-October 10th, 334 NE (Ninja Era)-

-8:00 PM-

-Two Miles West of Konoha, Site of the Kyuubi's Sealing, Inside the Barrier-

Kuushou, more commonly known as the Nine-tailed Demon Fox or even just 'The Nine Tails', was not annoyed. nor was he upset. He was far beyond such pale words. He was furious.

He had been sealed again. Sealed. Again. He wanted nothing more than to flood all his power through the seal and into his vessel to destroy it. He wanted to stomp out every last human life so that none would again dare inflict this indignity upon him. He wanted to scorch the land such that nothing would ever grow and every being in the human realm would realize the price for meddling with the Kyuubi no Youko. He wanted to-

His felt his youki churning as his emotions ran wild, and knew that he was a mere moment away from giving in to his desires and releasing his full power. Even as his fury burned hotter, he forced his youki to calm. He remembered all too well what happened the last time he gave in to his baser instincts, though only now that he was sealed again did he fully understand the circumstances. That pathetic human had attempted to steal his power using the assistance of the God of Death, and this was the result.

Kuushou played the Death God's words back through his mind.

"The Kyuubi no Youko shall be sealed within the designated vessel for as long as the vessel is capable of enduring. Upon the failure of the vessel, the Kyuubi no Youko shall be banished once again from the human realm for a period of one hundred years. Thus is the agreement."

The "designated vessel" was clearly the human child, just as it had been one hundred years ago. The question was, what constituted "failure of the vessel"? He was fairly certain he had completely obliterated the "vessel" the last time, along with the surrounding countryside, so his previous experience wouldn't be useful for the sake of comparison.

He had only spent a brief time within the seal of the Death God before, so he had not really paid attention to its appearance; this time, he paused to take in his surroundings. He was standing in the middle of an empty white room, large enough to comfortably contain his battle form. The room had four walls, each with a metal door set in the middle. The doors were large, but the tops only reached halfway up his legs. He looked up, but could make out nothing - no ceiling, no sky, just endless white.

He moved to one of the doors, noting that it was currently closed. Upon closer inspection he could see that the door appeared to be fashioned of steel, as he would expect of human fortifications. Such objects were of incredible strength by human standards, after all. He checked for any sort of locking mechanism or handle. but found nothing. Experimentally, he lashed out with his claws and struck the door. He expected some sort of reaction: an energy barrier of some sort, or perhaps a physical sensation of resistance. He most certainly did not expect his claw to tear through the door as if it were made of mere wood.

Surprised, Kuushou paused to observe his surroundings. Other than the gaping hole in the door there was no change. Grinning, he began to condense his youki in order to reduce the size of his current form so he could fit through the door. He received another surprise, this one rather unpleasant, when the door began to shrink along with him. When he had reduced himself to only a few feet tall, the door stood barely six inches high. The rest of the room had become smaller as well, so much so that he could easily stretch out his tails and touch the opposite wall.

Changing his approach, Kuushou instead extended one of his tails through the open door and let his form dissolve into a mass of churning youki. As the youki passed through the opening, however, it began to grow even smaller. Even worse, the smaller the opening was, the harder it was for more youki to leave the room. When he flexed his youki to make the opening larger, the enter room shook and small cracks began appearing in the walls. He stopped flexing immediately and watched as the cracks slowly began to seal themselves. He also noted that the opening had grown ever so slightly larger. Storing that away for future reference, he turned his attention to the youki that was outside the room. As a being comprised entirely of youki, the stream of energy outside the room was as much "himself" as the mass of youki inside the room was.

What he found outside the room was troubling, to say the least. He could sense with surprising clarity the state of the child he was sealed into. He could discern the various organs, the pathways through which blood flowed, and even the outlines of what appeared to be paths for chakra, as the humans called their power. He had never been concerned with the particulars of human physiology, or any other living creature for that matter, but he knew enough in general to understand that the various organs were supposed to be doing something.

Currently, none of the organs were working. The heart was not beating, the blood was not flowing, the chakra was not moving.

Actually, that wasn't quite true. As his youki moved throughout the body, the nearby organs reacted. The heart started to beat again and the blood started to flow. Even the chakra reacted, circulating throughout the body, some of it even moving closer to the youki and curling around it. Whenever that happened it caused a strange tingling sensation that Kuushou had never felt before. The chakra would always settle down when he moved away from it, so he decided to ignore it for the time being.

Kuushou withdrew his youki as much as possible while still being able to sense the child's body, and watched. Without his youki, the body quickly shut down again. He waited for several seconds, watching for any activity anywhere within the body.

Nothing happened.

It took him another few seconds to realize what the problem was, but when he did a wave of panic shot through him. The child was dead. He was certain the child had been alive prior to the sealing, so either the sealing process itself or the presence of the Death God had cost the child its life.

Kuushou braced himself, certain that he would be sent back to Makai – again – any moment now. Several more seconds passed, but nothing happened. Confusion swept through him, and he went over the Death God's words once more. Perhaps... perhaps "failure of the vessel" referred to the destruction of the physical body, rather than the death of the child's soul?

If so... Kuushou began to laugh as he sent as much youki as possible out of the room, spreading it throughout the child's body.


-Same Time-

-Outside the Barrier-

Sarutobi stared helplessly at the barrier, vainly trying to see through the opaque bubble that enclosed his successor and the tailed beast. All around him hundreds of ninja were pouring all their available chakra into the technique, fueling what was easily the largest barrier he had ever seen. He wouldn't be surprised if it was nearly half a mile in diameter.

Now that he had nothing to do but wait, he found himself reflecting bitterly on the many mistakes he had made in the last two hours. He had sent far too many ninja on what amounted to a suicide mission, and he wondered even now if their deaths had accomplished anything at all.

The rational side of himself knew that they had all volunteered, and he was proud of them all for their Will of Fire, but the guilt weighed heavily on his soul. It was a familiar guilt, and while these new burdens had plenty of company, that did not make them any easier to bear. But the worst burden of all, outweighing even the moment he had realized just how far his favored student had fallen, was waiting inside that barrier.

He had realized shortly after Minato turned over command of the battle what he intended to do. He had known of Minato and Jiraiya's research into the Death God's Seal, had even contributed some of the journals from his personal library. He just wished that he knew enough about sealing to do it himself. Minato was the most promising shinobi he had ever met, and even now he grew stronger and stronger. Minato had a wife who had just given birth and a son who should be able to enjoy life with both parents. Now... now that would never happen.

Sarutobi was drawn out of his musings as he noticed several ninja collapsing as they succumbed to chakra exhaustion. The genin and support ninja who lacked the necessary reserves to fuel the barrier moved in to assist them, but Sarutobi could see that more and more ninja would be dropping soon. Even the experienced jounin looked shaky and pale from the chakra drain.

He weighed his options at this point. He could send in fresh ninja and mandate the use of soldier pills and the Eight Gates – for those capable of it – to extend the duration of the barrier. Such a course could cause irreparable damage to the ninja involved and would likely still only gain them another minute or two. On the other hand, he could drop the barrier now, while most of his forces still had some power left and could assist in the battle. Given the Fourth's plan, it was likely that matters within the barrier were already settled, one way or another.

Nodding sharply, he made his decision.

"Attention all ninja! On my signal you are to drop the barrier and prepare to engage the tailed beast!" his voice rang out. He could see the ninja around him gather themselves, determination warring with fear in their faces. He waited a few more seconds, then shouted, "Now!"

The barrier flickered, then disappeared completely. Sarutobi himself lead the charge into the now revealed clearing, only to falter as he surveyed the scene before him.

The tailed beast was nowhere in sight. He could see evidence of a battle, as claw marks so large they might as well have been trenches were scattered throughout the area, and he could see impressions in the ground caused by Gamabunta leaping about. Gamabunta himself stood in the center of the clearing, eyes closed and head bowed. His sword was sheathed and his pipe was stuck through his belt. Blood dripped from jagged wounds across his face and head, but the giant toad paid them no heed.

Sarutobi moved forward to question Gamabunta, but his attention was suddenly diverted to the top of Gamabunta's head as a flare of chakra suddenly appeared. It was far, far weaker than what he had felt earlier in the day, but still unmistakably the tailed beast's chakra. He could also make out a baby crying at the top of its lungs.

When he performed a shunshin to the top of Gamabunta's head, he found the chakra already receding back into the baby, leaving no visible mark that it had been there at all. The child continued to cry insistently until Sarutobi finally picked him up, at which point he quieted under the gentle rocking and quickly drifted off to sleep.

He finally turned his attention to the figure lying nearby. Minato's eyes were still open, even in death, and his face was pale and drawn. The expression on his face was heart-wrenching - the pain and guilt he felt in his final moments was obvious.

Sarutobi slowly knelt beside Minato's body, and reached out with one shaking hand to close his eyes. He could feel tears streaming down his face, but he just let them flow. He pulled off his long scarf and laid it across Minato's head, then moved back down to the ground.

He paused on his way down to speak into Gamabunta's ear. "I would like to ask you about what happened inside the barrier, but I need to see to the village first. Can Jiraiya talk to you later?" Gamabunta gave a slight nod, his head still bowed in sorrow.

The moment he arrived at Gamabunta's feet he was surrounded by anxious ninja. None could voice their questions aloud but their concerns were plain to see. Some were eying the bundle in Sarutobi's arms curiously, while a few were clearly already drawing conclusions about what had happened within the barrier. Sarutobi scanned the crowd and soon spotted Kakashi's distinct shock of white hair.

"Kakashi." Though his voice was low, it rang out in the silent clearing as if he had shouted. "Please select three other ninja to serve as Minato's honor bearers. Our-" Sarutobi's voice broke from grief, but he forced the rest of the words out. "Our Fourth Hokage has fallen in battle."


-9:00 PM-

-Konoha, Hokage's Office-

"Ah, Tsunade-chan, thank you for coming so quickly," Sarutobi said. He smiled slightly, but kept his attention on the bundle in his arms.

"Well, whatever you need me for, just make it quick; I need to get back to the hospital. We've got a lot of injured ninja still, not to mention all the ones with severe chakra exhaustion," Tsunade said quickly. She was looking around his office in irritation, so it actually took her a few moments to realize what he was holding in his arms. "Is that a baby?"

Sarutobi chuckled. "I'm glad to see your skills haven't dulled over the years. This is indeed a baby. A very special baby, in fact."

Tsunade growled under her breath, but moved closer, correctly assuming that she was summoned to check on the child's health. She froze a few steps away, and then called out in shock, "Naruto?"

Sarutobi nodded to himself – Tsunade's exclamation all the confirmation he needed that, as he had expected, this was indeed Minato's son. "Ah, so they did go with 'Naruto' for his name after all. I thought they would."

"Old Monkey, why is Kushina and Minato's kid here? Actually, where's Minato?"

Sarutobi finally turned his face towards her, and she was shocked to see his reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Here, in this office, in front of one of his former students, he let his guard down and allowed his grief to show through. "You haven't heard?" he asked quietly, genuinely surprised.

Tsunade shook her head slowly. "All the patients I was working on were in no condition to talk, and I came straight here when the ANBU summoned me. What haven't I heard?" She tried to ignore the foreboding feeling that had settled firmly in her gut and the echo of long dead voices that were never far from her thoughts.

"Minato sacrificed himself to seal away the tailed beast. Given the beast's power, the only option was to seal it away into a child, the younger the better. I suspected he had chosen his own son as the vessel, and you have just confirmed that for me," Sarutobi said softly, turning back to look at Naruto again. His wrinkled hand smoothed back the small tufts of hair on Naruto's head as he continued to rock the baby gently back and forth.

Tsunade closed her eyes and bowed her head, quietly absorbing the news. Sacrificing his own life to protect others sounded exactly like something Minato would do. Even as she thought about the Fourth Hokage, the faces of Dan and Nawaki, her lover and her younger brother, flashed through her mind. All three had dreamed of becoming Hokage and protecting the village, though only Minato had achieved his dream; Dan and Nawaki had both died long before they even had the chance. And now Minato was gone as well. Kushina would be–

Tsunade looked up quickly. "Does Kushina know?"

Sarutobi shrugged slightly. "I honestly don't know. I sent an ANBU squad to find her first, actually. I assumed she would still be in the hospital, or perhaps back at their house. I expected her to arrive first, in fact. When was the last time you saw her?"

"A few hours ago now, just after Naruto was born. The attack had started and Shizune and I rushed out to see to the wounded."

Sarutobi frowned, wondering where Kushina could possibly be. He wouldn't put it past the incredibly stubborn woman to have charged out into the battlefield despite her weakened state, but he had seen no sign of her there, nor had he seen her rather unique style of jutsu.

"Well, I expect she will arrive before long in any case," he said, recalling the reason he had asked Tsunade to come in the first place. "In the meantime, I would like you to look over young Naruto here. Konoha has no experience with sealing tailed beasts, so unfortunately we have no idea what to expect as far as his health and development is concerned. I also witnessed the beast's chakra flaring up shortly after the sealing took place, though it hasn't happened since."

Tsunade nodded slowly, then stood and made her way over to Sarutobi. She motioned him to place Naruto on the desk, then activated her medical jutsu. The moment she started her scan she drew back with a low hiss. Sarutobi immediately went tense beside her, but waited for her to speak.

"Sensei, how is this seal supposed to work?"

"I... honestly don't know. Seals were never my area of expertise, that was Jiraiya and Minato's area. I know they've both been researching this seal for months now, so until I hear otherwise I would assume that it is functioning as intended. Why?"

"There are trace amounts of the the beast's chakra circulating throughout his entire body."

Sarutobi's eyes widened. "What?" he yelled. Naruto began to fuss as he lay on the desk, and he forced himself to keep his voice quiet. "What do you mean 'circulating'?"

"Well, everywhere blood and chakra flow there are also trace amounts of the beast's chakra." She reactivated her jutsu and began scanning again. She continued talking as she did so. "It's spread evenly throughout the body, not pooling in any one area that I can detect. It also seems to originate from behind his navel - I assume the seal was placed on his stomach? Over the View Gate?" She didn't bother to wait for his nod. "I can't detect that it's causing any damage or deterioration, though I can't say what the effects will be in the long-term. For the moment, I'd say it's actually helping, if anything."

Sarutobi relaxed slightly as she spoke. Perhaps this was how the seal was supposed to function. There could certainly be a lot of benefits to having a secondary supply of chakra, though who knew if the beast's chakra worked in the same way as human chakra. In fact, he recalled descriptions of other vessels using powerful and unique techniques in the past, techniques that no one had managed to replicate. Perhaps this was part of the secret.

Tsunade frowned suddenly. "What the..."

Sarutobi waited for her to continue but she remained silent, still frowning. "What? What is it?" he prompted.

"It... there was some sort of reaction between the beast's chakra and Naruto's chakra, what little of it there is at his age. I don't... I've never seen chakra do that."

"Do what?" He was getting rather annoyed at this point, and was on the verge of activating his own technique just to see for himself.

"It... where the two chakras come in direct contact, it sort of... vibrates. It doesn't seem to cause any damage or side effects, but... how? Why?"

"It vibrates? How in the world does chakra vibrate?"

Tsunade scowled and deactivated her jutsu. "That's the best way I can describe it, alright? When two different chakras interact they either blend together or repel one another. It's a basic tenet that all medics have to be aware of. I've healed thousands of ninja, and my chakra will either blend with or repel the patient's chakra. Always!" She was starting to get worked up now, her face flushing and her voice rising. "Medics train for years to learn how to handle the problems that interaction can cause! It's the foundation of modern medical ninjutsu! I have personally done years of research to explain and predict those reactions! I have never in my life seen chakra do... that!"

Naruto started fussing again, louder this time, and Tsunade snapped her mouth shut and turned away, stomping off to fume in the corner while still muttering under her breath. Sarutobi shook his head, torn between amusement at seeing Tsunade so passionate about yet another medical mystery and worry about what this could mean for Naruto. It was probable that this... vibration was due to the beast's chakra rather than something unique to Naruto, but that didn't explain what was happening or why.

"So... other than the oddity with the beast's chakra, he is in perfect health?" Sarutobi asked a few minutes later, seeing that Tsunade had calmed down and had moved past her "ranting" phase and on to her "research planning" phase.

She nodded distractedly. "Yeah, he's fine, every bit as good as when he was first born."

"Glad to hear it. Once Jiraiya gets here I'll have him check the seal and confirm how it's supposed to work, then Kushina can take him home, or wherever she would like to go." He mentally added a tally of at least two – or, on further reflection, four – squads of ANBU to her entourage. He wasn't about to risk losing Minato's wife and child to some enemy ninja who sensed an opportunity in the wake of the tailed beast's attack. He paused, then turned to face Tsunade. "She could probably use some company in the days ahead, you know," he hinted not-so-subtly.

Tsunade threw him an irritated glance. "If you think I'm about to leave her alone while she's grieving over Minato and adjusting to being a mother you're even more senile than I thought, Old Monkey."

Sarutobi smiled. "Indeed, silly of me to think otherwise."


-Same Time-

-Gaikai (The Outer Realm), Myobokuzan (Exquisite Tree Mountain)-

Jiraiya landed nimbly on his feet as the reverse-summoning spell ended, having completed its work in bringing him to the home of the Toad Summons. He took a moment to admire the gorgeous scenery around him; lush forests and thundering waterfalls greeted his eyes wherever he looked. Even the buildings the toads had created had a way of blending into the forests around them.

Konoha would always be his first home, but there were times when he was tempted to give up his work as a ninja and live in Myobokuzan. He had fought the temptation thus far, but every year it became just a little bit harder to resist the peaceful allure of this place and continue his work as a ninja. He knew one day, hopefully many years in the future, the toads would summon him to Myobokuzan and he would no longer be able to find it within himself to leave.

He shook his head; that day may be coming, but it was not today. Today he was here to learn about the last moments of his last and greatest student, Minato Namikaze - the man who had surpassed his teacher in nearly every respect, the man who had become Hokage before the age of thirty, the man who he had hoped would succeed him as the Toad Sage.

He greeted the other toads as he made his way to Gamabunta's dwelling. Word had already spread throughout the village if their solemn demeanor and consoling words were any indication. He let their words wash over him, thankful for their support but unable to truly face his feelings on the matter at the moment.

When he finally entered Gamabunta's home, he found the Toad Chief sitting quietly while his wife applied bandages to his face. Jiraiya was shocked to see that the wounds Gamabunta had taken in the battle with the tailed beast had remained after the summoning ended – that had never happened before, and he hadn't even known that it could happen at all.

"How are you still injured?" Jiraiya blurted out.

Gamabunta's eyes shifted to stare at Jiraiya. "The Bi- the tailed beasts' power is not to be underestimated," he said firmly. Gamabunta then paused uncertainly, struggling to find the words to explain the situation. "Their power is... not like the power of humans. Because they... when... the wounds they give us carry over, alright?" Gamabunta finally shouted out, frustrated. Gamabunta's wife Gamatsuchi smacked him on the back of his head, scolding him for moving while she was fixing him.

Jiraiya was rather surprised at Gamabunta's reaction to the question, and a little concerned as well. He knew there were secrets that the Toads kept from him concerning their own existence, but always before it had seemed like irrelevant details. Now he was certain the Toads knew something very important and wanted to tell him, but couldn't.

He thought about pressing for details, but his experience fishing for information that the Toads didn't want him to have told him that would be a bad idea. He may have signed a contract with them, and he may have their respect and friendship, but there were clear limits.

"I see..." Jiraiya said slowly, trying to convince himself Gamabunta and Gamatsuchi were not looking at him with pity when he said that. "Well, that's not why I came here. I wanted to learn about what happened inside the barrier. You are the only one who can tell us anything."

Gamabunta sighed and nodded, then began relating the events within the barrier from his perspective. When he was finished, Jiraiya looked over the notes he had hastily written down.

"'All within Death's domain and the barrier', huh? Guess that explains why all the trees and grass were dead, and why the summoner's life is taken. I guess the seal also protects the vessel from this, since Naruto survived the sealing. Makes sense, wouldn't be very useful otherwise," Jiraiya mused. He tapped the pen against his chin as he reviewed what he knew about the Death God's seal. "That would explain that third section in the left quadrant..." Jiraiya trailed off, mumbling to himself as he assimilated this new information into his knowledge of the seal.

Gamabunta shifted uneasily, but said nothing.

Jiraiya fell quiet for a time, then looked up at Gamabunta, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "Did... did Minato say anything, at the end?"

Gamabunta sighed heavily, but shook his head. "No, Jiraiya, he didn't. Knowing him though, I'm sure he left some sort of message behind, but he didn't say anything while I was there. There was no time."

Gamabunta fell silent as Jiraiya forced back his tears and nodded slowly. "Right, right. I'm sure he did, yeah," Jiraiya said, wiping his face and taking a long breath. "Well, I need to let Sensei know about all this. Thank you for telling me, 'Bunta," Jiraiya bowed in thanks, then turned to leave.

"Jiraiya," Gamabunta called out quietly. "There's something else you need to know. The Great Toad Sage has issued a new prophecy. He says that one of your students 'shall stand in the path of the vengeful spirit', and that 'their clash shall reshape the world'."

Jiraiya felt rage wash over him. "Well, all my students are fucking dead now, aren't they?" The anger left as quickly as it had come, leaving a horrible empty feeling behind. "They're all dead," he finished quietly. He turned and left the building without another word.

Gamabunta sadly watched Jiraiya walk away. His last whispered comment barely managed to reach Jiraiya's ears.

"You aren't."


A/N: Well, there's chapter two.

One of the problems I had to resolve before this story even had a hope of getting off the ground was limiting the Kyuubi's power. Even in canon, the Kyuubi is quite possibly the most powerful character in the series (short of the Jyuubi) - until of course Mr. Pink Eye winks at him, or he gets sealed, or... well, anyway. I had to come up with ways to limit his power while simultaneously allowing him to show just how dangerous he can be. You can see from the first part what some of those limitations will be, as well as guess at what it would take to "kill" him. The Kyuubi will have access to more and more of his youki as time passes, but he will still be forced to find other ways of protecting himself and defeating his enemies. Some are obvious, some will be either laid out or hinted at ahead of time, and others... well, that will (hopefully) be a surprise.

As for the "prophecy", those who are familiar with canon should know that the canon prophecy was never given in this AU. The prophecy given here is the first and only one Jiraiya has ever heard that involves himself or his students.

As for Tsunade, this is another departure from canon, if relatively minor - while Dan and Nawaki did die, she was able to cope much better and did not develop hemophobia, nor did she abandon the village to travel the world while drinking and gambling. I never found her back story to be all that reasonable - many, many ninja have lost far more and dealt with it without resorting to completely abandoning their duties. I can understand and sympathize with the pain and her need to get away from it all. I can understand resigning as a ninja. What I can't understand is all the other ninja, who have dealt with their own losses and kept going, continuing to respect her as a ninja, nor can I understand how they would be willing to accept someone with that history as their military commander-in-chief. If it takes her over a decade (possibly two) to overcome personal losses, how can she be expected to operate as the Hokage, who likely must face losses of one sort or another on a daily basis? Further, how could they possibly accept someone who was a missing-nin in all but name as the Hokage?

Revised: 08/31/2011 9:50 PM - typos and grammar