He looked down at the twin bundles in his arms. His sons. He was still having a hard time with that thought. I'm a father. Unfortunately he knew he would never be able to get used to the idea. The Kyuubi no Kitsune was on its way to destroy the village and nothing had been able to deter it from its course. Any minute it would destroy Konoha and he knew there was only one way to stop it. Sadly it would require him to sacrifice himself and make orphans of his two infant sons, as their mother had died giving birth to them.
"I'm sorry," he thought to himself, "that I have to leave you two alone. That I won't get to see the two of you grow up, fall in love and have children of your own. And I'm especially sorry for the burden I have to place on you, Naruto, a burden that can possibly bring you and your brother Kai great pain and sadness. My only hope is that the people of the village don't resent and shun you for the burden you carry and that your mother and I truly do love you and circumstances forced us to be torn from you so soon after your births."
The man placed one of the children into the nearby crib with a note and then went to the window. With one last look to the crib he said, "Forgive me Kai." He then looked at the bundle in his arms. "Forgive me Naruto."
With that Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konoha hurried off to face the Kyuubi…
And meet his fate.
…..
The mood in the council chamber was somber. The Kyuubi's attack had wiped out a third of the villages ninja. The Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who has come out of retirement due to the death of the Yondaime, was currently presiding over an emergency session of the village council to discuss the rebuilding of the section of the village that had been destroyed during the attack and, what they were currently discussing, the fate of the Kyuubi's jinchuriki and his twin brother.
"We should kill them immediately" a pink haired woman from the civilian side screeched, deafening those around her. Many on the civilian side seconded this.
"We could enroll them in my ROOT program" a heavily bandaged man sitting to the side suggested.
"Quiet!" the Sandaime yelled, getting everyone's attention, "The civilian council was created by the Yondaime to handle the economic matters of the village. Seeing as this is a security matter, you have no reason to be here right now. As for you Danzo, you're not a member of this council. All of you leave at once before I have you arrested."
"With all due respect, Hokage-sama" the pink-haired banshee shrieked, "We're talking about the fate of 2 orphaned boys. This is clearly a domestic matter."
"That may have been the case, Haruno-san, if it weren't for the fact that one of the boys in question has the Kyuubi sealed inside of him," Aburame Shibi stated plainly.
"Even so, the civilian council has the right to sit in during the clan council meeting and voice our opinion on security matters." Haruno said.
"IF WE LISTENED TO YOU, HARUNO, WE WOULD ORDER THE MURDER OF 2 CHILDREN WHO NOTHING BUT VICTIMS OF CIRCUMSTANCE!" bellowed Hyuuga Hiashi.
"THE KYUUBI HAS BEEN SEALED INTO A HOST. IF WE KIL. THE HOST, WE KILL THE KYUUBI AND END ITS REIGN OF TERROR ONCE AND FOR ALL! IT'S ONLY COMMON SENSE, HYUUGA!" Haruno screamed back.
Suddenly a man on the civilian council stood up, slammed his hand onto the table in front of him and yelled "REIGN OF TERROR! BEFORE TONIGHT, THE KYUUBI HADN'T BEEN SEEN SINCE BEFORE THE FOUNDING OF THE VILLAGE. AND WHAT SENSE DOES IT MAKE TO KILL A CHILD WHO ISN'T MORE THAN A FEW HOLURS OLD FOR HAVING A DEMON SEALED IN HIM! AND HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY JUSTIFY KILLING HIS BROTHER! IF YOU HAD ANY COMMON SENSE YOU WOULD LEAVE THE COUNCIL CHAMBER BEFORE YOU MAKE YOURSELVES LOOK LIKE EVEN BIGGER DEMONS THAN THE KYUUBI!
The man next to him hissed, "How can you say that, Higurashi-san? That monster killed your wife."
`"Your right," Higurashi said quietly, turning to face his colleagues on the civilian council, "The Kyuubi did kill my wife. But I know the difference between an imprisoned monster and its jailor. The question is … Do any of you?"
The council chamber went silent. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have arrangements to make," Higurashi said as he made his way out of the room. The rest of the civilian council began to file out soon afterwards. The woman known as Haruno, who was the last one to leave, turned around at the door and said "They'll live … for now. But I certainly won't let this go."
"As far as you, Danzo …" the Hokage began to say.
"He left during the commotion" Nara Shikaku said lazily.
"At least he knows when to leave" Hiashi muttered on his breath.
"Now that there are no more distractions, what do we do about the twins?" the Sandaime asked.
"No matter what we do, they should be put under the protection of the police force" Uchiha Fugaku said. This was met with unanimous approval.
"Hokage-sama, Haruno's words concern me," the Aburame clan head stated.
"Her words did seem quite troublesome to me," Konaha's Jonin Commander* seconded.
"I'm also worried about what Haruno said, but there is nothing we can do but keep a close eye on her," Sarutobi said.
"If I may, Hokage-sama," an ANBU asked as he suddenly appeared.
"It's highly irregular, but go ahead Neko," the Sandaime said to the ANBU.
"May I suggest that the children be given different family names and separated," Neko said.
"How will this protect the children?" Akimichi Chouza said, looking genuinely confused.
"Looking at it realistically, this plan won't be able to protect both of them," the ANBU said, "But if we tell everyone that the jinchuriki's brother died, we could at the very least protect him."
"How do we accomplish that and make it believable?" Inuzuka Tsume asked out loud what everyone there was thinking.
Another ANBU dropped into the room and whispered something into the Sandaime's ear. A huge amount killing intent radiated from him a moment later. "A chunnin just made an attempt on the boys' lives. He killed himself before he could be captured and interrogated."
"Well that solves that problem," Shikaku said, confusing everyone in the room. "We can tell everyone that the attack succeeded in killing one of them," he explained.
"That leaves their living arrangements to be decided," the Hokage said.
"Hokage-sama, I will take in Kai," the Hyuuga clan head said, surprising those present. What he said next stunned everyone.
"I would also like to make his family name Namikaze."
For the next few minutes everyone in the council chamber stared at Hiashi like he had suddenly sprouted an extra head.
"Why that particular name, Hiashi?" the Sandaime quietly asked.
"If we tell everyone that the boy is an orphan whose father died on a mission and mother died during child birth and was adopted by the Yondaime. We also tell them that his birth father had many enemies who would jump at the chance to kill his heir, which is why he was given the Yondaime's name."
Hiashi stopped for a second, seemingly to collect his thoughts. "As you all know, Minato was a close friend of mine. So it would only make sense that I would have been asked to look after the boy should anything happen to him. This way, even if someone should find out that he is Naruto's brother, they would have to find a considerable amount of proof before anyone would even consider trying to break into the Hyuuga compound to harm him." Shikaku raised an eyebrow, Shibi stiffened slightly, and for a split second the faintest of smiles played across the Hokage's face.
"It is ironic how close to the truth that reason is" the Sandaime thought.
"That's a good enough reason for me" Shikaku said.
"I concur with Nara-san" Shibi stated.
"If Shikaku thinks it is okay, then so do I" Yamanaka Inoichi said.
"I agree with Inoichi" said Chouza
"I completely disagree with this idea, but since the majority of this council is for it I guess it doesn't matter" Fugaku said, sounding irritated.
"I'll go along, but I'm still not sure about this" Tsume said.
"Then it is settled. Kai will be taken in by the Hyuuga clan," the Hokage stated, "As for Naruto, the best thing for him may be to put him in the orphanage and have the police force keep an eye on him. Agreed?" Everyone nodded their head in agreement. "Good, no one is to tell the younger generation or Naruto about his tenant. When Naruto finds out, it will be up to him and him alone to decide who he can trust with his secret. Everything discussed tonight is now an SSS-Rank secret. I shouldn't have to tell you what that means. This meeting is adjourned."
….
Miles away from Konoha, a man with a snake's eyes sat in a dark room. Another man came into the room, approached the man, and whispered something into his ear. A spike of killing intent and a glint of metal later, a fresh corpse lay beside the snake-eyed man's chair.
"It seems my plan has failed. It hardly matters because in the end I'll have the last laugh as I look down on that fucking cat's corpse."
"Kukukuku"
