Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 1: The Serpent and the Beast
The village was in ruins. Fires raged and smoke filled what had once been a cloudless, moonlit night. Cries of pain and screams of rage created a cacophony that pierced the mind and shook the heart. But none of that compared to the bestial roar that drowned out all else.
And yet that roar brought not terror, as it once had, but rather a sense of triumph to the village's survivors. For that roar heralded victory. It was the roar of a monster meeting its doom. It was a roar of loss and pain. But to the villagers it meant life.
What they did not at the time realize was that the roar also meant death. For it was not within the beast to go silently into the night. It demanded that even in victory a price must be paid.
The price paid that night was the life and soul of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato. The beloved leader of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. And yet, for the beast, that was not enough. In its death throes, it also claimed the life of the Hokage's secret wife, Uzumaki Kushina.
The final moments of the great beast were both horrifying and amazing. And yet, only four individuals were present to witness its end. Two were a young couple of amazing power who would soon be dead. One was a newborn infant who would remember nothing. The last was a small white serpent with an unusual spark of intelligence in its eyes.
The serpent witnessed the beast's end and how the Hokage utilized an intricate seal matrix to split the beast in two. It watched in fascination as half was sealed into the dying Hokage, and the other half into his newborn son.
As the Hokage and his wife breathed their last and the newborn breathed his first as a jinchūriki, the snake decided to take action. It only had moments before the ANBU arrived, but these moments were ones of precious opportunity.
Swiftly, it slithered up to the cooling bodies, and, unhinging its jaw, consumed them both. While this might seem impossible given that the snake was smaller than each of the bodies, the truth was far different. For inside of this serpent, was a pocket dimension. Its belly was actually capable of storing many things for a period of time. Of course, this would be untenable for long term storage, as that would lead to illness. However, for a short period of time, this was a very useful ability.
After consuming the two adults, it quickly moved to the babe and did the same. Its mission accomplished, the snake quickly fled the scene and disappeared into the surrounding woods.
Not a moment later, a squad of ANBU, along with the retired Third Hokage, descended into the clearing. Confusion was paramount as they set about attempting to figure out what happened.
And, as the ANBU floundered about in confusion, and a snake slithered along with smug satisfaction, a babe curled into its dead mother's arms and cried silently.
The date was October 10, 736 Shinobu no Toshi (S.T.), and this incident set in motion a series of events which would forever change the Elemental Nations.
A/N: Yes, I did just create a dating system for the Naruto Universe. Narutoverse didn't have one, so I figured why not? To give perspective, I am dating 0 S.T. as the year Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo defeated Ōtsutsuki Kaguya. "Shinobu no Toshi" means "Year of the Shinobu" with Shinobu meaning stealth/endure, or recall/remember and is the dictionary form of shinobi. Considering Hagoromo kicked off the era of chakra and ninjas, I felt this was appropriate. Of course, my understanding of Japanese is limited so feel free to point out any errors I may have made. On a side note, I will be using the Japanese style of using family name first and given name second when referring to people. Considering Narutoverse practices a Japanese like culture, I felt this was appropriate. And, if you are wondering why Kushina and Minato did not share a family name, it is because their marriage was done in secret, so they kept their own family names.