PROLOGUE
"as I pray... UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!"
"EX-"
"-CALIBUR!"
In an instant, a powerful, golden light, emanated from a sword, which was wielded by a pink-haired female, a shine that was enough to brighten the sunset of the barren hill were countless swords were scattered. It tore through and ripped in half an extremely powerful ball of black energy which was powerful enough to destroy entire cities, ripping through it, as well as its source: a gigantic, one-eyed creature with ten tails: the Juubi, that was continuously being assailed by an endless rain of swords. And it was enough to obliterate the monstrosity...
"AAAARGH!"
As well as the person controlling it, for he was stunned by the occurrence, and was unable to move, shocked by the fact that a mere human being possessed the power to not only match, but defeat the most powerful attack of the tailed beast: the Tailed Beast Bomb, at its full power. And even if he tried to escape, he would not been able to, for he had been fused with Juubi, even if not completely, and would not have been able to get away in time. Thus, the bijuu, as well as the one manipulating it, were engulfed in the light: nothing remained.
It was finally over. True, it had been long and gruelling, but finally, it has been won. Peace, was now at hand.
However, it was not a joyous victory. For many of them, had fallen in the struggle. Her friends... her comrades... she could actually not believe it herself, that someone like her, had actually considered them as such. A being of great pride and power like herself would have, in the past, considered as nothing but mere insects and annoyance. Now, however, she had grown fond of them, especially her dearest friends... her precious people...
She had used up all of her power, all of her chakra, to help charge that one last attack. She gave it everything she had. She did everything she could to protect her friends...
And she had no regrets, except for one...
For despite trying her hardest to remain for as long as she could, she did not even manage, did not even get the chance to talk to them and say goodbye properly. Still, she did manage to remain long enough to see their enemy destroyed...
Perhaps it was indeed better that way... after all, she did not exactly enjoy such moments. She wanted to see them smile, but looking at their faces full of sorrow, she knew it was impossible. So instead, before she vanished from existence, she gave them one of her own... a smile, filled with gratitude, thanking of the times they spent together... it may have been short, but it did not matter... for it had weighed much more than centuries... the hundreds of years of existence, when she did not have direction... for they were the ones who her life meaning... the people, who had given her the chance to experience true happiness...
"Thank you for everything..."
These were the last words that came out of her mouth, before she vanished into nothingness...
Still, despite the sadness she felt at not being able to stay with them, she was sure that everything would be alright... that they would be able to move forward without her...
Yes, and it was good enough for her...
-BREAK-
"?"
She awoke with a start, confused, having been awakened by a loud roar that echoed throughout the area...
"Ow, my head hurts," she muttered, cursing under her breath, as she held up one of her hands on her forehead... somehow, the roaring voice she heard seemed very familiar.
Soon, she got up, inspecting her surroundings, as she tried to compose herself...
She was, as she realized, standing on top of a branch of a tree, which seemed to be the tallest tree in the area... Somehow, the surrounding forest gave her a sense of ease, as if she had been there...
"The Forest of Death," muttered the woman once again, as she attempted to reorganize her thoughts. "How did I know that?" she whispered to herself...
Suddenly, she saw a large black sphere moving at an incredible speed, destroying everything in its path, tearing through buildings, like a bulldozer, before...
BOOM
... it exploded, obliterating everything in the large radius of its effect, leaving nothing but a huge crater where it landed...
And as she saw the sight before her, she could not help but feel something tugging at the back of her mind, as if she had seen all of this before, but from a different perspective... Somehow...
"DIE! FILTHY HUMANS!" roared a thundering voice, which echoed through the night, as another black ball of energy exploded, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake...
Knowing it was better to know that not knowing, she turned to look in the direction where the voice, as well as the large ball of energy, had come from...
"?!"
For a moment, everything seemed to stop for her, as she saw for herself, what it was that created those powerful balls of energy... And then...
She screamed, a loud echoing scream, which thankfully no one had noticed, for everybody else were to busy dealing with the thing... a gigantic, red-orange creature, with nine tails... as her mind was flooded with memories, which came back to her, as if triggered by the sight...
"What the..." she muttered to herself, staggering, as she processed the thoughts that were now flowing in her head...
It was impossible. The situation she was in was absolutely impossible. Well, not really impossible, but given the situation that she had been in, the chance of something like this occurring was one in almost a countless number of chances...
Yet here she was, staring at the large red-orange creature with nine-tails... the Kyuubi no Kitsune...
...she was staring at herself (?!)...
"What the hell," cursed Kurama, her eyes not leaving the giant fox, as it continued wreaking havoc in the Hidden Leaf Village. Well, 'it' may be a harsh term, but after what she had been through, Kurama knew that there was no other word that could fit... for with her Reinforced eyesight, she noticed that the kitsune's, her other self's eyes, were different, with three tomoes on each one... She was not herself. She was being controlled and manipulated by that goddamn Uchiha who nearly managed to destroy the world, and even though he failed, he was responsible for killing many of her comrades... and since the fox was nothing but a puppet on strings at the moment, 'it' was the only word that would fit...
Yes, it was definitely not a nice experience. True, Kurama did not want to die, and she would have nothing but to be able to stay with her friends... but this...
"Zelretch be damned," cursed the kitsune to herself. True, she had not really meant the old vampire, but Kurama, from being around a certain someone too much, had gotten used to blaming him for any untoward and unfortunate incident which occurred to her that did not seem to have any logically acceptable explanation...
Whenever things go awry, blame Zelretch...
In truth, Kurama actually had a half-mind to simply leave, or just kill herself, after all, with all the new things she had learned in just a few years with her companions, it would be a fairly easy task...
However, she found that she couldn't. For some reason, while a part of her wanted to disappear, a part of her wanted to stay and help...
And as she saw that the mark of the Sharingan begin flickering from her giant counterpart's eyes, as the manipulator was beginning to lose his hold, Kurama knew that she could not continue watching... she had to make a decision, and fast...
Leave them to their fate and try and forget everything... or help and protect them...
Had she been her former self, Kurama would probably not even have bothered. Now, however...
Damn it, what the hell am I doing? cursed the fox inwardly, for when she noticed, as if on reflex, she was in motion, moving as fast as she could, towards the spot where she knew that her other self had been, based from the fox's sudden disappearance (and the only one which remained was a giant toad named Gamabunta), teleported by the Yondaime...
-BREAK-
(Minato POV)
It would soon be over. The choice has been made. Soon, the nine-tailed fox would be defeated, sealed, once again, inside a host, and the new jinchuuriki... an infant, their own son. And as the bijuu was held down by chains, he prepared himself to perform the handseals for the Shiki Fujin, to summon the Death God.
Still, it had not been an easy decision for the Yondaime Hokage and his wife, Minato and Kushina. And in fact, he was wishing that there was a better option, though sadly, there was none.
Kushina, being the overprotective mother she was, wanted to have the Kyuubi sealed once again inside her, knowing that her end was near. Once she died, the beast would die with her...
True, Minato also saw the logic of the choice, however, he also knew of its consequences. For Kyuubi was a bijuu, and thus, was a powerful being. And if it were to disappear and was reincarnated later, it would probably come right back and attack the village again. And even if it did not return, the other villages would find out that Konoha no longer has hold over the Nine-Tailed Fox, and thus, Konoha would be in a compromised position, for their enemies would undoubtedly view this loss as a weakness, and would undoubtedly capitalize on it.
Therefore, he was left with no other option. Much as it pains him, but he knew there was no other choice. He had to seal the Kyuubi inside of his newborn son Naruto, and though she was against it, realizing the truth, Kushina also relented. It was a risk, they knew, but they would make sure that failsafe would be in place. True, they were doing it for the village, but both parents were actually doing it more for the sake of their son than for the sake of the village. After all, as long as the Hidden Leaf remained strong, Naruto would be safe and protected...
"MINATO! HURRY!" cried the Yondaime's wife.
All of these thoughts passed through him swiftly, however. For now was not the time to think. Kushina, despite her best efforts, was slowly losing her hold over the Kyuubi. It was time to act...
Before he could begin performing the handseals, however...
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
In one moment, the Yondaime froze, distracted, as he felt another presence, a powerful one, force its way through the barrier...
The next moment..
"KUSHINA!" screamed the Namikaze, as he saw his wife slump to the ground, undoubtedly at having used up every last ounce of strength she had...
Completely forgetting everything else, the Yondaime immediately teleported to Kushina's side...
And unfortunately, one of said things he had forgotten in the spur of the moment, was the fact that the barrier and chains were no longer in place... and thus...
"DIE!" roared the fox in triumphant rage, as its claws extended towards its intended victims with all the speed and power and it could place on it... and the intended victims... the Yondaime and his wife, who was also the bijuu's former vessel...
'Damn'
And Minato knew, as he held his unconscious wife in his arms, that no matter what he did, despite having been dubbed the Yellow Flash, he would not be fast enough to avoid it...
It was over. He and his loving wife were dead. And once the Kyuubi was through with them, he knew that it would kill their son next... All hope was lost...
"RHO AIAS!"
...or not...
"?!"
"?!"
A bright, white light, suddenly engulfed the area, temporarily impairing the Yondaime's vision...
Soon, however, the light dissipated, and the first thing that the Yondaime saw...
"Are you alright?" the person asked...
...was a woman, who was wearing a kimono, standing right beside him and his wife. She was tall... slightly taller than Minato, and had red-orange her. But the most striking feature about her...
...were her eyes, which were a piercing crimson red...
And in front of them, as Minato noticed, was a glowing pink flower, with five petals... or at least that was what it looked like. Yet the Yondaime knew, that it was not. It was probably one of the woman's technique's, some kind of shield, which saved their l...
"GRRRRR...WHO DARES?"
Upon hearing the roaring voice, the Yondaime as well the woman, turned towards the source... the Kyuubi, which was currently shaking its head some distance away... Apparently, whatever technique it was the woman used shocked the bijuu and knocked it backwards... probably the kitsune, despite its huge size, has been repelled by the large(although it was larger than any of them, it was still much, much smaller than the Kyuubi), glowing flower-like object in front of them...
Now was not the time for asking questions.
True, Minato did not know her, and in fact, it was the first time he had seen her (although somehow, her aura seems quite familiar, not to mention the fact that woman seems to know him, although since everyone in Konoha knows the Yondaime, that part was not really much of a surprise.).
"Yondaime-sama," stated the woman. "Please take your wife and son to a safe place, then come back here with reinforcements..."
Still, based from her actions, as well as the fact that she was wearing a Konoha Leaf Headband like a turban, she was definitely an ally...
"... I will buy you some time..."
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Alright, now to be honest with you, I actually had a half mind to make this chapter, since it's actually kind of a sequel to my other fanfic. However, I was afraid that I might lose the idea if I don't type it down. (Writing is not an option, since I always lose my scraps of paper), so I did it anyway...
Yes, this is a sequel, sort of... to my other fic, Fate: Shinobi World, as well as connected to my other fic, A New Fate, in an isolated way. And from summary itself, I'm sure you'll be able to guess what kind of story this will turn out to be.
Now, as I'm sure, from the word in the title itself, Alternate, I'm sure you'll be able to guess what I'm planning somewhat, and it's quite similar to Naruto getting sent to the past only to find himself facing, not a younger Naruto, but a younger Naruko... teh heh... but this will be different... and yeah, whoever it was that got sent back is not alone, as you can guess from the pairings...
But that's all I'm saying for now...
And like always, I hope you enjoy this chapter...
Later then, people...