DISCLAIMER: The Naruto Manga and Naruto/Naruto: Shippuden Animes including their characters, storyline, and content are all owned by Manga Author Kishimoto Masashi and are licensed by Viz Media, Madman Entertainment, and Shueisha. I claim nothing except for my original characters. The idea of the scattered Uzumaki clan and depicting Uzumaki Honoka as a surviving character is credited to Psycho G in his FanFiction "Sealed Legacy." I give permission to anyone reading who wishes to create their own FanFictions to use any of my original characters and/or their personalities. I only request credit for their use in return.

/Prologue/

"Yondaime Hokage Minato, step away from the female Jinchūriki Uzumaki, or your newborn child will suffer his demise. It would be quite a shame for him to exist not even five minutes in this cruel world, or would I be doing him a favor by killing him now?" A man clothed in a dark hooded cloak with an orange mask customized with black swaying patterns was holding Namikaze Minato's infant son, Naruto, with a hand merely inches away from his fragile skull. Behind the man were the bodies of one of the nurses who helped with the delivery and the wife of the Sandiame, Sarutobi Biwako. His one visible eye revealed no hints of mercy nor negotiation with his deep voice following suit. Instead, his eye relayed hatred through the form of a three-tomoe sharingan, the signature Kekkei Genkai of the legendary Uchiha clan.

'Naruto...' Minato had very few options to act on, most of which involved his son's death. Why would this have to happen now of all days? Of all the days of the year, the one day in which he or Kushina would be confronted by an assassin, it had to be the day in which his son, his very own flesh and blood that he loved so dearly, was to experience his first day in this world. He glanced over at his wife. She lay on the medical table, exhausted and weak from her recent labor and birthing. She was helpless. But something was wrong. 'The seal is breaking! The Kyūbi!' He looked back at the masked assailant, fear and panic in his eyes so obvious even a toddler could read his emotions.

"Wait! Calm down! Let's at least talk through this! Please! Don't do anything rash!" Minato pleaded with worry and concern evident in his voice. Unamused, the assassin tossed the infant into the air, drawing back his left hand, armed with a razor sharp kunai to strike him down. Minato saw his chance. He used his signature jutsu, the very technique that earned him his famous nickname of Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō, to snatch up Naruto in a flash and land behind the assassin after ricocheting off the ceiling. The masked man smirked behind his mask.

'Hiraishin no Jutsu. You truly are a one-trick pony just as I remember, Sensei. And after all these years too. Nonetheless, your speed has always impressed me. However...' He formed a half-ram seal, setting off a sizzling sound from the blanket Naruto was wrapped in. Minato noticed this and swiftly inspected the blanket only to find it littered littered with explosive tags primed for detonation. Frantically, he ripped the blanket off Naruto's body and flung it aside, using Hiraishin to teleport back to his home.

He walked over and laid the child onto his bed, out of harm's way. He took a moment to smile at his son. 'Naruto, my son... At least you're safe now. Don't worry, I'll pro-' He was jolted out of his self-musings by an incredible surge of chakra. It felt dark, frightening, but above all, ultimately powerful. Minato's eyes widened and an icy chill migrated through his spine at the realization when the chakra was accompanied by a ground-shaking roar. 'Kyūbi no Yōko... Oh no. Then that means... Kushina!' Without another thought, he activated the seal placed on his wife and love, desperately hoping she was alright.

The Kyūbi ravaged around in it's seal, searching for any and all weaknesses to exploit in an effort to free itself from its damnable prison. However, much to its dismay, the seal wasn't exactly designed to be weak, as it was designed by Fūinjutsu master Uzumaki Mito, its first Jinchūriki. It cursed to itself, but soon recognized the occurring events outside of its confinement.

Kushina struggled against the chains created from sealing kanji that bound her to two large boulders. She looked before her to see the masked bastard that nearly murdered her precious baby. "Who the hell are you and what do you want from me!" She demanded in a riled up tone, even though her fatigue counterbalanced her ferocity.

"You couldn't possibly be that dense, now could you Uzumaki Kushina? Is it truly not that obvious to you? I've come for something in particular, something that will show everyone that this world is not worth living in." The masked man raised his hands in front of himself, clenching his hands into fists tightly. "I, Uchiha Madara, have come fore the Kyūbi no Yokō!"

At these words, Kushina inhaled sharply. 'Madara? He's alive? But how? The Shodai killed him at the Valley of the End!' She then realized the truth of her situation, and it strummed the chords of fear within her. 'He... He's going to extract it from me... But that means I'll... die...' she thought to herself, fear beginning to overtake her. That fear, however was quickly replaced by pinpoint agony centered at her abdomen where her crumbling seal was nested.

The Kyūbi could now see outside the seal. It struggled to escape once more, this time making some headway. Before it could continue its endeavors, however, it caught the one eye it never wished to see. 'Dammit! An Uchiha! And if I heard correctly, it's the one Uchiha I despise more than the rest!' Before the Kyūbi could process anymore thoughts, its world went dark.

The Kyūbi slowly crawled from its prison to freedom. Its eyes were not the red slits everybody feared, but instead red with circular pupils complemented by 3 tomoe stretching to the outer edges of the irises. The Kyūbi was under Madara's control now. Bit by bit, it extracted itself from the seal. First was the head, then the arms, then one tail, two, three, and so on until the entire Bijū was liberated. It bellowed to the night skies, a deafening roar that awakened most of the village and set the shinobi on high alert. Two shinobi, however, were particularly concerned.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his office in the late hours of the night. His hands were focused on the paperwork at hand, but his mind wandered to a more important subject: Kushina's childbirth. He was curious of the progress, yet at the same time he was terrified to the bone. There was much room for error and one couldn't be too careful when dealing with the Kyūbi.

Hiruzen took another puff on his pipe, exhaling the smoke. He sighed. He supposed he would know soon enough. After all, they were protected by several ANBU and a quantity of sealing formulas. Not to mention his own wife and his successor were there ensuring the delivery went smoothly and the seal remained intact. Everything should be fine.

As if to prove him wrong on the spot, his ears tuned in to a thunderous howl followed by a wave of chakra weighed with hate and malice. Hiruzen froze. 'It can't be...' Immediately, he began equipping his old ninja garb which consisted of a black and green kabuto embroidered with the emblem of Konoha on an iron plate with two long strands of ebony cloth dangling from the back, a dark ninja suit with mesh chain-mail underneath and two iron shoulder-plates, dark green forearm guards, and inky sandals.

As he was adjusting his guards, a shinobi burst through his office door. "Sandaime-sama!"

"I know." Hiruzen cut the shinobi off before he could continue with his warning. It was difficult to miss chakra of that magnitude. Instead, there were important orders that needed to be delivered.

"I want you to relay these orders. Mobilize all the older and capable ANBU, Jōnin, and Chūnin immediately for battle against the Kyūbi. Send word to the police force to gather and protect all of the civilians. Get the all of Genin to safety along with the younger shinobi. We're swiftly running out of time and options so you must move quickly, understand?" Wasting valuable time was not an option during a colossal crisis such as this one. Hiruzen barked his orders fiercely and with an authoritative tone that hasn't been heard for a long time.

"Hai, Sandiame-sama!" With that, the Chūnin left to carry out his orders. Hiruzen gathered his ninja tools all the while musing to himself what could have gone wrong during the birthing period. 'Minato...' he though to himself. 'What on Earth happened?'

Kushina came to being held by Minato upon a cliff overlooking the site where her bijū had been extracted. She was genuinely terrified at the sight of the Kyūbi, yet simultaneously genuinely confused. 'Why am I still alive? I thought you died when your bijū was extracted...' She looked up to her love's face and into his bright, blue eyes. "Minato...?"

Minato jerked at the sound of his wife's voice. "Kushina!" He exclaimed, obviously surprised to see his wife was still breathing regardless of the extraction of the Kyūbi. "I'm going to get you out of here. I'll take you back to the house and leave you there with Naruto, alright?" Kushina, too weak to protest, merely nodded at her husband's plan.

In a flash, they appeared inside their bedroom, greeted by the sounds of a weeping, but healthy baby boy. Minato gently rested Kushina next to Naruto, which she responded to by rolling over and grasping the child in a hug, crying her son's name while doing so. Minato smiled softly at the scene splayed before him, but his features quickly shifted to that of strong determination and barely concealed fury. He whipped his Jōnin vest and Kage overcoat from its hook, dressing himself in them over his current garb.

He looked toward Kushina to see her in the same position. "Kushina, don't worry. I'll be back in a flash. Someone is going to wish they hadn't interfered with my family." Without another word, he used the Hiraishin no Jutsu to teleport to the Hokage monument, now fully geared for battle and prepared to defend his village, even if it meant the cost of his own life.

The Kyūbi ravaged the village, decimating structures and ripping people apart, civilian and shinobi alike. Much of the ruins were stained in blood and body parts. The gruesome sight would have made any normal person topple from sickness and horror. Shinobi and ANBU all executed their most powerful jutsu, hoping to injure the beast burning their home. The Kyūbi, however, paid no mind to their pitiful attempts, simply swiping his tail to wave them away or crushing them like helpless ants beneath its clawed paws. It seemed like the only shinobi powerful enough to even dent the monster was Minato's late predecessor, Hiruzen. It could have been his raw power, or it could have been his knowledge of jutsu, him being the only one who knew any jutsu strong enough to pose a threat to the bijū. He wasn't called Purofessā for his book smarts after all.

As Hiruzen thought they were gaining a slight bit of headway against the monster, the Kyūbi began to charge and mold the signature attack of the bijū: the bijūdama. Now Hiruzen began to panic, if only a small amount. 'None of my jutsu are powerful enough to stop that! However, when the bomb was fired toward the Hokage monument, a large sealing formula appeared in front of it which Hiruzen immediately recognized. 'That's one of the Hiraishin formula! He's not deceased after all!' The seal began to gradually absorb the bijūdama until it was completely teleported to an empty plain far away from the village that Minato had marked with a Hiraishin formula. The large explosion miles away had confirmed his success.

Not moments later, an enormous red toad with a navy blue opened shirt and a tantō at its side appeared in a large puff of smoke above the Kyūbi, falling onto the beast and effectively pinning it to the ground. Hiruzen also recognized this as the Gama Oyabun, also known as Gamabunta. Atop the toad's head stood a man clad in a long white coat hemmed with a red flame pattern sporting "Yondaime Hokage" written in red kanji down the back.

"Sandaime-sama," Minato spoke up from Gamabunta's head. "Can you continue the offensive with Gamabunta? I must go find the perpetrator of this attack and end him." At his successor's request, Hiruzen nodded and proceeded to launch a new volley of attacks against the Kyūbi.

Minato stood in the middle of a woodland area located just outside the walls of Konoha. He tried to locate the masked man's chakra, but to no avail. As he was about to Hiraishin elsewhere, a black swirl began to manifest in front of him, slowly revealing the form of the masked man, the mastermind behind the attack against his village. Minato was surprised by his method of enterance.

'He uses teleportation jutsu as well? He's a more powerful shinobi than I originally estima-' Minato jolted at his sudden train of thought. 'Wait a moment... He's an Uchiha, he knew all about the Kyūbi's seal, he defeated the ANBU we posted and passed the barrier seal we situated, freed the Kyūbi and tamed it, and is now using it to attack Konoha. There is only one shinobi...'

"You're Uchiha Madara, aren't you?" Minato accused in a strong, but icy voice.

The masked man chuckled and removed his hood, revealing short, spiky ebony hair. "Maybe, maybe not."

Minato huffed. "No, that isn't right. Madara died in the battle against the Shodai." It couldn't be Madara, not after all these years. Age affects everyone, including him.

"I wonder about that," the supposed Madara retorted, an all too smug tone coating his low-pitched voice.

"Regardless," Minato began. "Why are you targeting Konoha? What motives would you have to attack my village?"

Madara raised his left arm, from the sleeve of which a chain dropped and dangled. "You could say I did it on a whim, or maybe that it was planned. Perhaps it's war, or maybe it's for peace. Who knows. But now that I have freed the Kyūbi, you people are without hope!" He fastened the chain onto cuffs on his wrists. Minato drew one of his custom three-pronged kunai and held it in a combat stance, prepared to strike or defend at any given moment.

Instantly, Madara charged with his chain trailing behind his back from both cuffs, and Minato responded, arm fully outstretched wielding a kunai which was prepared to strike down the assailant. However, it never entered the flesh of his opponent, but instead passed directly through him, the rest of Minato's body doing the same. He was instead caught by Madara's chain in a vice-like grip, which Minato promptly teleported out of using Hiraishin and one of his marked kunai. 'His body... So physical attacks don't work,' Minato analyzed.'But I've already figured one thing out. If he wants to attack at all, he has to make himself tangible.' He smirked. 'I know just what to do now.'

Minato took his marked kunai and hurled it toward the now charging Madara, following the kunai closely behind. Just as the kunai passed through the rear of his skull, Minato teleported using his Hiraishin and quickly formed his new signature jutsu.

"Rasengan!"

He plunged the spiraling sphere of chakra down onto Madara's backside, effectively putting him out of commission, and, from the way his life force was disappearing and blood was pouring from the wound in addition to the several bone fragments scattered across the site and in his body, Madara was down for the count. He noticed a few orange shards, some with black markings. The mask had been shattered. Curious to see if his assumptions had been correct, Minato rolled the man over to get a view of his face, but what he witnessed drained the blood from his face, froze him cold, and sent shockwaves of horror up and down his body.

"O-Obi-Obito... Oh n-no..." Minato was beyond speechless, but he could still feel himself nearing a breakdown. Tears welled in his eyes, spilling over and down his cheeks. 'What have I done?' Minato had effectively killed one of his own students, a boy who had a kind heart and fierce determination, a boy who should have been deceased, Uchiha Obito. "Obito... Why?" Why would Obito want blood from Konoha? What motives did he have? More importantly, he should have been killed from the rock-slide when he was with Kakashi.

As the light faded from Obito's eyes, he could only mutter five words: "I-I'm sorry, R-Ri-Rin... I-I've f-failed..." His last word was his last breath as the life left him, and his body became cold and still, yet it still leaked blood in multiple directions from his back due to the Rasengan he had been hit with full on.

Minato didn't take this well at all and nearly broke down, but a booming roar from the Kyūbi drew him out of his moping. That's right. He still had a village to protect and rescue, and as long as he held the title of Hokage he'd be damned if he failed them. In a flash, he teleported back to the battlefield without another though of his student, regardless of how it may have impacted him.

"It's too strong for me to handle! I'm losing ground!" Hiruzen wasn't faring well from the sound of his voice. Minato saw Gamabunta grab the oversized fox and slam it back towards the Earth with crushing force. Apparently, this only served to irritate the now uncontrolled beast further due to the fact it began readying another bijūdama. Minato saw this and frantically sped over to the Kyūbi and did the only thing he could think of: He teleported the bijū and himself to his home where the bomb was detonated. However, thanks to Minato's unparalleled speed, he was able to evacuate his wife and child before harm could befall them.

Panting, he asked Kushina, "Are you both alright?" At her nod, he continued, aware of the fact the Kyūbi was back on all fours and fast approaching them. "I managed to make it this far, but I don't know if I can finish this. I'm frighteningly low on chakra from teleporting the Kyūbi here. This might be it for us, unless I manage to perform the Shiki Fūjin to summon the Shingami." At this, Kushina gasped and eyed her husband in disbelief. He wouldn't give his life so easily, would he? Minato saw her worry and reminded her of their options. "Look, it's either I die and take that monster with me, or we all die, including everyone in the village. I can't let that happen and you know it."

"Minato..." Kushina muttered. As much as she hated it, he was right. It was either him or the village, her and Naruto included.

But he would not do this by himself.

She gathered what chakra she had left and molded them into her bloodline ability: the golden and shining Chakra Chains, which protruded from her back effectively binding the Kyūbi and creating a dome-shaped barrier preventing all infiltration and exfiltration. Minato was swept with concern. "Kushina!" he yelled. "Stop! You don't have a lot of chakra left!"

"Minato," she chuckled in response. "Did you really thing I'd let you do this alone? Not while I'm here. I won't let you take this burden upon yourself, 'ttebane?" Kushina informed him. While he didn't agree, he understood her motives and accepted them. She loved the village too, but above all else, she loved him, and she loved Naruto. Minato sighed in defeat and prepared himself for the Shiki Fūjin, but realized one important detail.

"I can't seal its entirety in me, and you're incapable to handle him this soon after extraction. I'm sorry Kushina, but you and I both know there's only one choice available." Kushina's eyes went wide with realization and she gasped even more sharply than she ever had before. Every instict, every maternal cell in her body was screaming in protest, but in her mind, she knew it had to be done.

"Naruto..." she whispered as tears began to flow freely from her eyes.

Minato went over, lifted a crying Naruto from the ground, and summoned the sealing alter, placing his son upon it, readying him for the sealing. He began to weave through seals.

Just outside the barrier, Hiruzen and his shinobi were desperately trying to breach it so they could assist their Yondaime. However, Hiruzen's body went rigid as his eyes followed Minato's hands as they weaved through the seals for- 'The Shiki Fūjin... He's summoning the Shingami... Minato, is there really no other way?'

"Shiki Fūjin!"

Minato finished his seals, clapping his hands together and summoning the Shingami to this plane of existence. He looked at Kushina and informed her of the slight alteration in his plan. "He shouldn't have to make his journey alone. I'll seal the remainder of my chakra and the remainder of yours so that way he'll never be alone and the Kyūbi will never take advantage of him or win him over." Kushina smiled at him and he returned it with a grin of his own. His face then settled into more serious lines as he used the Shingami's arm to remove half of the Kyūbi's chakra and absorb it into his own body. The magnitude of the chakra he sealed into himself nearly overwhelmed him, yet he pressed on, determined to finish the ritual.

Kushina took one last look at Naruto. 'We only just met and now I have to say goodbye. Maybe I'll see you again if you ever try to take control of the Kyūbi. Maybe I'll even help you awaken your chakra chains too. I can feel that you have the same prominent chakra as me, my son. Just know even though I could never watch your grow up, even though I could never take care of you and be the mommy you'd always want, just know this: I love you Naruto, I always will even in death. I love you so much, my sweet baby boy.' Kushina's last thoughts had her spilling tears like waterfalls from both of her eyes.

"Hakke no Fūin Shiki!"

Minato placed his hand on Naruto's stomach as he sealed the remainder of the Kyūbi, his chakra, and Kushina's chakra within the boy. He felt weak and exhausted as darkness swept over him. He looked at Naruto and his passed wife and smiled before collapsing to the floor. Upon Kushina's demise, the barrier released, and dozens of shinobi including the Sandaime rushed in to help the Yondaime and his wife.

"Hiruzen... I... have one last... thing to tell you..." Hiruzen leaned forward, listening carefully to the words of the dying Hokage. After Minato finished, Hiruzen pulled away, nodding his understanding.

"Rest assured, Yondaime-sama, I will carry out this responsibility. And should I die sooner than he comes of age, I will make sure that someone capable delivers the news to him. Minato smiled at his predecessor as his lungs depressed for the last time.

The Yondaime had died, and the Kyūbi was defeated.

/12 Years Later/

Uzumaki Naruto, the pariah of Konohagakure no Sato, strolled down the streets following his new sensei, a perverted old hermit known to all as Jiraiya, the Gama-Sennin, one of the three Sannin of Konoha. Naruto took much joy in calling him the ero-sennin, yet regardless, Jiraiya was willing to take him on a five year training journey. It was the least he could do for his late deceased student, Minato.

Before they reached the gates, Naruto stopped for a moment and spun on his heel to face the Hokage monument, four stone faces looking over the village. He raised his fist to them. "I will come back as the strongest ninja in the village, and I will become Hokage! Nobody's gonna stop me! Dattebayo!"

Jiraiya turned around to witness his newest pupil standing in the middle of the street with his fist toward the sky spouting his usual 'Hokage' nonsense. "Yo Naruto," he spoke up, catching the blond's attention. "We gotta go gaki, hurry it up!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Gomen, ero-sennin!"

"I told you to stop calling me that, gaki!" Jiraiya viciously retorted. What was the kid thinking? Calling him a pervert in the middle of a busy street like that! He was a legendary ninja dammit! He deserved some form of respect!

Little to Naruto's knowledge, considering his routine obliviousness and dense mentality, a small and timid twelve year old girl with short, indigo hair and pale, lavender eyes watched him from behind a telephone pole, a small jar in her hand filled with a healing salve and a light blush tinting her milky cheeks. It's the same healing salve she gave him during the preliminaries of the Chūnin exam. Her name was Hyūga Hinata, heiress of the esteemed and influential Hyūga clan, an heiress seen as weak by her father. Despite her efforts to please him, it seemed impossible. She was never strong enough for his liking, and her weakness was not appealing to him. She didn't care too much about that though. Her goal, above all else, was to become strong enough to be considered worthy to walk beside Naruto as his equal, or at least close. She wanted him to acknowledge her. 'If I give him my homemade medicine, maybe he might pay a little attention to me,' she mused in her head, still trying to build up the courage to approach him. 'If I don't give it to him now, I won't get the chance to at all. He is after all leaving for five ye-'

That was enough to send her sprinting after him full speed. She had to do something now. It was now or never.

Jiraiya and Naruto finally reached the gates of the village, fully prepared to depart. Jiraiya turned to his new student. "Ready to go, Naruto?"

"Hell yeah!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically in response. "Let's go! I'm ready to get super strong!"

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto, but he noticed a small dust cloud swiftly approaching them. He smirked as he noticed who was causing such a dust cloud. "Hold up, gaki. One of your friend's wants to see you off."

Naruto gave his sensei a confused look, but when he turned around, a big grin nearly split his face. "Hinata!"

At the sound of his voice, Hinata skidded to a stop on the dusty cobblestone trail, digging her heels into the ground to further slow her rapid advance. She halted just feet away from the duo, her light blush growing even more prominent. "H-hello N-Narut-to-k-kun..." she stuttered out. She cursed her stuttering quirk. Nothing ever seemed to come out right in front of him.

"Hi Hinata!" Naruto bellowed jovially, his grin still in place. "You really came all the way here to see me off?" Truth be told, Naruto didn't think his friends cared that much about him. As it stood, Hinata was the one he had the least contact with, well next to Aburame Shino.

Her blush further intensified at his greeting and trailing question. "Y-y-yes, N-Naruto-kun-n... I-I heard f-from S-Sakura-s-san t-th-that you were l-leaving today f-for five y-years, so I-I thought I-I'd bring your a-a p-p-p-pr-pres-present..." She could barely get the last word out. But as per her words, she held out the container of healing salve towards Naruto, bowing and not even daring to meet his bright azure eyes.

"Hey, isn't this that stuff you gave me during the Chūnin exams, Hinata?" She nodded, not moving the rest of her body even a centimeter. "Gee, thanks, Hinata-chan! You're the best!"

She shot upright immediately with a squeak, eyes so wide her eyeballs threatened to shoot from their sockets. 'H-Hinata-c-chan? I-I'm the b-b-best?' She could barely form a coherent though as it was-

-up until he squeezed her into a bone crushing embrace. 'H-he's... N-Naruto-kun is... h-h-hu-' This proved to be too much for the poor girl, and she promptly fainted into his arms.

Naruto, dense as ever, was genuinely confused. "Hey, uh, Hinata-chan, you okay?" He asked her limp form. No response. 'Why does she always do that?' he pondered to no one in particular. He heard Jiraiya bark amused laughter from the direction of the gate.

"Hey! Shut it ero-sennin! It's not her fault!" This only served to fuel the old man's booming laughter. Sighing in defeat, he carried Hinata to the nearest tree and placed her in the shade, letting her cool down.

Before he turned and left, a thought occurred to him. 'I should give her something back. Hmm... oh well, I don't have any ryō anyways, so this oughtta do it!' He reached into the pocket of his orange jumpsuit and pulled out his favorite ryō purse, appropriately named Gama-chan due to its froggy appearance. He laid the empty ryō purse on Hinata's lap and smiled before running back to the gate to meet up with his still laughing sensei. They proceeded out of the village gates, arguing back and forth between eachother, not to return for five years, but not before Naruto took a double take of Hinata and smiled again. He'd be back someday.

/End/

/Next Chapter: Homecoming/

Please R&R, it's my first FanFiction and I'd like to know what you guys think! I've got a whole adventure planned so please follow and favorite this FanFic if it hyped you up!