The Fourth Hokage's Legacy
The yellow haired ninja looked around for any traps that could slow him down. All looked clear so he continued on with caution. His destination was Madara's lair and he had no back up, but he didn't care because that Uchiha had his wife. He wasn't about to let anything happen to her. They had a son and he didn't want him to grow up without a mother. Soon he came to a clearing with a cliff and a river flowing peacefully next to it.
The cliff had a large rock sitting at its base. He ran to the cliff and saw a tag floating in the water. Picking it up, he saw that it was a sealing tag and realized that it was used on the rock to keep intruders from entering the base. He also realized that Madara was in such a hurry that he didn't have enough time to replace it. That was good for him, he didn't have time for petty seals.
He held out his hand and the air around it started swirling and formed the Rasengan. The rock smashed to pieces when he thrust his hand towards it. Quickly, he charged ahead without waiting for the dust the clear. What he found inside was not what he was expecting. A giant statue with nine eyes was facing him. Six of the eyes were completely open with the other three opening slowly.
Besides that, he saw his wife sitting on the ground with a strange aura around her. Madara stood over her, performing a jutsu to release Kyuubi. Around them stood three people he had never seen before. They were all wearing black robes with red clouds printed on them. Turning his attention back to the task at hand.
"Kushina!" he yelled.
Madara didn't look up from what he was doing, but instead seemed to have given a hidden signal because one of the others got up and got into position to fight him.
"You must be Minato," said the man. "Madara was talking about how you'd come after your wife."
"Did he also tell who I am?" Minato asked.
The man seemed confused at this question but answered, "I just told you what Madara told me."
Minato smiled. "Yes, but did he tell you who I am?"
"I guess not. Tell me then, who are you?"
"I am the Fourth Hokage."
The man's face whitened as he processed what was just said. The Fourth Hokage was not one to go into battle with. He looked back at Madara and the other two men with a pleading look on his face. Another hidden signal must have been given because another man stepped out to assist.
"Orochimaru, so kind of you to join me."
"Please, Hidan. I'm not interested in your theatrics," replied Orochimaru, clearly annoyed. "Besides, you didn't even need my help. Your "zombie" jutsu would have kept you alive"
This angered Hidan, "It is not a jutsu that keeps me alive, it is Jashin!"
"Well what ever, I want to kill him and be over with it."
No one moved a muscle for almost three minutes when Hidan finally lunged at Minato with a long, pointed piece of metal. Minato nimbly dodged the swipe and countered with a kunai. It connected with his stomach and crumpled to the ground.
Clutching his stomach, Hidan got back to his feet and tried to get Minato again, with the pointed stick. Again he failed and tumbled to the ground in a heap. Orochimaru sighed as he watched the battle go on. When he decided he was tired of watching neither of them get anywhere, he summoned a few snakes to finish the job off for them.
Minato, seeing the turn of events, summoned the same number of frogs to keep the snakes busy while he fought the two men. He then created another Rasengan and charged them stopping right before getting scratched by Hidan's stick. Hearing a bunch of curses from him, Minato slapped the hand that wasn't holding the Rasengan on the ground. A few moments later he disappeared leaving Orochimaru and Hidan looking all around for him.
Hidan yelled out when something hit him square in the back. A hand appeared through his torso when he realized that he had just been hit with the Rasengan. Falling to the ground with a dumb grin on his face, Hidan didn't get back up. Orochimaru was so surprised by the sudden appearance of Minato that he didn't have enough time to regain his composure before he disappeared again.
Appearing right in front of him, Minato thrust his kunai into Orochimaru's chest and watched his decent to the ground. Turning back to Madara and the last remaining man, Minato began to walk towards them. He noted that the man standing next to Madara looked sickly, and probably wouldn't put up much of a fight, but he didn't let his guard down. Sneaking a glance up at the giant statue, he noticed that all of the eyes were now fully open. He could guess at what this meant, but he didn't dwell on it because he didn't want to think about it.
Madara stood, with help from the other man, signaling the end of what they were doing.
"Let go of me, Nagato," Madara said, shaking off his hands. "Go get those two, the rest of the Akatsuki is waiting."
"What about him?" Nagato asked, gesturing towards Minato.
"Leave him, he won't follow us." Madara smiled at Minato as he walked past him.
Once the four were gone, Minato ran to his wife and checked for any signs of life. A tear ran down his face when he discovered none. He tried harder to located anything, but nothing appeared. Not a breath or a heart beat. He broke down right there and cried for a long time. When he couldn't cry anymore he stood up, picked up his dead wife, and left the small cave.
The whole way back, Minato's mind was hazy, barely thinking of anything, but getting back to Konoha. When he arrived in the village, he was greeted with smiles until they realized who he was carrying. Everyone did all they could to cheer him up, and soon he was able to smile again. He played with his son while performing his duty as the Hokage for the next three months. But his new found joy didn't last, because Madara set the Kyuubi loose in Konoha and it was wreaking havoc.
Minato left Naruto with his neighbor while he went and fought the Nine-tailed Fox. On the side lines Minato had a run in with one of the students.
"Iruka! What are you doing here? This is a dangerous place to be at a time like this!" Minato exclaimed.
Tears flowed from the boys face as he tried to explain. "But my mom and dad are still out there!"
"And they are fighting bravely. You are still just a student, you need to get out of here," Minato motioned for a close ninja to take Iruka out of there. Once he was gone another young boy, but slightly older stepped in.
"I'm ready Sensei!" He said.
"Kakashi, not you too," Minato frowned. "You need to get out of here too."
"But Sensei, I'm not a student!" Kakashi tried reasoning.
"It doesn't matter, you are still young and I don't want to see you die."
Kakashi sighed and walked away, but he didn't plan on leaving the battle field.
Minato turned back to the Kyuubi and ran to a less populated area. There he summoned Gamabunta, the Toad Boss.
"Are you ready Gamabunta?" Minato asked.
The old toad grunted, "As ready as I'll ever be."
That seemed to be what the Hokage was waiting for because right then he gave the orders to attack the Fox. It was a difficult battle, but Minato seemed to be keeping the Kyuubi's power from reaching the village. All of a sudden, the Fox stopped attacking as quickly as it began and Madara appeared.
"Well done, Minato, well done, indeed," Madara said.
Minato got off of the giant toad and faced Madara, ready for what he might dish out.
"Now let's see how you can do without your toad!" Madara yelled as he lashed at Minato. A great battle ensued and neither side had the advantage until Madara showed him something that nearly stopped his heart. Madara had taken Naruto!
"No!" Minato yelled.
"Shh, you'll wake the baby." Madara whisper with a laugh.
Minato calmed himself down enough for him to concentrate on his teleportation jutsu. It would only work on Madara once, so he had to time it just right. Placing his hand on the ground he disappeared and reappeared, a few seconds later, right next to Madara. He took Naruto from his grasp, as carefully as he could, and jumped back, getting away from the Uchiha.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he got his son back, but it was short lived when Madara vanished. His senses now on high alert, he held his son close.
"Minato!" Minato looked up to see Gamabunta talking to him. "The Kyuubi is attacking again!"
Hearing the news, he jumped back onto the toad's head and they went back to keeping the Kyuubi at bay. Just then, a thought occurred to him. He could seal the Demon Fox inside his son. So he quickly came up with his plan of execution.
"Gamabunta, get as close to the Kyuubi as you can!"
Without questioning, the Toad Boss did as he was told. Minato was deep in concentration when all of a sudden the Shinigami appeared, hovering over him. Gamabunta watched the whole thing play out. He wanted to protest, but years of experience kept his mouth shut. You do what you have to do.
A few miles away, a young boy stared out his window and watched as a bright light enveloped the large toad and the Nine-tailed Fox. A small cry behind him, made him turn around and walk to a crib in the corner of the room. Picking up the baby, with much difficulty, the boy began to comfort him.
"It's ok Sasuke," he said soothingly.
Just then the door to the room burst open and a lady yelled at the boy with the baby. "Itachi! Get you brother away from that window!" And with that she closed the curtains and ushered them out of the room.
Back in the battle field, Minato had just finished the sealing jutsu, the bright light vanished and left a giant toad, the Fourth Hokage, and his son.
"Minato! Are you ok?" the Toad Boss asked, concerned.
Heavy breathing answered his question as he carefully took the Hokage and his son, and placed them both on the ground. "Minato, let me go get help," the toad said, almost pleadingly.
"No," he said. "Leave, I no longer require…" Minato took a deep breath, "require your services."
Gamabunta was shocked at his harshness, but he understood and in a cloud of smoke, the toad disappeared. Minato looked at the tiny child in his arms and tried to comfort him. All of the commotion scared his son.
"Minato Sensei!" Kakashi yelled as he ran to his teacher. "Here let me help you."
Kakashi tried to help him up, but Minato pushed him away. "No, Kakashi. I'm not going to make it."
Kakashi couldn't believe what he was hearing. His Sensei never gave up like that. "You can't die Sensei! Please, get up!" The young ninja began to cry. He was shocked at himself. Why was he crying? He pondered the question for two seconds before the answer came to him. "Sensei, please, you're…" the words caught in his throat.
Minato smiled, "You think of me as a father."
Kakashi couldn't speak after he heard those words. It was true, but he almost couldn't believe it. Ever since his real father died, Minato cared for him like more of a father than a teacher. Finally he found his voice. "We have to get out of here. I don't know where the Fox went, but we have to get out of here before it comes back!"
"The Fox won't come back. I took care of it."
Kakashi smiled through his tears. He wasn't surprised that his Sensei had beaten the Fox, but his smile soon disappeared. He still had to get his teacher back on his feet.
Minato noticed the change in mood and spoke. "Kakashi, I need you to take my son to the Third Hokage."
"No, I care more about you!" Kakashi exclaimed.
Minato sighed. "If you think of me as your father, think of my son as your brother.'
Kakashi looked up from the ground.
"As the older brother, you need to take care of him."
Kakashi found himself taking the baby from Minato's arms. A strange symbol on his stomach, caught his eye, but that didn't keep him occupied. He looked back at his sensei, but was shocked by what he saw. He was dead. New tears began streaming down his face, but was interrupted by tiny squeak. He looked down at the baby in his arms and remembered his unspoken promise to his teacher.
Kakashi stood and headed for the Third Hokage. He was going to look after Naruto from here on out.