The Destruction of Konoha

AN: Hey guys! This chapter helps describe the the Kyuubi attack on Konoha. I've streamlined the chapter a lot. Hope you don't mind! Thanks again!

The great village of Konoha was lying in a burning relic of its former glory. Thousands screamed as havoc sent the village into a frenzy of panic, destruction, and loss. Death was found everywhere; along the streets, in the fields, in the rubbles of the destroyed houses. The bright moon cast a cruel contrast to the dark events taking place in the village. Nowhere was safe. At the top of the mountain the Nine-Tailed Fox snarled and snapped its fangs and snarled to the ground below. It had waited for years for a chance to release its pent up hatred and rage and now was its chance to do exactly that. Ninjas surrounded the Fox as they tried to futilely slow the beast's destruction of the village. Nothing they were doing was able to stop the beast. Shuriken, jutsu, elemental release, kekki genkai. Nothing could stop the Nine-Tailed Fox.

The Fox chuckled an evil low rumbling. "I've waited for years to finally take my revenge for my imprisonment. Every destroyed, every cry for help, every death… Delicious."

The Fox began to ready another attack while the previous Jinchuuriki held her baby in her arms in a safe house miles away.

"Oh Naruto…" Kushina whispered to her sleeping child. "Why must this happen? Why couldn't we just live normal lives? Why was my family cursed with that beast and now the destruction of our home?"

A single tear slid down her cheek as Naruto somehow slept with the commotion going on in the distance. They had been moved to a safe zone, but it seemed that nowhere was truly safe. Not since the beast was painfully ripped from her inner self and released upon the others while she nearly saw her own son killed in front of her. Not since that maniac in the mask had taken away any idea of safety for anybody… Somewhere her husband was fighting that madman and trying to subdue the beast all at the same time.

"Naruto… What's going to happen?" she whispered.

Suddenly there was a sharp banging noise on the door. Holding her baby, Kushina retreated to the corner of the room. She wasn't going to let that maniac steal the one precious thing she had left.

"Get away you sick bastard!" Kushina shouted to the door believing it to be the masked man. "You will never harm my son do you understand? I will kill you if you set one foot in this room!"

"Kushina! It's me Minato! You have to open the door!" a voice shouted.

Kushina was skeptical and fearful of deceit. "How should I know that it's really you and not that bastard masked man?"

"Because I know that the seals are from the inside of the room and not the outside!" the voice called.

Kushina ran over to the door to open it while holding Naruto. Opening the door after dispelling the seals Kushina saw her husband in front of her battered and bruised from his encounters with the masked man and the Fox.

"Minato! You look awful!" Kushina gasped "What's going on with the city are there any survivors?"

Minato grimaced at his wife as he quickly pulled out a scroll from his jacket. "It's bad. Only way to put it. Fires and death everywhere. We need to put a stop to this madness. Now." Minato showed Kushina the scroll and she understood what was going on immediately.

"We have to reseal the Fox don't we?" Kushina asked.

"Yes. I'm taking him back here to be sealed. I'll be back as soon as I can." Minato turned and in an instant he was gone.

Not one to stand on the sidelines, Kushina prepared her chakra chains to hopefully subdue the beast while they resealed it. While she did it she couldn't help but think: This could very well kill me… But I have to protect Naruto. Soon there five large chains of chakra hundreds of feet long sprouting from her back ready to bind the Fox once more. Then, she sensed a major surge in chakra. Grabbing Naruto and placing him onto his bed Kushina braced for what was going to be a gigantic explosion.

CRASH!

The earth shook as the safe-house was destroyed in an instant and replaced with The Demonic Fox. The Fox snarled and snapped as it shouted.

"How dare you remove me from my revenge! I will kill you all!" The beast began to attack, when it saw the chains surrounding it. Swelling with rage it began to snap its tails in all directions. "I WILL NOT BE SEALED AGAIN!"

Minato saw the opportunity and shouted.

"Kushina now!"

Releasing the chains and binding the beast she looked to Minato. "I'm ready! Seal it!"

Minato's face carried a tortured look as he spoke moving as quickly as he could. "We can't seal it back in you! You could die from it and it would simply come back!"

The Fox fought against the bindings and roared in protest. "NOOOO!"

Kushina held a pained expression as she asked. "Then what do we do!?"

"We have to seal it in Naruto! It's the only way!" Minato said with his voice reflecting his expressions.

Aghast Kushina stepped back. "We can't!" she pleaded "We can't force him to live the life I've had to!"

"Kushina we can't just leave this beast to simply be on the loose. It's not just that. If you're sealed, you die, and the whole village could be at risk!" Minato reasoned.

Just as Kushina was about to further protest Hiruzen and a few other ninja had made their way to the sight.

Hiruzen ordered for the others to try and help Minato and Kushina. "C'mon! We've got to get them some help."

Right as they were about to reach them, the chakra chains repelled them all from the family and were left helpless to only stand and watch.

Pouring their remaining chakra left into the seal, Minato shouted. "Dead Demon Consuming Seal!"

A demon flowed behind Minato as Kushina looked on in horror.

"Why the Reaper Death Seal?!" Kushina shouted "You don't have to die! I want you to be with Naruto while he grows up. Why sacrifice yourself for me when I will only be able to see him for a brief moment! Tell me!"

Minato smiled sadly. "If I were allowed to live, I'd be no match for you. There are things only you will be able to tell Naruto as his mother. That's the mother's role. To die to make their child's life better. That's the father's job. A job I will gladly fulfill."

The demon behind Minato struck through him leaving a seal and on to the Nine-Tailed Fox and ripped part of its essence away.

"Seal." Minato whispered

The Fox shrank before their eyes into something still extremely large, but not nearly as mountainous as it once was.

"ARRGGHH!" The Beast shouted as it shrank down to size.

Minato picked up Naruto and placed him on the alter as he began to seal through the pain of the other sealing.

The Fox clued in on what was going on and shifted its attention to Naruto.

"I'll kill you, you little worm!" The beast shouted as it extended a claw to strike the infant.

Reacting on instinct, Kushina and Minato threw themselves in front of the beast's claw and were impaled through their midsections'. Kushina stomped down her feet to stop the attack and the claw stopped just feet from the baby.

"Lord Hokage! Madam Kushina!" Hiruzen shouted as he could only look on and watch.

Struggling to breath Minato spoke to Kushina. "We- we have to seal the beast now. Otherwise… Everybody is dead." Minato looked to Naruto and felt a pang of guilt for his child. "We won't see him for a while. We'd better say what we need to say to him."

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she could only accept the fate of her child. "Alright…" was all she could say. "Naruto… life isn't going to be easy for you without us, but just know; you're mother and father love you- *cough* so, so very much."

Minato continued the sealing while the Fox began to lose its power as it roared in anger and fear.

"N-Naruto…" Kushina said "You're strong enough to face this life. You'll do great things I just know it. Get plenty of rest. Bathe every day. Make friends… you don't need a ton of them, just a few that you can trust. And *cough* your mother wasn't very good at this, but study your ninjutsu and train as hard as you can Her and Minato's fingers interlaced as she told her final words. "Stay away from bad women, find a nice girl like me. And *cough* be wary of Jiraiya Sensei." Tears rolled down her face as she looked at her baby boy. "Life isn't going to be easy, things will be hard. So don't get depressed, stay confident and have dreams. Make your dreams… make them come true. There's so much… so much more that I want to tell you. I want to spend more time with you… I love you Naruto."

Minato struggled a chuckle out. "Naruto my message to you is… Well I guess it's the same as what your loquacious mother said…"

Closing his eyes while Kushina could only silently cry Mintao whispered. "Eight-Trigrams Seal."

In a flash of blinding light there was a roaring sound, and then… nothing. They were gone. The Nine-Tails. The Chains. Kushina. Minato. They were all gone. And all that there was left… was the baby.

"Hiruzen… What do we do?" one of the ninja asked.

Looking at the baby, Hiruzen looked to the sky. "We will rebuild. Take the baby with us… We've got work to do."

The Death of a Village

The events of that night would influence the village for the rest of its existence. But attacks from tailed-beasts were nothing new to any of the nations. Most of them would go unnoticed as they were on smaller villages and blamed on natural disasters. When there was an attack the only reason they would be mistaken for natural disasters was very simple. There were no survivors to tell the truth. Except for one…

The nation of Shimagakure was a small island located between Uzushiogakure, and Kirigakure. A nation of few ninja on a small island barely a kilometer in diameter was where one child would be whisked from one life, and thrust to the other.

On a bright June day the sun shined its last few crimson rays as it set below the horizon. A ninja by the name of Yashi Tienyi was bringing in the catch of the day for his small village. A collection of thirteen bamboo shacks on what was basically a large sandbar held a total of 75 villagers, ten of which were ninja. He was the leader of them. Brushing a hand through his shaggy brown hair he carried a net of fifty fresh Tuna to feed the village. His wife Kukui was chopping coconuts from the few palm trees on the island.

"Ku!" Yashi called "Have you seen the boys?"

Flipping her head down letting her yellow strands of hair fall she spoke to her husband "I haven't seen Kowa or Zen! I think they went to go train their chakra control…" Flipping back up she continued to carefully remove the coconuts without harming the tree and killing their only supply of fresh water aside from boiling sea water.

Yashi took the tuna and walked over to the cook for him to clean and smoke the fish for tonight's summer festival celebration. It would be the start of their most prosperous fishing season. And it was also his youngest son Zen's fifth birthday. He would be able to begin his formal training in one of the neighboring nations with his brother Kowa as his partner and chaperone. Kowa who would become an official academy graduate in a month was coming back for the week to celebrate before returning to Konoha to finish his training.

Looking to the horizon and setting sun, Yashi felt an odd sensation as a few clouds began to pop up. After dropping off the fish Yashi found his two sons practicing water walking in the ocean about ten feet out.

"Alright, now just be nice and calm." Kowa was telling his little brother who was trying to maintain composure "Keep the flow of chakra even and don't get over…"

*SPLASH*

"Excited."

Kowa laughed and pulled his brother out of the water and walked him out to shore.

"Good job Zen! You're doing really well!" Kowa smiled

"Hmph!" Was all Zen could say "I wanna be strong like you big brother!"

Smiling Kowa just nodded his head and patted Zen on his shaggy head. All the boys in the family seemed to share the same shaggy hair and good natured smile.

After the feast it was getting late so all of the villagers returned to their shacks save for the one night watch whose job it was to make sure that in case of emergency the village could be alerted.

Yashi went to bed to the sounds of the waves and an uncomfortable breeze coming from the west. His wife slept soundly while the boys rustled in their bunks while he lay there trying to find sleep that would not come.

A few hours later when the oceans had calmed and all the lightning off in the distance had settled Yashi found a dark troubling sleep. He saw destruction and devastation along the shore while he could only stand and watch. He felt on edge when suddenly he was awoken to the sound of the alarm.

All the villagers ran out of their homes while the alarm went off and were met with a torrential downpour. Wind whipped from all directions and blew anything that wasn't nailed down out into the ocean. Lightning cracked, thunder rolled and there was a disturbing guttural roar coming from the ocean.

"TIDAL WAVE!" The night watch shouted.

A large hundred foot tidal wave roared from nowhere towards the village. Jumping into action Yashi sent out a few hand seals and performed his strongest jutsu to prevent the wave from sweeping them all away. "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!" A surge of water blasted from Yashi's hands and smashed into the wave creating a large *SPLASH*. The Wave lost so much momentum that it did not crash into the island, but it still started to flood it.

"Everybody! Get to the Life boats! This isn't a drill!" Kukui ordered as she began to usher the young and elderly.

"Yashi!" one of the fellow ninjas shouted

"What now!?" Yashi shouted.

"Out Starboard half mile!" The ninja shouted "What is that thing? It's like a giant turtle or something with tails!"

Looking in the direction he was told Yashi saw about as bad of a situation as possible begin.

"Oh no." Yashi whispered.

"What is it?"

Just as he was about to answer the beast began shot a large ball of chakra infused water at the island.

"It's the Sanbi! Three-tailed Beast! Everybody get down!" Yashi shouted as the attack got closer.

The blast rocked the island and ripped it in two sending dozens into the water while other died from the blast. Panic ensued as the beast sped towards the island like a bullet. People were running around trying to find their loved ones and get to a boat or trying and make some feeble attempt to launch an attack on the beast.

Yashi searched for his family shouting their names. "Kukui! Kowa!? Zen!" Looking to the closest person, Yashi grabbed the night watch and asked if he had seen his family. "Where'd they go!?" He shouted as the night watch could only stammer. "ANSWER ME!"

The night watch looked Yashi in the eyes. "Sir, I'm sorry but, Kukui was directly in the line of fire. She threw the kids when she saw the blast coming their way. I just saw it when I was getting down to the ground. I don't know where your kids are."

Yashi felt a cold spike run through his heart at the news. Dropping the man Yashi went on a frantic search for his kids. Shouting their names over and over he finally got a response.

"Daddy!"

Yashi turned around and saw Zen standing trying not to pass out from fear as he shook in fright and cold. Rushing over Yashi saw that Kowa was nearby and grabbed him as well.

"Dad!" Kowa shouted.

Hugging his children, Yashi tried to think of what to do and got a desperate idea.

"Oh it's so good to see you two."

"Daddy, where's Momma?" Zen asked.

Yashi could only swallow and look to Kowa. "She's fine son." Yashi said trying to sound reassuring. "Zen do me a favor."

"Yeah Dad?" Zen asked

"Go to sleep." Yashi then struck his son and knocked him out cold.

Kowa looked in horror. "Why'd you do that?!"

Yashi looked to his son. "Kowa, I've got a very important mission for you to do. Alright? First one as an official ninja."

Sensing the serious tone that his father had Kowa nodded his head.

"I need you to take your brother, carry him, and run to Konoha. You know how to run on water now, and I know you can do it."

Kowa looked petrified. "But Dad! That's hundreds of miles away! I'll never make it! Why can't you?"

Another crashing noise came from behind them and Yashi swallowed. "Be-because son. I have to protect this village. You have to protect your brother. My duty as a ninja, your duty as a good big brother."

Scared, Kowa could only nod his head.

"Now listen son. All you've got to do is just turn that way. And run. Don't stop. Don't turn back. Don't look back. Your brother won't wake up until you get there."

"But Dad! What if I don't get there?"

Yashi was silent for a moment. "Like I said he won't wake up until you get there."

Kowa nodded his head in understanding.

Hugging his son Yashi spoke only a few words as tears began to stream down his face. "I love you Son."

"I love you too Dad."

Picking up his little brother Kowa looked to his father one last time and turned. And he ran. Sprinting away from the island and into the storm, Kowa could hear everything. The panicked shouts from his friends and family. The roars from the beast. The explosions and devastation… All of it.

And he ran. Kowa ran at full sprint while cradling his baby brother in his arms as tears flowed down his face. He ran through the storm, and as he continued to run the sounds of the villagers dissipated and the sound of the beast became a low rumble.

And so he ran.

And ran.

And ran.

"Keep going!" Kowa told himself. And he kept telling himself as he ran. For two days. Kowa ran for two solid days as he finally began to see land off in the distance. He could see the shores of the Land of Fire and a feeling of elation fell over him. But there was only one problem. He was out of chakra. Nothing was left. He had completely emptied his supply and was left exhausted with only the chakra swirling around his feet as he was only two miles away from land. He couldn't move. If he did his chakra would dissipate, and he and would be unable to stop his brother from drowning.

Zen grew heavy in his arms. He felt like a lead weight that he could drop at any second. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he felt failure.

"Help!" Kowa called. "Somebody! Anybody!" Kowa cried as he felt that he had let his father, his brother and mother, his whole village down. "Kami help me. Give me this one wish before I die. L-Let my brother live."

Kowa sank to his knees as only his toes had chakra while he barely balanced on the water.

"Don't let my brother die." Kowa whispered.

Rise, child. A voice came from in front of Kowa. Looking up Kowa saw a large silver haired man with blue wings sprouting from his back.

"W-Who are you?" Kowa asked beginning to feel the delirium from his exhaustion.

I am Azariel. I was one of the guardians of the seas. I've seen what you've done for your family. You've been very brave young one. The winged man's wings shined in the morning sun as he floated a foot above the water.

"Help me." Was all Kowa said. "Help my brother."

Azariel's gaze went to the young boy in Kowa's arms and picked him up. Kowa could not even protest as his strength was gone. Looking from the younger brother to Kowa, Azariel simply said.

I will. I shall protect your brother as the last son of his village and bring him safely to where he needs to go.

Kowa wasn't sure if he was hallucinating, but it was the only thing he had at this point. "Take him to Konoha. Make sure he doesn't forget us." Kowa then took off his headband of his village and tucked it in Zen's hand. "Be safe." Kowa whispered to his brother.

I must go now. Rest young man. You shall be reunited with your parents soon.

Smiling, Kowa closed his eyes as the last of his chakra seeped out of his feet and he died before he his body went below the water.

Looking to the young boy Azariel began to fly to Konoha.

Rest now child. Life will not be easy, but you will have me as your consul for your life. I shall protect you. And I shall give you strength.

END CHAPTER.

Woohoo! Chapter 1 is done! Sorry that the Shima part was longer, but since we've all read about what happened in Konoha about a dozen times at this part, I figured I should explain what happened in the other place as well. This is just a warm up for the main characters and their appearances in the upcoming chapter! Hope you guys liked that chapter! I'm going to bed now, because it's 3 a.m. after finishing this up and I am beat! Thanks again guys! Jamtrousers out!