Prologue, a Mother's Legacy

A young, heavily pierced woman sat in a hospital bed. A small parcel of clean linens in her arms was open enough to make out new pink flesh and a hint of blonde hair. The baby slept peacefully, the mother paying it little attention. Her gaze was focused on the man in front of her.

The man was standing at the foot of the bed. Taller than average and sturdily built, he wore a long white coat and wring the rim of an oddly shaped hat between his fingers. He had just finished pleading his case. His eyes were filled with sorrow, but his stance was unapologetic. He met her eyes steadily and waited for a response.

She considered her options, and realised there were none. He had phrased the situation as a request. If she declined he would phrase it as an order. If she refused that he would take what he wanted by force. Or else he would simply wait for her to die rendering the whole situation academic. She made her choice.

"Give me a few minutes...alone with him." The Hokage nodded and left the room silently. Alone but for her child, the woman considered her situation.

Her parents were dead, she felt sure. She had yet to see their corpses - if any yet remained - but they had been on the front lines and there were no reported survivors from the front lines.

Her lover was dead. That she was sure off. He had been beside her as the evil chakra flayed his flesh from his bones, leaving nothing behind but a charred corpse.

She was dying, she knew. Eight and a half months pregnant meant she wouldn't ordinarily have been in battle, but the family compound was on the outskirts of Konoha, and when the beast had attacked, it was either die fighting or die running. She had fought and ran, aided by her lover and had even managed to lose the beasts interest after the ninja rebanded to attack its left flank, but the same attack that had slaughtered the father of her child had killed her too. It was just being a little slow about it.

The beast's chakra was evil and venomous. It had invaded her system, infecting her chakra and body down to the bones. Within an hour of escaping immediate death, she knew her eventual fate. Still, she had managed to save her child.

She looked at her child, trying to recognise something of herself in him, or perhaps something of his father, but found herself unable to do so. She had carried him for nearly nine months, and knew she was supposed to be feeling something for him, more than she did. She didn't hate him, or blame him for this turn of events or anything, but still found it hard to muster any real attachment to someone she had only known - face-to-face so to speak - for less than a day.

She felt a little ashamed at her thoughts, knowing deep down that if there was anyway she could have transferred the Kyuubi's poison to her son and saved herself, she would have done so in instants. As it was, there was no such decision to make. The poison had fully infiltrated her system. Her death was inevitable, but she could take her child with her or save his life. Given that choice it was easy. She gathered as much of the venom to herself as possible and had a medi-nin induce labour, eventually opting for a caesarean to speed the process along.

And now here she sat, dying of a demons poison with a scar down her belly and a new born son who would soon be taken from her for reasons she didn't even want to think of, and her thoughts ran to her legacy. Her families legacy to be more precise, but with her parents dead, she was the only one remaining to pass the torch. She allowed herself a moment to grieve for her parents before shaking it off, reminding herself she would join them soon enough. She hoped their Silver was near enough the Source to be reclaimed when they died.

She looked at her son, and then at a slender ring she held in one hand. It was to be his Silver - her father's contribution to the new life. Circumstances dictated plans had to be changed. She knew that bound Silver could be merged under the right circumstances having seen her grandmother give the last of hers to her mother when she was small, but never expected to do it herself. The only person she might have considered it for was her lover, but that was impossible anyway as he wasn't a member of the clan.

She laid the ring on her left palm, and held her right hand out palm up as well. She closed her eyes and began to visualise. Slowly, then with more speed, her piercings and jewellery began to move, vibrating softly and extending thin tendrils out to probe the air around them. As tendrils met, they melted together and grew, until finally all that remained was a large orb hovering above her palm, connected by a thin strand to a slender bracelet.

Her lips moved silently as she concentrated, and the orb spread out, until it was a large lump connected to a thin sheet. Shining lines ran across the surface of the sheet, forming words and figures. When the sheet was full, it folded over and the lump spread out more. Soon enough the last remnants of the orb turned into a pair of covers containing a slender booklet of shining Silver.

Her left hand closed suddenly, and opened. Her nails had pierced her palm and blood ran freely over the ring there. Shortly, the blood flow changed, forming symbols and seals on the surface of the ring. When they were complete she held the completed book over to the ring and touched them. There were sparks where they met, and then suddenly the book seemed to flow, the corner of it melding with the ring. Before any more could meld, she focused her chakra, making the seals glow and the book disappear in a puff of smoke, sealed into the ring.

She sat back heavily, feeling the effects of her actions. It had been years since she had to make do with a little - let alone no Silver whatsoever - in contact with her in some way. Still, it wouldn't matter soon enough. She had effectively just given away her life, what little she had left. She would have to rush with the final part.

She looked down at the child, still sleeping in her arms and shifted him in her grip to get better access to his head. She moved carefully with shaking hands to set the open ends of the earring on either sides of his left lobe. When she was satisfied it was in place, she touched it lightly with her mind, making the ends shoot together, piercing her child's ear and merging seamlessly with one another. The sharp stab of pain that accompanied this was more than enough to wake the child. She ignored his wails as she prodded the ring again, further agitating the sore ear. The ring seemed to melt, becoming a stream of liquid Silver, flowing counter to gravity and disappearing into the small hole in the child's earlobe.

When she was satisfied that only a small hole remained as evidence of her actions, she allowed herself to relax, falling quickly into a deep and eternal slumber.

After a few more minutes, the Hokage peered round the door to see a wailing child in the arms of an unresponsive woman, now mysteriously without piercings. He took her pulse and nodded sadly, before turning his attention to the child. He fingered the new hole in the boy's ear with some suspicion, but no real surprise and nodded. He lifted the child out of the woman's grip and left the room. He looked around for a nurse to convey the news to but found no one, and walked away.

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Sarutobi prowled the ritual room of the Hokage tower. He had just witnessed his heir summon a Death God from atop his amphibian mount. The Death god had easily defeated the rampaging beast before turning to its summoner. The blonde man had merely nodded before collapsing. Gamabunta had lowered him to the ground before disappearing in a puff of smoke. The death god had faded from sight soon enough, but the Third Hokage's keen chakra senses had found something amiss heading towards the tower, and so had headed there himself.

Sarutobi had dispatched a scout to see to the Yondaime, but had no doubt about what news he would receive. He knew of the technique his successor had used, which was why he had headed straight to this room. His gamble paid off as a young voice rose in a wail from the altar at the centre of the room.

After checking to see that there were no traps for the unwary in the seals laid out all across the room, he moved to the altar, face showing no surprise at what he found there. He lowered a hand to trace the elaborate seal on the child's stomach, and startled slightly as the boy silenced at his touch. Looking into clear blue eyes opening for the first time, he felt a stab of pity for the boy.

He sighed and reached down for the child. Lifting him and examining him for defects, he noticed a spot of dried blood on one earlobe. He wiped it away with a thumb, revealing unmarked skin beneath it.

"Arashi must have been in a rush to have been this sloppy with his seals. How'd he manage to get blood up there?" The elderly man sighed. Konoha was down one Hokage, and he had no doubts about who would be called in to fill the post. He looked at the child again, now sleeping from the day's exertions. "It won't be easy for you...You need a name, don't you..." He traced the seal around the child's navel once more. "Uzumaki Naruto, how's that? Given the effect you're going to have on people, it seems to fit."

Oblivious to all, the last Silver Claimer slept on.