Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto. Though, I suppose I could start a petition to send to Kishimoto-Sensei? Could that work?
Chapter 2: A Fight for the Future
Everyone froze in place as a killing intent comparable to a tailed beast filled the room. The masked man looked at Minato, letting loose his own killing intent at him to neutralize Minato's. With everyone free from the killing intent the masked figure spoke again.
"Everyone out except your dear Yondaime and his wife here. Otherwise my wrist might just slip." His kunai pressed against the side of the babies neck where the primary artery is. It wasn't enough to wake the child, but it was certainly enough to make him stir.
"Do it, please." Minato spoke in a forced calm that hid none of his emotions. Everyone in the room could feel his anger like a glacier carving a mountain side. Everyone complied.
"Stay in the courtyard and stay quiet," the masked man commanded. No one disobeyed. If there was one way to gain the cooperation of Shinobi, it was to gain leverage over their leader. He had done just that. "Now then, you set your wife before me and I will give you back your precious bundle of joy." He spoke in a tone that could be called boredom if not for the situation.
Minato complied, his eyes never leaving the masked man. "You won't get away with this. There is no where that I cannot find you." He secretly marked his wife with one of the seals necessary to use the jutsu that made him famous. The mark faded, as was intended. What no one but Minato and Kushina knew was that the markings would never disappear from any surface that he marked.
"Now step back," The masked man said. Minato did as instructed. What else could he do? Then, the man tossed Naruto towards the door as Minato bolted after him in an insane burst of speed. He caught Naruto as gently as he could, but it was too late. Naruto woke up and started crying loudly. Minato flashed outside in a burst of yellow light as the Haraishin no Jutsu transported him to the courtyard.
He handed Naruto to Hitomi, who Kushina had named as Naruto's godmother. Then he disappeared in another flash of yellow, startling many before they even knew what just happened.
"I don't know who that man is, but he chose the wrong person to try to threaten tonight." Hiashi spoke with the calm that only a Hyuuga could have in a situation like this.
Fugaku spoke up, "I almost feel bad for the fool. Almost."
Somewhere in the Land of Fire
Minato arrived in a flash of yellow as the masked man had just finished a string of hand signs. "Four Pillar Binding Crucifixion," he yelled as Kushina's unconscious form was lifted into the air between four stone pillars with a sealing matrix spread across them. The matrix was so complex, Minato couldn't even begin to guess at it's origin. This confused the seal master for only a moment before he launched into action.
Konoha: Thirty Minutes Later
(A/N: The Kyuubi attack on Konoha happens as in cannon up until the point when Minato and Kushina begin to seal the fox.)
The Anbu Black Ops, the Sandaime Hokage, and all members of the crashed new year party arrive at a barrier just as the Kyuubi attempts to pierce Kushina with his claw while she is on the ground. No one is sure exactly what happened out here, but it is clear that a landscape changing battle took place. The barrier flickers as Minato steps in front of the fox and erects another barrier around both himself and his prone wife.
After a moment, the outer barrier falls and the group rush in to aide their Hokage. Before anyone can do anything however, Kushina gets up from whatever had her on the ground and uses her bloodline limit, Adamantine Chains. This paralyzes the large fox just long enough for the group approaching to arrive.
"I'm sorry everyone," Kushina says. "But I will only be able to restrain the fox for about a minute. Minato has a plan, but it must be done now while I'm still alive or it won't work. Please," She looks at Hitomi. "Please take care of our son?"
Everyone was shocked at her words, her appearance only adding to their astonishment. She look bad, very bad. She had dark circles under her eyes making it seem as if she hadn't slept in a year. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent. She had very little strength, making it a wonder that she could even move at all, let alone restrain the strongest of the tailed beasts.
Every face had a solemn expression. Hitomi and Mikoto had tears in their eyes, barely held back by the strength of their will. Hitomi nodded to Kushina, not trusting herself to speak.
Minato spoke next in a sad but commanding voice. "Bring Naruto to me. The only way to stop the fox is to seal it within a human vessel."
To say that those gathered here were shocked would be a gross understatement. They knew that the only way to stop is was to seal it, but they didn't expect him to use his own son to do it.
Knowing what they were thinking he spoke again. "The 5 through 9 tails cannot be sealed into just anyone. Only an infant with undeveloped chakra coils can contain their power without dying." He spoke this firmly and with so much despair in his voice that those present could tell he was absolutely truthful with them in this, which only caused their hearts to weigh heavier.
Kushina looked at them with conviction in her pained face. "He's right... I can't stand it," She said with tears in her eyes. "But he's right. I was the last Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I had it sealed within me after a ceremony to revert my chakra coils to infant level development. That's why I could live."
Seeing no other alternative, Hitomi brought Naruto to Minato. He flashed through a series of handsigns that only Hiruzen recognized, causing him to gasp. "Minato, surely there is another method to seal the fox! Why this one!?"
"Minato shouted "Reaper Death Seal." He turned to his predecessor. "Because the only other meathod to seal the Kyuubi's massive strength takes a month. Time we do not have. I'm sorry my friends, but this is the only way."
As he spoke, a phantom of sorts appeared behind him with a blue humanoid shape teathered in front of him. The blue mass took on the silohuete of Minato as the phantom—now recognizable as the Shinigami—reached into the figure, his hand disappearing and reappearing out of the real Minato's chest.
The Shinigami looked at Minato's target and frowned, if that was possible with his fanged face. He then spoke in a deep and menacing voice. "The power of a tailed beast is outside my ability to control as a single mass." He looked at his summoner. "You have invoked my power, mortal. Thus, your life is forfeit. I cannot do as you ask and seal this power in a single vessel. The word of Kami is law and I cannot change law. However, I can split the power among two vessels. Know this, the vessels must both be infants, or prepared with the appropriate rituals. I will give this woman enough power to contain the Kyuubi with her chains while a decision is made."
The raw power of the Shinigami's voice, along with his declaration, startled everyone. For a moment no one spoke and the only sounds heard were the pained breathing of Kushina and the angry roars of the fox. Finally, Kushina broke the silence. "I can't hold on much longer..." She was nearly breathless and her eyes were starting to glaze over.
After another moment Hitomi stepped forward with Hinata in her arms. "Minato," she sobbed. "Use Hinata for the other half..." She had tears pouring down her face. Even Hiashi had to look down, his face no longer to maintain his mask of indiference. With tears down his own face he looked back up.
"She is right..." he sobbed. "Hurry, before it is too late..."
Minato's face contorted in an excruciatingly painful expression as he cried audibly. "I'm so sorry everyone. I've failed you all." He nodded to the Shinigami that the decision was made.
Before anyone could respond, the Shinigami's arm reached forth and took hold of the Kyuubi, pulling forth his chakra and splitting it in two before sealing it in the two selected babies. Both infants cried as the foreign chakra entered their guts. In less time than it takes to breath, the whole affair was done and Minato lay on the ground next to Kushina. Both were motionless as the last of their power was spent and their souls passed into their afterlives. Kushina's departing naturally while Minato's soul was taken into the Shinigami and sealed away.
No one knew that the last of their chakra had been sealed into Naruto and Hinata as well to help them when the time came. No one knew what had happened to release the fox from Kushina in the first place. And no one knew what the future held.
Konoha: 2 weeks later
Hiruzen took back his office as Hokage as he led the reconstruction effort of the village. He attended council meetings, signed documents, and wandered the village helping wherever he could. It was exhausting and stressful. But none of it compared to the council meeting he was about to walk in to. The meeting was to discuss the sealing of the Kyuubi and to decide what would be done with the children. He knew Danzo would want them. He also knew that Hinata was safe because she was a clan heiress. He did NOT know that Naruto was also going to have the protection of the Hyuuga clan. He, like most, was unaware that Hitomi was Naruto's godmother.
His only thought on the way to the meeting was how to save Naruto. 'I'll be damned if I let Danzo anywhere near Naruto!' He would do whatever it took.
Council Chamber: Two Minutes Later
The civilian council members were yelling at the Shinobi side of the council to listen to reason.
"Kill the damn fox! We must finish what Yondaime-Sama started and destroy the demon child before it's too late!" The woman shouted. She was the head of the civilian side of the council and had a shrieking voice like a banshee. Her name was Mebuki Haruno. She had Orange/Blond hair that stopped at the base of her neck and a single bang covering her forhead and the area between her eyes. She wore a white qipao.
Most of the Shinobi council was there when Minato sacrificed himself and grew furious at this woman's outburst. So much so that one of them spoke up. It was Chouza, who was known as one of the kindest people on the entire council, both Shinobi and civilian.
"You shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you!" Chouza yelled this loud enough that the entire room was silent afterword. Mebuki was speachless. Chouza continued, "You weren't there. You have no idea the TRUE sacrifices that were made there on that night!"
Just then the reinstated Sandaime Hokage walked into the chamber and sat at the head of the council ending Chouza's outburst before more harm than good was done.
Everyone took their seats and the Hokage began. "Now, let's get started." His voice took on a commanding tone than everyone recognized as a no non-sense, zero-tolerance tone. "The first order of buisiness today is the finalization of the long term reconstruction budget."
Before he could make it any further, Danzo spoke up. "Hiruzen, this council has a much more important matter to discuss today." He didn't give the Hokage time to speak before he moved on. "Give the boy to me and I will turn him into a completely loyal defender of this village."
Hiruzen looked at Danzo as if he was speaking a foreign language. "Danzo, that will not happen so long as I am Hokage. This is my final decision and I will not be swayed." Danzo was a war hawk and could often talk his way into anything, but he knew his former team mate enough to know that it would not work this time.
Mebuki spoke up next. "If you aren't going to let Danzo brainwash the boy then the only other decision this council could make is to kill the demon now! Why are we even debating this!" She was nearly yelling at this point.
Hiruzen released his killing intent that had been building up ever since the information of the Kyuubi being sealed had been made public. It was staggering even to the most battle hardened Shinobi in the room. No one was unaffected, not the Anbu, not the Jonin Commander Shikaku Nara, not even Danzo.
"That is out of the question," he said with barely contained rage as he released his killing intent. The civilian members of the council, being the most affected, let out a breath they didn't even know they had been holding.
Mebuki recovered quickly, a mystery that no one has been able to solve in years. She spoke up then. "Then what do you suggest? It's only a matter of time before the demon overcomes the seal and continued what it started!"
Many of the civilian council members agreed with her, Nodding in the only way they knew to show her their support as they recovered from the Hokage's earlier outburst.
Hiruzen spoke again. "I open the floor to the council for suggestions on the boy's fate." He looked around, focusing mostly on the Shinobi council.
"Does the boy have any living family?" The question was asked by Shibi Aburame, who was not at the party two weeks prior.
"Not that I am aware," Hiruzen said.
At this, the ever silent Hyuuga spoke up. "If I may correct you, Hokage-Sama, the boy does have a family of sorts left."
Hiruzen raised his eyebrow at this. "Oh? I was under the impression that his only family died in the attack." He said this vaguely as the civilian council was unaware of the boy's parentage for his own protection.
Mebuki spoke before Hiashi could. "Hyuuga-Sama, what do you mean it still has family? It's a demon!"
The only thing that kept Hiashi from striking her down was his pride as a Hyuuga. "I personally knew the boys parents," Hiashi said. "And my wife, Hitomi Hyuuga, is the boy's godmother. Thus she has legal guardianship of Naruto. And the next time you call him a demon, your life will be forfeit to me as per clan law as recompense for insulting the honor of the Hyuuga clan." He said this in a cold, emotionless voice that told her just how serious he was.
She froze and was silent on the matter.
Hiashi spoke again as the council absorbed this information. "I have the legal documents as proof." He presented the documents. No one doubted him at this point. 'Just try me', he thought. "My wife and I will be adopting the boy into the main branch of the clan. He will be raised as if he were our own son. We have legal rights in this and no amount of argument will sway me on this. I swear upon mine and my clan's honor that if anyone moves to strike this motion that the Hyuuga clan will retaliate with our full force. We will cut ties with all matters of civilian concern and pull our clansmen from the rank of Shinobi until I fell that my position on this matter has been made clear."
The civilian council paled at this while the Shinobi council and the Hokage all smiled internally at Hiashi's careful wording. The Elders, especially Danzo, were not happy at all, but they were legally unable to refute his claims.
Hiashi spoke again, "This same punishment stands if he, my daughter, or my clan are treated with anything but the respect we command as the most powerful clan in Konoha. If Naruto or Hinata are harmed in any way—be it mentally, emotionally, or physically—the Hyuuga clan will retaliate. This I swear upon my blood. Any who break this will owe my clan a debt of blood."
This completely locked down the council, as a debt of blood was absolute under clan laws. Not even the Hokage could overturn a debt of blood. 'Well played Hiashi,' thought the Hokage. "On my position as Hokage, I accept these terms on behalf of Konoha. Let the record show that I declare this council meeting an S-Class secret punishable by death. This includes the next bit of information that will be presented by the council that will answer the question on the mind of the civilian council members. Hiashi, why do you include your daughter specifically in this matter?" Hiruzen gave Hiashi a knowing smile which Hiashi surprisingly gave back.
Hiashi explained what the Shinigami had said the night of the sealing, without giving any names of those who were present. He explained that only infants could be used for the sealing and that the Yondaime had sacrificed his life to seal the fox into both Naruto and Hinata. He said all this without ever revealing the Naruto was actually the son of Minato. Though the council already knew that he was the son of Kushina. Only the Shinobi at the party knew of Minato's roll as father, or that Minato and Kushina were even married at all. The civilians did not know that Kushina was married, only that she had a child two and a half months ago with an unknown man as the father.
"Let the record show that Naruto is officially taken in by the Hyuuga clan, and that both he and Hinata, the two Jinchuuriki of Konoha will not be treated as such on pain of death or blood debt, whichever is broken." Hiruzen closed the matter. "Now, the council will move on to the budget."