Choosing a Better Fate

Summary: When all signs point to a bleak future with little to no hope, it's hard to seek a better life. But sometimes, all you need is a companion who's willing to stick with you till the very end. Minato x Kushina

Disclaimer I don't own Naruto.

Prologue

Kushina nervously stood in front of a desk. Not just any desk, this desk belonged to the Hokage of Konoha, one of the most powerful men in the world. Said man was looking over a folder with eyes that held wisdom beyond her years. She was fidgeting with her yellow shirt, unable to move due to the man behind her with his hand on her shoulder. For an Eleven year old girl she couldn't help but feel nervous, she might be ignorant about a lot of things but even she knew how much stature a Hokage had in the world. She awoke one day in her village on the border of the land of fire to be told that she was going to Konoha not even two days ago. She then ended up leaving that very day with a tall silver haired man.

The man she was with didn't answer any of her questions, he just gave a smile and told her to be patient. Unfortunately for him Kushina was a very stubborn and impatient girl. A personality that matched the color of her hair. It was stark red, almost the color of blood that reached to the small of her back. She didn't know what to think of it, she was the only person she had ever known with red hair. So throughout the trip she kept asking questions and sometimes threw stones at him to get his attention. They never landed and all he offered was an amused smile.

Suddenly she was brought out of her inner thoughts by a calm and almost fatherly voice. "So you are young Uzumaki Kushina" Even though it wasn't a question she nodded nervously drawing an amused but warm smile from the elderly man in front of her. "Welcome to Konoha Kushina, I am Hiruzen most refer to me as lord Hokage but you can call me Sarutobi". Again she nodded though less nervous now and had a shy smile on her face. He then turned to her Nameless escort.

"Thank you Sakumo, would you inform Mito of the situation now". 'Sakumo' as she now knew him as bowed and walked out of the room sparing her a glance on his way out. "Now Kushina, do you know why you are here?" She shook her head. "You have a voice do you not?"

"Y-Yes Dattebane!" She quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment and blushed. He chuckled in amusement.

"There is no need to be nervous Kushina, this is your home now and I hope you will enjoy your time here". Around the Hokage, with his fatherly smile she found herself calming down considerably and managed a small smile. "Are you hungry Kushina? I imagine all that walking with only a few pieces of fruit have done little to fill your stomach up." She nodded a bit more enthusiastically than before which brought a small chuckle from him. He stood up and held the door open for her.

She crossed her arms over her chest as she saw a few people with masks covering their faces. She felt the Hokage put a gentle hand on her shoulder and she calmed down a bit but still tried to hide her small frame from view behind her slim arms. "Don't worry Kushina, they are ANBu the elite ninja of Konoha. They will not attempt to harm you." He must be a mind reader she thought, he always seemed to know what was bothering her and what to say to calm her nerves. "Tell me Kushina what do you know of Konoha?"

"You are one of the five great nations in the world, you were allies of my home before it was, before it-"

"Yes even now it is hard to speak of, uzushiogakure was a marvelous village most known for its Fuinjitsu and one of Konohas greatest allies. Unfortunately yes it was destroyed due to their people's vast strength and brilliant minds. Not to mention their sealing arts." He grew a sad sort of smile as if he was reminiscing. "We were all very sorry when it was destroyed and I wish we were able to save it. Do you remember much of it?"

"No, I was around four when my Kaa-san told me that I had to leave with other people from my clan. She wouldn't tell me why, but when I was eight one of the people I left with said that our village was destroyed." Her voice had gone really quiet, like she was trying not to show too much emotion lest she burst into tears.

The Hokage suddenly stopped and knelt in front of her. He turned her chin up so that she was looking at him. Dark blue eyes met dark brown. "You are a survivor of a great tragedy, those like your mother sacrificed themselves so that you can have a second chance. Don't look on their deaths with sadness, but remember them for what they stood for and honor their memory by living your life to the fullest". She hesitated before slowly nodding, a shy smile breaking on her face. After years of running from bandits and finding home after home, the Hokage in front of her was giving her words that she would do her best to remember.

He stood up and offered his hand which she took after a brief moment. They ended up outside a rather expensive looking restaurant which he entered, with after a small brief moment of hesitation she followed. Needless to say she was shocked at how neat the place looked. She was used to dirt and sometimes piss covered floors but here it was spotless.

Suddenly a man magically appeared in front of them. "Table for two Hokage-sama?"

"Yes thank you" Said man led them to a table against the window and quickly gave them a booklet which had a list of what appeared to be food on them. She looked at Sarutobi with a raised eyebrow.

"You can have whatever is on the menu, I'll pay for it"

"Anything, as much as I want?" He smiled and nodded. Unfortunately for him he underestimated how hungry this girl could be. Normally she could eat a ton of ramen without stopping but she hadn't had much in two days leaving her with much more room in her stomach than usual. She was not going to waste this opportunity.

"I'll have all of it, one of each, dattebane!" While she grew a smile on her face Sarutobi lost his and sweat dropped. There were at least fifteen things on that menu he doubt she could finish half of it. The waiter must have shared his sentiments as he looked at Sarutobi in disbelief.

"Well you heard her, one of everything" The waiter nodded not bothering to write anything down and Sarutobi turned and amused stare to a certain eleven year old.

"What?"

"Surely you can't think you can eat all of that in one sitting?"|

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh I can, and I'll finish it in twenty minutes!"

"Alright I'll bet on that, if you can eat it all in twenty minutes I'll let you wear my robes and hat for a day" If anything her eyes glowed with what seemed defiance at being doubted.

"That'll be easy, but I don't want to wear your robes, I just want that smug grin wiped off your face dattebane!" Almost immediately she covered her mouth and stared at him in horror. She mind of forgot she was talking to the Hokage and realized how rude she was. Sarutobi was mentally laughing his beard off with her expression.

Maintaining composure on the outside he put on a frown "Hmph most people would consider it an honor to wear these robes, what you said is a great insult to many people" He was being cruel and he knew it but he couldn't help it at the moment. Not to mention judging from her expression she was quite mortified and what might possibly happen. "However I can keep what you said between us if you manage to eat all fifteen items in fifteen minutes" He allowed himself to smirk in amusement as her facial expressions changed. She looked hopeful and ready to take on anything if it meant not royally screwing up in front of the leader of her new home.

So when the food arrived she wasted no time in shoving everything into her mouth. Sarutobi felt his jaw fall open slightly as he watched her practically inhale the food. Never in his life had he seen someone eat with such gusto especially from a girl. Only he and Jiraiya had eaten at a faster pace than most but this eleven year old was putting them to shame.

Currently she had a few buns sticking half way into her mouth as she ran out of room to put them in. Needless to say for the first time in a good five years he was shocked speechless. As the last piece of food was shoved in her mouth and quickly swallowed she panted slightly and looked at him. He saw a look very similar to Tsunade when she was given a challenge and expected to fail.

Suddenly he erupted into laughter and repeatedly slammed his fist onto the table. She looked at him stunned unsure how to react. As she looked around the restaurant some people were looking at the Hokage with stupefied expressions. The other half were looking at her jaws open and comically open eyes at what they just witnessed. Embarrassed she grew a faint blush on her face and looked out the window.

After the Hokage had calmed down he wiped a tear from his eye and chuckled at Kushina. "That took you eight minutes" She huffed even more embarrassed and looked down at her feet and fiddled with her hands. "Alright I suppose I can forgive you for what you said about my robes, not that it deserved any form of punishment in the first place." He grinned cheekily as her eyes widened.

Quickly distracting her from wherever thoughts they were going he found the perfect topic to discuss. "You see that cliff-face there?" She looked up still fuming before her eyes settled on a large rock face with three heads carved into it. "Those who aspire to follow their dreams and become the best they can be, those who inherit the will of fire are the ones whose heads are carved into that cliff. They are the ones who receive recognition from all people, not just shinobi"

She looked at it in wonder, it was quite a sight to behold. "If you took on any challenge the way you took all that food simply because you were doubted, you could become a truly strong shinobi"

"But so many people dream of becoming that strong but only three have ever made it to Hokage" He smiled at her before he noticed someone who represented everything he was talking to her about.

"Minato come here for a bit" Kushina quickly looked to where Sarutobi was shouting towards to see a kid around her age walking towards them. She subconsciously hid behind the robes of her escort as she looked him over. He wore a white hoodie and black pants, he seemed to have a wiry frame but that was expected of kids around their age. What she noticed most of all was his spiky blonder hair and a pair of bright cerulean eyes which in turn were studying her. She noticed that his eyes were almost glued to her hair which made her reach up to brush a lock of hair away from her eyes on instinct.

She was always subconscious about her hair, she didn't like it and she assumed that he thought it was ugly. Little did she know that he was thinking the complete opposite, he was captivated by her hair framing a rather round face which made her look really cute.

"STOP STARING DATTEBANE!" He hadn't noticed but a blush had spread across her face and she was growing increasingly flustered at his penetrating gaze. He quickly averted his eyes and looked towards Sarutobi, who in turn looked very amused.

"Why did you call me over here Hokage-sama"

"Minato what was your dream again?" Minato felt rather proud to be able to be asked this by the Hokage so he gained a large grin and put a hand to his chest.

"To be a Hokage respected and admired by everyone" Almost immediately a snort was heard from said girl who he dared not look at in case he caused his ears to receive another lashing.

Sarutobi looked at Kushina with deep thought, he then turned to Minato with a bit of pride in his voice. "Well if my student Jiraiya says that you are capable of doing it then I too will believe you can." Jiraiya had taken a rather keen interest in Minato, he had the highest scores in the academy which were actually almost flawless. He was seen as the student with the most capability during this year in the academy. "Which reminds me even though you are on break are you still keeping up with training?"

"Yes sensei, I train with Toma every now and then. Which reminds me he is waiting for me at the training grounds." Ah Toma, the boy wasn't as talented as Minato but was still showing signs of being a very capable shinobi. If the instructors reports were anything to go by then the two boys were always competing for top spot along with a few others, namely from the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans. However Minato was always the one being chased.

"Then don't let us hold you up, keep working hard Minato and im sure one day you will be wearing these robes" The boy gave him a radiant smile before risking a glance at the rather quiet redhead next to him.

The boy was proving to be extremely talented, in the academy having drawn the attention of Jiraiya was proof of that.

He smiled at the girl, but inwardly he grimaced. He was trying to get the girl to relax but after meeting Minato she seemed a little flustered.

"Kushina" She jumped a little signaling she was broken out of her thoughts. "What did you think of young Minato?" Her reply was instant.

"Seemed like a wimp"

He chuckled. "He does look small doesn't he, however he is one of the most gifted student in the academy, if anyone were to replace me as Hokage it would be someone with the drive and passion he has. If you were to train just as hard as you did to prove me wrong about the food back there you could probably be the first female Kage in history"

Her jaw went slack and she looked at him as if he were stupid to which he shrugged. As they continued to walk to wherever they were going she mulled his words in her head. Could she actually become Hokage? She didn't think so but Sarutobi pretty much said if you have that passion and the drive to follow your dreams then maybe there were no limits to what you could do. Still she doubted passion was the only thing needed, you needed talent and skill. A lesson that was taught to her from being on the run for many years after her home was gone.

After all she has had to fight many bandits and animals while on the run. This time she was brought out of her thoughts when they stopped at a rather large house, it was pretty far away from the center of the village but still only around a half hour walk from the Hokage tower.

The Hokage knocked once and was permitted by the man who had picked her up from her village two days ago, Sakumo. He nodded and held the door for them, glancing at Kushina again with an expression she couldn't exactly identify. He then motioned them to follow him as he led them down a rather long corridor.

Kushina couldn't help but feel like a lot of trepidation at the way Sakumo looked at her before. If she didn't know any better it was as if he was apologizing for something that she either didn't know or hadn't happened yet. He stopped at a door and the Hokage walked through beckoning for her to follow. Sakumo didn't follow. She was getting really alarmed right now, only the Hokages fatherly smile helped to keep her mind from racing.

As she entered she noticed the room was rather small. All there was a bed in the far right corner and a sink in the opposite corner with a window behind the aforementioned sink. In the middle of the room was a low table and four cushions. On the bed were two woman who were rather elderly, looking around the same age as the Hokage. One was sitting on the edge of the bed holding a wet cloth against the other ones forehead who was lying down.

Sarutobi gave her a smile he hoped was comforting before he led her to one of the cushions, then sat down on the one next to her. One of the woman helped the other out of the bed and led her to the cushion opposite Kushina while she sat opposite Sarutobi. The woman opposite her gave her a motherly smile which didn't really help the worry she was getting in her mind and heart.

"Kushina allow me to introduce you to my wife Sarutobi Biwako" The woman who was opposite Hiruzen gave her a smile and nod. "and to Uzumaki Mito a dear friend of ours and widow toe the first Hokage Hashirama Senju".

"Hello my dear, I hope the travel was safe and not too tiring". She didn't know what to think of the situation here, this whole atmosphere felt like something big was going to be dropped on her small shoulders. Here she was surrounded by three very influential people in the world.

Even so she managed to quietly squeak out a few words "N-no it wasn't too bad, dattebane!" She inwardly flinched at her verbal tick again. She was so nervous she didn't even want to speak for risk of twisting her own tongue. Sarutobi cleared his throat and spoke with a clear voice.

"Kushina, you haven't been told why you are here. However the reason being as this is considered an S class secret. Im sure you understand that means no-one but those in this room and a few select others will know. However you are not to tell anyone of what was said in here understood?"

Kushina gulped at this and she trembled slightly, biting her lower lip she gave a submissive nod. Hiruzen smiled at her which did little to stem her nerves. How could she be calm when next to one of the five Kages and was told to pretty much keep her mouth shut about whatever was about to happen.

"First of all what do you know of the Bijuu?"

"They are weapons used in war?" The three of them nodded.

"Yes they are, there are nine very powerful Bijuu that exist. In order to contain them we seal them." He paused for a brief second. "However the only reliable container we know of is to seal them into a person."

Biwako spoke up "Mito here is one such person, she had a Bijuu sealed into her when she was very young and has since carried it within her for fifty years." At this point Kushinas mind was starting to connect the dots. Sealed into people, very young. "A Bijuu can usually only be seaked into a child this is because sealing it into an adult can cause harmful effects to the possible host usually resulting in death. However if one possess a special kind of chakra they can have a Bijuu sealed into them regardless of their age"

Mito then spoke up "Members of the Uzumaki clan are usually ones to host Bijuu due to members of the clan naturally having great stamina and are blessed with a great life force. Not to mention can recover from chakra exhaustion and have very fast recuperative abilities" She let the information settle in before continuing. "An uzuamki child would then be an obvious choice for the newest Jinchurki"

She held her head low, there was no mistaking it they wanted to seal one into her. Why would they do that? She didn't want a weapon like that inside her. Before she knew it she was panicking and had trouble breathing. She felt tears threaten to fall and she held a hand to her chest. Before it could escalate she felt a hand grab her own. She looked up and saw Mito looking at her with eyes full of sympathy and understanding.

"Hiruzen, Biwako, would you kindly leave us alone for a moment? I think hearing what's to come from a jinchuriki will help calm her." They nodded and with a squeeze on her shoulder from the Hokage they exited the room.

Kushina started sobbing and she felt Mito make her way over so she was next to her, next thing she knew her head was lowered to Mitos chest and a hand rubbed her hair in a soothing manner. She found herself calming down until the crying stopped and her heart stopped pounding in her chest.

"I was older than you when I had Kurama sealed into me, my own husband did it during the first shinobi war. With its power I helped drive back the effort. Hashirama helped me overcome Kuramas power, it threatened to overtake me but with my husbands love and the support of friends it couldn't harm me." She then rested her chin on Kushina's head and hummed a soft tune. Kushina recognized it, her mother would hum this to her when she was still alive, she could barely remember much from the time but she could never forget that tune.

"Does it hurt? I mean when its sealed into you and even after that does it hurt"

"The only way a Jinchurki can hurt you is if you let its power take over you. Kurama is a Bijuu full of hate so if you end up hating many things without love to counter act it, then you have allowed it to hurt you." She pulled her head away so she could look Kushina in the eyes.

"We came here to be the vessels of the Nine-Tails. But before that, we must find love and fill the vessel with it. Your life as a Jinchuriki is going to be very hard, you will face many trials and hardships. But you are an Uzumaki, we will always endure. No matter the challenge we as a clan survive. So I ask of you to take this burden, and keep the peace between nations" She paused for a bit. "There are selfish people in this world who want to use Jinchuriki and merely see us as weapons. We are not, in times of peace find friends and love them and let their love help you lead a happy life."

She probably shouldn't have said that part, they needed her finding an alternative would be very difficult. Her time was running out she could feel her body dying. But Kushina deserved the truth and the whole truth, well mostly. She couldn't tell her the risk of getting pregnant, she would leave that to Biwako.

"I'll do it"

Surprised Mito looked down and saw the girl with tears in her eyes. She was truly afraid but there was no denying the determination and courage in her expression.

She nodded and pulled her into a hug again.

"You are a brave, brave girl. For one so young to take on such responsibility, I know you'll make me and every Uzumaki who ever existed very proud."