GOMEN! Sorry for not updating my other story, Beyond All Reason. I had some school issues, some ideas for new stories (which, after I release the first few chapters of this one, I will be posting the first chapters of (their names will be Divided, Destined Fox, and From the Ashes)), and reading through other peoples' stories to get ideas! I hope you enjoy reading this!

Also, in this story, Hirashin doesn't require the fancy kunai. It works like the Shunshin, only faster, and with light instead of a swirl of leaves. It is a Namikaze family jutsu.

"speech"

'thought'

"Kyuubi/other powerful being speech"

"Kyuubi/other powerful being thought"

Trickster

Prologue

It didn't make sense, Namikaze Minato concluded.

His village, Konoha, had never had any bad relations with demons. As far as he knew, Konoha had never had any relations with demons. Especially the Bijuu. But here was the news, sitting on the desk in front of him, that in just over a week's time, the path of destruction left by the most powerful of them all, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, would be led to them. Aside from his usual duties as the Yondaime Hokage, he had been preparing for the upcoming Chuunin Exams, then his wife's pregnancy and close due date, and now he had to prepare the village for a siege.

He needed a BIG bottle of sake.

He was already worried slightly about his wife, Kushina's, pregnancy. She had been analyzed as infertile, but now she was suddenly pregnant. Not that he minded; he wanted very much to have a child. Nor did he even, for a second, consider the possibility that she had somehow gotten it from another man. Minato utterly trusted his Kushina, because he knew she loved him, and he loved her. But when she had gone in for her checkup about halfway through the second trimester, the doctors had reported that they had seen… abnormalities… in the child. A Hyuuga was part of the team that monitored her, and he had made a full report of what he had observed. The child was a boy, and quite healthy; but it seemed as though his chakra coils, though undeveloped, were exceptionally large. Hell, it hadn't even been born yet, and they were bigger than those of most Jounin. But did not give off the regular blue glow. Instead, the chakra had been white.

Also, according to the team responsible for determining what traits their child would have, it seemed as though the child did not carry what would be considered a normal genetic code; it contained both his mother's and father's codes, but barely trace amounts. Most of his genes were completely foreign, and didn't seem entirely… human.

Pushing these thoughts aside, Minato began to try to formulate a plan to deal with the Kyuubi. He had the sinking feeling that he wouldn't get much sleep for a while.

OoO______________________________(XXX)______________________________OoO

The demon was at the village gates, and he had no time to lose. He had found a way to stop its rampage, using a complex seal he had devised and christened "Shiki Fuuin". It would seal the demon away, into a living person. An older person's chakra coils would be too set to hold the Kyuubi's power, so he would need a baby born recently enough to be able to adapt. And the only child born recently enough for that was his son.

Minato and Kushina were spending their last few moments with their son, because the seal that Minato would be using would take his life, and Kushina was dying due to problems during her labor. They gazed lovingly at the sleeping form of their son. It had become apparent that he was different; he had been born with wisps of white hair on his head, and didn't have ears. At least, not where you'd expect them. He had two small fox-like ears on the top of his head, and what seemed to be the beginnings of a tail sprouting from just above his bottom. Both were covered in fine white fur. And his eyes, for the few moments they had been open, had had slit pupils surrounded by purple irises. Adorning each cheek were three whisker marks. It was unusual, to say the least.

Minato took his son in his arms, tears falling from his face. He leaned over his wife, who was even now fading, kissed her gently, and whispered "I love you", before her monitors flat lined. He quickly used Hirashin to arrive at the seal array set up in the basement of the Hokage tower, checked to make sure everything was in order, and once again Hirashin-ed away, this time to the top of the guard tower.

In front of him was the great Kyuubi, its tails lashing left and right, when suddenly it stopped and turned towards him. Minato quickly drew the seal on the boy's stomach, and, placing the bundle down in front of him, flashed through the proper hand signs, summoning the Shinigami. The Kyuubi's essence began to be sucked into the seal on his the child's stomach, and the beast's eyes widened. The last thing it uttered before being completely sealed was a deep and powerful voice, filled with awe and confusion as it focused on the child.

"Tai… Taishou?"

Then it was gone, and before he was swallowed into the Shinigami's stomach, Minato looked upon his son, who was crying, and said "Live well… Naruto."

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