Author's Note: Alright, reading several stories as well as having strange dreams about Naruto gave me the urge to write down at least the introduction to this story. So I'm saying that yes, I've taken some ideas from other stories and I'd like to thank those that do recognize their work in my own story, if they ever read it.

Story Begins:

12 years ago….

"HOKAGE, HOKAGE, THE NINE-TAILS IS ATTACKING KONOHA!"

A tall, blond haired, blue eyed man looked to his wife that had just given birth to the most beautiful baby with sad eyes.

The woman did not have long left to live after that surprisingly complicated and painful labor and delivery of the beautiful baby. Kushina Uzumaki stared at her husband for several minutes, feeling herself slowly fade away into the blissful darkness that she did not want to let herself give in to. She whispered. " Naruto."

Oh god, she didn't want to die this early, leaving her beautiful baby boy behind.

She teared up, giving a definitive nod towards the 4th Hokage and she kisses her baby boy on the head, whispering tearfully.

" Good-bye my little Naruto, you will turn out to be big and strong… and" She had to stop for a sob was making its way through her throat. "Smart, and handsome just like your daddy, and you will be looked upon as a heroe in the village that you will save."

She slowly handed him over to his father, giving the tall man an affectionate stare before collapsing back into her bed, her chest heaving slower and slower. His glance told her that she was still breathing but just barely and he didn't realize he had tears running over his cheeks until he turned and walked out into the dark, blood red lit night.

Several Anbu black ops appeared and he gave a nod to them and they all disappeared towards the impending doom.

If this was a ranked mission.. It would have been S-ranked. Even above S-ranked if such title did exist.

In this such case, S stood for Suicide.

Having heard that her home village was under attack, Tsunade and her traveling companion had hurried to the village to lend their ninja skills and also their already famed healing techniques.

Tsunade was defending her felled patients with her superior monster strength while healing all she could, sometimes both at the same time.

Nothing knocked her out of her daze of healing and defending until several cries of " THE DEMON FOX IS DEAD, THE HOKAGE SUCCEEDED!" emerged from the sudden silence of the village.

Several hours later after the last of the dead were taken to separate rooms, and the injured were being worked on diligently, the 3rd reinstated Hokage took up his old office and actually cried as he held a baby boy in his hands. The council was quickly active, and there were several members stone faced or crying men and women alike as they accounted for their losses.

" Sarutobi-sama! Why are you holding the late 4th's baby?"

" Because this baby saved our lives. The 4th sealed the fox away inside the child."

Several gasps of shocks and outcries. One female member of the council, shrieked. " You mean THAT's the Nine-Tails fox?"

Several more minutes of outcries and mean comments made their way around the room before the Sandaime had heard enough.

" STAND DOWN! I order this an S-class Village secret and any more mentioning of this without my approval WILL answer to me! Meeting adjourned!"

There were a few crazed glances given his way.

Tsunade and her little apprentice stood still, leaning against the wall. Tsunade looked very serious, almost scarily so.

"Who's going to take the kid, Sarutobi-sensei? You know very well that some idiot will blabber to his or her spouse and that would start a chain reaction across the village."

The 4th Hokage lit his pipe and stood at the window, even for an older man he was handsome, with very little wrinkles across his face and perhaps a strand or two of gray hair.

"You very well know that once word is out about this, there will be hardly anyone worthy enough and open-minded to take this orphan into their home. Even the orphanage will probably try to kill him."

"I'll take him."

Those three words shocked the silence into the air, almost as if the entire village was rendered speechless by her confession.

"You'll what..?"

"I'll take the kid, and raise him as my own, and teach him anything I can to take on this cruel and deadly world. You know as much as I do, that this village would tear this kid up. Probably even more so than the real world."

The Hokage's pipe lit up softly as the man took a deep inhale of it, and slowly released his breath.

" Then I shall go get the adoption papers. And once we mourn the dead, I highly recommend you going as soon as the dead are buried."

" Right!"

The Hokage had sensibly put the little one down into a crib that was stationed conveniently near his desk at the head of the council room, and Tsunade picked up the tyke and glanced down at the baby.

Tsuande was a woman of a child-bearing age, though she certainly wasn't a tomboy, she was rather non-maternal in some cases, as her apprentice would readily agree.

But there was a grace to see how the baby fit into her arms perfectly and looked to be in an even more peaceful sleep then it was in when it was in the crib.

Or perhaps the cushioning of her bosoms were very comfortable to a child of that age.

The very next day, as expected, whispers were running rampart as

Tsunade brought the little one to the ceremony to commemorate the dead.

Glares weren't being directed at her, but at the bundle in her arms. The blonde woman was seconds away from destroying the ground upon which they walked to see them stumble into their own graves themselves.

At long last, the time arrived to see Tsunade and her apprentice off to the next lands they were traveling to and only a selected few knew about this salutations.

Previous to this time, Sarutobi had personally interrogated several council members and high ranked ninjas. He appointed the most trustworthy of Anbu to guard Tsunade and her company as well as appointing several of the Anbu that have passed his test to occasionally check in on her and the baby.

Back in the present, Tsunade gave a half hearted, nod and handshake to everyone present, for she was terribly suspicious of just about everyone before gladly turning on her heel and leaving the gates of the village with Shizune at her side and little Naruto nestled in a stylish sling that was on Tsunade's back.

It wasn't until late at night when the pair reached the next town within the Village Hidden in the Leaves that Shizune and Tsunade were freaking out over a naked child, laughing and giggling at the sight of their unintentionally funny faces.

"Tsunade-sama…. Naruto…Naruto's a girl!"