Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind

Konohagakure

Lady Death took many to her bed that night when the Kyuubi no Kitsune came upon the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Like a thunderbolt from the cold clear sky it struck rendering unto dust all who crossed it's path. All those save one. A light in the shadow cast by the Bijuu. A man who had dedicated his life to protecting this village and all those who called it home.

Kazama Arashi, the Yondaime, the Yellow Flash of Konoha.

Outside the tenebrous woods known only as the Forest of Death – a name bought tonight in sanguine currency – on a grassy plain that only hours ago had known the laughter of children hard at play he stood before it. Ash darkened hair lay limply above battered features but of all those who saw him that night they would only remember those eyes. Brilliant sapphirine orbs that held within them a purpose so resolute not the Heavens themselves could bar it, a determination to save his precious people that could defy even this behemoth. He was in this moment more than any other the very embodiment of all that the village held dear, a living example of the Will of Fire.

The destroyer loomed great and terrible over the man, jaws agape, eyes burning like coals, with nine tails splayed out behind it. A force of nature bound in immortal flesh, a being of flame and fury that had never tasted defeat at the hands of man or demon for the creature had not been born that could match it's boundless power. From myth and legend it had emerged to trample the jeweled thrones of the world beneath it's bloody claws.

For all that Yondaime paid it little heed at this moment as he only had eyes for the sweet angel held in his arms only hours free from the womb that given life to him in exchange for it's own. The soft light of Tsukyomi painted the child's delicate features in a mask of peace revealing how very much he resembled the man who held him. A shock of yellow hair… the high cheekbones… and finally the eyes, the same fierce cerulean shade as his father's. On the child's stomach lay a pattern drawn in ink, a seal that would end the threat to the village for all time but at such a price…

A moment he smiled down at his son but his voice was heavy "I am sorry my son for what I must do but I can ask no other to take your place. It is a father's fondest hope that their child will lead a happy life free from strife and I know that my very actions this night will end such hopes." Tears spilled down his face as he continued the words pulled from him by a pain no man should ever know "Forgive me, Naruto, and forgive me, Misako."

The beast oddly made no move towards his opponent as he cried. Never in all the ages of the world had it ever faced one with such a will and for the first time it knew fear. Cautiously it awaited the man's actions watching will all the intentness of a hawk upon it's prey.

Yondaime looked up from his son, eyes dry and hard, and spoke to the beast for the first time "Let us end this, demon."

And Kyuubi did something that he had never done in all the history of man – it replied. In a voice that shook the heavens and the earth it said "Yes! Let us bring this to it's rightful end!"

What happened next would resound throughout all the Shinobi Countries and it would be remembered that on this night, accompanied by the wails of the dying and the grieving, that Kazama Arashi did what no man could. He had slain a god at the cost of his own life and that of his newborn child. Using a seal that had been forbidden by all – the Shiki Fuujin – he took the Nine Tailed Fox with him to his grave.

An entire nation mourned his passing enshrining him with his wife and son. A symbol to the world of what it meant to be the Kage of a Hidden Village, of what it meant to be a hero. His memory became a torch with which the Leaf would banish the shadows and walk the path that he had forged but that was not his only legacy. For one other legacy had come from that night.

A legacy now held sleeping in the arms of the Shinigami that Arashi had summoned from the gloom of death itself. His name was one long since forgotten in the world's of the living but known throughout the lands of the dead. General Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryusai, Captain of the 1st Division of the Gotei 13. And the angel in his arms was none other than the late Naruto Uzumaki cursed now forever more.

"Grow strong and true. Carry on your father's will of fire." The old man whispered as he laid the hilt of Ryujin Jakka against Naruto's brow in the ancient art of the Soul Burial but he did not stop when he was gone. "But do not let your darkness consume you. For if it does I will slay you myself."

As the venerable Captain left a small broken object fell from his hand. A milky white mask of bone in the shape of a fox's head.

Author's Section:

I have 2 questions for all the readers who should Naruto be paired wth and what division should he be in? Let me know your thoughts.