I used to be a massive fan of the Naruto anime, but the stupid networks here in Australia never even put on the end of Part I. Most of what I know about the series since then comes from playing the Ninja Storm games. So while I was playing UNS3, I thought, 'What if someone else sealed the Nine Tails instead of Minato? And what if he and Kushina had survived?' This was the end result.
The Fourth Hokage's son was going to be born soon. This knowledge was only known by a certain few…and observant villagers. Of course, not everyone was so stupid as to think that his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, was simply getting fat. And no-one would ever say that to her face…especially if they wanted to keep it.
The morning of the birth, a certain Leaf Jonin was summoned into the presence of the Third Hokage. It was an odd situation in the Hidden Leaf. The previous Hokage was still alive in the time of his predecessor.
The Jonin, a tall man with blonde hair and a scar on his cheek obtained from a training accident, stepped into the room and bowed low. "Lord Third. You wished to see me?"
A man in white robes with a short goatee and a wrinkled face gave a slight smile. "Takahiro. Polite as always."
The blonde man rose and smiled. "My mother always drilled good manners into me when I was a kid."
"Of course," the Third Hokage chuckled. "Lady Namikaze was very much a courteous woman."
"It explains Minato down to a tee, doesn't it?"
"Indeed." The Third's smile fell. "Unfortunately, I didn't call you here for pleasantries."
Takahiro blinked. "You didn't?"
"No. Some Chunin have reported seeing a masked man in a dark robe hiding in the forests outside the village."
"You think he's up to something?"
The old man nodded bleakly. "I have been going through research about the Tailed Beasts and their Jinchuriki since Minato and Kushina married, and I have come across something very unsettling."
Takahiro flinched slightly. "What is it, Lord Third?"
The man's look was bleak. "There is a history among female Jinchuriki of the seal weakening during the bearing of a child; the seal is at its weakness during the birth itself."
The Jonin gasped. "Does that mean…?"
"Yes. I fear this masked man…" The Third Hokage's face contorted with a mixture of fear and anger. "…will seek to release the Nine Tails from Kushina."
Takahiro's gasp was even louder this time. "But…why tell me and not Minato?"
"If Minato were to learn of this threat, he would most likely make things even more stressful for Kushina. I need you to find this masked man and stop him before he can reach her."
The blonde's fist clenched. "I promise you, Lord Third… I will do whatever it takes to stop him." His eyes blazed with a fiery determination.
On the way out of the village he – rather predictably – ran into Minato. "Ah, little brother," the Fourth Hokage smiled. "Didn't expect to see you out here."
Takahiro did his best to appear calm. "Well, a lot of us are running around picking up your slack. You know, with Naruto coming along, you've been even more distracted than usual."
"Sorry," Minato apologised with a laugh. "I guess becoming a dad kinda overtook my duties as Hokage."
"Kinda?" Takahiro forced a laugh.
"So, where are you headed?"
"The Third Hokage has sent me out on a mission in the forests," he replied warily. "The details are kinda secret. I can't even tell you."
"Well, that's no good." Minato smiled and tilted his head. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." He dashed off, quick as lightning.
"I'll see you at the birth, Flash." He turned to face the gates of the village. I hope.
Takahiro dashed through the trees, sending probing bursts of chakra out in every direction. He'd mastered the art of sensing the chakra of others and its powers, but…he hadn't completely perfected the technique. I know you're out here somewhere. Now if I could just…
His eyes widened as he felt a massive chakra nearby. There you are. He dashed towards it, landing with a soft thud on the forest floor.
The man wore a dark robe, the hood up, with a pale purple lining. Beyond it was his mask; it had a single eyehole, and was styled after a tiger's fur. That eye…is that the Sharingan?!
"Well, well," the man drawled in a deep voice. "I see the rats have crawled out of their hole to face the cat."
"Who are you?!" Takahiro demanded. "What do you want here?!"
"I have come for the Nine Tails." Just like that. Calm as you would like, he proclaimed his desires.
"You'd rip it from her?!"
"Just as I shall rip your very life from you," the man sneered behind his mask.
Takahiro went to the pocket on his leg and dug out his battered old kunai he'd inherited from his mother. "I doubt it'll be that easy."
The man laughed. "I have faced the First Hokage and survived, boy. How could you possibly hope to defeat me?" Chains unravelled from his arms, making themselves known to him. He charged.
With an agility that even Minato would be proud of, Takahiro dodged the attacks, launching some of his own. He spoke as he fought.
"You say you fought the First Hokage. You…you're Madara Uchiha, aren't you?"
"You sound so surprised," the now-identified man chuckled. "Who else would know how to remove a Tailed Beast from its Jinchuriki?"
Takahiro stabbed at Madara's exposed eye. But it just…phased through him. What?! How is this possible?
He felt his opponent slap something on his chest; he looked down. "What? A paper bomb?"
The scroll exploded, sending him flying. He scrambled to his feet and began charging chakra discreetly.
Madara laughed. "You could not hope to defeat me, boy."
"My name is Takahiro Namikaze," the Jonin growled. A ball of blue energy began to form in his right hand. "I am a ninja of the Hidden Leaf." He started to run towards his opponent. "And I will be the one to defeat you!"
He punched the masked man in the stomach and titled his hand upwards. "Rasengan!" he roared, releasing the energy ball. Madara shouted in pain and shot into the sky.
Takahiro channelled more chakra into himself, making gestures with his hands. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flare!" Two wings of flame formed on his back and he jumped upwards, the wings flapping to raise him higher, towards his opponent. He kicked Madara in the stomach sending him back to the ground; the fire from his back moved into a massive fireball in his hands.
For those I must protect… he thought, I will defeat you!
He hurled the fireball at Madara. It exploded on contact, and the masked man roared in pain.
Takahiro landed, panting heavily. That move took so much chakra out of me. If he gets back up…I don't know if I can…
Madara got back up, sending his chains at his enemy. Takahiro fell, bleeding from his arm.
"If you knew what was good for you, you'd stay down," he remarked. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Tailed Beast to extract." He vanished within a tornado that seemed to emanate from his Sharingan eye.
Takahiro's thoughts were only on one thing. Minato…Kushina…
I'm sorry…
He blacked out.
When he came to, there was a roaring, a crashing on the ground, the sound of terrified screams. Slowly, he stood up and gasped audibly at what he saw.
The Nine Tails was attacking the Hidden Leaf Village.
He knew that the Third Hokage, at least, would be trying to fight the beast back. Minato was probably fighting Madara Uchiha right now. As for Kushina…
Either she was dead, or Minato had made sure she and their son, Naruto, were some place safe – away from the danger.
Suddenly, the Nine Tails was crushed by a giant toad. Even now, Takahiro chuckled. Damn Jiraya's influence. That damn toad sage had to teach the summoning jutsu to Minato.
Just as suddenly, the beast vanished, and an explosion rang out.
"Minato!" he shouted. He was hurting, even though the bleeding had stopped. His chakra was depleted as well. But…
He had just enough to execute a plan.
A plan he knew was swirling through his brother's mind as well.
The Nine Tails was in ethereal chains, pinned to the ground. Somewhat gruesomely, the chains protruded from Kushina's back. Despite the fact she was no longer the Nine Tails' Jinchuriki, she still had some power over him, it seemed.
Takahiro heard her plan. She would destroy the Nine Tails and herself to prevent it from rising again for a long time.
Of course, Minato would never allow that. Just as he was about to explain his own plan, the determined little brother came from the shadows.
"Minato!"
The Fourth Hokage turned, shocked. "Takahiro? What are you doing here?"
"What, did you think I'd let you take all the credit?" He grinned. "Besides, the village needs you. I can't let you be the one to do this."
"You know what I'm planning?"
"Of course I do. I was thinking the same thing." He stepped forward and looked at the Nine Tails, incapacitated as it was. "We can't stop the Nine Tails forever, not without unsettling the balance the Sage of the Six Paths worked so hard to create. But…" His fist clenched. "I can eliminate some of its power, and seal the rest within another Jinchuriki." He offered a weak smile to Kushina. "Sorry, Shina," he apologised, using the pet name he'd given her when she and Minato had started seeing one another, "but your time as a Jinchuriki is over."
She gave a light, pained smile, as tears started to fall.
"There's only one thing I can do. Use the Reaper Death Seal to destroy some of the Nine Tails' chakra…" He hesitated. "…and seal the rest within Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Seal."
Kushina gasped. "No…"
"I'm sorry, Shina. But there's no other way."
"Why do you have to do it, Takahiro?" Minato demanded. "It's my duty as Naruto's father to die for him, not yours!"
"The village needs you, Minato. You're their Hokage. Fight for them. Live for them. Me…" He looked back at the Nine Tails. "I haven't really got anything left for me here."
Takahiro made several signs with his hands and a dark, grey-skinned figure, a ritual knife in its teeth, carrying a blue shade resembling Takahiro himself, appeared behind him.
"You can't stop me, big brother. Now is when I finally become the hero I was meant to be."
He sent the shade at the struggling Nine Tails, and it pierced into the orange skin.
"Reaper Death Seal!" Takahiro shouted, pushing his hands together.
A massive amount of chakra pulled from the beast and into Takahiro's body. He gasped in pain. "Agh…this chakra…it's so damn heavy…"
He turned to face Minato and Kushina. "Now for the Eight Trigrams Seal." He created a ritual bed for Naruto.
Reluctantly, Kushina placed him into the bed, sobbing all the while. Her lack of attention caused the chains binding the Nine Tails to slip and fall. The beast roared and extended a single talon, clearly intent on killing the boy, to prevent himself from being bound again.
"Takahiro! Look out!" Minato shouted, moving to push his little brother out of the way.
The Jonin, however, pushed him back and allowed the massive talon to pierce his body, appearing on the other side, still pushing towards Naruto.
Through the searing pain, Takahiro channelled his power. "No you don't!" He released the power and snapped the Nine Tails' talon in two!
Naruto was saved from the talon. Takahiro, meanwhile, was less safe. He coughed up blood, which trickled down from his mouth, coating his chin like some macabre face paint.
"No!" Kushina screamed, still sobbing.
Weakly, Takahiro smiled. "Don't you cry about me, Shina. I did this…by my own choice." He looked at Naruto. "Sorry to do this to you, kiddo. But…I've got a few things to tell you before I go. Listen to your mother and father when they tell you to do something, OK? And…watch out for Jiraya, would you? That guy may be one of the three Sannin, but he'll lead you down a bad path. And…if and when you start noticing girls…look out for one like your mom, will you?"
He raised one hand weakly and channelled some of the last of his chakra into Naruto's body, before gasping out. "Eight Trigrams Seal…capture this beast within this form…force it to relent."
The Nine Tails howled and dissolved, vanishing into the nude little body of the boy. A spiral tattoo appeared on the boy's stomach, surrounded by eight marks.
"It's…done…" Takahiro smiled, the weariness overcoming him. "I finally…became a hero…"
The black covered his eyes and he saw no more.
Shortly after the Nine Tails Incident, Minato Namikaze resigned as Hokage to tend to the wounds – both physical and mental – of his wife Kushina, and grieve for his brother. The Third Hokage took the mantle once again, decreeing he would only hold the office until another candidate could replace him as the Fifth.
It was a unanimous decision that Takahiro Namikaze should be given a statue near the Face of the Four Hokages, as it had come to be known.
A few years later, after Kushina had recovered, and the young Naruto had learned to talk, they went to see the statue. "Who's that guy, Mom?" the curious little boy asked, pointing at it.
"Oh, Naruto," Kushina smiled. "This man is the hero of the Hidden Leaf."
She could almost hear Takahiro's proud voice.
Don't you ever forget that, Shina!