A Quiet Night
It started off as a quiet night in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The full moon shone brightly through dark night sky and the enchanted forest was silent, apart from the occasional shriek from the nocturnal beasts that could be heard on its night time hunt. Suddenly, a large puff of grey smoke appeared and a blood curling howl echoed through the Land of Fire and beyond. Every ninja was awake and dressed within seconds, leaping out of their windows to face the enemy who threatened their loved ones and homes. But after hours of pure courage and determination, nothing seemed to be able to beat the Nine Tail Fox Demon, as it slammed down one of its tails and destroyed another area of trees. The Hokage –Minato Namikaze, Yellow flash of Konohagakure- stood on the defensive walls of the village. He hated himself for standing there and not out fighting with his fellow comrades that were trying to hold the beast off, but from what he had seen he knew he couldn't just take the demon head on without a plan. Next to him stood his last student - Kakashi Hatake, recently known as the copy cat ninja because of the strange eye that he had, waiting for his instructions.
"Minato!" A beautiful voice called out to him, breaking his thoughts away from the battle that lay a few metres in front of their walls. He turned; surprised to see his heavily pregnant wife approaching him on the wall.
"What are you doing here?" He cried out, angrily and happily at the same time to see his beautiful angel by his side. She stopped when she heard the tone in his voice but quickly regained her composure.
"My home is under attack and you except me to do nothing about it!" She argued back, ready to fight for what she believed in. Even though she had a new last name the Uzamaki blood still flowed through her veins. She made a promise to fight for this land and everyone she loved no matter what, when an Uzamaki made a promise; they kept it. Besides, this was all her fault, she needed to fix it. Despite everything that was happening, Minato tried to suppress a proud smile at his wife for her courage (since she needed to be somewhere safe) but his wife still saw it in his eyes.
"Kushina," Minato groaned at his wife. "You should be resting, think of Naruto." He begged, as he named his unborn child. Kushina placed a protective hand over her bump at his words but still had her stubborn expression on her face.
"What do you think we've been trying to tell her for the past four hours?" An angry voice shouted, sending shivers down all shinobi's back (they all knew who the voice belonged to). Minato turned to see two Sannin's coming towards them. One of them –Lady Tsunade- looked very pissed, while his old sensei stood a few steps away from her, trying not to get caught in her 'going to kill anyone that comes near me' radar. To be honest, Minato couldn't blame him since he was one of the many people that had received a blow from Tsunade's power punches. Minato could only shake his head, as if he already didn't have enough to think about. "Kushina! For the love of Kami, what are you doing here?" Tsunade demanded. Anger burned in every cell in her body, making the ninja's around her take an extra step back. Even Minato, who was the most powerful ninja in the village didn't want to face the Queen of Slugs wrath. Jiraiya muttered something about pride and a pregnant woman being able to escape her watch, which instantly earned him an evil glare from his teammate. Nevertheless, Kushina stood her ground.
"I made a promise to protect this village no matter what." Kushina answered. Not flinching from her spot as the older woman tried to stare her down; with no success.
"In coming!" Someone yelled. Forcing the arguing to cease and look at the colossal tree that was flying towards them; the ninja's had gotten so distracted by the argument that no one had noticed until the last minute. Everyone jumped up but Minato was not fast enough, as he ran over to Kushina and lifted her. Damn it! Minato swore, as he saw the tree coming towards them. Given that he was holding his wife he couldn't make any hands seals without letting her fall, so he forced himself to turn around and hoped he would take most of the impact, instead of his wife. All of a sudden a pink blur flashed passed him and kicked the tree, shattering it into a million pieces. All of the ninja's landed gracefully on the ground, the weapons up and ready.
"I am at your service Lord Hokage." The pink haired woman spoke respectively, bowing before she brushed the splintered wood off her jonin uniform. Minato was trying hard to remember who this person was. He was sure had seen this woman before, especially a lot lately. Thinking back, he remembered seeing flashes of pink hair when he had taken his wife to the hospital for checkups; maybe a few times in the meeting room once or twice when he had given out assignments. He couldn't believe that he couldn't remember her name (it would have been tough to forget someone with pink hair) all he could of was one word; Haruno. The name reminded him of something important but because of all the stress with his wife and the Nine Tail Fox he was finding it hard to concentrate.
"Will you please escort my wife back to the hospital?" He asked politely, before he knew it a hand slapped him around the head.
"What point of I'm a ninja don't you get?" She yelled at her husband. Minato rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head. He couldn't believe this was happening; men and woman were dying only a few metres away from him and he was standing here having an argument with his wife. Kami! That woman can hit really hard, the Hokage thought silently to himself since he didn't dare say it out loud. Kushina could be just as bad as Tsunade if you pushed the right buttons.
"That is good and all but how will you protect your child." The pink haired ninja questioned the young mother firmly, making everyone turn to look at her. What she said made Kushina nearly change her mind but she told herself she was a ninja and an Uzamaki.
"I'm a woman, I can multi-task." The red head replied strongly, with her head held high. The reaction that she got back from the female shinobi surprised her; she was smiling.
"Lady Kushina," the pink haired woman spoke placing a gentle hand on the mothers arm. "Trust me when I say I know what you're going through but you are a mother first and a ninja second now, you must ..." The woman suddenly froze half way through her sentence with wide eyes. Despite the commotion that was happening outside the walls; it seemed like a moment of silence had descended upon this small area of the wall.
"Uh oh." The woman muttered silently but was still heard clearly by the other shinobi around her.
"What is it?" The toad sage asked the woman, being the first to recover. The pink shinobi thought to herself for a moment before answering.
"You're about to give birth in five seconds." She responded. Kushina and Tsunade were about to argue back at this strange decision but five seconds had already gone past. Liquid spilled onto the floor, announcing that Kushinas waters had just broken. Everyone froze in shock, until Kushina screamed in pain and collapsed onto the floor. In seconds everyone surrounded her, trying to help her but not sure how.
"Everyone stand back!" Tsunade ordered, which mostly everyone did except: Minato and the pink haired woman. "Ok Kushina, I want you to breathe in and out slowly, in and out." The medic said gently, freaking a lot of people out in the process since this was not the woman they were use to seeing. Kushina was doing her best to stay calm but a million emotions wrecked havoc through her body, until a cool hand was placed on her forehead. She turned to see the pink haired woman calmly looking back at her. Tsunade began to order men to grabbed clean towels and hot water.
"What? Tsunade, surely you not thinking give birth to my child here?" Minato inquired, after he took in Tsunade strange requests. The old woman turned to him with a stubborn look.
"There's no time to get her back to the hospital." Tsunade yelled back, turning her attention back on the pregnant woman that was about to give birth, telling her to continue to breathe easily. Now Minato was torn more than ever between the battle and his wife. Two men came up to them with towels and hot water (they had probably nicked them from houses nearby) they quickly placed the items near Tsunade and left not wanting to be near her when the whole drama happened. "Okay Kushina on the count of three I want to push, one, two, thr ..."
"Aaarrrgggghhhh!" Kushina screamed as she pushed. The man near her decided they were never going to have kids, especially the really close ones that could see her tearing their Hokage's arm off when she squeezed.
"Okay that's it just a few more and ..." Tsunade paused when she saw the red liquid on her hands. No, not again, she thought, as she could do nothing but just stare at it. She had a fear of blood ever since she couldn't save her boyfriend but she thought she could help give birth to her friend's baby when they asked but looking at the blood now, she froze. Minato had notice her stop and was now trying to bring her back around to reality but nothing he said seemed to have any effect. Everything seemed to blackout, until something hard whacked her face.
"Lady Tsunade snapped out of it!" The pink hair woman cried out. Minato looked at her like she was crazy (which she probably was because you had to be mad to smack Tsunade around the face) and the woman looked back at him thinking along the same line of thought. Tsunade seemed to be able to regain control of the situation and sent death glares towards the woman that slapped her. The woman only held her hands out in surrender.
"Well it worked didn't it." She shrugged innocently, increasing the intensity of the glare. Kushina scream brought everyone back to the situation at hand.
"Ok Kushina, I need one more big push." Tsunade encouraged, supporting the head of the baby that was already out of the body. Despite nearly crushing his hand Minato was behind her one hundred percent of the time. All of a sudden, a baby scream sent a shockwave through the air. Everyone looked at the tiny little baby laying in Tsunade's hands. She quickly cleaned the baby off before wrapping it in a towel and passed the baby to Kushina.
"He's so beautiful." Kushina whispered, stroking the soft spikes on top of the little boys head. Minato nodded as he stared at the little boy that he and his wife had both made together. The beautiful moment was ruined when the furious howl of the nine tail fox shattered the calm atmosphere. The Hokage's head snapped back to the scene that lay in front of him. Damn! He thought, he had been so caught up with his crazy wife and the birth of his new son that he had somehow forgotten about the beast in the distance. Standing up, he eyed the monster as a million plans started to run through his head but nothing seemed to work. His old sensei seemed to be reading his mind and spoke the one thing he hoped he never wanted to say.
"Minato, do you remember what I told you about jinchuriki's?" He questioned, Minato turned to face him with a mixer of rage and hopelessness.
"Are you serious?" His young student shouted with outrage. Jiraiya had been excepting this reaction but he knew that it was the only thing that could save the village. He also noticed the young pink haired would with utter rage on her face. She must know what we're talking about, Jiraiya wondered. Meanwhile Tsunade was just looking at them in total confusion.
"Do you think we have any other choice?" Jiraiya suggested to his most prized student. An inner battle developed inside his soul, as his eyes twitched back between Jiraiya and his new born child. Student and Teacher had know each other long enough what each other was thinking and Minato knew what his sensei was thinking and why he brought the subject up now. Finally coming to a decision Minato forced away the tears that were threatening to escape before he crouched down next to his wife, who had been too caught up at looking at her son to take notice of the situation that was going on around her.
"Kushina… Kushina honey?" Minato whispered, making his wife look up at him for the first time. The smile quickly disappeared when she saw the terrible look in his eyes. "Kushina I need you to promise me that you'll always love our son no matter what." He asked sincerely. His wife looked at him with a perplexed look in her dark violet eyes but she nodded, not sure what else to do. Carefully, Minato lifted the child from the woman arms hugged him tightly before jumping towards the battle field. Finally registering what was happening she jumped up and tried to go after him but was instantly pulled back by Tsunade.
"Tsunade! What's he doing? Why is he taking our child towards that thing?" She screeched, trying to tear herself away from her friend. Tsunade could only shake her head because she honestly didn't know but whatever it was would hopefully save the village. "Minato please! Give back my baby!" She shrieked after her husband, tears poured from her eyes. "I'll get him." The pink woman yelled, suddenly leaping off the wall in search of her leader. A second later Jiraiya also leaped over the wall to follow her.
Minato cursed himself again and again for what he was about to do but he knew he had to, so he could save everyone he loved and his village. He stared down at the tiny bundle in his arms and couldn't believe how tiny his son was. Shoving the doubts from his mind he pushed more charka into his feet to make himself move faster. The cold breeze whipped his skin as the icy cold air sliced his fresh, like scissors cutting paper. His thoughts were so focused on the demon ahead that he had not notice the presence behind him until it slammed into his back. He just managed to stop himself from falling off the tree and dropping his son, grabbing the branch with his free hand he swung himself around and stood on top of the branch. Quickly checking on his son, the Hokage looked up to see the pink haired kunoichi had followed him with a determined look in her eyes. Despite the situation he had to admit that he was impressed that she had caught up to him, he wasn't the yellow flash for nothing.
"Hokage please, don't do this!" She pleaded, leaping a few branches closer so they were now only a jump away from each other. Minato stayed in his defensive position, even though it was one of his own standing in front of him, she had just nearly knocked him and his new born son out of the air.
"Do you really think I want to do this?" He shouted back at her, starting to feel angry but kept his emotions in check. Minato knew he was going to ask the unforgiveable from his son but he had faith in the child and the people of Konoha; besides he had had a dream a few months back about his son controlling the power of the Kyuubi and he had began working on the project for some time but it had only been a project back then; now it was Konohagakure's only chance for survival. Maybe Kami sent him the dream but now he had no chance to think about it. He had to stop the Kyuubi. Before the woman had a chance to argue, Jiraiya had sunk up behind her and used his Wild Lion's Mane Technique to trap her. She struggled hard but she couldn't free herself from Jiraiya's chakra enhanced hair. He gave his young student a quick nod and Minato took this opportunity to use his Flying Thunder God Technique. Knowing his student would be far away by now, he slowly loosened his hold over the young woman.
"There, now we ..." Jiraiya had to stop what he was saying when he felt a fist collide with his cheek and sent him flying, smacking into a tree in the process. She almost hits as hard as Tsunade, Jiraiya mused, as he forced himself out of the dent his body had made in the tree. Looking around he saw that the female ninja had disappeared again. Now where did she go, he thought, as he did and extra check of his surroundings. His thoughts were interrupted when a loud cloud of smoke appeared and Gamabunta rose out above. Narrowing his eyes a little more he could see the tiny figure of the fourth Hokage standing on top of him. I'll miss you kid, Jiraiya thought, cursing himself for not being the one up there. Suddenly, he spotted another figure appear behind his student. Oh no, he cried out, as he pulled himself together and raced towards the scene that was unfolding before him.
Minato did not move an inch when the Nine Tailed Fox met eyes and began hissing at him. The demon fox knew exactly why he was there. If Minato was going to have any chance with this, he was going to have to act fast. An odd noise to come from a fox, Minato thought, as he placed his baby son on top of the giant toads head. Forgive me! He begged silently to his son, as he made the first hand seal. But before he could continue any further, something pinched the back of his neck. Not being able to control his body functions any longer, the fourth Hokage could not stop himself falling to the floor. The only body part he could move now was his head. Turning it slightly, he saw that the person that had paralysed him was the pink hair ninja who had tried to stop him before. Tears ran down her face as she gently stroked his little son's hair.
"Why?" Was the only thing he could say to the woman kneeling beside him. She looked at him for a second with a sad expression on her face before explaining.
"If your son is going to have this demon sealed into his body... " She choked, staring down at the child with nothing but love in her eyes. "Then he's going need all the love he can get from the hatred that will haunt him for the rest of his life." Gently, she placed the baby down with great care. Before she preformed the seal, she looked up, her eyes met the Kyuubi's. No fear was scene in the young woman's movements or expression as she dared to stare down at the famed beast. Slowly, her hands came together as she began to make hand signs. The movement between her hands became faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur, she then slammed her hands down on to the baby's belly. Bright light explored over the area, blinding every ninja that stood in the area. The last thing that the surround people and the nation heard was the demons howl, shaking the ground and causing the surrounding nations to feel the terrifying rage of the fox scream. Then silence. The shinobi around the area removed their hands away from their eyes to see that the demon had disappeared. They should have been feeling happiness but fear and sorrow still cloaked their hearts. There was still much work to do.