October 10, 6 Years before the purge of the Kaguya clan, 8 years before the Uchiha Massacre.
A piercing scream filled the air, followed by more and more shrieks and shouts.
The people of Konoha could only watch in shock as the great demon fox, the beast of nightmares, the most powerful of the 9 tailed beasts, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, 9-tailed fox, smashed through the thick walls of their village.
"Rally the anbu!" A powerful voice roared, "secure the citizens, distract the beast!" The villagers turned, joy and relief evident on their faces as they heard the voice of their third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Their living legend, the God of Shinobi, gritted his teeth and summoned his ally, Enma. He turned to his personal Anbu. "Cover me while I distract the beast." They nodded, jumping after their leader.
Kurama, the 9-tails, struggled against the control he was put under. He hated humans, he just wanted to be left alone. When humans first discovered him, they feared and hated him, they attacked his siblings and him on sight, and when it was discovered that they could be sealed in people, people began to hunt for them.
Kurama at first loved humanity, his father and creator, Hagaromo asked him to protect his siblings and guide humanity, but every time he tried one, the other would be hurt. The same humans who he gave lessons to would go on to have children who would use their own techniques to attempt to kill him, his siblings would grow to become fearful of humans, and hateful of him, and hate began to fester in his heart, hate so great that he ran from it. He ran to the corner of the continent and was content to sleep, sleep forever if it meant he no longer had to bother himself with lying humans or his fearful brethren.
Even now, despite being trapped in humans for so long, he would rather destroy his shackles and flee. But the accursed eyes, the eyes that ruined his life in the beginning, the eye of Hagaromo's cursed child, that passed down his vile lineage until it led to that hated man, Madara, those same cursed eyes forced him to fight and kill and destroy. Men, women, children, cut apart without remorse. He cared little for their lives, but if given the choice, he would have left. He flared his chakra, he was disoriented from being removed from Kushina, but he was still the 9-tails, he was still the king. A blast of fire struck his face, exploding out with pain. His concentration broke and his attempt to break the genjutsu failed. He turned in disbelief and looked into the hate-filled eyes of the Third Hokage.
Kurama could feel the negative emotions of others, he could feel what they felt, the deeper the hatred, the more clear it was. 'You fool, you bastard, I didn't kill your wife, it was that damn Uchiha, and now, I… I can't break out…' The Kyuubi roared, preparing a bijuu-dama, a tailed beast bomb. If he couldn't be free, then he would annihilate the entire village, it was an Uchiha from this village who caused this mess, and an Uchiha who was creating this current mess, those damn eyes cost him his free will, and the first Hokage cost him his freedom. He could only feel hatred emanate from his body at greater levels when his attack disappeared in a flash of yellow light. 'You stand in my way… Fourth?' He roared as his mind was covered once more in a red haze.
"We have to stop him…" Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konohagakure and the husband of the former Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, grit his teeth as he began to formulate a plan.
"Fourth!"
Minato turned to the voice, relief in his eyes when he saw his predecessor, Hiruzen, standing before him. "Lord Hiruzen, I'm glad you're here, did you rally the shinobi?"
"Yes, I've also called for the various clan to respond, we will have some backup in the form of clan shinobi in minutes."
"Good…" Minato smiled.
Hiruzen finally heard crying over the roars of the Kyuubi and turned, he looked to see a small, cloth-wrapped bundle around Minato's arms. "That's…"
"It's Naruto." Minato said calmly, "my son, my wife bore our beautiful baby," Grief flashed across his normally calm and collected face. "Please buy me a few minutes, I need to check and see if she's alright."
Hiruzen had already witnessed the aftermath of that den, his wife, and all the others who were there to assist in Kushina's birthing labor were dead, and Kushina was nowhere to be seen. "Minato…" But he couldn't tell the man he regarded like another son that there was little hope.
"...There…" Minato's face was warped and frog-like, his nose bulbose and his eyes slightly wide and bug-eyed, the most notable change however were the markings around the eyes, the few warts, and the shape of his pupils, which were now flat black dashes as opposed to his normal blue.
"Sage mode?" Hiruzen began, he knew it was a technique Jiraiya inherited from the toads, but he was surprised that Minato knew such a technique as well.
"I don't normally like using it, as I've not even mastered it as much as Jiraya could." Minato admitted, "but it…" he widened his eyes and disappeared from Hiruzen's view.
Minato appeared in the cave, and with several depth movements, cleared away the rubble, revealing the prone form of his wife. "K-Kushina…" He said, eyes threatening to spill over tears.
"Minato, where's… where's Naruto?" Kushina asked. Minato, whose senjutsu ran out due to his relatively low chakra reserves for a Kage, handed his wife their baby. Kushina, despite the pain she was in, smiled brightly as she stared into the eyes of her beautiful baby boy. "He has your hair and eyes." She gushed slightly.
"He has your beautiful face." Minato added, "we may have brought quite the lady killer into the world." Their few seconds of peace were broken by the sound of screaming and fighting.
"Hold on…" Minato muttered, his senjutsu, while limited, allowed him to sense several chakra signatures, at greater ranges, including…
"So, you've come to fight me again."
Minato glared at the cloaked figure wearing an orange spiral-shaped mask. "I don't know who you are, but I do know you're the one controlling the Kyuubi, I may have lost the first clash, but not the second." He took out several three-pronged kunai with seals written on the handle. He launched several at his target, who flipped and dodged and weaved out of the way of the attacks. Minato took out a normal Kunai and charged forward. His assailant charged forward to meet him, Minato tossed the Kunai then leapt into the air. The enemy shinobi phased through the Kunai, several other kunai launched, passing through his body harmlessly. Minato frowned, "It looks like you can remain intangible indefinitely," he muttered, "let's see how to make you hurt."
The attacker, Obito Uchiha, couldn't help but grin slightly to himself, he knew that deep inside, if the old Obito had still been alive, he would have been excited for a chance to fight his sensei at equal grounds. Of course, this feeling was overshadowed by his grim determination to take the Kyuubi. This would be the easiest time to do so, the village had become lax in its peace, and when a Jinchuriki was pregnant and giving birth, the seal holding back their tailed-beast would weaken, and could even break during the process of childbirth. His plan had succeeded for the most part, but now, Minato was here to stop him. He had to hide his Sharingan abilities, lest Minato noticed who he was, it would make fighting him, complicated. 'I'll need to seal Minato in my eye… touching him just once will get the job done.' Minato threw a Kunai and charged through the air towards Obito, who flexed his feet and leaped towards his sense. The kunai slipped through his head, Obito felt it clearly leave and grinned, allowing himself to be tangible. Then, with only millimeters to spare, Minato disappeared from his sight, appeared above him, then fired a Rasengan into his back.
…
"Lord Third, my shinobi are ready." Hiashi Hyuga, head of the fabled clan of the Byakugan, said simply, he was joined by 7 members of the main and branch family.
"Sir Hiashi," Hiruzen said, "shouldn't you remain in your clan? Your wife is expecting, is she not?"
"As the head of the Hyuga clan, I must put up an example for my village." He turned to a shinobi who looked almost exactly like him, they nodded to each other and led the charge towards the Kyuubi.
Closer to the bijuu, several other clans moved about, attempting to harass and distract the Bijuu, while hundreds of Chunin and Jonin moved, launching kunai, shuriken, and dozens of different elemental jutsu.
"Fire Style: Fire Ball!"
"Wind release, Great Breakthrough!"
"Water release: Water Bullet!"
The clans were not to be held back either, the Akamichi clan used their partial gigantism technique to smack and push back the Kyuubi when it got too close to the still fleeing civilians, the Inazuka clan utilized their multi-headed dog forms, combining several shinobi and several of their dog combat partners into powerful beasts that attempted to drill into the Kyuubi, and the Nara and Yamanaka clans moved about in the background, binding the Kyuubi's movements every so often, and casting genjutsu in order to distract or weaken the beast. Despite their synergy, despite their technique, they could barely do anything, the greatest issue was the vile chakra that emanate from the Bijuu, this chakra was poison to them.
"Aagh!" Chuza Akamichi growled in pain, his arm inflamed from prolonged exposure to the Kyuubi's vile miasma.
"Keep still, my insects can only do so much, if you struggle and move too much, it will break my concentration. An Aburame clan member, famed for their use of chakra eating insects, had infested Chuza's body with some of his bugs, which were consuming the vile chakra of the Kyuubi, it was slow work as if they had too much, they were liable to die from the sheer pressure, or even worse, transform into uncontrollable monstrosities.
"S-sorry, I'll treat you to some pork barbecue if we survive, my treat…" Chuza groaned out.
"Focus on your recovery and survival before making such a statement." The normally unflappable Aburame faced the Kyuubi, and couldn't help but hitch his breath as the beast prepared another bijuu-bomb.
"Damn!" Tsume Inazuka, the daughter of the current clan head, fell to her knees, to her side, her companion, Kuromaro whimpered as it struggled to stand. She and his chakra pathways were screwed up by the chakra of the Kyuubi, she could barely even move.
"Tsume!" Powerful arms grabbed her and her companion, she looked up to see the face of her father, Ashiato Inazuka, head of the clan. "Recover here." He was a quiet man, uncharacteristic considering the normally brash Inazuka clan. But perhaps, because of his nature, it allowed him to do what few other clan members could do. He turned to his pack, his dog companions, or rather, his wolves. "Come, Midori, Murasakino, Aoi, Shiroimaru." Five wolves of different colored fur leaped around Tsume's father, they barked at the same time he did, transforming themselves into a 6-headed dog beast almost as large as the Kyuubu's forearm.
"FANG OVER FANG OVER FANG!" Ashiato roared, the 5 other dog heads barked in unison as they turned into a spiraling drill of claws, teeth, and chakra. They slammed into the Bijuu's mouth, forcing it to shut and deactivating the bomb prematurely, the explosion was massive, but it was in the sky, and not nearly as big as it could have been. Tsume didn't see her father in the aftermath.
"Where's the Uchiha?!" Tsume clenched her jaw in frustration, their clan was one of Konoha's most powerful, yet she had not seen a single member this entire fight.
…
The Uchiha Compound.
"Lord Fugaku, we must assist the village! If the Kyuubi continues its rampage, the major clans will take a severe hit, and they will die out!" One Uchiha shouted, frustration evident on his face. "We have to help them, damn the Hokage's orders!"
Fugaku, chief of the Uchiha clan, closed his eyes, his men had prepared to assist the rest of the village, but they had been stopped by a horde of Anbu, who blocked their path and bore a seal of the Hokage, telling them that they could not leave the clan district. Even now, screams and roars were heard, and with every second, Fugaku's patience lowered more, and more, and more. He stood up, "we cannot, we were given an order, and as a member of this village, we follow that order." Fugaku growled in irritation, his wife was friends with the 4th Hokage's wife, and they had a decent working relationship, what could have happened to urge the 4th Hokage to make such an order? He turned to his children, the infant Sasuke was sleeping, nuzzled in his mother's arms. Itachi had taken him out on an errand with their mother and had witnessed the initial carnage and destruction born from kyuubi's release. His eldest son, Itachi, had a vacant gaze in his eyes, the boy didn't notice, but his Sharingan had activated, already at 2 tomoe. He winced, the Sharingan caused its user to remember everything captured in those eyes, no matter how old he became, the memories of the death and carnage born from the Kyuubi's carnage would never leave his son, this was a cruel burden to leave in the hands of a 5-year-old.
"Chief?" The Uchiha clan members turned back to their leader, curious about his silence.
"I have said my piece, the Hokage's orders are his orders." Fugaku gritted his teeth.
"This…" One Uchiha trembled in anger, "this is foolish, our village is dying, while we, the most powerful of the village, are told to wait like housewives and peasants, it's, it's insulting, like when Fugaku was turned down for the position of Hokage…"
Fugaku glared at the clan member, "silence…I will not have you besmirch the title of Hokage, we are not the only clan in the village, and while we were one of the two founding clans, we are of the village, and subject to the words of the Hokage during wartime." Even as he said that he clenched his fists till his knuckles went white. 'You better know what you are doing, Minato.'
…
Minato Namikaze felt like screaming in despair, he was known as the Yellow Flash, the fastest Shinobi on the planet, yet he was too slow, too slow to save Obito, too slow to Save Rin, too slow to stop the Kyuubi from being awakened, and too slow to save his wife. Their plan had been going well, after handing his child over to Kushina, Minato had summoned Gamabunta, together, they distracted the Kyuubi long enough for the giant beast to get caught off guard by the combined jutsus of the 3rd Hokage and other powerful Shinobi of Jounin level and above, the attacks did little to harm the beast, but it took it outside of the village. He then rushed to Kushina. She had wanted to seal the Kyuubi back within herself, but at the moment, it was all she took to stay alive, the stress of resealing the beast would kill her. Minato could not live without his wife, and he knew she had to be there for their child. He told her his plan, Naruto, even as a newborn, had large reserves of chakra, enough to make a fit host for the Kyuubi, unfortunately, Minato and Kushina lacked the fuinjutsu skills required to seal the entire Kyuubi into Naruto safely, and they could not risk killing their child in the attempt, so Minato would use the Dead Demon Consuming seal. Using the seal, he would seal 1 half of the 9-tails, specifically, its Yin half, within himself, then he would use 2 4 element seals layered on each other to create an 8 element seal, the first half would gather the Kyuubi's chakra, and the second would intermix it into his son's coils naturally, while the seal would weaken over time because of this, it wouldn't be for at least 3 decades, without any tampering, at which point, Naruto's own natural reserves would be so great that he would be capable of dealing with the Kyuubi's power and may even become capable of controlling it. He was then to infuse a bit of his chakra to block the removal of the seal and speak to his son.
But then, Kyuubi seemed to snap from its haze, it became smarter, stronger, knocking away Gamabunta and moving too rapidly for Minato to get a good aim on. Kushina was forced to join the battle, utilizing her chakra chains to pin Kyuubi in place. Minato's jutsu worked, the Kyuubi was split in half, and he was beginning to seal him within Naruto, hating himself for having to choose either to let the beast roam free, kill his wife by sealing it within her, or curse his son with the burden of the mass of hatred that was the Kyuubi, Minato was too slow to realize that the Kyuubi had broken free from one of the chains, its claw aimed for his son.
The flying thunder god technique, created by the Second Hokage and refined by Minato. It required a quick mind and an even quicker command of chakra. Minato prided himself in his constant training with the technique and believed that in time he could create seals on the fly, right now, he wished he could do that. He was out of chakra, off-kilter, and slowly dying, moving too slowly to do anything other than an attempt to shield his wife with his dying body. His efforts were rewarded with failure as he heard her scream in pain, the claw continued to slip through his and Kushina's body, only to stop, inches away from Naruto's body.
"D-damn…"
Minato widened his eyes, he turned to the fox, watching as the demon finally succumbed to the power of the seal, entering his child's body. Their bodies fell like puppets with cut strings.
Minato struggled to his knees, helping his wife reach their child. The final part of the jutsu would allow both him and Kushina to impart their chakra into Naruto, his to prevent the seal from being released prematurely and renew its strength, and Kushina's to help Naruto conquer the Kyuubi if ever it came to it.
After securing the key to Naruto's seal, Minato and his wife looked down at their crying child. The chains that sealed the Kyuubi, now without purpose, broke apart, the others would be able to enter the area, with Hiruzen leading the charge.
Kushina looked at her child, holding him firmly as she grinned.
"Naruto…" She began, "Don't be picky, eat lots, grow strong, bathe every day and stay warm… also, don't stay up late, you need lots of sleep after all if you want to be big and tall like your parents." She wiped the tears from her baby's cheeks, keeping strong to prevent herself from breaking down. "And make friends, you don't need a lot of them, just, a few, ones you can really, really trust. I wasn't good at it, but keep up with your studies, practice your ninjutsu hard, and don't get too hard on yourself, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses so be mindful of others, and don't get too depressed if you can't do something well. Respect your teachers and upperclassmen at the academy, but don't take unfair conditions lying down…"
Minato wryly thought to how his beautiful wife was saying everything both she, and he would have said over Naruto's years.
"Oh, and this is important." Kushina giggled slightly, "It's about the three prohibitions for a shinobi." She looked at her child firmly, "Be extra careful about lending and borrowing money, put your mission wages into your savings account, no alcohol until you're twenty, too much can ruin your health, so drink in moderation. Another prohibition is women."
Minato coughed painfully.
Kushina ignored her husband's jab, "I'm a woman, so I can't say I know much about this, but the world is made of both guys and girls, it's natural to take an interest in the girls, just don't get hooked on a bad woman, someone who takes you for granted leads you astray, abuses you, or takes advantage of your kindness, find someone like your mom hopefully. Speaking on the three Prohibitions, stay away from Jiraiya Sensei, he's a good guy, but so pervy…" She scoffed, before continuing, feeling her voice weaken, she handed Naruto to Minato, lacking the strength to keep holding him. Minato held her head up, propping her body on himself so that she could speak.
"Naruto… from now on, you're going to face lots of pain and hardship, be true to yourself, have a dream, and have the confidence to make that dream a reality. There's so much I want to say, so much I want to do for you, so much I wish I could pass on, I wish I could stay with you longer, I love you…"
Minato, feeling his own life slowly ebb, smiled as he added, "There is nothing I could say now that could top what your beautiful, loquacious mother said to you kiddo, so, I guess the best I can say is ditto, good luck, and I'll be proud of you, no matter what."
"Lord 4th! Lady Kushina!" Hiruzen rushed over, landing in front of the pair.
"Take Naruto, protect him, keep him safe." Kushina began.
Hiruzen looked at the baby, his eyes widening as he saw the seal. "But…"
Minato smiled sadly, "I've put an unspeakable burden on my son, I already started out as a failure of a dad, didn't I, but… Hiruzen, I want you to help the village understand, Naruto is a hero, his existence keeps the Kyuubi from destroying the village. Please, let them know that that is my dying wish."
Hiruzen smiled sadly, "Of course, I will, I will, you can leave him to me, I promise the both of you." He stood, turning to his Anbu, "gather the clan heads. Assess the damage, and get the medics here quickly!"
Minato smiled at his wife, "I'm sure with your advice, Naruto will be great, eh, Kushina?"
"Kushina?"
The red-head did not respond, her eyes were closed and her chest no longer moved. Minato swallowed his tears…
…
Hector awoke with a start, he eyed his surroundings, Raiga was keeping watch, while he, Kimimaro, and Haku were sleeping.
"Bad dream?" Raiga asked.
"Uh… yeah…" Hector, or rather, Taiga, responded, "just a… bad dream."
…
Afterword:
It looks like this was a flashback chapter, but a prophetic flashback? What could this mean for Hector?
Ashiato Inazuka is made up by me, we don't have much in the way of knowing who were clan heads, before the current ones, but since this is 13 years ago, wow... just realized that Tsume is probably recovering from a pregnancy, what a champ. What I can say is that in keeping with the naming sense of the clan, Ashiato means "paw print"