7

Prologue: Wars End

Minato Namikaze was a shinobi most described as handsome, cunning, calm, and unbelievable fast. After all, it was thanks to this blonde man and his famous Hiraishin that the last Shinobi War ended with minimal losses on their side. Maybe that was the reason, why Sarutobi Hiruzen had sent him on this mission…

But still, he didn't know what to think of that old Hokage anymore. Maybe his wife started torturing him, because their youngest son ran off to serve the Daimjo. Or maybe the old Hokage became senile after 56 years of fighting death. Why else would Minato now waste his time in an abandoned forest? He was all by himself in the southwestern part of Hi no Kuni. Was he supposed to ask for trouble? Officially, the war had ended three weeks ago, but he just knew that Iwa-nin and Kumo-nin were out for his blood…

"Just tell the forest that you will be the new Hokage," was all the old man had told him. No other mission details were given. He was on his own, wondering, what was supposed to happen… Would the sky break up in the middle of nowhere? Or would the moon fall from the sky? Or would the trees start to dance and sing "Seasons of Love"?

Okay, for one reason or another, Minato had thought it odd, that they never seemed to secure this particular border. The old Sarutobi had assured him, he would not get attacked by other shinobi… But why was the Sandaime so sure about it? Even if he did not believe in ghost stories, the closest villagers spoke of mononokes in the woods, gruesome bakemonos and worse if you continued further into the deeper part of the forest…

Slowing down, the famous Yellow Flash stared at the barks and branches ahead. They grew so wild, random and thick, that he had trouble keeping on track. He would have to switch to the canopy or ground sooner or later.

Swearing, he glanced at the pouch on his leg. He would have used his Hiraishin, but dear Hiruzen Sarutobi prohibited any jutsus. Sighing, Minato squeezed himself upwards, only to find the canopy completely blocked. Without hesitating, he jumped down a couple of branches. He didn't want to take to the floor just yet.

Why did the Sandaime forbid him to use his travel mode? He would be faster, it was safer, even a bit easier, he admitted with a small laugh. The sooner he would arrive at this mysterious destination, the sooner he could come back and start with his new job- fighting against a never ending mass of papers…

He stopped his daydreaming, when he noticed the trees growing to close. He would not fit through there. No-one could – not even a mouse! Swearing, he turned around just to find himself face to face with a red haired lady.

She wasn't very tall, only about 5', barely the height of his chest. Her hair swayed behind her in the wind, long strands of red silky hair that reminded him of blood. Her green kimono seemed wealthy, but also worn on the edges, the white obi barely keeping it in place and giving a view of her cleavage. Her face was covered with a simple fox-mask, like the ones ANBU used regularly. He stopped and glanced at her hair.

There was no wind. Why did it move?

His kunai was faster in his hand than anybody could blink. His eyes watching every movement the woman made. Better safe, than sorry. And he would not stay unarmed in front of an unknown person.

But the woman stayed where she was, seemingly looking bored at her claw-like nails.

"Who are you?" Minato asked still watching every move she made.

"Doesn't matter," she dismissed him, with a wave of her hand, her voice as bored as a Nara's, "Just tell me, what the cute little monkey wants"

Minato couldn't help but look at her confused. Cute little… monkey? What was she talking about? Hiruzen Sarutobi sent him here to…

He stopped dead in his tracks. Saru meant monkey. Did she mean Hiruzen? But there were also other Sarutobis in Konoha… Was it worth a shot?

"Well, I am the new Hokage an-", he was interrupted by her laughing. She looked him up and down, just to laugh again. Minato couldn't place it, but it sounded artificial and somehow gave him the chills. He wanted to run, like his life depended on it, but pride and duty kept him tied in place.

"The new Hokage? So our cute monkey really decided that enough was enough? Will he start a new life as a professor?" she asked and sat down on the branch, leaning against the trunk without a care in the world.

"I don't know," Minato replied and collected his courage, this woman gave him the chills, "Who are you?"

Even though her face was hidden under the mask, he felt like she stared draggers at him. Her face turned away, just as she laughed again. But for once, it sounded honest.

"Long story short? I am Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I am responsible for your first Hashirama Senju's death, your beloved first Hokage. I also happen to be the monster that killed some of your shinobis and even more from Kiri and Suna, when they tried to come through this forest. So you may yell at me or thank me, but don't think I am going to listen or even remember it."

The youngest Hokage just watched her with wide eyes. Did he meet one of these mononokes? That woman looked like 20, maybe 25. Hashirama died a good 50 years ago and Kyuubi was said to be a fox demon living since thousands of years, before Konoha was even built! Things weren't making any sense…

"I could also receive silence," Kurama said playing with her hair, before sighing loudly, "Listen here, little spike-head. I don't care about you humans. So I am only going to ask you if we will continue the deal I made with Hiruzen. But with your name on it if you don't mind"

A deal? Could demons make deals without breaking them? He realized that his mouth was still open from shock and he closed it quickly. Minato could call her a murderer because of everybody she killed… But hadn't he butchered hundreds of people just two months prior? If Hiruzen could trust her… maybe he should try to as well?

"What kind of deal would it be, Kurama-san?" He could have sworn that she smiled under that mask, before she started playing with her hair again, tangling it around her fingers in a mesmerizing way.

"Well, I won't let anybody invade your country through this forest. Civilians may pass without being harmed- your shinobis as well as long as they don't use any jutsus in here. And if a country attacks and is within a 10 mile radius of Konoha, I will destroy them," She let her words sink in, as she stood up and brushed over her clothes, "And you, dear Hokage will just leave me alone for the rest of the time being. No attacks from your side, no summons, and no damn fuinjutsu, scratch that, no damn jutsus at all. I don't care what kind of jutsus they are, they will not be allowed within this forest. The penalization is the death of the user," he felt her cold smile on him, as she changed her voice into one of a little singing girl, "Any questions?"

"You won't attack us?" Minato asked, he still wasn't sure if he could trust her or not. But this deal seemed to be the reason, why Hiruzen wanted him here. Konoha had depended on her and would continue doing so. If they had stretched forces so far south in the last two wars, they would have lost.

"My new cute little Hokage, why should I attack you? You are humans piled up in that thing you call village doing whatever your heart asks of you. If you don't annoy me, I won't annoy you, end of story. I don't really care about you primitive beings in general"

Minato wasn't sure if she just wanted to toy around with him or if she was telling the truth. She said, she would defend Konoha if the dangers would come to close. Wasn't that caring for them? He thought about asking her, but decided against it. That woman, no, bijuu would be more likely to scratch it from the deal, than explain herself to him.

"Okay, how do we refresh that deal of yours and Hiruzen-sama?" Again, he had the feeling of her watching him closely, like she tried to determine his worth.

"Well," she produced a scroll out of a bag on her obi, which Minato hadn't noticed till now "please sign the scroll with your blood and full name, Hokage" With that said, Kurama let go of the scroll and dropped it into the depths of the forest.

In the mass of thoughts which jumped through Minato's head, only three stopped him from freezing in place. First, that scroll was important. Second, it was falling. And third, was that down there a river?

Without letting as much as a second pass by, Minato jumped after the scroll, catching it within 15 meters of falling and landing on a thick branch over the violent waters.

The sound of clapping reached his ears. He wanted to yell at the woman… But no matter his title was, he didn't want to face the wrath of a woman or, to be precise, the wrath of a monster which could easily destroy whole forests with the wave of her hand…

"Good job there. You may sign it. Maybe I will even remember your name." Minato wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear the last sentence, so he just suppressed his inner fury and ignored the woman all together.

He read quickly through the scroll, which just stated what the bijuu said earlier. Only adding a small note of secrecy to it, which Minato would oblige to anyways. The Yellow Flash looked at the woman one last time, as she played lazily with her hair, before he sighed. Biting his thumb, he wrote his name under that of the elder Hokage, all the time wishing he was dreaming…

Minato looked the scroll over for the last time, before jumping up next to her, and handing it to the red haired beauty, a fact he couldn't deny.

"Thank you," she glanced at the scroll, before signing it with her own blood right next to an older signature of hers, "Minato Namikaze"

Tsunade was annoyed. She just lost over three Million Ryo- in only one game! Well, she did spend some money with her gambling habits, after all more than seven trillion Ryo were lost in the last five years… But now she had lost these three Million too fast! Did her special luck receive any kind of boom? Not that she would have been happy if she won. Winning always meant problems or really, really bad luck…

Sighing, she stood up and left the poker table. Tsunade was a tall and good looking woman, one of the Legendary Sannin, who promised tortures to everybody who tried to guess her age and estimated it over twenty. Her bust was scarily large and a huge hate for every perverted creature out there. She would and could pulverize anybody, who would piss her off too much.

Her apprentice Shizune hurried next to her and let her eyes wander over her masters face. Shizune may have looked like an adult, but the girl was only 15 years of age – not even old enough to set foot into the casinos Tsunade frequently visited.

Tsunade would have loved to try the game again, but without any Ryo, she wouldn't be let in on the table.

That's when she felt it. A familiar chakra presence appeared outside in the streets. It wasn't too far away and reminded her of her old friend Jiraiya, who visited her time and again to speak about old stuff, trying to get her to come back to the village…

She banned any further thoughts out of her mind and left the casino. Shizune was right behind her with a relieved face, happy that her sensei didn't want to waste any more money with her gambling, they had enough trouble running from debt collectors as it was.

As soon as the door closed behind them, the young girl shot her a confused look, asking the silent question. But Tsunade just shook her head and followed the chakra signature. If it was a nukenin, she could take her anger out on him. Maybe she could also erase some of her liabilities if the nukenin had caused enough trouble and added a nice sum to his head? There were rarely shinobi, who could escape her on land…

But no sooner than she laid eyes on the newcomer, Tsunade forgot her fury. That was Minato Namikaze, the best of Jiraiya's students and present Hokage in the next street. His blonde hair was easy to make out in the dark street and his white cloak with the red flames on its lower edges were difficult to miss. Without caring about his new title or reason for being here, she called out to him.

"Hey, Gaki! What the hell do you want here?" Shizune shrunk together. The girl was too well mannered for her own good, Tsunade remembered "If you are here to get me back to Konoha, you better forget it right now!"

"Tsunade-san?" Minato's blue eyes locked hers as his voice gave away his surprise.

Tsunade relaxed a little. If he didn't know, she was here, then he wouldn't try to force her back, would he? Well, that was all she would care about…

For now.

So, I've decided to rewrite this story, kill some errors, cure an open plot point, and get this story on the road again... Please, bear with me ^^°

Reviews are welcomed - even if they point out mistakes. After all, I want to improve C:

That's it for now. Over and Out

~Penny