Author's Note: I am really excited about this story! The idea just kind of came to me the other day when I was sitting on my butt day dreaming.
It's a story about how much things would change had certain events not happened in the show (and with my OC).
As the chapters progress you will see some familiar titles (episodes from the anime) with a few of my original ones thrown into the mix. It's going to follow the pattern of the show with my own little twist on things.
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter One: The Beginning
The room was blue, it was nicely sized, a crib in the corner, a changing station on the adjacent wall – and a rocking chair. A mobile of the solar system was placed delicately over the crib, a stream of sunlight illuminating it as it peered in through the window.
The house was eerily quiet on this beautiful morning, the blue sky opened up the greet the villagers. All of the flowers were in bloom and a breeze swelled through the air. Yet the flurry of spring excitement had not reached this home this morning.
Two figures sat in the living room, a red head cradling an infant, and a blonde tapping his thumb awkwardly on his mug of tea. The male was Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Yellow Flash, and the Fourth Hokage. And across the room sat his wife, Kushina Uzumaki. Minato couldn't tear his piercing blue eyes away from the bundle in her arms, their son, little Naruto was sleeping.
Neither of them wanted to be the first to speak, they didn't know what to say.
"Do you want me to hold him?"
Minato finally questioned, Kushina's gaze darted up to her husband. Her skin was pale, dark circles marring the skin beneath her eyes, he could see how exhausted she was. But despite this, she shook her head. A thin smile curled onto her lips, as if to attempt to reassure him that everything was ok. Her knew otherwise, but wouldn't force the distraught woman to hand over the child she almost lost.
Young Naruto was fast asleep, and amongst the heart-wrenching silence they could hear his little lungs pulling and pressing out air. He was alive, their son was alive and so were they. It was luck, really, pure chance that they were able to sit here as they were, like a family. Kushina traced the pad of her index finger across her son's cheek.
"He's so beautiful, Minato! He looks just like you."
Minato smiled a bit, his chest filled with warmth at the sight of his wife and son together. But his optics widened as he witnessed dreaded tears streaming down her cheeks, dripping onto Naruto's blanket.
"Kushina!"
He didn't waste another moment before darting to her side, gently cupping her chin and lifting her to eye contact. He had to know what was causing his wife such pain, what was making this ominous shadow cast over her like a blanket. She hadn't been the same since that day, since the Nine-Tails was unleashed and he almost lost her and Naruto. They narrowly managed to survive, sealing the fox inside of their son while a very brave and memorable medical ninja gave her life to save Kushina. His wife was still recovering, spending most of her days in bed and watching over Naruto while she rebuilt her strength. Minato was in the office most hours of the day, his piles of paper work seemed to get taller and taller as the days went by, and he still had to oversee some of the repairs of the village. The Nine-Tails certainly left his mark.
"Kushina, why are you crying?"
His heart sank into the pit of his stomach, her violet eyes glimmering with tears, she released a small whimper.
"We almost lost him, Minato!"
She cried, her body trembling violently as she gripped her little boy securely in her arms. For a moment, the longest moment of her life, she thought she was never going to be able to see him grow up. When the Nine-Tails almost devoured him, she knew in that moment she had to stop him, and in turn almost lost her own life.
"What if...what if we didn't..."
Kushina coughed, covering her mouth as she shook, the images replaying constantly in her mind. Her son in the arms of Madara, how her heart plunged into her gut, and how for even a split second she thought she would never be able to hold her son in her arms again. What if she lost him? What if Minato hadn't gotten to him in time? What if the Nine-Tails...
"Kushina!"
She snapped back into reality when she felt Minato's warm hands on her cheeks, he carefully brushed away her tears with his thumbs, seeing her this way, he felt his chest tightening, he couldn't bare it. The sight of her in so much pain, and so scared, it caused burning liquid to well within his own eyes.
"You can't think like that. If you continue to dwell one the 'what if's' you'll never be happy, you'll drive yourself insane that way."
However, it wasn't as though these same thoughts didn't cross his mind as well. Had he not reached Naruto in time, he didn't know what would have happened, and frankly, he didn't want to know.
"But...I almost..."
"Please, Kushina!"
Minato pleaded desperately, placing his forehead against her own and gazing into her broken expression, he picked a strand of her vibrant red hair, twirling it around his finger. He always did love her hair.
"Don't say another word...I can't..."
He cleared his throat and released a deep sigh.
"I can't stand the thought of what might have happened to either of you if I hadn't been fast enough. But you can't put yourself through this, Naruto is alive, and so are you. Right now, that's all that matters to me."
Kushina swallowed the painful lump that was bobbing in the back of her throat and nodded, knowing deep down that he was right.
"We're a family, I won't let anything happen to you two. Trust me."
Kushina glanced down for a moment at Naruto, still sleeping soundly, his world at peace. Her lips quivered into a wavering smile and she nodded, they were a family, and nothing was going to change that.
"I do trust you."
Minato smiled as she looked up at him again, leaning down he placed his lips delicately upon her own, tasting her sweetness. Her heart lifted back into her chest, and once they parted she wiped the remaining tears from her face. She was so happy and so lucky to have married this man, he was a terrific husband, and he was going to be the perfect father.
"You really should get some rest..."
He urged, wanting her recovery to be as leisurely as possible for her, Kushina opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when they heard a knock at the front door. Minato tore himself away from her, reluctant to allow anyone into their home at this moment, but what he found waiting for him was quite surprising.
"Sarutobi!"
The former Hokage stood on old, wobbling legs at his front door, clad in white robes and his arms folded behind his back. His eyes were stern, the wrinkles on his aged face etched into a serious expression.
"Lord Hokage."
The elder man spoke, Minato felt a cold chill dance down his spine, wondering why the man was here.
"Come in, come in!"
He stumbled over his words as he stepped to the side and allowed his superior into his home, Kushina straightened up once she realized who it was, though not making any sudden movements as to wake Naruto.
"Oh good, Kushina, you're here as well."
Minato closed the door behind him and made his way to stand next to where Kushina was sitting.
"How is Naruto?"
Kushina gestured with her fingers for him to come closer, Sarutobi hobbled around the furniture and smiled warmly at the sight of the infant, so comfortable in his mother's arms.
"He's sleeping."
She whispered, waving her hand to the seat before them, he took a seat as suggested. Minato felt the air in the room suddenly become thick with tension. Why was he here? He hadn't seen him since the night the Nine-Tails attacked their village, and he rarely made personal visits.
"I'm glad to see you and Naruto are doing well."
Sarutobi stated as he gave a nod to the beautiful red head, she simply nodded in return, truly she simply wished to escape the memory and focus on the future. But it appeared that it would take a while before the talk of what occurred that night, faded away.
"I suppose you two are wondering why I stopped by."
Minato slid his hand onto his wife's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, nodding his head as he felt his stomach twist into uncomfortable knots.
"The primary reason was to see how you were doing, but it appears as though things are getting better, Kushina looks well, as does little Naruto."
And for that he was very pleased, the village had grown to love and adore the Fourth Hokage's wife, she was a real treat to be around. He could remember how when she was younger, she was quite the tomboy, always picking fights with the boys, but she had grown and developed into a mature and gorgeous woman, very intelligent and strong to stand at the side of Minato. Everyone was so thankful that she and the baby had made it out alive.
"But I also wanted to address something."
Minato cleared his throat nervously, wishing the old man would cut to the chase already.
"We took a great risk that night with Kushina giving birth, had circumstances only gone slightly array, Kushina and possibly even Naruto wouldn't have made it."
Kushina ran her fingers as gently as possible through Naruto's hair, wishing for a moment that she could block what he was saying out. Not even wanting to remember that night, couldn't they just leave it alone?
"Madara knew about the weakening of the seal, he took out our guards without so much as blinking. I thought that our location and with the amount of protection we had, that we would be secure. But clearly I was mistaken."
Minato felt pebbles of sweat forming on his brow, he quickly swiped the back of his hand across his forehead.
"Madara isn't aware that you sealed the Nine-Tails inside of Naruto, as far as he is concerned, he still believes it was re-sealed into Kushina. This means he'll be on the lookout. You do realize what this means, Minato."
Again he squeezed her shoulder, inhaling sharply.
"Yes, Sarutobi. He'll be waiting for her to become pregnant once again."
"Precisely. Madara is going to be waiting for you to conceive another child, waiting for another opportunity to steal the fox."
Kushina nodded, taking her eyes away from the elder in order to watch her child, tracing the patterns of the markings on his cheeks. Madara had to believe that the Nine-Tails was still within her, if he were to find out otherwise, he would only come after Naruto when he was too weak to defend himself.
'I'll be damned if I let him ever touch my boy again!'
Kushina didn't mind pretending that it was still inside of her, she was very capable of doing that, but she had a feeling that Sarutobi had more to say.
"As long as he believes this to be the truth, you two must fly under the radar."
"And that means?"
Minato questioned, seeing how badly Kushina simply wanted to hide.
"It would be in your best interest not to have anymore children."
It felt like a bomb had been dropped, the tension in the air thickening even more, if that was possible. Minato felt cold, his heart falling like a stone into his stomach, he was afraid that would be the case. Kushina said nothing, still watching her son. Naruto was the light of her life, she loved him more than anything in the world, and if keeping him and her family safe meant never having anymore children, than she would have to accept that.
"Even if Naruto is now the host, if she gives birth again, he'll come after her. And when he finds out about Naruto, he won't waste any time. And at that point, you may not be as lucky as you were the first time."
Sarutobi relayed the news reluctantly, not wanting to have to tell them that they shouldn't have anymore children. But they had to understand, this was for their safety, and for the village as well. Madara knew what to look after this time, if it were to ever happen again, he was sure that victory would be far out of their reach. Even if this was difficult for them, touch sacrifices needed to be made under certain conditions – and it was in their best interest.
"Do you understand?"
There was a brief silence, Minato scanned over every possibility in his mind, but it all drew to one conclusion. Sarutobi was right, they couldn't have anymore children until they knew for sure that Madara was out of the picture. In that one battle with him, Minato witnessed the man's determination first hand, and learned of his strength. This man had a goal, and he wouldn't stop until he reached it. Minato always wanted a big family with Kushina, but it appeared as though that would have to wait.
"Sarutobi..."
"Yes, we understand."
Kushina blurted out, cutting Minato off before he had the chance to speak. The blonde snapped his attention to her, but she faced the old man, an expression of pure determination and unflinching bravery plastered upon her features.
"Kushina..."
"We understand. If this is what it takes to keep our family safe, than we'll do it."
She wouldn't risk the safety of her family ever again, even if their protection meant giving up having more children. She would act as the host, and that is what everyone would believe, until Madara showed his face again and they could take action. Sarutobi nodded, removing himself from the chair, he said what he had come for, and thought it best that his presence be elsewhere. They needed to deal with this as a family, it was going to be hard for them, but they had Naruto, their little miracle child, and frankly, he was sure they were going to be just fine.
"I'll excuse myself. Think about what I said, Minato."
The elder man left their home, and when he was officially out of sight Minato gazed down at his wife, the only woman he had ever loved, the one he wanted to be happy more than anything. He just hoped that she knew what she was agreeing to. It wasn't going to be easy, hiding Naruto from Madara, and pretending that Kushina was still the host, a small amount of its chakra remained within her, people would believe it.
"Are you sure you're alright with this?"
He blinked as she faced him with a brilliant smile, the smile that always made him weak in the knees.
"I never said it was going to be easy...to tell the truth, I was hoping some day that we might have a little girl. But at the same time, we have to think about the village, and our family. We have Naruto, he's all we need, Minato."
Their son meant everything to them, she knew that things would be alright. He smiled at his love, pecking her forehead and then her cheek, turning down to see Naruto, still fast asleep.
"Right, he's all we need."
