Senju Naruto- The Rise of a Hero

Chapter 2 – Sealing the Curse

Inspired by 'The Hope of the Senju Clan' by Aragon Potter

"…"–talking

'…'-thinking

""-demon/Jutsu

Naruto does not belong to me.

-0-

For the next five years, Senju Minato (age 40) ruled the people of Konoha well as their Fourth Hokage. The paperwork was too much, the council was forceful but Minato handled everything well, as it was in his blood to rule. People of his village accepted his new identity with full joy and happiness. His new name gave another reason for the rival villages (especially Iwa) to tremble at the reputation it created and he would, at times, take full advantage of it.

His rule was liked by all the ninjas and civilians alike. He didn't show favoritism and gave some rights for civil council to handle. He changed the academy curriculum, easing it a bit so that even the civil students may find a chance to become ninjas. He didn't let any clan to dub themselves higher than the other clans and made himself the supreme authority and ruled wisely. He was declared the strongest Hokage in the history of Konoha. His personal life was also going good and he didn't let his life as a Hokage ruin his private life. His new relation with Tsunade as a family member was also getting strong. She even came back to Konoha with Shizune after she abandoned her ninja life because of personal problems. They all lived together in the Senju clan compound. They lived like brother-sister rather than uncle-niece because of the age difference with Tsunade (age 44) being older than Minato. Kushina was even expecting a child with him which was to be due soon.

Midway through her pregnancy, the expecting parents decided to name their unborn son (Tsunade scanned to find the gender of the unborn child) 'Naruto', after the main character of Jiraiya's first book 'The tale of utterly gutsy ninja'. Minato even asked Jiraiya and Tsunade to act as their child's godparents, for which they happily agreed.

As the day of the birth approached, Minato started making special arrangements for childbirth at the Senju Cave. According to the sealing scrolls of Mito Uzumaki, Minato knew that the seal containing Nine-Tails Fox on Kushina will be at its weakest during childbirth. So on October 10, when Kushina's water broke, Minato declared emergency in the village with high alert guards all around and made Hiruzen and Jiraiya in-charge of the village. Then he, along with Kushina, Tsunade, Biwako, and Shizune went to the cave using his Hiraishin No Jutsu. The cave was then sealed off for anyone except for the four ANBU guarding outside the cave.

-0-

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! IT REALLY HURTS DATTEBANE!" screamed Kushina.

"Tsunade-nee! Biwako-san! I have never seen her in so much pain. Is she alright?" Said Minato worriedly.

"Hai! Hai! She is fine. Are you watching her seal properly?" asked Tsunade.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH! MINATO DO SOMETHING?" cried Kushina, writhing in the pain of labor.

"What should I do? What should I do?" asked Minato.

"Show some composure! You are the Hokage! Women are strong. They can handle this much pain where men cannot." scolded Biwako. Suddenly, Kushina's seal began to break slowly. Minato tried his level best but he couldn't stop it from breaking.

"Kyuubi is so strong! It's trying to break free! Hang in there, Kushina, Naruto!" said Minato as he concentrated more on the seal.

Outside of the cave, a lone black-cloaked figure chocked the last one of the ANBUs guarding outside. He had a mask on with a single eye-hole. He stood there watching the sealed entrance of the cave for a full minute than walked right through it, like a ghost.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Kushina cried as she pushed once more.

"You are doing good Kushina! The head is out. Just one more push." Said Tsunade.

The Kyuubi in Kushina's seal was breaking the seal with full power. "Hurry up Naruto!" shouted Minato as he sweated forcing the Kyuubi to stay inside the seal. After a whole minute of writhing and screaming, Minato heard a small cry of a baby. Tsunade had quickly cut the umbilical cord and Biwako wrapped the baby in a white blanket.

Minato was ecstatic that his son has finally been born. He asked Biwako to let him hold Naruto but she quickly shooed him away. "It's the right of a mother to see her baby first." To which Minato dumbly nodded.

"First Lady Kushina, let me introduce you to your son Senju Naruto."

Kushina took the baby and laid him by her side to see him fully. Blond, spiky hair and bright blue eyes like his father, round face like her own adorned with three whisker-like marks on each side of his face.

"He is beautiful dattebane." Said Kushina as she smiled looking at her child like he was the most beautiful thing in the world.

"Now Kushina, give Naruto to me so that I can do some tests on him to make sure he is perfectly fine." Asked Biwako to which Kushina reluctantly nodded and handed Naruto to her.

Tsunade came to Minato and hugged him, "Congrats Minato! Now you are a father and we have another member in our small family. Let's meet up with Jiraiya and Sensei and open up that special sake bottle that you saved for special occasions."

"Sure Tsunade-nee! Just let me meet up with Kushina-chan." Tsunade nodded as Minato turned to face his wife.

"Hey Kushina-chan! I want to tell me that I am so happy that we are able to extend our small family with young Naruto-kun. Thank you for bringing him to our lives. This is the best day of my life." Said Minato. Little did he knew that the day might be his last?

"AAHHH!" THUMP!

Minato, Kushina, Tsunade quickly turned their heads to see what happened. In front of them was a masked-man carrying baby Naruto and choking Shizune and Biwako lying in front of him in her own pool of blood.

"Naruto!" cried Kushina, as she writhed on her bed. Her strength low due to labor.

"Tick! Tick! Tick! Tick! Hurry up Hokage-sama! The clock is ticking!" spoke the visitor with a heavy voice and venom in his words.

Minato suddenly appeared in front of the visitor and swiped at him with his kunai. To his surprise, the kunai passed right through him without hitting anything, as if the visitor wasn't even there. But due to this stunt, Naruto passed right through his hands and fell into Minato's hands. Minato turned towards the visitor to see him passing right through Tsunade's attacks and stood near Kushina.

"The clock is ticking Hokage-sama!" the visitor spoke again in his mirth filled voice. Suddenly a spiral black port opened and sucked away Kushina and the visitor, closing immediately. 'Space-time ninjutsu (Ninja techniques)? But how?' thought Minato. He looked down at Naruto to see if he was fine. 'But something doesn't feel good. What ticking time was he talking about?' Suddenly, Minato felt something different under Naruto's blanket. On turning it, he saw that it was filled with explosive seals.

"Oh shit!"

Minato wasn't known the fastest ninja ever for nothing. He quickly threw the blanket as far as possible and after tagging Tsunade and Shizune (who had fainted due to sudden pressure around the throat), he teleported to the Hiraishin kunai he had hung in his room.

"Tsunade-nee!" Minato called out. "Please help Shizune out and after you are done with her, let her stay here with Naruto and you go out to Sandaime-dono for assistance." He ordered.

Not one to oppose the village leader, Tsunade nodded and quickly started helping Shizune with her medical abilities. Minato, in the meantime, got ready for the upcoming battle with the masked ninja to rescue his wife.

-0-

Deep in the forest, few kilometers away from Konoha, the masked man was seen drawing intricate seal design on the ground. Kushina laid behind him unconscious due to low energy after labor. After finishing with the seal design, the masked visitor picked Kushina up and laid her in the centre of the seal.

'Yes, the time has come again for the Kyuubi to go wild on Konoha. I will make sure they will never forget this night.' The masked figure thought as he grinned like a madman behind his mask. He uncovered Kushina's seal on her stomach and his fingers stated to glow in strange purple glow. He slammed them on the seal and rotated his hand in clockwise direction.

Fūin-Kai (Seal: Release)

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" screamed Kushina as the swirls on her seal dissolved into a big black dot. The seal on the ground glowed as the masked man pulled his hand away along with a stream of red chakra out of Kushina's seal.

Inside Kushina's mindscape, Kyuubi roared as the chakra chains around it started to loosen up and snap. It wriggled to get free when it felt a tug of someone pulling it out.

Outside of the seal, the red chakra started to take shape in the form of a giant red fox. Red eyes, red-orange fur, nine-tails moving absentmindedly, bloodlust thick in the air. After forming fully, Kyuubi roared and the shockwaves easily destroyed the nearby trees. The strongest of the nine-tailed beasts was a force to be reckoned with. It looked down on the ground to see its unconscious former container and a masked man looking intently at him.

"Yes! Konoha will fall today. This day shall be their end!" shouted the masked man as his Sharingan started spinning quickly, controlling the beast's mind and senses, as they both were pulled into a black hole of the masked man.

As he was busy with the Kyuubi, Minato quickly appeared beside his unconscious wife using the Hiraishin Seal he had placed on her. Seeing the Kyuubi in its full glory, Minato feared the worst. Planning quickly, he picked up his wife and teleported back to his house using Hiraishin. He saw now-awakened Shizune sitting next to sleeping Naruto. Seeing the Hokage with his wife, Shizune ran up to her leader. "Hokage-sama?"

"Shizune, take care of Kushina and Naruto for me? And where is Tsunade?" asked Minato.

"Hokage-sama, Tsunade-sama has gone to Sandaime-sama as you asked. Where are you going?" asked Shizune.

"Kyuubi has been released. I have to deal with it." Said Minato as he left the stunned Shizune with his family.

"Be careful, Hokage-sama."

-0-

Minato was standing on his carved head up on Hokage monument. He carefully observed how Kyuubi was summoned by the masked figure inside the village and how easily it was wreaking the village even after the dire efforts of the Third Hokage, Jiraya, Tsunade and many other top ranking ninjas of the village. There was huge loss to the village property, but due to Minato's security enforcement, very few people were killed. Suddenly, he felt someone appear behind him out of thin air.

"It looks like you saved your son from the ticking bomb, eh Hokage-sama", the masked man snarled.

"Who are you and why are you doing this?" asked the Hokage as he turned to face the new visitor.

"Who I am is of little importance. Let's just say I have a score to settle with this damn village." The masked man answered as he flared his Sharingan.

'That's the Sharingan!' Minato thought.

"How did you do it? You infiltrated the village and outmaneuvered the maximum security I enforced around the village. You even knew the top-secret cave where I took Kushina for Naruto's birth. You also know that fact that the Kyuubi's seal is at its weakest during the childbirth and took full benefit of it. Now I can see you are even controlling Kyuubi with that Sharingan of yours. From all this evidence, I can only draw one conclusion."

"And that is?" asked the masked man.

"Are you Uchiha Madara?" asked Minato.

"Hahahaha! Maybe I am. Maybe I am not!" laughed Madara.

"How is it possible? You should be dead when the First defeated you so many years ago. Even if you were left alive, you should have died of old age!" said Minato.

"What can I do? Fate had other plans for me. Now hurry up!" said the Madara taking out his iron chains.

"Let's dance!"

-0-

Minato and Madara teleported to the clearing above the Hokage Monument. As Minato took out his famed three-pointed Hiraishin kunai, he started analyzing the situation.

'He is not an ordinary Uchiha! He can control Kyuubi and uses a time-space ninjutsu that is more powerful than Hiraishin. I have to finish him here and free Kyuubi from his control. Otherwise it will be more chaotic.' Though Minato as he took his stance.

"As I ordered Kyuubi to destroy your village, your people won't have any hope left when they are crushed by Kyuubi." Shouted Madara as he rushed towards Minato to attack.

Minato swiftly took the chance and went to stab Madara in his chest using his kunai. But to his amazement, his hand passed right through him again. As Madara didn't stop, Minato was caught up by his chains. Thinking quickly, Minato threw his kunai at a distance and teleported himself using his famed Hiraishin no Jutsu.

'That happened again! It feels like his flesh isn't even here. My physical attacks have no effects on him. But how is he able to hold those chains and attack me? Means he quickly materialize himself to attack me. So I can only attack him when he is attacking me. And it all narrows down to speed. Whoever is the fastest, wins?' Thought Minato as he turned and faced Madara.

They both charged at each other again. As they neared each other, Minato fired his kunai from one hand at Madara's head and charged his Rasengan in his free hand. As he suspected, the kunai passed straight through his mask. Madara's right hand reached to Minato to attack him.

"I win!" declared Madara.

"…"

Quicker than the flash, Minato was behind Madara holding his Kunai as he slammed his Rasengan down on his back.

"AAAHHHH! Damn you!" howled Madara as he slammed down hard on the ground under the force of Rasengan. Before jumping back, Minato quickly placed his Hiraishin seal on the back of Madara without his notice.

As the dust settled, Madara jumped back to catch his breath. "Ha…Ha…Ha…Ha. That was quick Hokage-sama. Ha…Ha…. You surely live up to your reputation. I should not let my guard down now." Commented Madara between his breaths.

Before Madara could begin anything, Minato was in front of him slamming his hand on his stomach, placing the Keiyaku Fūin (Contract Seal) and freeing the Kyuubi from his control.

"With this, the Nine-tails is no longer under your control." Declared the Fourth Hokage.

"I'll come back again. And I will take over the world, Fourth Hokage." Said Madara as he ran away using his space-time ninjutsu.

-0-

Though the Kyuubi was out of Madara's control that didn't mean it stopped attacking. Now it was attacking Konoha with full power for all the sealing the village had it under for more than 50 years. Each swing of one of its nine tails will level down buildings, each swipe of its claws will kill dozens of ninjas, and each roar will scare a dozen more. It looked like the Shinigami (Death God) had himself come down to Konoha to pass judgement.

Hiruzen and his students were doing their best in defending the village and organizing the counter attack at Kyuubi. Seeing their village's former leader boosted the morale a little but everyone was eagerly waiting for the Senju leader to kick the overgrown beast's ass.

"Everybody! Do your best! Jounins, Attack together!" ordered the Third Hokage.

"Hai!" Everybody shouted as they advanced towards Kyuubi, attacking with everything they had at their disposal. Jutsus, kunai, shurikens, exploding tags, they threw everything at the Kyuubi but couldn't even scratch the skin of the beast. As Kyuubi started charging its Tailed Beast Bomb, panic spread among the ninjas.

'Oh shit! If that attack lands on the village, we are done for!' Jiraiya thought.

Every ninja in the vicinity waited for their doom as Kyuubi fired its jutsu towards them. But before the attack reached its target, a yellow flash appeared in front of them and in a blink of the eye, the beast bomb disappeared as if it wasn't even there in the first place.

Soon a blast occurred in deep of the forest few kilometres away. Before anybody could contemplate what happened, an overgrown red toad with a smoking stick in mouth landed on Kyuubi's head. A man with golden hair and white coat could be seen standing at top of the toad.

"That the Fourth! The Fourth Hokage is here to save us!" a cheer erupted among the ranks of shinobi as their leader had come to save them. And as quick as they appeared, they disappeared again but this time along with the Kyuubi.

'What are you doing Minato? What are you thinking?' thought Hiruzen and his two students as they searched for the Fourth Hokage.

-0-

In the same clearing created by the Tailed Beast Bomb, Minato and Kushina landed along with the Kyuubi not far away. Kushina was holding Naruto in her arms and Minato was catching his breath.

"Ha…Ha…Are you alright? I am low at chakra myself." Said Minato as he placed Kushina carefully on the ground.

Kyuubi saw its container and its anger doubled. The fox growled and slowly made its way towards the Fourth and his family. Without looking back at the fox, Minato consoled his wife.

"Don't worry! I'll hold him. There are things that I have to protect." He declared as he faced Kyuubi with determined look.

"Wait Minato!" said Kushina as she gathered her energy. "I will do it…for you."

Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains)

Suddenly, a barrage of golden chakra chains shot from Kushina's back and restrained the Nine-tails, creating a barrier around them. It completely pinned the fox down with several spikes at the end of the chains.

"I will take the Kyuubi with me…to my grave. His interference will be delayed till he emerges again." Said Kushina as she looked up to see Minato's face, tears in their eyes. "Thank you…for everything, Minato-kun."

"Don't say that Kushina!" said Minato as he hugged his wife. "You are everything to me. I am useless without you. Don't say that."

"Our child is born today, Minato. No matter how much we try right now, I can't save myself." Cried Kushina. "My only regret will be that I won't be able to see my child grow up."

Wiping his tears, Minato stood up. He walked up in between Kushina and Kyuubi. "Kushina, save up your energy, I am going to seal away half of Kyuubi's chakra using Shiki Fūjin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal)."

"No Minato! You will die!" cried Kushina, as she held Naruto closer to her bosom.

"It is the only wise decision, Kushina. If Kyuubi re-emerges after few years with no jinchūriki to hold him, the balance of power will upset. I can seal the half of its chakra within me forever."

"And the other half Minato? What about it?" asked Kushina, fearing the worst? Minato thought about his sensei, Jiraiya's words about the 'Child of prophecy', who will bring peace over this war-ridden world.

"I…I'm going to seal it inside Naruto using Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams sealing style), making him a jinchūriki." Declared Minato.

"Why Minato?" cried Kushina.

"Because I believe in my son. Today, I came across two facts. First, the masked man will be a huge catastrophe to this world and second, our child will stop him and become the 'Child of prophecy'." Answered Minato.

"I know, you don't want our son to bear such a burden. But let's believe in him" said Minato as he performed hand signs to summon the Shinigami (Death God) to perform Shiki Fūjin.

"Why are you sacrificing our son for the village and country? You know what kind of future he will have after the people come to know about him being a jinchūriki. He might start hating us for such reasons." Countered Kushina, not accepting Minato's decision.

"To forsake one's country and one's village is same as forsaking one's child. And besides, we are ninjas. We endure and live. Let's believe in him." Said Minato as Shinigami's hand passed through Minato to catch Kyuubi's chakra.

"Oh no! Don't tell me you are sealing me again, Fourth Hokage!" Said Kyuubi in loud growling.

Shinigami ripped Kyuubi's Yin chakra and pulled it, sealing it inside Minato. "Too heavy! My body is going numb." Minato mumbled as a seal formed over his stomach. Though Kyuubi shrank in size, it was still big enough to compete with other tailed beasts. The chakra chains around him loosened up as well.

Minato walked towards Kushina and slammed his hands on the ground to summon the sealing platform. He took Naruto from her hands and placed him on the ritual altar. 'I don't want to be sealed again. Nevertheless, in a baby!' thought Kyuubi as it retracted its claws to attack Naruto.

Before the claw could reach to harm Naruto, Minato and Kushina stood in its way and took the attack, piercing through their stomach.

Hiruzen, Jiraiya, Tsunade and few ANBU arrived at that scene. They all tried to reach to the couple but failed due to the barrier erected by Kushina's chains.

"Minato! Kushina!" screamed Tsunade. The pain and memories of losing a family member came back to her as she tried to bang her way through the barrier. Jiraiya and Hiruzen held her back and tried to console her. As much as they wanted to reach to them, they knew they cannot do much.

"Kushina, I am going to place the seal. If you want to say something, now is the time." Cried Minato with teary eyes.

Kushina nodded and looked at her baby. "Eat good and grow strong. Bathe every day and don't stay up late. Make good friends and find someone who loves you with all her heart. Respect your elders and teachers at the academy. You may be good at something and not so good at the other and that's ok. Be careful about the three probations of ninjas. Be wary of Master Jiraiya and Tsunade-nee." Kushina said. After listing to it, the rest couldn't help but chuckle.

"We are sorry, Naruto. But there will be very painful times ahead for you and we are doing nothing but increasing your problems." Said Kushina sadly as tears rolled down her face. "But you are our son and we believe in you. Take care of yourself."

"Sandaime-dono, I am sealing Kyuubi inside my son. As my mother had asked for a favor, I am asking for one too. Please don't tell him about his parents before you see the right time. Because of the enemies I created during my lifetime, my son's life could be in danger. He is a hero for protecting this village and should be known as such." Said the Fourth Hokage, giving his last orders. "Tsunade, Jiraiya, you both are my son's godparents. He is the last of Senju and Uzumaki. Take care for him." The three only nodded, trying to hold their tears back.

"We take our leave then." Smiled Minato as he looked down at his son and formed some hand signs. 'I love you, Naruto. Take care.'

Fūinjutsu: Hakke no Fūin Shiki.