Hey there, this is a friend of papercutcupcake's, and I'm her beta/co-writer as well. We'll be working on some stories in the near future, as soon as she's ready and gets off her lazy butt .
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and if I did, then things would be much different. Kishimoto owns Naruto, even if I don't agree with what he's done with some things **
Oh, and just so everyone knows, you can call me KazeKitsune94. I may or may not make my own account, I'm kinda lazy. Enjoy though!
There comes a point in every shinobi's career where they see something, or do something, that finally pushes them over the edge. The point where they finally find the breaking point and they can't take it anymore. Some kill themselves in order to stop the pain of what they've done, some kill others in order to try and appease the madness. Others crack mentally and can never heal, others retire and try to live a normal life while pretending nothing ever happened. Few shinobi and kunoichi continue once they find this point, once they reach the point of madness they don't continue on, they stop trudging on for the good of the village, having spent their mind in the process of doing what was necessary.
However, some thrive once they've reached this point. They thrive in the chaos of battle, never losing themselves no matter what. They keep their dignity and their sanity, keeping the crutches that keep them sane, whether it's chasing women, smoking, or reading porn constantly. These people thrive in the chaos of death and battle, of lies and deceit, and the villages attempt to have these shinobi teach the younger generation, the thought of using a genius to train another squad, to bring up another batch of shinobi who can survive the perils and thrive in battle. But of the ones who are put into these squads as children, few make it to where their teachers did, few become so well-known and well-feared by the enemy that even by mention of their name it can change the tides of battle. And even if they do reach that point, an even smaller number survive to teach their own children.
The kunoichi have it the hardest, having to give their bodies up as seducers, as harlots in order to kill the intended targets. Once a kunoichi comes of age, she is taught to use her sexuality against the enemy, to get the enemy to drop their guard at the sight of a beautiful woman, and then slit his throat in the dark of night. They give themselves up for their country, in body, mind, and even soul, just so that their country can be safe. Shinobi know what kunoichi go through, and they are secretly eased by the thought that they'll never have to do anything like that for their village. This is how the world of shinobi is, this is what causes so much strife and anger, which most think will never change.
One day, things will change in the villages. One day, things will be different, and the catalyst will be a pariah, he will have been put through hell by his very own people, beaten to the point of death by people for something he had no control over. He will be ignored by one of his village's greatest Jounin, spurned by his classmates, and his own best friend will try to kill him. He will be teach himself a jutsu that would allow him to wreak havoc against the enemy at the cost of fracturing his mind bit by bit with each use. He will learn one of the trademarks of his village's greatest heroes and leaders quicker than even the legendary shinobi who taught him the technique. He will improve the technique to the point that it will destroy the very cells of the enemy, but risking his very body with the use of it. He will hold back the village's greatest demon, battle with it throughout his entire life, every waking moment his very soul at risk, and he will do it gladly for his village.
Once the boy is grown, his true teacher and grand-father figure dead, he will learn one of the greatest and most potent techniques. He will become a Sage, able to draw in the world's chakra and use it. His already deadly techniques will increase tenfold, and he will become a force to be reckoned with. Within hours of learning the technique, he will have to use it to it's utmost against an enemy so powerful it crushed his entire village with one attack. It will take hours of fighting, and plenty of blood and sweat and tears. A woman who loves the boy will sacrifice herself to save him, and he will let loose the demon within him temporarily, before gaining control again. He will destroy the enemy at great cost both to himself and his village, but he will be seen as a hero. His people, who had once hated him and his competence to survive, will love him, changed by the fact that he had saved them. And he will be unused to it, he will withdraw and focus on his training. He will separate himself from the love of his people, because he knows the final battle is still to come.
The Red Dawn, the Akatsuki, are coming for him and he knows he must be prepared. He knows that he will do anything to protect everyone from the terror they plan on unleashing. And so he meets a fellow jinchuriki, he sees that they have perfect control of their demon, and he envies them. He begs them to teach him, and they do. The boy will have to fight his demon once and for all, bringing the battle for his soul against the terrible being. It will be hard for him, the hardest battle he has had to date, but he will succeed. He will make the demon submit and bend to his unbreakable will, and then he will be ready. He will take the battle to the Red Dawn, he will find them and he will hunt them down and destroy every last one of them in order to protect himself and the world.
The boy, now a man, will stand in a desolate wasteland alone. The organization he goes to face will still be strong, filled with enemies who want him, who want to use the power of the demon inside him in order to subjugate the world. There will be a comforting wind, swirling around him as he prepares for what may be his last battle. He knows that it's foolhardy to do this, to fight an organization feared enough to make the Five Great Nations band together, and he trembles at the thought of the battle to come. But, it's not fear that makes him tremble. It's anticipation, the thought of being able to test himself against the best and the worst of the shinobi world. He is one who truly lives and thrives in battle, and he is not scared of the enemy, and many would call that foolish, but he knows that fearing is giving up, that once he fears the enemy the battle will be over. So he doesn't fear, he only waits patiently and stills his trembling body, gathering the world's energy for this final battle.
He sits and waits, and finally, the enemy comes into his sight. There are four figures in the red and black cloaks of his enemy, and the man stands, his stance tense as he draws up the world's chakra, using the form taught to him by the toads to launch at one of the enemies before they can react, destroying the white and black man with his now signature technique. He springs from the remains to dodge a swipe of the shredding sword of the largest of the three remaining enemies, and the battle will begin, lasting for hours.
The medical master will put the man to the test with his knowledge of anatomy, using it to destroy the body of the man who stands between the Red Dawn and their goal. With the healing of the demon now under his control, the man will be unheeded as he will take the medic's life with a clean punch through the sternum, destroying the heart before the red-cloaked medic could heal, falling dead to the ground.
The other two will be a much bigger threat to the man, the large shark-like man nearly a demon himself with his sword that eats chakra, the other capable of phasing through nearly anything, and it the man knows this is his last fight. He can feel the chakras of his friends coming close, trying to find him before something happens, and he pulls out every last bit of his strength and chakra, using the attack that destroys even the cells of whatever it touches, and he throws it at the large blue man, the sword being obliterated in the face of such destructive chakra. The man dies, leaving nothing behind but carnage, and the man stands alone on the battlefield with the last and most dangerous of his enemies.
They will fight for hours, the battle so intense and dangerous it reshapes the very landscape around them. They throw jutsu after jutsu at each other, each trying to find the weakness in the other that will allow victory, when the raven-haired man realizes something, and it makes him laugh as the sage's friends finally reach them. He prepares his most powerful attack, the black flame that will devour anything, and he launches it at the group, who cannot move from the shock at what lies before them.
It takes only a moment, but the man who loves his village, who would do anything to save this world and the people in it, he knows what must be done. He grabs his enemy, who is recovering from using his technique, and he launches them both in the way of the flames. The black flames lick and bite into their bodies, drawing howls of pain. The man and his enemy die, one content that the people he loves are safe, the other in agony at the thought of his plan failing. By the time the flames stopped burning, there was nothing left of either, and the ones who watch weep openly at the loss of their friend and greatest comrade.
The death of the man will mark a great change throughout the world, a change of peace and happiness. The world of shinobi will no longer be needed, and it is the man's friends who start the change. They will be advocates of peace and love, and it will have been the man who brought them together to make such a change possible. The fights he had gone through, and his great love and courage will lead people to believe more can come of life besides blood and death and pain. This man, known as Uzumaki Naruto, will save the world. And I, the one who can see everything, the one who knows what will happen, is glad to be the father of the man who is not yet born. I am Namikaze Minato, and I am the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. As I write this, the demon that will be sealed in my son approaches, and it is with this knowledge, with this story, that I hope you forgive me for what I have done to you, Naruto. One day, a man would bring great change to the shinobi world at great cost to himself. I am Namikaze Minato, and I am proud to name this man as my son.
The End