Chapter 1 – Other plans

"FUUJIN!" Minato yelled so hard that there was no volume left in his lungs anymore.

Preparing to meet his end, he was surprised when he felt no pain. Surely the shinigami ripping your soul out had to be combined with pain? But that was not the case. Instead when he looked over his shoulder he saw that the shinigami did nothing but stare down towards Mito, his daughter, who Minato just sealed the Kyuubi into.

"Interesting," the shinigami bellowed, leaving Minato, Kushina and Tobi speechless. Mito was crying out loud when the shinigami let out his voice.

"I shall allow you to live Yondaime Hokage, but there will be a price, there always is a price!" The shinigami yelled out before cackling out loud making everyone's stomachs churn.

Minato had his eyes wide open when the shinigami faded away into nothingness.

"It seems tonight there will fall no deaths, " Tobi said caressing his injured arm. Tobi could sense that a squad of Konoha ninja and the Third Hokage were heading towards the scene.

"Who are you?" Kushina managed to mutter while blood dripped around her mouth. Kushina had a feeling that the voice that came out behind the mask was familiar.

Tobi let his head go to the right slightly, looking towards the wife of his sensei who always was nice to him before he was crushed by the boulder that had changed his life. If only Rin was still alive, then maybe he could have gone back to Konoha. But Rin was dead and she was never coming back again, so Tobi said with an emotionless voice, "I am the one who will bring peace to this wretched reality," before using his space-time jutsu to disappearing away.

Minato looked towards his wife, and she looked back into his eyes while tears appeared around her eyes.

"We're going to live, Mito is going to live Kushina-chan, it's going to be okay," Minato whimpered, his body bruised and his chakra supply close to zero.

"Minato, that was Obito," Kushina said so low that Minato had to strain himself to hear, but he did hear it.

Minato gulped, remembering only now that the mask that Tobi wore had a hole where the remaining eye of Obito should be. Tobi's hair color also matched Obito's. But his voice didn't sound like Obito's at all. Still, it had to be true, because when Kushina had said that Tobi was Obito, Minato's eyes began to let tears fall down over his face.

As the Third Hokage and a squad of highly skilled jonin arrived at the scene, Minato wondered what would become of Tobi, and more importantly, what the price was that he had to pay the Shinigami for sealing the Kyuubi into his daughter.

Not far away from the grueling scene where Tobi had forced the Kyuubi out of Kushina, the shinigami had appeared next to a crib.

The shinigami's hollow eyes looked down inside the crib where a newborn boy was silently sleeping.

"Asura's one hundredth reincarnation, I will take your soul," the shinigami said solemly. "Those who use the shinigami's seal must be prepared to sacrifice that which holds the most value to them. As one of the Yondaime's children, you are closest to his heart, but I cannot take Mito for she is the container, but I can take you."

The shinigami descended his pale and purple looking hand just above the newborn's heart. The shinigami was about to rip out the newborn's soul when he froze. The Shinigami looked up and noticed something appearing into existence.

Slowly but surely a transparent figure with a white cloak appeared on the other side of the crib. The cloaked figure removed the garment above his head.

The shinigami looked as he always did, with his wicked face able to tremble the strongest. The person he was looking towards however, wasn't scared at all. But the shinigami knew why, because he knew who the person was.

"Hagoromo, Sage of the Six Paths, what are you doing here?" The shinigami said with a cackling voice.

"You know why I am here, God of Death," Hogoromo said equally emotionless.

"Asura's reincarnation cannot be saved, boy."

"Only a being as old as yourself would call me boy, shinigami, but yes, I won't allow you to take my son's reincarnation, because that would mean that Asura will never be reincarnated again, leaving Indra's reincarnations to do as they please, but as you know, balance must be upheld, yin and yang," Hagoromo finished.

The Shinigami ignored the spirit of the sage and continued his process of taking the newborn's soul, but stopped again when Hagoromo spoke.

"I will give you my soul in Asura's stead."

"Done," the shinigami said. Hagoromo's soul was much more valuable than the reincarnated soul of Asura.

Before the Shinigami could take Hagoromo's soul, the sage spirit formed a set of handseals. A burst of energy broke out of the sage spirit and headed towards the newborn.

"That is no equal trade Hagoromo," the shinigami bellowed before intervening, allowing a dark and purple energy source from his own spiritual body to intertwine with Hagoromo's energy.

Helpless to do anything, Hagoromo saw how the his own energy and the shinigami's drained into the newborn.

The shinigami shot his arm forward and grabbed Hagoromo's spirit, "your soul is mine Sage of the Six Paths " the shinigami said before opening his mouth.

As Hagoromo, father of Asura and Indra and son of Kaguya, was eaten by the shinigami, knowing that Asura's reincarnation would not end, he felt dread at what the shinigami had done to his son's reincarnation. Hagoromo had transferred all his powers into the newborn, but the shinigami had done something as well. He hoped it would not mean the end of the world.

As the energy of both Hagoromo and the shinigami finished draining into the newborn called Naruto, the newborn woke up crying. Something burned inside the palms of the young boy, making him cry even more, but no one returned his cries for attention.

Konoha was in a state of chaos. Naruto's parents and sister were in the hospital. The caretakers and Sarutobi's wife lay dead on the ground around the newborn. There was absolutely no one for Naruto.

Naruto must have cried for hours and hours. The newborn was stricken by a feeling of loneliness and he wished that somebody would come to him and keep him company. Suddenly Naruto's hands glowed, one red and one blue.

The bodies around the newborn began to shiver. Wounds were being mended and life was blown into the lifeless bodies around the boy.

Sarutobi Biwako, wife of the Third Hokage, had experienced many things. She knew what death meant, and when she felt her throat being slit she knew that she was going to die. When her eyes closed she accepted her death, but just as soon as they had closed, they opened again. Immediately the jounin reached towards her neck, and to her utter surprise there were no wounds.

Biwako looked around and noticed that the nurses and the midwife who she knew were killed by the intruder began to move and look around confused. Something else took the seasoned kunoichi's attention. She heard a baby's crying. Realizing who the crying belonged to she stood up and rushed towards the crib.

"One of the twins is missing, send word to the Yondaime!" Biwako yelled towards one of the nurses who awoke from her confusion. The nurse nodded before running out of the room.

Biwako looked down and without hesitation picked up Naruto, cradling him in her arms as the newborn cried. How terrifying it must have been to be separated from your parents and twin, Biwako thought sadly.

Biwako's eyes suddenly widened. She sensed an unnerving feeling that reached into her very bones. The feeling came from Naruto and she almost dropped the newborn before hearing the piercing cries coming from the boy. Biwako looked into the newborn's eyes and was surprised to find them open. Most newborn's eyes were closed for the first few days after being born.

Clear blue warm eyes made the unnerving feeling go away and Biwako held Naruto closer to her. Slowly the boy's crying become softer and soon Naruto slept again.

Biwako had no idea why she wanted to drop Naruto, becoming distressed by the idea, but she felt at peace holding her surrogate grandson's body to her own.

One month later

The days after the Kyuubi's attack Konoha set out to recover. The dead were mourned and buried.

The hospital of Konoha was very busy after all the injured were gathered. Doctors, nurses and medical ninja were working non-stop to treat the injured. In one room of Konoha's hospital, Namikaze Kushina was sleeping with her sleeping daughter in her hands.

Minato, while still severally wounded, decided to get back to work as soon as his internal bleedings were stopped, even though the doctor had said that he should rest for at least a week. But Minato was the Hokage, and the village and the rest of the shinobi villages needed to know that the Yellow Flash was still alive.

Minato had left the hospital and quickly returned to what was remained of the Hokage's tower. He joined Sarutobi in assigning the shinobi corps and the civilians tasks. All the genin, chuunin, jounin and even the ANBU and civilians were gathered in front of the Hokage's tower awaiting their tasks.

The jounin were to run patrols around the village, making sure that no scouts from other villages came near Konoha. The chuunin were divided into squads with the genin. Each chuunin squad took dozens of villagers with them. Their task was to rebuild Konoha. The ANBU were to continue all important shinobi missions that were left uncompleted in the wake of the Kyuubi's attack, making sure that the village's reputation remained.

"I hate paperwork Third," Minato muttered with a broken voice.

Normally, Sarutobi would nod, but he looked with concerned eyes towards his successor, "you should rest and be with Kushina and your daughter."

Minato answered like he almost always did, saying that Konoha needed him, but adding that Kushina was with Mito.

He had wanted to say that Minato should be with Kushina and the twins, but something very strange had happened when Biwako had come in with Naruto in her arms in the hospital room where Kushina, Mito and Minato resided. Sarutobi reminisced of the strange day.

"Minato-kun, I've brought Naruto," Biwako said entering Kushina's room. When she came close to Kushina's bed, where Kushina held her daughter, and Minato and Sarutobi were sitting around, both Kushina and Minato froze looking towards the little bundle in Biwako's arms.

Sarutobi was bewildered when Minato said, "could you take care of Naruto for us until Kushina has recovered Biwako-obaasan?" Kushina nodded while she looked down towards Mito in her arms and completely ignored Naruto, having only eyes for her daughter.

"Why?" Biwako said shocked. Naruto was sleeping peacefully in her arms. Biwako looked towards her husband confused. Sarutobi answered with the same confused gaze.

Kushina decided to answer, keeping her eyes plastered on her daughter all the while, "please Biwako-obaachan, Mito has just had the Kyuubi sealed inside her and we want her to be as happy as possible, Mito needs all our attention."

Biwako gulped and had her eyes widened. What kind of mother wouldn't want to hold her newborn child? "But that makes no sense Kushina-chan, Minato-kun, Naruto's your son!"

Minato looked confused when Biwako had said that Naruto was their son. Certainly, it was true, but he couldn't help but feel that Naruto would hurt Mito, and he also didn't feel anything for Naruto, so he said, "we need to protect Mito as much as possible, please Biwako-obaasan."

Perplexed Biwako looked towards Sarutobi, who now held a look that told that he was in deep thought.

Sarutobi came out of his thinking and looked towards Biwako, before saying, "Biwako, the three of them have endured so much today, why don't we take care of Naruto for a while?"

Sarutobi awoke from his thoughts and looked towards Minato who was doing paperwork. It had been a week since Minato and Kushina had all but pleaded for Biwako to take care of Naruto for a while. He was almost sure that Minato and Kushina would come back to their senses after having a night of rest, but one night had turned into several nights before turning into a week. Minato and Kushina seemed to have forgotten all about Naruto.

Sarutobi was not known as the Professor for nothing. He knew something must have happened when the night when Obito had taken Mito from her crib. Causing the shinobi that was known as the God of Shinobi to even more question Minato and Kushina's strange behavior was the fact that Biwako had told him that she knew that the intruder had mortally wounded her, the midwife and the nurses, which had unnerved Sarutobi very much. The thought of losing his wife almost brought tears to his eyes. But what had really unnerved him was when Biwako had told her that when she woke up from her supposed death, she had no wounds at all when she knew that the intruder had slit her throat.

Soon after the Kyuubi attack, Minato had told Sarutobi that Tobi was Obito.

Something very strange must have happened the night when Obito had betrayed Konoha. Something that, Sarutobi was sure about, had to do with Naruto.

It was not until a month had passed from the kyuubi's attack that Biwako and Sarutobi visited Minato and Kushina, forcing them to take Naruto back.

It was not that Biwako and Sarutobi were tired of Naruto, on the contrary, they had begun to get very attached to Naruto. The days that Sarutobi came back from helping Minato restoring the village, Naruto and Biwako had welcomed the retired hokage. Sarutobi held Naruto in his arms every day and had come to care deeply for him, Biwako was the same. It was almost like Sarutobi and Biwako had become parents again, but Naruto had parents of his own.

It was a few days after, that Sarutobi, even though he wanted to give Minato and Kushina all the room to get to know Naruto, he asked Minato while they were alone in the Hokage's office how Naruto was doing.

"Naruto? Oh, I don't know, you should ask Kushina about that," Minato answered without emotion.

Sarutobi had to swallow a lump in his throat after hearing that. An alarming feeling went off in the retired Hokage's body.

Sarutobi all but ran away from the Hokage tower towards Minato and Kushina's home.

Sarutobi knocked on the door, but no answer came. He knocked again, but no answer came again. Confused, Sarutobi wondered if Kushina had taken the twins on a stroll through the park or the village.

"Oh hello Sarutobi-ojiisan, are you hear to visit Mito-chan?" A familiar voice said from behind Sarutobi.

A dreadful feeling entered Sarutobi's body, warning him for what he was about to see when he looked over his shoulder.

When Sarutobi looked over his shoulder, he saw what his mind wanted to protect him from. There stood a happy mother with a stroller. The stroller only had one baby in it.

"No," Sarutobi whispered, shocked. Sarutobi broke the door of the house open with his bare hands before running into the house and rushing up the stairs. He looked around distressed, not hearing any sign of life. He looked in each room before arriving at the final room. With a pit in his stomach he walked into the room, noticing a crib with no blankets. He walked towards the crib and looked down. "No, no!" Sarutobi yelled out, noticing the barely living form of Naruto.

Quickly the retired Hokage picked up Naruto and rushed him towards the hospital. Hours later the doctor who was treating Naruto came back to Sarutobi. The doctor who Sarutobi knew was named Tanaka because he was the doctor of his own children, looked like he had aged ten years.

"Hokage-sama, if you had brought in Naruto only an hour later, he would not have made it through the night. Naruto is malnourished, dehydrated and very weak," the doctor gulped, "have you found out who abandoned this child?"

Sarutobi was mortified. Minato and Kushina must have been traumatized by what had happened during the Kyuubi attack. He knew that traumatic events could change people's personalities, but this was something unheard of.

Soon anger replaced shock. Sarutobi was about to remove Minato from office. He had to stop himself because before he was about to rush towards the Hokage tower and beat Minato half to death, he realized something very important. Minato and Kushina only acted differently towards Naruto. Towards Mito, Kakashi, Biwako, himself and everyone else they knew, they were the same as th ever. "Did Obito put a curse jutsu on Naruto that caused his parents from loving him?" Sarutobi wondered.

"Hokage-sama?" The doctor asked concerned for Sarutobi's wellbeing.

"He's an orphan Tanaka-kun," Sarutobi answered.

That same day Biwako and Sarutobi took Naruto in as their own child. Sarutobi had to stop Biwako from beating Kushina and Minato half to death, explaining to her his theory of the curse jutsu. Biwako nodded and accepted Sarutobi's theory, for what else could possibly make Minato and Kushina treat Naruto, their own son, the way they did?

To the general public, including the shinobi corps, Minato and Kushina only had one daughter, because that's what they had announced. Only Biwako and Sarutobi knew the truth.

Sarutobi promised to himself that he would use all the remaining years that he had living, to find out what had happened the night when Obito had come to steal Mito.

As for Naruto, he would be raised by the Sarutobi's. The general public and shinobi corps were told that Naruto was the child of close friends to the Sarutobi's, friends who had perished the night of the Kyuubi attack.

Five years later

To say that Naruto was a prodigy was an understatement.

At only five years old Naruto was able to perform wind chakra manipulation that shinobi normally learned when they were very advanced chuunin. He also was, according to Sarutobi, very adapt with sealing jutsu. When Naruto was just one year old, Sarutobi had accidentally left a storage seal on the table where Naruto was eating. The toddler had looked curiously towards the note before touching it with his index finger. When Sarutobi came back for the storage scroll, he was both amazed and very nervous. He was amazed because he had never heard of one year old unsealing a storage seal, he was ashamed because said one year old was now flipping through his Icha Icha Paradise novel that was sealed inside the sealing scroll. He thanked God that Biwako hadn't noticed what book it was.

The boy was naturally expected to be adapt at the shinobi arts, looking at who his parents were, but Naruto's progress was ridiculous. It was almost as if the boy was born a shinobi, but that was impossible, Sarutobi convinced himself.

Sarutobi enjoyed teaching Naruto, because it made him feel young again, but seeing the boy smile motivated him most.

It was a morning in the month October that something happened to Naruto that for the first time since Minato and Kushina firmly said that they didn't want Naruto, Sarutobi was truly baffled. Naruto was playing in the yard with his older brother Asuma who had returned from his Daimyo guarding duties, when the five year old started yelling in the pain. Sarutobi was in his study when he had heard the screaming and quickly ran down the stairs and into the backyard.

"What happened Asuma!?" Sarutobi asked frantically as he saw how Naruto was holding his head in his hands, "did something get in his eyes?"

"No dad, we were playing with a ball when Naruto said that his eyes stung, then he suddenly started yelling," Asuma said with uncharacteristically worried eyes. Naruto was the little brother that he never had, and seeing him in pain panged at his heart.

Sarutobi ran towards Naruto and turned his little body around. "Naruto what's wrong?"

"My eyes hurt dad, they hurt so much!" Naruto yelled as tears fled from underneath his hidden face.

"Let me have a look Naruto," Sarutobi said trying to remove Naruto's hands from his face. Naruto allowed Sarutobi to look at his eyes. Sarutobi gulped and widened his eyes when he noticed something he hadn't expected in a million years.

"Dad what's wrong?" Asuma asked before approaching the duo. Then Asuma widened his eyes when he saw Naruto's eyes.

"Rinnegan," Asuma whispered.

"Yes," Sarutobi answered in an equally low tone.

Author's Notes

Hoped you enjoyed the story, leave a review behind if you want to, it would make me very happy.