"Some times, I worry about my children. They will grow up in a world where the darkness beyond knowledge has been banished to a corner of heaven, and for that I am proud of my work. But evil will creep into the hearts of men, and I fear that my actions have armed the world for conflict beyond what I can possibly imagine. And it will be their job to see peace reign, no matter what the cost. That is what worries me, and unlike the petty fears of the merchant or the lord, mine encompass more than I will ever know."

The Elder Son

Death of a God, Birth of a World

"I name you Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomai, Gyuki, and Kurama!" As the Sage hollered out each name the demons of chakra that would one day become legend snorted gratefully and walked, galloped, flew, slithered and swam away, each deciding to carve out new territory itself and become a master within its own domain. All but two. Isobu remained, waiting patiently with Kurama lounging on the turtle's shell. They were both barely larger than a regular member of their species, and would be totally unremarkable if not for Isobu's three tails and Kurama's nine. The Sage of Six Paths watched the Yonbi lumber away, contented in his creation's safety, then turned to the last two.

"M-may I t-talk to y-y-y?" Isobu asked shyly, one eye reflexively closed and the other half-lidded. "T-there m-m-"

"Yeah, whatever," Kurama said dismissively, hopping off of his brother's back and approaching the master of the Rinnegan. "I was thinkin', maybe that desert down south? I dunno... listen old man, before I get going, I gotta say something."

"Oh, yes?" the Sage inquired. "Well, I have some time before I need to dispose of the body. What can I do for you, Kurama?"

The kyuubi nodded. "This is about your kids. I know you're planning on naming Senju your successor, but..."

One bushy white eyebrow raised in curiosity and faint disbelief. "Really, now. What makes you say that, young fox?"

"Don't call me that!" Kurama snapped. "Senju's charming and strong and whatever, I know you like that stuff, but he's too headstrong. Is that what you want for all those samurai, those ninja? Uchiha is quiet and kinda strange, but definately leadership material."

"Kurama..." the Sage sighed. "Why must you contradict me on even my most well-thought out dictions?"

"If you ever take my advice, once in your life, make it now." Kurama leveled a gaze that could make volcanoes erupt with molten rage at the man, met by cool purple and spiraling white. "Don't pick Senju." With that, the fox demon hopped up and ran after Kokuo, little brushfires rearing up in his footsteps. The Sage appeared to be in deep thought, his brow furrowed, until a mild cough from the Sanbi tuned him back to the present. "I'm sorry to be such a b-bother..." the turtle muttered, turning away sadly.

"I know what bothers you," the Sage predicted, and Isobu stopped in his tracks. "C-can you h-help me?" it asked hopefully, and the Sage nodded almost imperceptibly. "I will do this for you," he said quietly. "But it will come at great cost. Is that truly how you wish to live life? There is no shame in what they will become."

Isobu raised its armored head, and a flash of red gleamed from its eye. "I will do what you ask of me." Its voice rang with sudden confidence.

"Then you will know what to do."

The Sage of Six Paths abruptly walked over to the crater in the earth, standing on the edge of a depression the width of a lake. That was probably exactly what it would become in later years. Isobu settled down beneath a tree a few hundred meters away and fell asleep in the shade, and so it was only the Sage who would know what was to cone.

In the center of the blasted landscape sat a black, twisted hunk of metal and flesh. It vaguely resembled a human, if one was to squint hard enough, though its single ear, the mouth that occupied the entire lower half of its face and its backwards knee joints rendered it utterly alien. Its once-great tails were gone, and the eye with twelve tomoe that spawned all the chakra in the world had been carved from its socket by the Sage's sword. Even as far as it was from him, the Sage's Rinnegan picked out every detail of the dead body, and the shinobi knew that one day, it would rise again. The best he could do was delay it, to keep such a weapon of terrible power from the abuse of vengeful gods and men.

He channeled chakra to his eyes, the pattern of the ninjutsu familiar from years of use and dependability. His most reliable tool, the Deva Path, would become the instrument of the Juubi's incarceration. He brought his hands together, the power of his Bloodline Limit literally bending space and time around him into a configuration he found pleasing. On the surface, it was just another gravity manipulation, but the Sage was fond of giving names to the great and important. The very fabric of reality darkened to a matte black, and he hurled all of his energy into the sky.

"Chibaku Tensei!" he roared, and the body of the demon rocketed into the sky with the surrounding earth in tow. They disappeared in the heavens, but the Sage could easily feel the world around him. The gravity sphere reached out with tendrils of sucking power, roaring down to earth in the form of whirlwinds each corner of the globe, and soon everything was aligned. Mountains, deserts, forests, trees, lakes, boulders and glaciers from every pillar soared to the sky, free of earth's bounds. The foul corpse was battered from each side by earthly bodies ascended to heaven, the power of the Rinnegan pulling them deeper and tighter into the vortex of mass. The hours passed while the Sage of Six Paths waited for his ultimate work to finish.

A pale white sphere hung in the sky, featureless and smooth. He was pleased.

XXX

Shukaku gazed out onto the desert, a swirling tornado from space coming dangerously close to the tanuki as it drew sand inexorably into the moon. The sun's heat warmed the beast considerably, drawing a slow smile on its face. It stepped one paw into the churning maelstrom of rocky dust, and became one with the desert. One tail drew a slow circle on the ground, and when it finished, the Ichibi was gone.

XXX

The Sage had done many things in his life, but none were quite so hard as dying. It had taken many years for him to accumulate the knowledge and sheer chakra to attempt something so powerful as to kill a god, or create an entirely new planet in the universe. The Creation of All Things was his greatest work, having evenly distributed the energy of the Juubi amongst every living thing on earth. It was his hope that some day, the Beast would fade into legend, allowing the Beasts to finally-

"Aaaagh!" he moaned, a convulsion racking his frail, malnourished frame. Sweat was pouring down his face and body, and though he desperately wanted nothing more than to see the sky again, he knew it was perhaps a bit much to ask. His sons, Uchiha and Senju, were sitting quietly in chairs at the foot of his bed. At his cry of pain they both half-rose, then settled again when he shot them a fatherly glare that threatened worse than death from the deathbed. They couldn't comfort him now, not in his time of passing. That was the most painful part, being unable to reassure his only children of the security of the future.

Only two things brought him comfort. One was a kind of smug satisfaction, happiness in the knowledge that his successor would lead the human race into a peaceful and prosperous future. It had always been a goal of his, but there had never seemed to be the time... The other was the gentle, reassuring presence of two familiar chakra signatures outside his home. It seemed Isobu had heeded his final words before the creation of the moon. Kurama was probably there to gloat to Uchiha about outlasting the famous Sage of Six Paths.

"Father? Why do you laugh with gaiety at this time of sorrow?" asked Senju in his usual tactless fashion. "Are you not afraid?"

"No. Not anymore." The Sage drew a breath, knowing his time drew short. "It is time that I did something I ought to have done long ago, my sons. I must name an heir, one to lead our world into the golden age it deserves."

All three of them shifted forward in anticipation, though the Sage could not say why he felt such anxiety. "I love both of you," he mumbled weakly, "but I choose... I choose..." He seemed to crumble in on himself, but a surge of unnatural strength drew him up to his fullest height. "Uchiha." The man's purple eyes bored into the ancestor of the Sharingan. "Will you carry on my legacy?"

"I..." the man stuttered, flabbergasted by the honor. "I-I will, father. I will make you proud."

"Good..." the Sage murmured. He lay back, stretching his arms above his head casually. "I am... proud... already..." He released a breath, almost like a sigh, and died.

"Father?" Senju breathed, sorrow and confusion warring in his voice. "Father, no, you can't! Father!" The blond man rushed forward and buried his face in the dead man's chest, sobbing heavily. Uchiha tentatively reached out and placed one hand comfortingly on his brother's shoulder, but even his face was screwed up in mourning. A single tear escaped his eye, and in that moment Uchiha swore to do his best in the Sage of Six Paths' stead.

XXX

Kurama pounced on Senju as soon as the boy left the house a few days later. "Hi," the fox muttered, his voice a stark contrast to his flamboyant behavior. "I'm real sorry to hear about your old man. He was a great guy, you know."

"Indeed," Uchiha affirmed stepping into the sunshine after his younger sibling. "We are proud to have inherited his strength and power."

"Yeah..." Senju murmured, almost too quietly to hear.

"Walk with me," said Uchiha, and Kurama bounced off Senju's chest and followed the dark-haired son away from the house. He was pleased to note that the kyuubi's growth followed the trend his father had predicted almost exactly, his tails now twice his body length and as thick as his arm in even the thin places. With a few centuries of development, the demon would become exactly what the Sage had predicted, which was probably a good thing. Uchiha couldn't even begin to guess otherwise.

"So, you still working on that deal with the spirit courts over the contracts?" Kurama asked idly, his nine tails waving like fans in the morning air. "I heard you got Manda and Gamabunta to agree, that's good. I could maybe get a few of my brothers to pitch in, and you'll have those summoning pacts done in no time!"

"You've decided on genders then?" Uchiha mused. "That's nice. I suppose I wish you luck in finding a healthy mate without feeling awkward about your sexuality or whatnot-"

"Do you know why?" Kurama interrupted bluntly. "I did it for a reason, you know."

"I can't even begin to imagine," Uchiha said truthfully. "I always thought you would support Senju's claim. It would certainly be safer for you and your brothers and sisters."

"Just brothers. It was a unanimous decision," the kyuubi joked. A part of his mind wondered why he had thrown his support behind the man with the ability to control him and the other tailed beasts absolutely, but the more rational part of him dismissed it. Uchiha was trustworthy, and they all knew it.

"I worry about Senju sometimes," Uchiha confided, and the kyuubi paused. "He seems more... aggressive, in our talks. Peace wasn't just going to break out like a war, but he's inflaming some tempers in the assembly. I wish I knew what was bothering him."

"You are," Kurama informed him. "He thinks that love and friendship and all that garbage will sweep all the hatred and bigotry and envy in the world under some metaphysical rug, and we all know what's going to happen with the last thing swept under a rug of sorts."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

Uchiha squinted at the demon. "You're a strange one, Kurama. I wish my father had made you more... human, in appearance. It would certainly make conversations like these less troublesome. Och, I sound like Shikanto now." He smiled, and the weight of his friendship suddenly felt heavier in Kurama's heart.

"I wish he did too," the fox said, so quietly that Uchiha amost missed it. "I would like nothing more..."

'I am so, so sorry for this. Believe me, if there was any other way, I would do it in a heartbeat.' Kurama started to say something, but evidently thought better of it and lapsed into uncomfortable silence. Uchiha frowned, certain that something was bothering his furry friend.

Unfortunately, that was when Senju tried to kill him. The younger brother burst into their line of sight, a crazed look in his eyes and a bastard sword in his firm, one-handed grip. The prodigious physical strength that was his birthright made wielding the weapon easy for Senju, and he was now putting it to use trying to end the demon fox. Kurama scrambled back, momentarily shocked by the suddenness of the attack, giving Uchiha the chance to step in and ward his crazed brother off. "What are you doing?" he shouted, shocked by the sheer idiocy of such a plan of attack.

"The fox!" Senju growled, anger inherent in his voice. "He cost me my place as father's favourite! He did this to me! Die, and rot in a frozen hell you bastard!" He charged again, but rage made him predictable and his older brother sidestepped and tripped the man with a simple legsweep. Senju rose again, fiery hatred burning in his every move, but Uchiha incapacitated him with a tap to the back of the head. A genjutsu rushed through his mind, and the younger man lapsed into an uneasy unconsciousness.

"That was... unexpected," Kurama commented, hangin upside down from a tree limb above the path. Uchiha moaned in sudden realization. "We're screwed! Senju has enough power on the assembly to veto everything I try and do, and if he gets his way, humanity will be united in its hatred of you! This is a nightmare." He slumped over, resting next to his brother. "How did I not see this coming?"

"I don't blame you," Kurama said smoothly, hopping to the ground and striding over to the pile of brothers. "But I have a plan-"

"You knew this was going to happen!" accused Uchiha, snarling. "Why would you do this to me? To us? What sort of game are you playing at, you damn fox?"

Kurama hung his head, saddened. "You know why. Your brother is right, you know. Your kind has always been distrustful of me and my brothers."

"Then...?"

"Isobu and I have been planning this ever since the Shadow Assembly was formed," the kyuubi admitted. "You two needed an issue to unite against your opposition, and we decided it was going to be me. There's enough circumstantial evidence that, working together," he stressed, "your father's dreams will be realized."

"This was a setup," Uchiha whispered numbly. In the distance, he could hear voices shouting. Kurama reached out with one paw and daintily scratched a few gashes on Senju's back, then another set on the unfeeling left arm of Uchiha. The shouting was getting louder.

"Don't waste my sacrifice!" Kurama urged, his voice urgent. "Take this support and make a new civilization. Even if it was united in fear of the Demon Fox, surely you can mould it into whatever you want?"

"You would do this for me?" Uchiha asked, still not entirely comprehending. "You- you... why?"

"Because you would do the same for me, you ridiculously underevolved mammal." Kurama shot him a grin that was, for lack of a better word, foxy. "This is goodbye, old friend. Talk to Isobu, he'll fill you in. Some other time, perhaps." The fox turned and raced into the undergrowth, then across the nearby farmlands. The voices abruptly changed directions, though they were close enough for Uchiha to catch a few words here and there.

"Monster!"

"Damn demons..."

"Made of all the hate in Satan's soul and all darkness in the night sky..."

"It killed Senju! My hero is dead!"

"Die!"

He had no idea how long it would take, or how much he would have to give, but Uchiha was certain that one day, he would repay Kurama for his friendship. If not him, then his children, or their children. No matter how long it took, Kurama would one day be given a place in the society he helped to create.

"Sir!" called in an attendant, waiting on Uchiha as medics lifted Senju onto a stretcher. "Are you well?"

"Some day, you stinking sheeptheif," Uchiha recalled fondly.

"Sir?"

"Oh! I am perfectly fine," Uchiha lied, covering the scratch on his arm with one hand.

"Sir, who did this to Lord Senju?" the medic reiterated, gesturing at the ninja in question. Uchiha's genjutsu was of a peculiar nature, one that erased memories and made the victim more pliable after their enforced slumber. He planned to put it to good use slandering his oldest and most faithful companion.

"It was... (Kurama)... the kyuubi. The nine-tailed fox attacked us."

He hung his head in shame.

XXX

Isobu sat in a cave at the bottom of the crater, rainwater welling around the entrance and rushing over the lip and into the cave in a torrential waterfall. Soon there would be only a pocket of stale air left in the cave, which was fine by the turtle. He only needed the air to protect his charge. Come hell or low tide, he was sworn by his maker to protect something dear to him, and by the Juubi's corpse he planned to do so! The sanbi looked out the entrance to his cave with one bulging eye, watching as rain did its best to turn the site of the demon's death into a lake, then retreated to a semicomfortable patch of sand.

He could not say that his role pleased him, but he would not complain. Befuddling the mind of the Sage's son with sweetened lies had made him uncomfortable, but that was the least of the burden he was expected to carry. Nevertheless, this was the price he paid for his request, and he did so without complaint. Some day, he would be needed again, but until then Isobu had nothing to do and much time in which to do it. Naught but him and his treasure.

The great armored turtle shifted around to settle in, and then closed his eye. He had millenia of waiting to do, a secret to keep, and a task to perform with all his might.