She sat alone in the nursery breast feeding her son. Naruto was very hungry. Kushina looked down at his tiny little face. With his crop of blond hair and blue eyes he was Minato's living image, his living legacy. Only those scars on his cheeks hinted he was anything other than an ordinary baby. The seal her husband had placed on his stomach was invisible now. It would only appear again when he was old enough to use chakra. In every visible way he was just a baby.

She wondered how Fugaku and the others could not see that. The way they had demanded her son's death still shocked and horrified her. She was simply grateful for the support of Sarutobi, Tsunade, and Hiashi. With their help she had been recognized as Minato's widow and as head of the Namikaze clan, with access to its wealth and place on the Council. They had also succeeded in squashing any more talk of killing her son or turning him into a living weapon.

"No one is going to hurt you my little Naru-chan," she whispered to her baby. "As long as I'm alive I'll protect you and make sure you are happy, no matter what."

She understood that after the tragedy the village had suffered feelings were running high. The Council was made up of the most respected and well educated men and women in Konoha. If they were screaming for blood she didn't want to think of what the masses were saying. People were scared and angry and wanted to take out those feelings on someone. They wanted a victim and for them her son was an obvious choice. Never mind the fact he was the son of the man they all loved, the man who was the village's savior. Somehow that didn't seem to matter at all.

Hopefully the anger will die down with time and things can get back to normal.

XXXXXXXXXX

A crowd of about a thousand villagers were coming down the street. They carried torches and bats and broken bottles. A few had poles with dead foxes tied at the other end. They were all shouting about revenge and about killing the demon. They were filled with anger and they were determined that the thing they all feared would be killed once and for all.

As they came to the Namikaze gate they saw two women standing there waiting for them. One was a dark haired girl who appeared a little nervous. The other was a slightly older woman with blonde hair tied in two long pony tails.

"Just what the hell do you people think you are doing?!" Tsunade snapped as they approached.

"Get out of the way!"

"We want the demon!"

"He has to die!"

The crowd pressed on obviously expecting the two of them to stand aside.

Tsunade lifted her foot and slammed it down making the ground shake and tearing open the street right in front of the gate. People cried out as they were all knocked off their feet and about twenty shouted in real fear as they fell down into the new pit in the ground.

"You listen up!" Tsunade screamed and let them get a full dose of her killer intent. "If any of you so much as lays one finger on my godson I'll break you in half! That baby has nothing to do with what happened and is Minato's own son! How can you want to hurt him?!"

"He's a monster!" Someone shouted.

"He's a baby you ass! He can't even crawl and you think he's some threat?"

"Why are you protecting him?" A you girl no older than thirteen cried out. "He killed my father!"

"No, the Kyuubi did that," Tsunade said. "I am sorry for your loss, I truly, truly am. I know what it's like to lose people dear to you because they fought to protect the village. But Naruto did not kill your father the Kyuubi did that. Naruto is the living prison that holds the Kyuubi. And a jailer is not the same as the prisoner he guards."

"We don't care!" One man howled. "Give us the Kyuubi or we'll kill you instead!"

The crowd screamed its agreement.

Tsunade grinned. Making a fist she brought down onto the concrete sidewalk. The people watched as it was reduced to instant debris. "If you cowardly fools think you can kill me come on and try! While the real Kyuubi was attacking all of you were hiding in the shelters while Minato and the ninja of this village fought to save you. But when you're up against a baby then you find your courage! Get out of here before I lose my patience! I don't have much so you had better go now!"

"You're one of the Sannin!" A man hidden within the crowd shouted. "How can you protect that monster?"

"The only monsters around here are you people. Anyone who wants to kill a helpless new born is a monster as far as I'm concerned. Now get out! I won't tell you again."

The crowd glowered and cursed her, but did not have the nerve to come even one step closer to her. Slowly they began to leave.

"I can't believe the people are so angry," Shizune said.

"Well fear is an excellent soil to grow anger in. They're afraid and this is the result," Tsunade said. "I just hope it doesn't last long."

XXXXXXXXXX

On the other side of the estate four men quickly scaled the eight foot high iron fence. All of them were armed with daggers. Together they ran into the woods that covered the perimeter of the entire estate. They barely got under cover before they heard dogs barking. Out of the darkness a pack of dogs rushed at them snarling and barking. Taken off guard all the men shouted. Two tried to defend themselves while two tried to get back to the fence. All of them were brought down and pinned by the dogs.

"You men are all under arrest for trespassing onto clan property with intent to do harm." An ANBU with a dog mask and crazy silver hair appeared among them.

"Wait!" One of the men called desperately. "We're just trying to protect the village by killing the damn demon! Help us!"

The ANBU turned to him and shook ever so slightly. "You really want to shut up now. That, 'demon' is the only son of my beloved sensei. If you say one more word I'll cut your throat right here and now."

The man paled and very wisely remained silent.

XXXXXXXXXX

The following morning Tsunade, Shizune, Rin, and Kakashi met Kushina and Naruto. The first four of them had been up all night protecting the estate while mother and son got some much needed sleep.

Though very tired Tsunade was checking on Kushina's condition while Rin was looking at Naruto.

XXXXXXXXXX

"You really ought to be back at the hospital you know," Tsunade muttered.

"We've been over that," Kushina answered. "I can better protect my son here, so this is where I'll stay."

"You're not in condition to protect anyone right now," Tsunade told her. "You body is still recovering from the trauma of the birth. You very nearly died you know."

Kushina nodded and grinned. "I'm just lucky I had the world's top medic nin to pull me through and get me better."

"Don't take this lightly!"

"I'm not Tsunade, I'm not," Kushina said in a more somber tone. "But with the way things are I can't take it easy. How long before I've recovered?"

"Probably two months or so until you're fully recovered."

"Let me rephrase the question, how long until I can use jutsus and fight with my sword?"

Tsunade frowned at her. "Maybe a week, but if you push hard you'll be in pain."

"I can handle pain," Kushina said. The pain in my body at least.

XXXXXXXXXX

"What a cutie you are! Yes you are! Yes you are!" Rin spoke in a high pitched baby voice as she cradled Naruto in her arms.

Kakashi was looking down over her shoulder. "He really does look like sensei's son."

"He sure does," Rin said. "You want to hold him?"

"No, no I better not! I'd be afraid I'd drop him."

Rin turned around and held Naruto out to him. "Oh you're not going to drop him. Here."

"No! That's really o.k." He began to back away from her.

"Come on take him!" Rin insisted and stepped forward.

"I don't want to!"

"Why not?"

"I told you I might drop him." He continued backing up and Rin kept coming forward with the baby.

"You're not going to drop him now here take him." Finally Kakashi's back thumped against a wall and Rin had him cornered. She carefully put him in Kakashi's arms. "Just support his head; there see you're a natural!"

To his own surprise he was holding little Naruto and he was still in one piece. "Heh, I guess I am."

Rin stood next to him and smiled happily. "You're going to be a wonderful father when we have our own."

"What?!"

With Kakashi's shout Naruto began to cry.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course, I want to honor not just Minato but all the brave ninja who gave their lives." She Tsunade, Shizune, Rin and Kakashi all had mourning clothes on. "Naruto will be safe enough with the Hyuuga clan while we're at the service."

"It's not Naruto I'm worried about right now," Tsunade said quietly. "The villagers are scared and angry. They are not in a forgiving mood right now. If they see you there things might get ugly."

Kushina turned to her friend and spoke with a firm unyielding voice. "I will burn in hell before I will let a bunch of ignorant villager keep me from honoring my husband and the other fallen heroes."

Tsunade shut her eyes in exasperation. "I swear sometimes I think you like making things hard for yourself."

Kushina shrugged. "I was raised an Uzumaki. We're not the sort to worry about how hard something might be."

Kaede entered the room. She too was in mourning clothes and would attend the memorial. "Kushina-sama, we have a visitor."

"Kaede please stop calling me that."

"You are now head of the Namikaze, and all who live in this house serve Namikaze. As such that is the only appropriate manner in which to address you Kushina-sama."

Kushina sighed. "Who is it? Have Hiashi and Hannah come to walk with us?"

"No," Kaede said simply. It is Jiraiya."

XXXXXXXXXX

Jiraiya was sprawled out on a couch and seemed completely worn out. "I was in Grass when I heard. I got back here as fast as I could."

Kushina nodded in sympathy. If he had been here… well things would have played out the same she was sure. He would have done what he could, that she didn't doubt. "Thank you for coming here as quickly as you could. At least you made it in time for the memorial; I know that would please him."

Tsunade nodded and for once held back her sharp tongue. "It's good that you're here now."

"I heard what happened on the way here, so… Minato is really gone?" he looked at their faces with a desperate plea. Until he heard it from them he still had the tiniest hope that everything he'd heard was somehow wrong. But Kushina, Tsunade, and Kakashi all nodded their heads. Jiraiya's last bit of hope died. "Oh Minato," he said mournfully.

Kushina reached out and gently took his hand. "Come on, let's go and say good bye to him."

"What about Naruto? Is he all right?"

"He's fine," Kushina answered. "Despite what the village and Council might like."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that most of the people in this village are a bunch of damn fools who can't tell the difference between an infant and a 2,000 ton demon!" Tsunade said. She quickly related some of the recent events.

"I don't believe it!" Jiraiya said. "He's Minato's son!"

"People don't seem to care much about that, except for who you see here, Sarutobi, the Hyuuga and a few others." Kushina said.

"Well you can count on me; I'll do whatever I can to help my little godson."

"I'm glad to hear that," Kushina said. "I actually have a problem you might be able to help me with."

"What?"

She gently took his hands and carefully helped him to his feet. "I'll tell you about it after the service, now we have to go or we'll be late."