Chapter 1: The Nine Tails Attack


The autumn breeze blew through the opened window with the moonlight shining through. There was a yellow flash and a lean, golden-haired man appeared in the center of the room, holding a small bundle of cloth in his arms. A small girl peeks at the man from behind the wooden doorframe. He has his back turned to her as he lays the bundle in the crib.

"You'll be safe here," the blond man spoke softly as he pulled the white blankets up to cover the bundle. "Just wait here. I'll be right back, Naruto. I have to go save your mom right now.

With another flash of yellow, the man was gone. The little girl stood for a few minutes, observing the small bundle. She took a step, but flinched back when the Yellow Flash returned. Continuing her observations behind the door frame, the girl watched as the golden-haired man laid down a woman with beautiful red hair inside the large crib also.

"Why…?" the woman's voice sounded worn-out, her breath came in small pants.

"It's fine…you're with Naruto now…" the man pulled the covers up over the red-haired woman as she cradled something in her trembling hands.

"…Naruto…" her breathing shook as she spoke. "Minato… Thank you…go now…"

The little girl moved back a bit, when the man turned around and reached into the closet. He pulled out a green flak jacket with a red swirl symbol on the back and slipped it on. His hand disappeared inside the closet again, this time pulling out a short-sleeved, long, white cloak. After putting the cloak on, he wrapped the village's signature forehead protector around his head, underneath his jaw-length bangs and over his forehead. He turned, the Konoha symbol gleaming in the moonlight when he moved. The girl watched the flames on the edge of his cloak as he moved, making them flicker. The words, "Yondaime Hokage" were printed on his back.

"I'll be back soon…"

Another flash and Minato was gone.

This time, the girl wasted no time to run over to the side of the crib. Her small arms reached through the bars of the crib, desperately grabbing at the air.

'Oka-san…' the girl thought in her mind, even though no one could hear her.

"Shi…Shizuka," the red-haired woman smiled the best she could as she held the little girl's small hands. "My little Shi-chan…"

Shizuka closed her eyes, tightening her hold on the woman's hand. A mark across her forehead appeared and glowed a faded red. The red-head's eyes automatically scanned the unique mark. It was similar to the "curse" of the Hyuuga Clan's Branch family; however it did not seem to seal anything away. Both she and Minato have been trying to find out more about this mark for the past year–ever since this little girl had moved in with them.

"Shi-chan…this is…Naruto," she whispered as she caressed the top of Shizuka's small hand. She could feel a bit of strength return to her the longer the little girl held onto her hand, "you will…will be his sister…you have to take care of him with Minato, okay?"

A stray tear rolled down the little girl's cheek. She shook her head and opened her eyes. They sparkled in the moonlight, their normal silvery glint had changed to black, a glowing red swirl marked her black irises, similar to the glowing mark on her forehead. The girl's eyes were layered with a thin layer of tears, silently telling the red-haired woman that she wanted–no, needed–her to stay. The dark shadows underneath the woman's eyes, that pronounced the approach of her death, started to become lighter as Shizuka held tightly onto her hand. There was faint, throbbing silver glow where their hands met, but it was barely noticeable.

Shizuka's head snapped up all of a sudden. She released the woman's hand before running to the side of the crib, and crouching there to stay hidden.

Minato flashed into the room again, he picked up the child along with the exhausted red-head. "I have a plan, Kushina."

Right when he was about to flash off again, Shizuka jumped out silently and grabbed a small handful of Minato's cloak tightly. The little girl shut her eyes lightly and a second later, she found herself in a clearing surrounded by trees. In front of her crouched her adopted family. The two adults were out of breath, both of their chakras were running extremely low.

"I have to get a barrier up as soon as possible..." Minato managed to pant out. Kushina looked up at him, her hands on his arm.

"I can...still fight...Minato..." she panted.

As soon as she finished talking, five chains shot out from beneath her red hair and into the solid ground. Shizuka slowly glanced skyward as the chains flew around, making a barrier around them. A roar echoed through the valley and the little girl recognized the orange-furred beast. It's nine tails swiped at the ground, destroying the forest behind it. It was the infamous Nine Tailed Demon Fox.

Shizuka snapped back to the conversation between her parents; both had not noticed that the young girl had decided to tag along instead of staying in the safe house they had moved her too before Naruto's birth.

"I'm going to draw...the Kyuubi in...in my dying...breath," Kushina looked up at her husband, a confident, fearless gleam in her eyes despite the blood already dripping from her mouth. "That way... I can put off...the Kyuubi's revival. That's the only way the last of my remaining chakra can help you..." When she saw Kushina's smile, Shizuka broke into silent tears. "Thank you...for everything."

"Kushina...you..." Minato fell silent as Naruto continued to wail, as any newborn baby would do in such a situation. He began again, "you made me the Yondaime Hokage...you made me a man...and you made me this child's father...and yet–"

"Minato... Don't look like that," Kushina spoke softly to him, her smile still present. "I'm... I"m happy... You...love me and...it's his birthday today..." Her eyes opened, the shadows were back. "And most importantly...when... I think about... what our life would be like...together...if I lived... I can only picture happiness."

Tears streaked down the blonde's face as she continued.

"If there's...one thing I'll regret... It would be that I won't get to see... Naruto grow up..."

There was silence between them, Shizuka covered her mouth with her small hands, locking her soundless sobs within. Her eyes jerked up when Minato spoke again.

"Kushina, there's no need for you to die with the Kyuubi. Use your remaining chakra so you can be reunited with Naruto...!"

"Huh?" The tired, red-head looked at her husband in confusion.

"I will seal your remaining chakra inside Naruto with an Eight Trigrams Seal," he looked up, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I'll take the Kyuubi down with me. And since I'm not a jinchuriki, I can use the Shiki Fujin."

Kushina's eyes widened at the mention of the horrid seal. She began to protest, fear finally showing in her eyes. "But with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal–"

"There's one more thing...I can only seal half of the Nine Tails' power...It's just not physically possible to seal it completely... nor is it strategically feasible either. If you took down the Kyuubi with you, there won't be another jinchuriki until he is revived and the Bijuu balance will be thrown out of order. With the Shiki Fujin, I can seal half the Kyuubi's power forever and the other half..." he looked down at the baby boy in his arms. "I will seal within Naruto."

Kushina argued back about his point, not wanting Naruto to live such a painful and lonely life, but Minato wouldn't have it. He had to win this argument, not for himself, not for her, but for the entire village and for Naruto. Minato began the sequence of hand seals for the Shiki Fujin and just as he was about to finish, a small hand strongly grabbed his arm, stopping him.

The young Hokage looked at the hand that had stopped him to see a young, white-haired girl. "Shizuka..."

The speechless girl shook her head, holding her father closely, as if to say, 'don't leave me alone. Don't leave Naruto either...'

"Shizuka..." Minato pulled away, brushing the girl's smooth white hair away from her face. "This is so you can live in peace. I'm sorry, but–"

Shizuka cut him off by shaking her head violently and pushing herself away from the golden-haired man. She faced the Demon Fox, clasping her tiny hands together in a rather tight and neat tiger seal, for a child her age. Her eyes had changed back to the black and red swirl again, the swirl glowing brightly. Her mark reappeared, shining brighter than ever before. Her body glowed as well as her eyes closed in concentration. She could feel a foreign energy seeping through her as red marks swirled around her arms, almost as if burning her skin.

When Shizuka opened her eyes again, the Nine Tails was noticeably smaller, about half its original size. She staggered a bit, feeling the heavy amount of chakra she had just absorbed. Minato caught her just as she fell with his free arm. Her small chest rose and fell in silent, deep breaths.

As the baby in his opposite arm wailed, the young girl reached out with a glowing hand, shaking even when it rested on the baby's forehead. From the spot she touched a warm red glow enveloped the newborn, and his cries ceased to small sniffles.

"What is this?!" the Demon Fox bellowed when his significantly smaller body was enveloped by the same warm glow. "A sealing!? You insolent little–"

Cut off by the tightening of the chains around him, the fearsome beast roared with all his might, sending a flock of birds flying into the air; he struggled to free himself as his body continually shrank and faded into transparency. As the Kyuubi shrunk in size, marks identical to the swirls on Shizuka curled around the baby and a prominent seal on his stomach appeared; its appearance was similar to an Eight Trigrams Seal.

It was over now. All that was physically left of the Nine Tails was his large paw prints and the knocked over forest where his tails had swept. Shizuka's eyes were heavy and in dire need of rest. The glow and the marks on baby Naruto slowly faded away as did the mark on Shizuka's forehead. The intricate weavings on her arms faded slowly, but wouldn't disappear fully until a month later.

Kushina's barrier had dissolved into thin air, the golden Chakra Chains shattering into tiny pieces. Konoha's Medical squad rushed to the scene, several taking their spot beside the unconscious former jinchuriki. Medical-Chakra-encased hands placed themselves over Kushina's wounds, applying as much first-aid as possible to help.

The last thing Shizuka saw before falling into the darkness of sleep was her baby brother's smiling face and her mother being carried away on a makeshift stretcher by two medic-nins.