This chapter was inspired by the fic Do Over by Kyogre. I don't mean to steal any of their ideas, but I definitely put my own spin on the whole thing.

Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate them.

Enjoy!

XXX

Kushina huffed in minor annoyance as she looked over the city below her. Today was one of the rare days when she found herself more agitated than overjoyed, and she had to admit that she did not like it one bit. She had woken up earlier and found herself in a predicament she couldn't exactly pinpoint, and she had no idea why! By all means, Kushina was a very able kunoichi. There was little she couldn't do, little she couldn't accomplish if she put her mind to it. And after all that, she still couldn't find the source of her less than stellar mood.

She had gotten used to her changing body throughout the months of her pregnancy. She was only two days from giving birth, with her body rounded and her ankles swollen and her back aching and she was tired and she had heartburn and she couldn't eat RAMEN and little Naruto was constantly moving! Before this morning, however, she had never let these things bother her. She was usually so happy that it never even registered to her that she was having all these problems, that she couldn't even get out of bed without Minato or Kakashi's help.

Now, though, she felt all this and more. There was something on the edge of her senses, something she just couldn't put a finger on that was putting her on edge. Even when the Third Hokage had come to their new home with his wife Biwako, told him of the dangers that Lady Mito had gone through giving birth to her three children and the threat that the weakening of the seal might pose, that had not made her as upset as she was now.

It was midday, just turning into the afternoon, and Kushina was currently pacing in her husband's office while he did paperwork, Kakashi sitting in the chair across from the desk that he had pulled up. He had originally offered it to Kushina in her heavily pregnant state, but she had refused, her nerves and unease making her pace in front of the windows and survey the city below.

There were several children playing in the park near the Academy, only a few streets away from the Hokage Tower by the mountain. She had paused earlier to put a hand on her belly and smile down at the little angels playing, there shrieks of laughter putting a brief smile on her face. Her sense of unease had wiped that smile off of her face, though, and she began her pacing once more.

She had decided to come with Minato- who was finalizing the seals that would go into her birthing chamber- to work because she didn't like the idea of leaving his side with something so clearly bothering her. Minato had just smiled and took her hand before using the Hirashin to get them both their quickly, his voice ringing out to Kakashi to meet him at the Tower.

The rest of the day was just as restless. Minato had finished his seals and sent them off to the Third Hokage's home via chunnin, the young woman taking off and jumping from roof to roof with ease. It almost made Kushina jealous, that ease.

She had abdicated to walk home, Minato walking beside her pleasantly. She knew that he knew that she was upset, but he was patient enough to wait until she was ready to tell him. She really loved him for that.

XXX

Dinner had been a quiet affair, with Minato offering to clean up after she insisted that she be the one to cook. She had had smiled and thanked him graciously with a kiss, her limbs already tired from just sitting. Birth couldn't come soon enough. As she sat at the table with Minato cleaning up, she closed her eyes and slipped into the back of her mindscape, the place that she associated with the Nine-Tails.

He was still there, of course. His tails, which had once been staked to the spoke wheel, were resting on their tips on the floor, each one still and graceful. She was still a little wary about letting the stakes out, still cautious, but she had doubled the chains in response, especially after the Lord Third's visit.

She observed him in silence for a long time. With his tails resting like they were and his head held back in a very much euphoric manner that spoke of deep concentration, she almost felt bad about interrupting him. Almost.

"Are you the one that has caused this unsettling feeling?" She demanded loudly.

The Nine-Tails lifted his head and slowly opened his eyes, the far-away look fading from the slit pupils as he stared her down. She refused to fidget under that heavy miasma of a gaze. "Well?" She demanded again.

"I am concentrating, so I suppose it could disturb you however it pleases." He grumbled vaguely. It was not exactly an encouraging response to her question, all things given.

"Concentrating on what?" She demanded once more. She absolutely refused to sound like she was whining, even if she might have been just a tiny little bit.

The fox seemed to give a deep sigh that washed warm, dry air over her, the feeling not entirely unpleasant. "I am utilizing your sensing abilities that you have failed poorly to grasp to locate other members of the Uzumaki Clan." He said patiently. It was like talking to a Naruto that seemed to instill more fear than annoyance, and it was almost more terrifying than Kurama himself. Almost.

"Huh?" Kushina said intelligently. Out of literally every answer that the fox could have given, that was the last one she would have expected. He was probably lying, of course, but she had to admit that she was curious. Wary, but curious.

"I realize that in your current state, you cannot use my power as you normally would. It would harm the fetus, and I would never hear the end of it from you. I'm forced onto this wheel, and it's nothing if not endlessly boring. I decided that, since you honored my request and I get my tails free," There was a certain amount of smugness and overwhelming pride in his voice, the tails swaying slightly back and forth happily. "I would help you in another way. You did not at all develop your sensing ability, even though it is particular to your clan, so I simply tapped into it and have amplified it with my own internal nature chakra. I've found quite a few of them, too."

Kushina looked at him in disbelief, her mouth slightly ajar as she stared first at the tails that seemed to be still swaying to the ninth tail that was… writing in a scroll, the tip glowing with black chakra as it swirled on the thick paper and left symbols and words in its wake. Never in her whole life did she, Kushina Uzumaki – Namekaze, think that she would ever see the tenet that was forced into her do something that could be considered kind. If there was anything that this could be, it was that, and that was exactly why she was wary, if not entirely disbelieving.

"Why would you do such a thing," She asked with a chilly glare, her voice stern. "If it did not outright benefit you?"

With yet another sigh, the Nine-Tails looked at her with a commiserating stare. "I can respect power," he said grudgingly. "And the Uzumaki Clan is nothing if not powerful. I thought that it would be a peace offering, another extension of the olive branch."

For his part, Kurama had done everything in his power to make it seem like he was only grudgingly giving away this information, and he was for the most part, but he could only imagine how much happier the little blond baby inside this woman's womb would be with such a large family. Admittedly, he isn't all that fond of the Uzumaki Clan, but they are strong, or were rather, that much he is certain about.

Kushina huffed, nearly unconvinced. However, there was a small part of her that was considering it, and that was all that Kurama needed. Just that little bit of self-skepticism, and he knew he could pull off exactly what he needed to. Now, he just had to wait for the little squirt to be born.

XXX

Lady Biwako looked disapprovingly at the pregnant Uzumaki over her shoulder. Kushina really should be keeping up.

Kushina, for her part, was looking at the absolutely adorable tiny Uchiha that was in Mikoto's arms.

"Is this little Sasuke then?" Kushina asked happily. Mikoto nodded and giggled, her eyes on Kushina's quite rounded abdomen.

"Why yes it very much is. And it's good to see you again, Kushina. You look close to popping!" Mikoto exclaimed. She was just glad to see her best friend again. It was always a pain to get out and about once the pregnancy went on for so long, so she perfectly understood the red-head's recent absence.

Kushina suddenly leaned in real close, her face drawn in an uncharacteristic frown. "Does it really hurt as much as they say it does, ya know?" She asked quickly. If Mikoto didn't know any better, she would have said that Kushina was scared, but that could have just been her imagination. She let another giggle out, this one much louder, her hand covering her mouth. However, before she could reply, Lady Biwako came and grabbed Kushina's arm, dragging her off to Kami-knows-where.

With a sigh, Kushina followed along. It wasn't long before they were in the retrofitted birthing chamber, the walls covered in all manner of seals. Minato was there, smiling and waiting for her. On the walk there, Kushina's water had broken, and her contractions were starting in earnest. It was terribly, horribly painful, like a bowel movement stuck in her lower GI. She knew that she screamed and cursed before she had even laid down, and Minato had gone a little more pale than normal. Kushina vaguely heard Lady Biwako say something about women's strength and men not handling birth, and she firmly agreed. She had been stabbed, burnt, electrocuted, poisoned, tackled and hogtied, and yet there was not a single bit of pain she remembered as excruciating as this.

With Lady Biwako's encouragement, Kushina bore down and pushed. Her chest heaved with each breath, her chest feeling too tight and too compressed and too small to draw in just enough air to breath as she screamed and cried and pushed. She had thought birth would be beautiful, but she was wrong; birth was horrifying.

Then she gave a push, and she felt slick, slimy stuff slide against her thighs. A heartbeat later, and there was a small cry that rang out in the cave-like room. Kushina started to cry in earnest, her tears streaking down her face as she heard the cry of her baby. As the next contraction hit, she felt the child slide out of her fully, the little legs kicking against her inner thighs. That cry was truly beautiful.

"Congratulations on your daughter," Lady Biwako said in her harsh sort of voice. The child was wrapped in the orange blanket Kushina had picked out, her eyes watering at that scrunched up, crying baby face.

A daughter. She had a daughter. While she had been told at one of her checkups that it would be a boy, she couldn't really be upset. She had a little girl who was so absolutely beautiful. Her hair was a deep red, one that matched the shade of her own. Her face had three marks on each side of her cheeks, the lines like little whiskers. She tried to reach for the child, covered in muck and gore and material from the placenta, but Lady Biwako carried her away to get her cleaned up.

"Naruto, our daughter," Minato said dazedly from beside her. She looked up at him, and there was such love, such devotion shining down at her. She couldn't agree more. She loved Minato more than ever now, and she wanted desperately to hold her daughter.

A faint scream that was quickly cut off behind them was the only warning they got before the stillness in the room became pronounced. In the doorway stood a man with an orange swirled mask in black robes, one arm cradled around her daughter while the other held a kunai in the general vicinity of her throat. Naruto's crying had grown exponentially, her face scrunched up in distress.

Immediately after the man made some threat, Minato took off and grabbed their daughter out of his hands. With another blindingly quick move, Minato pulled the blanket off of Naruto's body and threw it before it exploded. He was thrown back, his reflexes slowed with Naruto's safety at the forefront of his mind. With another flash Minato disappeared completely, leaving Kushina alone with the madman who had already killed Lady Biwako and the assisting nurse, as well as tried to murder her daughter. If she weren't so thoroughly exhausted, she would have tried to challenge him, but she was absolutely drained.

She didn't even get a breath to scream as he jumped on top of her and grabbed both of her arms, both of their bodies disappearing in a swirl of color and motion. The two of them ended up in the clearing just outside of the cave she had just given birth in when they came out of the disorienting swirling motion. She was held up with chains, real chains, between two trees, her arms stretching painfully to each side of her body when her mind came back to her more fully.

"The Nine-Tails is mine now," he had said, almost sorrowfully. She had been scared then, because she didn't know if her daughter was okay, she didn't know if she was going to die, and she didn't know what was going to happen to her village. Hopefully Minato would be back soon. Pointlessly, she felt sheepish. Never before had she felt so entirely defenseless, so useless. Even when she had been captured by Cloud nin she had never felt quite so low.

As soon as the masked man raised his hand, she felt a burning, tugging sensation in her gut, different to the sensation of birth that had just ripped through her. It was more like a fire poker was being pressed into her, but from the inside out. It was not worse than birth in the fact that her whole body had rebelled when shoving a human being out of it. This was worse because it made her scream, made her entire being light up with horrid, horrid fire. She vaguely felt a stirring inside of her before her mind went dark and she saw no more.

XXX

Kurama had been waiting for this moment. Waiting, and anticipating just what to do. As soon as he felt the seal break, he shoved as much chakra as would fit into Kushina's relatively low- low for her- reserves. He poured as much of his own chakra- the happy, pure chakra- into her to make sure her body would heal after he was gone, because he was nothing if not honest. He didn't want her to die, and he had said he would give her his power when she came of need of it.

After two lifetimes spent as someone's prisoner, Kurama finally tasted freedom. It was only for a moment, and then that detested Sharingan took over his whole vision, and there was a sense of false rage and false peace roiling through him and clashing together that he had not noticed the last time, when he was still wrapped in his own hatred and rage, wanting the souls of the dead in his maw.

He immediately channeled his chakra into himself, distorting it to break the control. It was hard, but he managed to do just so. Just as the masked man- Obito, he remembered again- raised his arms to place a seal on him himself, he let himself really feel the world again. It was a wonderful world, a breath of fresh air that was so clean and wonderful that he almost didn't want to go back into Naruto, didn't want to be put into someone who was different from his Naruto, but there was nothing he could do now. It was a wild thought, one that took root in his mind because of the vast difference that this Naruto implied in this past-that-was-also-now-his-present and the Naruto he knew and loved. It was a fantasy, one that could hold him in a daze for another few centuries if he really wanted it to, if he let it.

However, he made it his goal then and there that he would guide this Naruto, mold her into the one that had been, and just make the world a happier place with them in it, together until the day she died (Kurama was going to make sure that it was a long, long time from now). He would do what he could to be friendly to her, to make her see him as a being with thoughts just like herself, and that everyone could be a truly good person, and that no one was a tool, a weapon or an object to use for another person's gain.

In the millisecond of confusion that seemed to take hold in Obito, Kurama jumped forward and bit down. The satisfying crunch of bones breaking and tendons snapping under his teeth rang through his skull. He felt a sort of vindictive pleasure taking this life; if there was one human on this earth that deserved his hate, it was Madara, and since Madara was dead, his brainwashed puppet would have to do.

The head of that Uchiha bastard popped onto his back molars. With another crunch, he cracked the jaw completely in half. After swallowing the disgusting body part, he reached with his claws and tore up the rest of the body. As soon as he came into contact with Hashirama's cells, a very large and old oak tree sprang up in its place, the roots digging into the earth in a manner not unlike the Shadow Jutsu famous to the Nara Clan. What was left of Obito's real body was promptly swallowed down along with the head.

Because he knew that Minato would be back for Kushina, who was firmly alive, Kurama jumped once, twice, three times and found himself in the old training ground that he had been transported by Minato to last time he had been sealed on this day. He sat back on his haunches, glad to be free of the horrible chains that Kushina was so well known for. After all of thirty seconds he curled up and closed his eyes, though he most definitely didn't fall asleep. Such a thing would be foolish, what with being in a village that fears him as they do.

It took all of about fifteen minutes before both the Third and Fourth Hokage appeared, as well as several squads of elite jounin. Kurama opened one great eye and searched out that familiar blond hair. A strong pang of sorrow shot through Kurama at how much he was going to miss that blond hair, though hopefully this Naruto would at least have that same shade of blue eyes.

"Fourth Hokage," Kurama said quietly. It was not a roar, like he wanted, but rather a whisper of his normal voice. "I see you have met the enemies I spoke of." He was casual about the whole thing, as if he had not a care in the world. The Third Hokage looked from Kurama to Minato, a silent question as to what he referred to.

In a rather quick and justified-to-be-confused way Minato explained his brief talk with Kurama while he had been in Kushina's seal, the situation a little bizarre for even his tastes. This was undoubtedly the original Naruto's progenitor. As he finished his little talk, Kurama sat up to his full height rather slowly and stretched, his back curving and his tails wriggling behind him not unlike a cat. With a great breath that he didn't need, he gagged up the parts of Obito's body that had been Obito's.

"I think you'll find that this is the same masked man who attacked your kit. However, this is not the last, and I would kindly ask that you keep to my terms." Here, he brought his head down and looked at Minato with one great eye, looking the man up and down.

"If you try to seal me back into Kushina after giving birth and having me taken out, I think you will find that her body will collapse on itself and she will die rather painfully. Since I need someone living, how about that progeny of hers that she just spit out?" He seemed to look down at him again and rolled both of his large eyes. "She has that accursed Uzumaki blood, after all. Besides, had it not been for my quick thinking, Kushina would have died. And don't even think of that Reaper Death Seal!" He added the last part as an afterthought, because he knew of it still and he didn't want a tearful little girl mourning the father she never knew. What a headache.

Minato paled again slightly, aghast at the great beast before him. As he had heard it from Kushina more than once, the Nine-Tails was supposed to be insufferable, and he had been until Kushina had gotten pregnant. It was rather curious, but again, he should fear any enemy that made even the fox demon afraid.

"Why do you insist on my child?" He asked skeptically after another moment of thought.

The blond Kage stared at the giant beast before him and was taken aback when the fox put his nose up and grumbled. After raising yet another eyebrow at the situation concerning the fox, the Nine-Tails relented.

"I have a direct line to Kushina's emotions, one that is much stronger than that of Mito. If it's because she was a child, I do not know, but I felt her… affections," Here, Kurama tried to use a bland tone that he didn't quite achieve. He voice still held a tinge of that same affection, the love and kindness and joy that he had gained from his and Naruto's partnership. "And I cannot say that I hate the child. I am amenable to that human because I do not mind her as much as I would some other weakling fool. As I said to Kushina, I respect power, and none of these weak humans can really compare to an Uzumaki. If I am to find my protection here from my enemies, I will only allow the strongest to even think they can gain any respect from me."

Minato was silent as he went through each option in his head, finally settling on a decision in under a minute. Kurama had sat patiently, his eyes focused solely on the blond. The other shinobi that were present had largely been calm, though they stood at a moment's attention if the situation required it. Hiruzen, for all his worth as a Kage, had noticed the dead body at Kurama's feet and was staring at it curiously. He didn't dare break the conversation between the great demon beast and the Fourth Hokage, as they seemed to be at an understanding vital to the future of the village, but he was also worried of a trap set by the clever beast.

"I will be back. If you mean what you say, please stay where you are." It was another olive branch, a test to see if he meant what he said.

Kurama had no problem staying still as the blond suicidal genius used his Hirashin to disappear. He was likely taking himself to the safe house that held the new Naruto that he would soon be sealed into. Of course, he fully expected that Kushina would accompany the man. There was little doubt in his mind that that insane read-head would allow her daughter anywhere near him without her direct supervision.

They were back in less than five minutes, Kushina's dress back in place and Naruto in a diaper and a blanket, this one a knitted baby blue that was likely a gift from one of the few who even knew of Kushina's pregnancy.

After summoning the same bed that Naruto had been in last time- that Kurama had nearly killed Naruto in last time- and the now red-headed female Naruto was placed in, Kushina summoned her chains and held Kurama in place. He was resigned to this bit of restraint, this small modicum of peace of mind that allowed the humans to feel more at ease with the situation, less like it was out of their hands. Kurama managed to keep his threatening growl locked deep inside of him, the expectation of seeing baby Naruto's mind and settling himself to a lifetime of new friendship making him nearly… he was loathed to admit it, but giddy. The idea made him giddy.

With Kushina's chains holding him down and her direction guiding his hand, Minato painted a few seals on a piece of paper and let it sink to the ground. The paper fluttered in the wind before it touched, but then an explosion of sound and sight and color brushed over everyone on the training ground. The spectators had dissipated under the order of the Third Hokage, leaving only a select few to make sure nothing went truly wrong. While the seal had been floating, Minato had drawn another seal on his palm, and when the first seal exploded, the two connected in a blinding light of blue chakra.

For a second, it was like time was still with the amount of power that had been packed into the seal in such a hurry. But then time came back to the present and that blue chakra seemed to reach out to Kurama and grab hold of him, the energy passing to him unexpectedly. It branched off as soon as it touched him, the next strand finding Naruto in her small stone bed.

Just before the pull started, Kurama looked down at the Fourth Hokage. "Hokage," Kurama said loudly. "With my powers, I have seen a great danger besides those enemies that hunt for me. A man named Danzo, he and his poisoned Roots have corrupted more than meets the eye and they are not to be trusted. Make friends with the outcasts of the village, and they shall be your greatest ally. And the man of the snakes is on a precipice, kindness will pull while crudeness and caution will push."

The current Hokage looked up at him in confusion, his eyebrows knit together, but there was no way to ask Kurama what he meant, as the largest and most powerful of the Tailed Beasts seemed to disappear in a cloud of thick, heavy smoke.

Just as the great Nine-Tailed Fox disappeared, there next appeared an odd seal on the abdomen of the small newborn child. Kushina's chains retracted back into her body, the elite jounin at the edge of the field seemed to retracted back into the shadows, and Minato hurried to the side of his family.

Kushina observed the seal that now bore its home on her daughter's stomach. It was like a series of triangles that connected within an arc of circles, the entire piece centered around the portion of the umbilical cord that would not scar over and die for another week. It was complex and beautiful, the key of its complexity lying in just how simple it was. There was no doubt in her mind that the Nine-Tails was strong, but this should be just as strong. It wasn't like her seal had been, but it was still strong.

Picking up her daughter, she looked to Minato. She was exhausted beyond belief, her entire body throbbing from exertion. Minato took one look at her, and he picked her up, careful not to jostle Naruto still clutched tightly in her arms. With another Hirashin flash, the two disappeared from the training ground and found themselves in the ever-busy Konoha hospital.

The medic nins were used to ninja appearing with the body flicker in the middle of their hospital, so having another just appear was no big deal. However, as soon as one took the time to notice just who it was that had flashed their way into the trauma bay, they immediately sprang into action.

Kushina and Naruto were both taken from him and cared for, while he himself was escorted to the hall where they were working on his wife so he could look at the window, the blinds drawn as they did their work. It took time- he was expecting it to- but he was more than immensely relieved when the medic nins all stopped going in and out a nurse came up to him not much later, the news of his wife's health making him nearly weep with happiness.

He sat by her bed as he slept, the exhaustion he felt in himself clear on the lines of her face. The silence gave him time to think of the beasts last words before the seal sucked him into his daughter, the gravity of the sentences finally sinking in, if only a little.

A man named Danzo, he and his poisoned Roots have corrupted more than meets the eye and they are not to be trusted. Make friends with the outcasts of the village, and they shall be your greatest ally. And the man of the snakes is on a precipice, kindness will pull while crudeness and caution will push.

Danzo was not someone that Minato knew well. He was one of Lord Hiruzen's old teammates and one of his advisors. While Minato was polite to him in a diplomatic sense, he had no fondness whatsoever for the man. Evil seemed to roll off of him in waves. His poisoned Roots could be no other than the ex-Root program that was supposed to have been disbanded, but was apparently still going on behind his back.

Minato had to admit that the Nine-Tails could have been lying. He could have very well been trying to make him paranoid, but he didn't know why. There was no sense to give him advice, especially the last two points, the man of the snakes and the outcasts of the village. Minato was certain that the former was Orochimaru, there was no doubt in his mind, but the village outcasts were a little more puzzling.

Who is seen as the outcasts he had to wonder. He thought about it all night, well after the sun had risen on the horizon. He still didn't have an answer when Kushina woke up, nor when their daughter was brought to them. When Naruto was laid into his arms by a rather bemused Kushina, he put all thought of it out of his mind.

His little girl was absolutely gorgeous. He knew he was biased because he was her father, but she was just a thing to behold. Besides the seal on her, there was nothing wrong with her. She was a healthy, happy little newborn. Minato knew, without a doubt, that she would be a strong konoichi one day. He also knew that he probably wouldn't deny her anything. She was his sweetheart, right alongside his wife. His family was more important to him now than ever.

XXX

After the second night, Kushina was going stir crazy. However, because she had just had a Tailed-Beast removed forcefully from her person, Minato was more than adamant that she stayed there. The only silver lining was that she was constantly holding and taking care of Naruto with her time.

Minato had been pulled away not long after they got to sit together, their time hindered by his position. He was called away by an ANBU member with a message from the Third Hokage telling him to meet him in his office.

Minato was there in a flash, his body tense. Lord Hiruzen wordlessly handed him a scroll that had already been opened, and as he read it, he understood the urgency.

Autopsy Results

Identity: Obito Uchiha

Age: 19

Cause of Death: Decapitation

Weapon: Large serrated blade, much like the teeth of shark. Possibly an unknown wild animal, most likely connected or directly brought about as a result of the recent attack of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox

Notes: The body was disemboweled by razor sharp teeth, with only the left half being present. It is unknown what happened to the right side. Clumps of cells present that register as Hashirama Senju's direct DNA, but there are distorted molecules also present within the DNA itself. Only one eye was originally the deceased, while the other is registered to Kakashi Hatake. Large internal damage pre-mortem with heavy scarring.

Further Action Required: The release of the body to the deceased's family will need to be authorized by the present Hokage.

Minato sat down at his desk, his ears ringing and the world just a little off-kilter. Obito was the one that attacked. There was no way though. He had died on that bridge, on Kannabi Bridge. But you didn't see the body a voice whispered to him in the back of his head. He hadn't seen the body, but he had seen the destruction. There was no way, just no way.

He realized that this must have been the 'enemy' that the Nine-Tails had spoken of. This was who he feared. Who else, he wondered.

And then a thought struck him. Make friends with the outcasts of the village, and they shall be your greatest ally. There truly was no one that had more of an outcast position in this village than the Uchiha Clan. As the sole participant of the Konoha Police Force, they garnered little sympathy. He knew there was some bad blood between the proud clan and some of the other equally prestigious clans, but surely that wasn't what the great fox had meant. But, then again….

He sat for a long time in silence, unnoticing when Hiruzen drew himself a chair and sat across from the younger Hokage. After a good long argument with himself, he brought the issue up to the elder in front of him.

"Lord Hiruzen, do you remember the final words the Nine-Tails told me, before he was sealed into my daughter?" He asked quietly.

The older Hokage looked at him thoughtfully. "It was a warning, was it not?" He countered back. In all honesty, he did not remember the words verbatim, but he knew that they had rung with a sort of rush, an urgency that was meant to help, not hurt.

"Yes," Minato said softly. "A sentence of it said to make friends with the outcasts of the village, and they shall be your greatest all, and I've thought about it quite a bit. The only outcasts I can think of are the members of the Uchiha Clan, which would fit. They are not particularly well-liked, nor do they like the apparent snub of the Second Hokage when he disregarded them. I believe, in all fairness, that we should take his advice, though perhaps with a grain of salt."

Lord Hiruzen nodded firmly, his mind tossing around the information and going to great lengths to strategize. There would be time, and later on there were friends to be had.

"Now," Minato said softly once more. "Please, tell me what you know of Danzo and Orochimaru's doings in the village, Lord Hiruzen. I very much doubt that you have told me as much as I need to know and as much as you know."