Kushina barely caught his words, she just wanted to lay in Minato's arms and sleep forever. Yes her light was fading. A thought however stuck and refused to yield her up yet. How did he know her light was fading? Her eyelids lifted and she looked into the eyes of her godson. Three tomoes spun crazily in eyes as red as blood. She gripped his hands and gave him her last message; a sad smile and eyes full of faith. Her hands went limp, the light flickered and died.

Kushina never heard his cries or saw the curved black three-pronged shuriken replacing three black stars that spun across a sea of red.

Sarutobi knew he was too late. He knew even before he got to where Minato has teleported the kyuubi were; what he never expected to find along with the corpses of Konoha's first couple was the Uchiha heir, Itachi, and two infants sleeping peacefully in his arms. He recognized the Fugaku's new infant and the Yondaime's son, his last living legacy.

Kushina. Minato. These two casualties crowned his despair and Konoha's loss. How the village would recover from this he had no idea, but recover it must.

Four Anbu squads had followed him to track down the battle field where the Yondaime had a final showdown with the Kyuubi. It was not difficult. The most fearsome, and probably the last adversary, any shinobi could ever hope to face was a bijuu. How the Yondaime had managed to defeat the creature while keeping three children alive was not something he could fathom yet. Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly gave instructions to the Anbu guards to secure the perimeter before moving towards the children.

He knelt in front of Itachi. "Hey there Itachi-kun," he started gently, "are you okay?"

The boy who had not moved since Sarutobi arrived, only giving them a sparing glance, looked at the Sandaime. His face was cool and calm, very unsettling on a five year old.

"No." he answered simply, his tone and statement an odd contradiction to his calm expression. "But I'll be."

Sarutobi concluded that he was no longer dealing with a child. He had seen too much of the same during the third shinobi war. Though he knew it was futile for now, he still had to ask.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Like what?" the boy answered with genuine curiosity.

Sarutobi was quiet, not sure how to respond. Something kept resonating about the boy. Not a very pleasant sensation. He was definitely missing something. The boy was close to Kushina and Minato, idolizing the latter and loving the Yondaime's Uzumaki bride with a plain intensity.

"What happened here? Could you still remember? Can you tell me?"

The boy looked at the elderly shinobi for a few moments, re-evaluating him, considering whether he could be trusted with the intimate knowledge he just acquired. Something in him was broken, he would never trust instinctively again.

"Why?" he decided to air his suspicion.

"The Yondaime and his wife are gone, half of Konoha has been destroyed by a force as legendary and strong as nature. I need the information to prepare and plan for Konoha's future, it'll be really nice if you could help me out."

"Is nature evil?"

Sarutobi was startled. "No! Why would you think it was?"

"It was evil." Sarutobi wanted to protest the boy's words, what would make a boy believe that nature was evil.

"It was evil." Itachi's voice was cold and there was no doubt he was not talking about nature. "I thought it would come for me, I was so scared for myself and Sasuke. It almost came for us!"

The boys voice was becoming more frantic. "I was so, so scared. It was a nightmare …"

The Sandaime was reached for the boy. "It's okay now child. You're safe." He drew the children into his arms. "It's okay and you're safe."

Itachi looked straight into Sarutobi's eyes. "It is not okay. I'll show you."

His eyes turned red and three tomoes spun within them. Sarutobi's gasp of shock was cut short as he was dragged into a world of gengutsu.

Sarutobi let loose a ragged breath as the five year old released him from the world of illusion within which the events prior to his arrival was replayed.

Red eyes spinning with black dots stopped and turned onyx. "I told you it's not okay."

"You are right it's not okay," he affirmed the words of the child. "But I promise I will keep you safe."

A glimmer of hope dared to dance across the diminutive features. "How?"

The Sandaime smiled for the first time since he has arrived. "I am the god of shinobi, I will keep you safe."

He called out quietly and his Anbu captain shushined in front of him, knee bent before the Sandaime. He gave the anbu instructions, explicit instructions with regard to the bodies of the Yondaime and his wife.

"Hai Sandaime-sama."

Sarutobi gathered the children. "It's time to leave this place."

He flickered and was gone.