Ch 1: The child of Prophecy
On the night of that day, most people in Konoha were celebrating. They were celebrating the successful restoration of their home after the Fourth Shinobi World War. But most of all, they were celebrating the inauguration of their new hokage, who would lead them to a new age.
However, everyone was too drunk, and too busy celebrating, to notice their head honcho- had disappeared.
Naruto Uzumaki, Rokudaime hokage sat atop of the statue of Hashirama at the Valley of the End. As he sat silently listening to the sound of rushing water, he wondered if the past hokage would be turning in their graves if they the way he was behaving.
He had just become hokage, and instead of waving to the crowd as a proud hokage should be acting, here he sat, hiding from the rest of the world and sulking like a child.
So many of his precious people had been lost to the war that he just couldn't get over his survivor's guilt.
First there was Neji who had succumbed to his wounds by the accursed ten-tails when he tried to protect him. And dear kamisama, even Sakura.
Sasuke tried to destroy Konoha as vengeance for indirectly causing the Uchiha Massacre. Sasuke who he had once cared about as a friend, had become his enemy. While everyone else lost faith in Sasuke, Naruto being Naruto tried to reason with him as he had done with Pein.
He tried to convince Sasuke not to judge Konoha a whole for the mistakes of a certain individuals. But Sasuke had already gone insane, consumed his own powers, loosing whatever scruples he had left.
Despite all the training that he had gone through, he messed up.
He had faltered, and Sakura, seeing that Sasuke was about to hit him again with the Chidori, intercepted, and paid the price for his mistake.
He could still hear the sound of chidori, reminding him of thousands of birds chirping, as he killed Sakura for not getting out of the way. And with her death, he snapped, and plunged a small and condensed version of the Rasenshuriken straight through Sasuke's heart.
He died instantly, blood splattering the ground as his carcass thudded onto the ground. And he had promised Itachi that he would definately save Sasuke...
As tears blurred his view, he accidentally slipped from his perch and plunged straight into the water below. He felt extremely stupid as his body hit the water with a loud splash.
But instead of kicking the water and resurfacing, he found that he couldn't breath. Everything had turned pitch black and his body felt as if it was being torn into millions of pieces. Perhaps he had died, and was being tortured in hell for all eternity? Just as the excruciating pain had started, it ceased unexpectedly.
And then he was drifting... Everything felt so very warm, foggy, and unfocused. He found the he could wiggle his arms and legs, but they didn't seem to be function properly...
Slowly, he opened his eyes, and saw a blurry outline of someone with blond hair. Blinking several times to clear the fog, he saw that he was somehow still in Konoha- a very decimated version of it's former glory.
Another moment later, he was sure he had finally gone insane, because he was looking straight at the face of a very much alive Yondaime hokage.
A few minutes earlier:
Under the moonlit sky, the Kyuubi roared in rage. Its claws tearing various buildings and people to shreds.
Multiple skilled ninja tried unsuccessfully to subdue the beast. With a single sweep of it's claws, the Kyuubi sent their bodies flying backwards.
Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze currently faced a strange masked man who had somehow caused the Kyuubi to grow rampant after his wife Kushina gave birth.
He was just about attack when the man spoke for the first time that evening.
"You wounded me and managed to pull out the nine tails, I'm impressed...However, the nine tails will eventually be mine. I will rule world"
And before he could do anything, the man's body blurred and twisted strangely before disappearing with a similar effect to ripples on lake's surface.
It definitely wasn't a genjutsu- even his chakra signature had vanished. It was somehow similar to his Flying Thunder God Technique, but much more efficient as it lacked the need for a seal to function.
It mattered not, he could analyze it further at a more convenient time. There was currently more important things at stake- such as subduing the nine-tails, and protecting Konoha from further damage.
He immediately used his Flying Thunder God Technique teleport the nine-tails out to of Konoha, arriving next to Kushina. To stop the fox from escaping, she bound the Kyuubi using charkra chains- glowing coils that lead directly to herself. The Kyuubi struggled and clawed at the ground, but to no avail. It couldn't shake loose from it's bounds.
With the beast temporarily incapacitated, Kushina looked at him with a soft smile on her face.
"Minato, with my death, I will take the Kyuubi with me."
His throat clenched painfully with the realization that one of them would be forced to die. He shook his head gave her his best look of determination.
"No. I am Naruto's father, so it's better for me to die than you." He looked at Naruto and smiled sadly. "Naruto needs his mother. "
He was truly sorry for condemning Naruto to the fate of being a Jinchuuriki, he really was. But he had faith his son because he truly believed that Naruto is the prophesied child, a student of Jiraiya's that would one day save the world from calamity.
In the split second that he lifted his hands to perform the hand signs needed perform the seal, the Kyuubi glowed. The light it cast off was bright to the extent of blinding. He flinched, turning from the light, and shielded his eyes from the light.
As he turned back to see what was happening, his eyes widened as the nine-tailed beast turned into a glowing shapeless mass, and pratically rushed towards Naruto.
He could only gape as the glowing mass, heavenly in brightness, seeped into Naruto's stomach.
After it fully entered, all that was left was a eight-trigrams seal that slowly faded from Naruto's skin until it disappeared completely.
Minato rushed over and anxiously checked his vitals- and it was then that Naruto's eyes opened. His eyes were clouded with fear, and he started to squirm and wiggle. Minato ran a few tests and was relived that the seal was somehow as strong as if he had been the one to administer it. Scooping up his son in one arm, he helped up his wife with the other and started towards the near crumbling Konoha Hospital.
By now, Kushiha's eyes were closed, and she was breathing shallowly. Cursing, he rushed into the hospital and ordered the medical-nin that already had a full plate on their hands to heal Kushina.
He waited, clenching her hand tightly with both of his own as the several medical-nin crowded around the bed working diligently. He watched in panic as each heartbeat on the monitor grew weaker and weaker until it stopped completely.
"I'm very sorry Minato-sama, but Kushina-sama has-" He waived for the medical-nin to stop and buried his face in his hands. He knew that she was dead, but really didn't want to be reminded of the fact. And to think that he once prided himself before as having great emotional strength.
Also, why was it that doctors always announced that someone was dead when he could clearly see the lack of heartbeat on the monitor. Didn't they know any tact?
Just as he was sat there overwhelmed by just about everything, he heard Naruto gurgle and was brought back to his senses.
Seeing Naruto still alive somehow caused his strength to return, and he decided that there was more important things at stake besides wallowing in self pity. He had a infant son to care for, and he swore to Kushina that he would raise him properly.
Before he left the hospital with his son, he made all the doctors swear an oath of secrecy- at the risk of a painful death not to expose Naruto's existence to the world. There was no way he would let his his son's existence be known while the village was still in ruins.
Being still at infant age, his son was highly at risk from being targeted by enemies that still bore grudges on Minato from the war.
As he entered the hokage's office, both the Sandaime Hokage and Jiraiya immediately stood up and rushed over towards him. Their gazes took in his battered form, and locked onto tiny squirming body which he held protectively at the crook of his arm.
Jiraiya was the first one to speak.
"Minato, what in the world happened?! The Kyuubi suddenly started to glow, and then it just disappeared!. It vanished completely! And that thing you're holding- is that a baby?"
Minato tried to answer, but Jiraiya was busy staring at Naruto and spouting unrealistic theories about what had happened.
The Sandaime's eye twitched in annoyance. "Jiraiya, be quiet and listen to what Minato has to say!" Sarutobi admonished sternly.
"Ah, right, sorry." Jiraiya said sheepishly, scratching to back of his neck.
Taking a deep breath, Minato steeled himself before he broke the news to them both.
"This is my son, the Kyuubi is sealed inside of him."
At this, trepidation crept into their eyes, and they visibly took a step backwards, eying Naruto warily.
"My god, your son- is a Jinchuuriki!" exclaimed Sarutobi in shocked tones.
He maintained a stoic expression externally, but on the inside, he bristling with anger.
He answered flatly. "Yes he is, but he is my son, and will be treated as such. Do remember that Jinchuuriki are not the beasts themselves."
He stared them down, daring them to disagree. Finally, Sarutobi sighed and caved in to his sharp gaze.
"Of course, I'm sorry, there is no may you would make a mistake. But seeing as the beast is sealed inside of Naruto, how is it that you are still alive?" He asked curiously.
Minato paused and contemplated what he was about to say before answering slowly.
"You all saw the nine-tails glowing before it disappearing right?" At this, both men nodded.
"I was about to seal it inside of Naruto, but it suddenly turned into a glowing mass that went inside of him." He made a hand sign, and the seal reappeared on Naruto's stomach. " I've checked the strength of the seal, and from what I can tell, its as strong as what I would have made it. As for what happened...crazy as this sounds, the only explanation I can think of is divine intervention. I mean, if Naruto is the Child of Prophecy, then this is a probable resolution. "
He was met with skeptical and wary looks that clearly indicated the unspoken words of "you're insane." He grimaced at their identical looks of disbelief.
"I mean-" he faltered, " me and Kushina didn't do anything, there's no way little Naruto could have done anything since he's only a baby."
Silence reigned before Sarutobi sighed. "We'll see. I do believe in your judgment, but since all of us can agree none of us are sure of what exactly had transpired tonight, I advise you to keep an eye on Naruto for the next few days just for the purpose of precaution since there is no way that Konoha will survive a second attack." Minato agreed, and room became awkwardly silent for a few moments before Jiraiya asked:
"By the way, Minato, how is Kushina, is she injured?"
The Yondaime for all his greatness flinched and stared at the ground, before mumbling incoherently.
"Minato?" Jiraiya leaned forward to hear more clearly- and was met with his student's eyes filled with so much grief and heartbreak that he almost instinctively took a step backwards in fear him shattering like delicate glass.
"Kushina has passed away. They weren't able to save her." He replied brokenly.
Jiraiya's eyes filled with shock, before his shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Minato, so Kushina-chan has really...I'm so sorry." he said mournfully.
As an exhausted Minato returned to his sleeping quarters- after giving a speech that he had defeated the Kyuubi (which was a lie). He failed to mention Naruto on purpose, and his existence was kept a secret from everyone in the village aside from Sarutobi, Jiraiya, and Kakashi.
As he fed Naruto from a baby bottle, much delayed tears fell from his eyes and onto Naruto's face.
"I'm sorry Naruto" He said quietly, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "I'm so, so sorry."
And he was, for just about everything- for condemning him to his fate of being a Jinchuuriki, for not being a stronger father, and for not being able to save his mother.
At least he hoped, that by hiding the fact that he was a Jinchuuriki, Naruto would have a fairly normal childhood. If the villagers found out of Naruto's secret companion, they would treat him the way most people treated Jinchuuriki- with hate and disgust. If only they knew, they would probably immediately order for his execution, he was sure of it.
As he was sat there silently in a trance, consumed by his grief, he was brought out of his trance when he heard Naruto gurgle loudly. He looked down and saw tiny hands waving, reaching for him.
Minato lifted the squirming body and held him up to his chest. Naruto stilled and stared back at him with an unnerving gaze. He sat stock-still as Naruto reached above his face, and patted him on the head. Naruto stared at him solemnly for several seconds while he continuously patted his head.
Minato was flabbergasted. "Naruto, are you comforting me?" He asked, amazed- some how expecting an answer.
It was probably impossible, but after seeing what seemed like a miracle that had transpired that evening, anything seemed possible.
Suddenly, Naruto stopped patting his head, smiled innocently, and yanked on his hair with a exceedingly painful grip. Yeah- he thought as much. He must truly be loosing his mind if he thought for even a second that a newborn baby could possibly comprehend anything that was going on around it.
He was suddenly very tired, and near collapsed onto the bed, after he placed Naruto next to him and wrapped a blanket around them both.
As the night went past, both forms stilled as they fell prey to their much needed rest, completely unaware and dead to the world.