Disclaimer I don't own Naruto or any characters from whatever series I use.
The Dragon Container
Chapter 2: And So It Begins
Minato was fighting off the most powerful enemy up to date, it was invincible, it was the most terrifying thing known to man.
The dreaded paperwork!
'I helped defeat a giant chakra beast of mass destruction and in the end all I get for it is damn paperwork. Damn you Sarutobi you knew this would happen!' He cursed, as he glared at his arch enemy, which only got larger by the minute. 'Oh, come one, I've already pulled all-nighters for three days straight. I haven't gotten a chance to even see my family.'
A small smile appeared, banishing the hopeless situation he was in, his beautiful wife, his lovely children.
But then he remembered that his wife was currently pissed at him for his attempted self-sacrifice and he shivered as the image of his enraged wife came to mind.
He quickly picked up the nearest document and begin working. 'Paperwork's not all bad, by the time it's done Kushina-Chan will have calmed down enough not to kill me…probable'
BANG! Came from the door "Minato we got a major problem!" Shouted a familiar voice, looking up he saw his Sensei Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya-Sensei what do I owe the pleasure, for once you got here before complaints from the hot springs came in." He joked.
"I came right here, unfortunately my precious hot springs were destroyed in the attack." He cried anime tears, before shaking himself straight.
"No time for that." He stated, the seriousness in his voice causing Minato listen carefully to his sensei.
"The Great Toad Sage has had a prophecy and it concerns your children." That caught Minato's attention.
"What! What do you mean it involves my children?" He and his family only just survived by some miracle and now his family is in trouble once more.
"Calm down Minato, we'll keep them safe." He made a hand sign activating a silencing seal, before pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket.
"Here's the Prophecy." The sage began reading line for line what was on his piece of paper.
"A new Entity will be born on par with the Nine."
"One will be burdened with this new beast, that came from others."
"They will experience great pain and suffering, losing those that should love them most."
"Two paths will open for The Child of Prophecy, born from the blood of your student."
"If guided by love the child will become the Dragon of Salvation that will protect the world in its time of need."
"If it loses that love they shall fall to ruin, leading themselves and the world to its end becoming the Dragon of Destruction."
"Their union will bring new hope, or despair if the child loses his light, darkness awaits those who took their beloved away."
Jiraiya looked at Minato, his eye black eyes gazing into his student's blue orbs. "It's hard to decipher, but several things are clear the child of prophecy is one of your children, they will experience great pain if we don't do something and they could very well end up dying and dooming the rest of the world long with them."
He put the paper down on the desk for Minato to inspect at his leisure. He didn't want to believe in some prophecy, but there was one thing that made it creditable. "First, we need to figure out what this new entity is, by the Nine we can be assured that it's referring to the Biju, but for something to be on par with them is almost unbelievable."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Minato commented, catching his Sensei's attention. "It would make sense i-if… this new entity was another Biju." He told his Sensei hesitantly, afraid what this prophecy could mean for his children.
"What do mean Minato, there were only nine Biju last time I checked." Jiraiya was still mostly unaware of the whole Biju attack, but was informed of his sensei passing, but he had a duty as Minato's sensei and to the man's children as their godfather to keep them safe.
"Not anymore." He took a breath. "Sandaime-Sama split the fox in two before sealing it away, there are now two Kyuubi's." He dropped the bombshell and realisation hit the sage.
"That's it! Out of the Nine Biju the Kyuubi possesses the most chakra and strongest healing factor, he may not share the special abilities all the other beasts have, but even only at half strength, his more than a match for any of the other nine and it came from the other Biju. With it being sealed into one of your children all the conditions for the two lines are met." The legendary Ninja stated.
"Jiraiya are you sure it's accurate, I mean it came from an old toad who is senile." Minato argued, he didn't want to believe the prophecy and he's met the toad sage before and it was obvious the toad was way past his prime.
"Minato, this was predicated during the Kyuubi's attack, the old toad may be senile, but that hasn't affected his powers. We can't ignore it, especially with what it says about your children."
Minato's eyes landed on the next line "They will experience great pain and suffering, losing those that should love them most."
"But what does that mean?" Minato asked and Jiraiya gave him a look of pity.
"It's obvious who would he lose that love him most, it's obvious it means…your family." Minato's eyes went wide at that, shock and panic filled his eyes.
"Calm down kid, well stop it no matter what, but first we need to figure out the rest the next line speaks for itself, it's the ones after we have a problem with."
Calming down, Minato looked at the paper seriously, he wouldn't take the chances of losing his family. He read the rest of the prophecy.
"If guided by love the child will become the Dragon of Salvation that will protect the world in its time of need."
"If it loses that love they shall fall to ruin, leading themselves and the world to its end becoming the Dragon of Destruction."
"What about those two line, Dragons? Their just legends." Minato spoke, dragons didn't make sense they haven't been heard of in thousands of years.
"Dragons are known widely as deities of destruction or protection, it's most likely a reference to what the child of prophecy could become, we need to make sure that he goes down the right path." Jiraiya stated and Minato agreed. He read the last part.
"Their union will bring new hope, or despair if the child loses their light, darkness awaits those who took their beloved away."
"That last one is the hardest, its most likely refers to the Kyuubi being bound and controlled by your child or the two children fighting together, but if one of them loses this light, which can assume is person they care deeply for they will go down the path of revenge and darkness." Jiraiya spoke up, they had all the lines deciphered now, or at least understood it enough to make sure the child of prophecy saves the world.
"So, what are we going to do? How can we save my family and children?" Minato pleaded with his sensei for answers.
"Only one thing we can do is prepare them, as soon as they're old enough we'll start training the ones with the Kyuubi, due you have any idea which one could be the child of prophecy? "The nod of no he received was not what he wanted.
"Then we'll train both of them and make sure they can fight side by side with one another as well as make sure they can control the Kyuubi."
Minato nodded agreeing with his Senseis plan. He would do anything to save his family.
Kushina was busy recovering, Tsunade was helping, with the children having come to visit and help out, she quickly fell in love with her godchildren and has even decided to stay in the village permanently.
She looked at her triplets playing around on the floor, when she found out about the seals she was terrified of how they would be treated and all though the village was at first sceptical thanks to the help Minato and herself, they quickly came around and were warming up to the twins that held Kyuubi and treating them as the heroes they were for their sacrifice.
She giggled as she watched Naruto, play with Akami knocking her over. All of her children held different personalities. Naruto was most like her always moving and playing around taking the initiative.
Akami was more like Minato she still played with Naruto, but she was quieter and calmer until something got her hyped up.
Menma was quietest and most like Minato, he would play on his own and was a bit shy, it reminded her of when Minato used to watch her from afar and would turn away in embarrassment whenever she got close.
However, she didn't to worry about him being anti-social as Naruto tackled his Otouto gently chousing him into joining the other two in play.
Her Naru-Chan was such a considerate Onii-san; he would always go that extra mile to make sure all Menma joined them to play bring the boy out of his shell a bit.
She just knew Naruto would stand by his siblings and protect them.
Over Two Years Later The Day before the Triplets Third Birthday
Naruto and his siblings, were sitting down on the settee, he sat in between his two siblings.
Naruto was excited tomorrow marked the official start of his ninja training and then he could start on his dream to become Hokage like his dad.
His Kaa-san and Tou-san came in and sat down, they seemed to have a serious look on their faces.
Once sat down Minato gave a heavy sigh. "There's something very important, we need to tell you." He waited until he had their undivided attention before continuing.
"You all know the story of Sandaime defeating the Kyuubi don't you." They just nodded, how the Sandaime saved there Tou-san was one of their favourite bedtime stories.
"What I'm about to tell you is how he defeated it." Minato went on to explain how Menma and Akami had a half of the Kyuubi each inside them.
Kushina had to stop herself from going over and hugging them, Menma was almost in tears now that he was told, thinking that he was the fox.
Naruto just calmly listened and then looked at his two siblings who were about to cry. Looking at his Otouto he leaned close and poked Menma's stomach tickling him and causing the almost crying boy to laugh as Naruto kept doing it.
"Onii-san …stop…that tickles." Menma laughed.
"What I'm just petting the fox." Naruto grinned before he turned to Akami with an evil grin. Akami backed away from her Onii-san in fear.
"No Onii-san don't you dare." Naruto pounced on her and started tickling her to.
"AHHH! No…stop..Menma-Otouto help!" Menma latched on to his Onii from behind, tickling him.
Soon his Onee-chan joined in and together they defeated their evil Onii.
Kushina and Minato could only join the laughter as the children had their tickle war.
Once everyone calmed down, Minato ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately. "Good job kiddo."
"Of course I'm the Onii I'll always protect my Imouto and Otouto." Naruto grinned ear to ear.
Both parents knew they could believe in those words and they both felt a pang of guilt, knowing how much he's been looking forward to tomorrow.
"Naruto, we also have something important to tell you." The young boy looked into his Tou-sans eyes with excitement, causing the man to grimace somewhat.
"You know what day it is tomorrow, right?" He asked and the boy jumped up and loudly exclaimed.
"Yep, it's the third anniversary of the Kyuubi defeated and the Festival of the Sandaime Hokage! (Festival of The Third Fire Shadow) But more importantly, it's our third birthday and the day we start our ninja training! Just wait I'm going to be Hokage before you know it!" He shouted grinning from ear to ear.
"No way! I'm going to be Hokage Naruto-Onii-san!" Stated his smooth red headed look alike. Menma was smiling at his Onii and the parents watched the sibling rivalry, before the talk turned for the worse.
"Te…Te Menma-Otouto you always copy Onii-san don't you." Giggled the middle child Akane, both she and Menma looked up to their Onii-san as their role modeI. But Menma was the one who tried to emulate him the most, down to his PJs, morning routine and of course his dream.
'Menma-Otouto it's so cute seeing you and Onii-san together, you look so alike and act the same.' She knew that the main reason Menma was so attached to his Onii was because unlike the two of them he was the shyest of the children and had a hard time coming out of his shell. 'But Onii-san always helps you out.'
"No, I don't! If anything, he's copying me!" The red-haired boy pouted arms crossed a slight blush on his face.
Seeing his Otouto's embarrassment Naruto got a foxy grin. "Awe Imouto don't tease him after all, why wouldn't he want to copy this superstar." He exclaimed, pointing to himself and showing his three-year-old muscles.
There was silence as the younger duo of the triplets looked at their Onii, both picked up the close pillow and threw it at their boasting big brother. "PILLOW FIGHT!"
The two siblings once again ganged up on their big brother, Minato giggled at the sight before he clapped both hands together.
CLAP!
"All right, that's enough!" He shouted, the triplets immediately stopped, nobody moved until one pillow that was still in the air came down on Naruto who glared at the perpetrator.
Minato followed glaring at his feathered covered wife who snuck her way into the fight when it started. Kushina tried to look innocent, but her husband glare continued, until she pouted and took her spot by his side.
Seeing how happy they all were just made it harder for parents. "Yes, tomorrow Akami and Menma will start their training."
"Hell yeah!" Menma shouted excited like his Onii normally would be.
But his Onee and Onii-san realised the absence of a certain name. "Tou-san what about Onii-san, won't he be training with us?" Akami questioned, a frown marring her pretty face.
Naruto looked at his parents in surprise, hurt and betrayal, which felt like a knife to the heart of both his Tou-san and Kaa-san.
"Yes…about that…you see we want to make sure Menma and Akami can control their tenants before you join, we don't want you accidentally getting hurt right." Minato told them with saddens. His Sensei was the one to recommend it, but it didn't make it feel any less wrong.
'Minato, we need to make sure both Menma and Akami are strong and work well together. I know it's hard, but I think we should have Naruto left out of the training at first.' His Sensei stated.
'What but why?" Minato pleaded not wanting to push aside his own child.
'Don't worry, you can get back to him after a year or so once the twins have started getting the hang of the Kyuubi. We need to do this Minato to prevent the prophecy and we don't want either of them hurting Naruto by accident do we. Menma is slower and has confidence problems, he could end up getting jealous when both his Onii and Onee are ahead of him and if Naruto and Akami get closer it could put a bigger strain on their relationship.'
As the conversation he had with his Sensei came to mind and he faced his Musuko's hurt look he reminded himself that it was all for the greater good. 'It's only for a year, we'll get back and make it all up to Naruto once the two are up to speed.' He told himself, but he was still pushing his oldest away even more.
"Don't worry Naru-Chan well get back to you next year when the two get up to speed, I promise and an Uzumaki never goes back on their word." His wife consulted their oldest, with a hug.
Naruto looked up and asked, his voice slightly broken. "It's to make Imouto and Otouto are ok right?" He asked, eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
"Yeah, don't worry, once they're up to speed you can join us again." Minato told him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Then I'll do it, next year I'll catch up and be Hokage before you know it!" Naruto shouted, faking being strong to protect his siblings.
Both his younger siblings gave a small smile. "No way Onii-san by the time you join I'll already be Hokage." Menma boosted still copying his beloved Onii.
"Yeah, you better catch up, training would be boring without our favourite knuckle head to liven things up." Akami joked, causing a moan of protest from her brother.
"Hey!"
Minato and Kushina could only watch, hoping they made the right choice, they were happy Naruto didn't' seem to mind. Or at least as far as they could tell as the boy put on a brave face for his loved ones.
The Next Day October 10th
Naruto watched as his godfather ignored him, handing presents filled with ninja equipment to his siblings.
But it wasn't just him, everyone gave presents to only his Imouto and Otouto, all ninja equipment.
He watched from afar as Menma and Akami opened their presents showing off their new practise kunai and shuriken as well as their training outfits.
He looked at his own presents sat in a corner all on his own, they were few in number, since most of the family, friends and the village seemed to treat his siblings better then him.
But his parents brought a shirt, books and ramen, they were small compared to his siblings piles of presents, but at least he wasn't completely left out.
As his parents brought the birthday cake a lone tear dripped down his cheeks, he didn't like being excluded, he hated it the village ignored him in favour of his siblings treating them like heroes. He knows now why, they kept the monstrous Kyuubi at bay since their birth.
The boy turned and went to his room not being able to stand seeing his siblings celebrating and showing off their new training gear. If being excluded was what he had to do to keep his younger siblings safe, then he would do it gladly after all he was their Onii-san the oldest, it was his duty to look after his beloved Imouto and Otouto, protect them and keeping them from harm.
'After all, we are family and an Uzumaki always stands by their family.' He recited one of the Uzumaki clan's creeds, his Kaa-san made sure him and his siblings knew the importance of family.
He took that to heart and always made sure his siblings were safe and never showed how much he was truly hurt on the inside.
He loved his family more than anything in the world and that would be his greatest undoing.
While the birthday cake was brought out, no one noticed that one of the birthday children wasn't there, they don't notice his absence as Menma and Akami blew out the candles.
Nor did they notice that the part of the cake with that boy's name was the first to be cut and shared, leaving the cake with the icing that spelled out "Happy Birthday Akami, Menma _" The name of the forgotten child was just cut off, forgotten for the first time as the rest of the family celebrated.
Naruto went straight to sleep eager to start the new day. 'Just one year and then we can all celebrate together again.'
Author's Note: There's chapter two hope you like it, now I'm going to explain the triplet's personalities.
Naruto is most like Kushina loud and boastful, but also the most kind and caring of the triplets. As the oldest, he's always looked after his little brother and sister and sees both of them as the most precious thing to him at the moment.
Akami is the middle child and is more like a combination of Minato and Kushina, she is calmer than Naruto, but has outbursts of emotion every so often like Naruto. She is the most reasonable one and thinks before she acts most of the time and has no problems getting along with others. She helps her mother out a lot and is smartest of the three, she cares about both her siblings, but also thinks that her parents are always right.
Menma is like a combination of child Minato and Kushina, he's very shy and quite like Minato was and is usually on his own watching scared to join in when other children are playing. Naruto however, always makes sure he's included in whatever they do and because of this Menma looks up and tries to be more like Naruto and acts like him in the comfort of his home and family. But with other people Menma is very timid and usually won't take the initiative on his own.
I hope you all like them, I really wanted to make the triplets have different personalities, but also have similarities and I made sure that each one has character traits from both Kushina and Minato.
Please review and tell me what you think:)
Naruto and Hinata Forever:)
