"HOLD THE LINE! WAIT FOR THE FOURTH HOKAGE!" screamed a chunin before exhaling a torrent of chakra infused water at the rampaging beast. Said beast was none other than the great Nine Tailed Fox, lord of the biju. It's tails swung out in a wide arc, crushing trees and leaf ninja alike. It had appeared out of nowhere and had begun to systematically destroy Konoha. The Ninja rose up to defend their home but it was all for nought, their attacks were making no difference, the fox would either dodge, absorb or just regenerate too quickly. Their only hope was the Fourth Hokage. Just when the line was about to break, the battlefield was suddenly covered in a dense cloud of white smoke. When the smoke cleared the defenders were amazed. A giant toad, some 20 stories high, sat on its haunches. Strapped to its back was an equally large dagger, it wore a blue yakuza style jacket with the kanji for 'Toad' emblazoned on it. On its head stood their salvation, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage.
"This is it 'bunta, I really need your help on this one." Said Minato, sounding more than a little worried.
"Whatever it is you're going to do you better do it fast, I might be strong but the Kyuubi is on a whole other level." Said the gruff old toad. Minato simply nodded and started to go through a large series of complex hand seals. When he was finally done he felt a strange power surge through him before a small black portal opened above him and out fell something no bigger than himself. The man fell through and landed rather ungracefully onto Gamabunta's head, a sword at his waist and a large bottle of sake in his hand. He wore a strange black robe with a smaller white over coat over it. A green and white stripped bucket hat rested on his shoulder length platinum blond hair. He stood up, looking around frantically, trying to figure out where he was and what had happened to him. 'This is not what I would have expected the Shinigami to look like, I would have thought black, bones and a big scythe. Not, well…. This." Thought Minato as he examined the unruly man.
"Ugh, sorry to sound disrespectful or anything, but are you the Shinigami?" he asked. The strange man whirled around to face Minato.
"Ah, yes, I a Shinigami." He said, ignoring the bemused reaction. He walked closer to Minator and held out a hand. "Kisuke, Kisuke Uraharah, I take it that you were the one that 'summoned' me here no?"
Minato took the proffered hand before speaking, "Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, And yes I did summon you here. I needed help sealing the Kyuubi away to protect the village." He said as he gestured behind him to the snarling fox demon. Kisuke simply sighed.
"I see, and where exactly did you plan to seal it?" he asked, genuinely curious. Kisuke noticed Minato look down to his feet with a look of shame on his face. At Minato's feet was a small package wrapped up in white cloth. His next words came out choked as he tried to hold back his tears. "My son, I planned to seal the Kyuubi into my son, to … to save the village, it must be done, I couldn't ask another family to give up their child for this burden. So it had to be my son, it had to be Naruto. So please tell me you will be able to do it this was our last option."
Kisuke understood the man's pain, the feeling of utter hopelessness. The man had come to the conclusion that sealing the demon in his own son was the only option, and Kisuke had to admit that he was right. Being the Captain of the 12th Division back in the Soul Society, Kisuke had access to a wide variety of equipment and was given leave to conduct experiments within reason. He was wondering if there was anything he could do to seal the demon. Two words popped into his mind.
'Soul Transfer'
"I have one method yes, but you need to know two things first." He stated calmly. Minato simply nodded. "Ok, first off, this has never been tried before, it's only a theory so it may or may not work, I would say about sixty-forty. Secondly I would require both a space within the boy to put the demon as well all of your Spiritual Energy. In other words you are going to die sealing it." Kisuke finished explaining. Kisuke had expected a cry of outrage or at least a shocked expression, but Minato's face remained calm.
"To tell you the truth I knew I was going to die after I summoned you, I only wish I could have been there to see him grow up, but this is the only way, so I accept your terms." He said struggling to hold back his tears. Kisuke just nodded solemnly. "Ok then we better get to it. I don't think Fuzz ball over there is going to be very happy when he finds out what we are going to be doing." With that, they set to work sealing the Kyuubi into Naruto.
Ten minutes later and the sealing had been a success, Kisuke himself was surprised to see that it had worked if not more than a little grateful. Minato though, was in much worse shape, to put it simply, he was dying, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Kisuke went to the man's side as he tried to speak.
"Th-thank you K-kisuke," he spluttered. "I have o-one last request as a f-father."
"Anything Minato."Said Kisuke.
"Find a man named H-hiruzen Sarutobi, he w-was the Hokage before me. T-tell him my last wish was for N-naruto to be seen as a h-hero. Tell him to t-take good care of my son." He manage to rasp out.
"Of course I can do that Minato," Kisuke said with a smile. "I might even drop in now and again to see how the little brat doing."
Despite his condition Minato laughed. "I w-would like that Kisuke. Could you l-let me hold my Naruto one l-last time?"
"Of course ," he said "I'll get him now." Minato smiled again. When Kisuke came back with Naruto he could not help but shed a tear. Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage had died on top of his summons head, before being able to hold his son once more. Naruto himself began to cry.
"He was a good man." Said Kisuke.
"That he was, a true ninja till the end." Said Gamabunta before letting Kisuke down gently along with Naruto before 'poofing' away. Kisuke sensed a large population of humans not too far to the south, guessing it was the village Minato had spoke of, he set off towards it. As he walked he could not help but be surprised at the amount of Spiritual Energy coming off of the infant. 'Must be a side effect of the Soul Transfer.' He thought to himself. He knew that with this kind of spiritual energy that the boy would go far in his life, and that with it the boy could probably learn to effectively wield a Zanpakuto. Kisuke sighed knowing he would actually have to come back to this place to help the boy, not to say he didn't want to just that he was a very, very lazy man. It wasn't long before Kisuke arrived at a very large set of gates with people scurrying in and out haphazardly. A group of people at the gate caught his eye. A number of lightly armoured and masked ninja kneeled around a man that looked to be in his late fifties. The older man seemed to be giving orders to those around him. As he got closer the old man noticed Kisuke holding Naruto and quickly made his way over to him.
"Who are you, and why do you have Naruto?" He asked calmly yet deadly serious. Kisuke noticed the number of people now starting to surround himself and the old man.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi I presume?" Asked Kisuke. He got a nod in response.
"Yes but how exactly do you know me, I would hazard a guess to say that you're not from around here."
"Minato told me, and yes I guess you could say that I'm not rom around here." Smiled Kisuke. "There were a few things that he wanted me to tell you about Naruto and there are also something's that we need to talk about in regards to Naruto."
"I see, well you can come to the Hokage's office, which, well, I guess is going to be mine again. We can talk there. Follow me." He said before running of towards a large red building in the centre of the village.
After arriving the office, Sarutobi set up a few privacy seals just to be safe before he sat down behind a large wooden desk and motioned for Kisuke to sit in front of him.
"Now I want to know everything you know about what happened tonight." Said Sarutobi.
Kisuke then went on to explain everything he knew about what had transpired earlier, though it did take some time for Sarutobi to come to terms with the fact that Kisuke was the Shinigami that Minato had summoned. Though he was gladdened to hear that the sealing was a yet sad that Naruto now bore such a heavy burden, knowing that in all likelihood that he would be hated by the majority of the village for it.
"What will happen to the boy now? His father asked that he be seen as a Hero for carrying this burden." asked Kisuke, genuinely concerned for the young boy.
Sarutobi took a long puff of his pipe before speaking, "His mother died during the birthing, on top of that, both Minato and his mother were the last of their respective clans. He will have to take his mothers name, Uzumaki, his father made far too many enemies, that is not a world a child should be brought up in. He will be put into an orphanage, I cannot show favouritism towards Naruto, hopefully he will be able to live a normal life. As for Minato's last wish, I can't force the Villagers to change their beliefs but I can do something. I will make a law forbidding those who know of it from telling anyone that Naruto holds the Kyuubi, hopefully that will help somewhat. " He himself knew this was not the best course of action for Naruto but it was the only one available to him.
"I see, well there are still a few matter concerning Naruto we need to discuss. Is this room sound proof?" asked Kisuke, and receiving a nod from the elderly Hokage, continued. "Whilst the demon is as of now sealed inside the boy it will not stay that way for long." He said, getting a shocked expression from Sarutobi.
"What exactly are you saying?"
"What I am trying to say is that unless something is done for the boy, in about 20 years or so the demon will be able to break free of both the seal and the boy. I am proposing a deal of sorts. I help you if you help me." Said Kisuke as he smiled slyly, pulling out a small fan from his robes and covering the lower part of his face whilst fanning himself. Sarutobi himself was not liking the situation one bit, 'if what this Shinigami is saying is true then the Kyuubi will break free of Naruto, fairly soon, and why does he want to make a deal? What would a god have to gain from humans?'.
"Are you saying you, a Shinigami, is trying to extort humans? What would you have to gain?" he asked.
"Oh my no, you've got me all wrong Sarutobi, I implore you, hear me out." Kisuke said with a slight pout. Sarutobi just sighed and nodded. "First I should start by explaining to you about just exactly what a Shinigami is. To start with, there are over a thousand of us and we are not as powerful as humans might think, while it is true that we do have powers that most humans would consider strange, though from what I have seen from your world they wouldn't seem quite as strange." He explained. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow.
"What exactly do you mean by 'our-world'?"
"You have to understand Sarutobi that there are many things that I simply can't tell you so I'll be as blunt as possible. If you accept my deal then Naruto will one day be able to become a Shinigami." At this Sarutobi's jaw dropped, his pipe falling to the floor. Kisuke continued before he could be interrupted. "As I said before Shinigami are not what you humans believe us to be, we are not Gods."
"Ok then, what does this deal entail?" inquired Sarutobi. Kisuke Smirked.
"Simple, I will leave for a few years to do a little bit of research on what I can do with Naruto's seal to prevent the demon from re-emerging, and in return you keep him alive, have him trained to protect himself at an appropriate age, that's it. You and Konoha can have Naruto whilst he is alive, he can come with me to be a Shinigami when he dies." Explained Kisuke. Sarutobi raised an eyebrow again.
"What do you mean he can go with you after he dies?" asked the Hokage. Kisuke lowered his fan showing a sly and playful smile.
"Spoilers."