Two giant creatures stood over the Konohan forest. One was a demonic fox bearing nine great tails, and the other was a frog with a scar across his eye and a yakuza sword at his side. Atop the frog was a blond man in his mid twenties. In his arms was his infant son. The man was Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage the leader of Hidden Leaf Village. The baby was Uzumaki Naruto, carrying the clan name of his mother. The frog was Gamabunta. The fox was Kyuubi no Youko. His titles were numerous, including the King of Bijuu or the Lord of the Nine to signify his position amongst his brethren demon, or perhaps his more personal titles such as the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon or the God of Fire.
The Kyuubi had, as of recent, begun attacking the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Now it was up to Minato to seal him away. He planned to do this by summoning the Death God himself who will use two sacrifices to perform the sealing. The first is Minato himself. His life and soul being forfeit to the Death God. The second his son. Although the Shinigami demanded only one life to do his work, he could not kill a fellow god. So he would use Naruto as the vessel of which to trap the Fox Demon.
Minato held up his child as he felt the cold arms of Death slink through his stomach. Naruto began to cry as he felt it too. The arm then shot of to Kyuubi no Youko. The Kyuubi roared as it recognized the touch of the Shinigami. Minato sighed as he knew the end was near. Then his eye shot open as he felt a sixth presence. He turned his head at the Shinigami. Only he could see the Death God since only he amongst the present mortals made the contract and the Kyuubi was too busy trying to shake of the deathly coils wrapping around him to pay attention.
The sixth presence was a shining being floating next to the Shinigami. It was wrapped in a purple hooded cloak the obscured it body with boot and gloves added to the entourage. Its face was completely obscured save for three glowing orbs which Minato guessed to be tricloptic set of eyes. Blue on the right, red on the left, and yellow up above them both. The being was whispering into the Shinigami's ears. Suddenly, the Shinigami laughed and the being smiled in satisfaction. It then reached down and touched the Death God's arm. A purple glow began to run down the arm and through both Minato and Naruto. The chill left Minato and was replaced by an a strange sort of numbness. Naruto stopped crying. The Kyuubi stopped thrashing.
Then the glow became brighter and brighter, especially around the Bijuu King until Minato could not make the beast out. The light shrunk and the Kyuubi, apparently, shrunk with it. It did this until it was a tiny pinpoint of light the size of a baseball. The Shinigami's claws closed around this purple ball and drew it forth. The purple light shined through the hand until it reached Naruto. When it left Naruto's back, the claw was open, the purple ball deposited into the baby. Before the reentered Minato back, the cloaked being bent down and spoke into Minato's ears.
"Not to the Death God shall you go, but to me shall you come," He whispered, "I am you new master."
Then everything went black.
XxXxX
Minato expected to be taken to some faraway realm where this being would put him to work. However, Minato's spirit and the being remained in Konoha, unseen by the mourning populace, and, for the moment, the being seemed content to have Minato simply watch as it ran errands. The first was the day after the end of the Kyuubi's attack. Naruto was currently in the care of the Sandaime and the duo of Minato and the being were haunting, if that was the accurate term, the Uchiha compound.
"This day, a boy is born," The being told Minato vaguely as they hovered over a house bearing the Uchiha brand, "His name is Uchiha Sasuke. He shall suffer a fat most cruel and unusual. It will break him and turn him to dark paths. This will harm many people, especially those closest to him."
"His family?" Minato asked.
"At that point, his family will not be alive," The being explained, "In fact, all but three or four of his clan will be dead."
"Eh!? Are you going to try to stop that?" Minato asked again.
The being shook its head, "Events have already been set in motion. However, I wish to change the fate of young Sasuke. Come."
The two descend into the house, phasing through the roof. Still unseen, they looked upon a flushed woman as she clutched her newborn child.
"Is this… Sasuke?" Minato asked.
"Aye," The being confirmed. It then made a series of hand seals which Minato recognized as the Summoning Jutsu.
"What are you-?" Minato began but was stopped short by the sound of growling. He frowned as he thought.
Man, I must be pretty jaded if a ten foot skeleton writhed in flames only elicit's a mental, 'oh, that's interesting.'
Seeing as only he and the being seemed to notice the summon, Minato figured it was just as invisible as the Death God. The being picked up a length of chain which Minato noticed was attached to a manacle wrapped around the skeleton's wrists.
The being took the end of the chain over to young Sasuke inserted it into his chest. Being of the Ethereal sort, it went in and stayed there. Now this ten foot tall flaming skeleton was effectively chained to a small infant. Minato questioned the wisdom of this. However, he said nothing. The being gave an impression of being unquestionable.
Over the course of three months they visited newborn after newborn as well five toddler. Including Sasuke, that was eight in total, three requiring trips to the sand village. The second, if Sasuke is the first, was a pink haired baby girl. The being chuckled as he passed over the sleeping babe in her cradle.
"This girl has room for more minds in her brain," It explained, "Left unchecked, a minor personality may take hold. A truer reflection of herself. However, I have no intentions of letting that developed. That room shall be used instead by a few spirits."
"Hmm?" Minato inquired.
"Old friend from my old world," The being explained.
Minato's eyebrows arched. The being noticed.
"A story for another time, perhaps," The being explained as he raised a gloved hand . All of the fingers not including the thumb or pinky glowed with differently colored fire at the tip with words in them. It touched these glowing tips gently on her stomach. She shuffled uncomfortably but did not awake.
XxXxX
"Rookie Nine is complete," The being said finally as they left the Hyuuga girl.
"Nine?" Minato asked.
"Your son is included in this count," The being explained, "In the future, he and eight others will take the Exam as rookies, thus earning them that title."
"Oh…" Was all Minato could do to respond. Then he brightened and asked, "By the way, master, I never got your name."
"That is because I have no name," The being explained.
"No name?" Minato mused, "Hm, mind if I call you Noname?"
XxXxX
Years later…
Itachi stood over his weeping brother who was looking to the ground after slaughtering the entirety of the Uchiha clan and killing their parents in front of the small boy.
"If you want to kill me, little brother, and avenge your clan, then run and hide and hate me," Itachi told him. Suddenly, his cold expression changed into shock and killing intent not his own, but most definitely not his brother's, filled the air. Then Sasuke spoke and he spoke with two voice. One his own, and the other Itachi would describe to a demon.
"Don't worry, niisan," Sasuke said in a mocking tone. The boy looked up at his brother and Itachi jumped back from the site. Sasuke's eyes were completely black save for actual burning fire where the pupils should be. Sasuke was smiling a manic grin.
"Their shall be penance for this," He assured.
Itachi quickly got over the shock. "Interesting," He murmured.
"Henceforth, I am a Spirit of Vengeance!" Sasuke swore. Then the fire winked out and the blackness retreated back into his pupils. His eyes rolled back into his head and the boy collapsed.
"Very interesting," Itachi murmured again. He turned to leave but Sasuke spoke again, this time only in the demonic voice.
"It shall not only be this clan I avenge," He said.
Itachi turned casually toward his little brother. The right eye had returned to the black state with the firey pupil and the other had the pupil apparently rapidly growing and shrinking.
"Whenever and wherever innocent blood is spilled and evil is present, I shall be there to extract my vengeance!"
Then finally did his eye turn back to normal and he truly fell unconscious. Itachi smirked.
"My my… little brother is a jinchuuriki?" He looked down at his dead parents, "How did that happen?"
When they didn't answered him, he shrugged and flickered away.
Sasuke never forgot what he said that night, although he never remembered why he said it. It would not be till later that he knew how he had been changed by Noname.
XxXxX
More years…
It was Naruto's tenth birthday this day. However, he had few friends so few presents. However, Iruka-sensei made him a cake and bought him this jumpsuit and that made Naruto happy.
But right now he a bit confused.
In the middle of his living room was giant sword. It was extremely thick and wide and quite a bit long. It had a single serrated edge, the with inch long and wide spikes running along the edge. The handle had a single note attached to it.
To: Uzumaki Naruto
From: Noname
Naruto smiled. He didn't know who 'Noname' was but he sent him a gift and so he was cool in his book! He promised not to let this gift go to waste. Of course, easier said than done. Naruto would have to train really hard to even lift the damn thing and then how to wield it.
XxXxX
Haruna Saki sighed at the sight of her own daughter's intense studies and hurried note taking on the living room floor. Having a short-lived career as a ninja herself, she had hoped her daughter would not take up her profession but she had and now she seemed to be taking it quite seriously. However, she seemed more concerned with the theoretical aspect than the practical. Saki knew her family had nothing special as far as ninjas went but that didn't mean Sakura shouldn't try.
"Mom!" Sakura interrupted Saki's thoughts.
"Mm, yes dear?"
"Can I burrow your sewing kit? I want to make myself a new outfit.
Saki nodded absently, "Sure dear."
"Thanks!" Sakura ran of to her mother's bedroom where she would likely stay. A though struck Saki and she bent down from her sitting place to look at the scrolls Sakura had been writing on. As she read her daughter's notes, a scowl creased on her forehead.
"Hmmm…?"
While Elemental Ninjutsu recognizes five primary elements, Elemental Majutsu recognize only four.
The notes continued on to describe the four elements, their sub-elements, the two anti-elements, and so on.
"Majutsu?" She murmured.
XxXxX
Shikaku sighed worriedly at the antics of his son. He could barely get him to move during the day but he was active and energized at night, when everyone else should be sleeping. So Shikaku decided to teach Shikamaru at night and was surprised how quickly his son took to the shadow manipulation techniques.
XxXxX
The Kazekage found himself worrying about his children. Specifically, his son's obsession with death. No, not the one he sealed the One-Tail into.
That was the cross-dressing one.
No, his son that had taken up the art of ninja puppetry had taken up an interest in the dead. He wanted to know if the dead could be used as puppets. If one could modify the Sand Clone technique to restore their bodies to original vigor. The Kazekage had also heard that someone else heard that he expressed his ultimate goal to be being able to use the techniques they had in life.
Now that he though about it, it would be interesting if his son did figure out how. Really, he should be more worried about Gaara stealing his sister's clothing or Temari trying to figure out if she could use her battle fan as a means to fly.
XxXxX
Tetsu was a very proud father. See, he was once one of the smithies for the shinobi of the village but now he the only smithy for shinobi of the villaage and it was thanks to his daughter. At first, he followed her advice on which metals to use out of fancy but soon he found that her advice allowed him to create superior works. So he took her closer into his confidence and followed her advice on how to cure inferior metal. Soon, his reputation for the finest craftsmanship put his competition out of business and made him one of the richest men in the village. Soon, his daughter informed that she had no more advice to give and asked him if she could be a kunoichi. Reluctantly, he obliged.
Too bad. Tenten would have made a damn fine smith.
XxXxX
And more and more young shinobi began exhibiting strange behaviors that somehow went unnoticed in a village full of ninja.