Disclaimer: Naruto and all related entities, settings etc… belong to our Lord and saviour Kishimoto whom I will never meet nor cross in my life so please, please, please don't sue me… Please?

Author's Note: This story is severely a work in progress and I have no exacts for what I want besides a few jumbled story points I know will happen. Any reviewing or recommendations for the story are welcomed and enjoyed, if you think something is wack or you found a really large plot hole then please yell at me so that I can correct it, I am pretty stupid.

No, I don't know what will happen to most of the characters by the end of the story but I am certain that not all of them will live to see the end… I don't like unrealistic stories where everyone lives happily ever after purely for the point they are largely unrealistic and would not happen given the situation or context. So yes, please start getting attached to characters just for me to kill them later on, I will love emotionally ruining all of you 3.

All in all, if you think something is bad it probably is so you should yell at me until I fix it or do something about it.


Part One: Flames & Darkness


Hiruzen was probably having the worst day of his life, and that was saying something.

The withered former Hokage stilled himself on the roof he had just landed on and looked up at the howling, shrieking abomination that was rampaging through everything he loved and cared about, letting out a growl from the back of his throat. The Kyuubi, Nine-Tailed Fox Demon.

What had happened? Where was Minato? Where is Kushina? What happened to his wife who was helping Kushina deliver her baby? He scowled, filing these thoughts away so he could focus on one of, if not the most powerful Chakra construct to ever exist that was now ripping through his village like a knife through butter.

The Kyuubi was an absolutely menacing figure that even made the experienced old Hokage hesitate. It was appropriately the shape of an extremely giant orange fox. Large, unnerving red eyes whirling around wildly and rapidly, taking in its surroundings and the many Konoha ninja who were attempting to keep it at bay.

By far the most intimidating of its features were the nine tails that swept around the beast like extra limbs. Easily flicking away any pesky ninja as well as tearing apart any unfortunate building that may be in its path.

Suddenly the demon roared and Hiruzen had no choice but to cover his ears from the earth shattering noise, cringing as windows shattered around him and ninja who he could see where combating the demon got sent flying backwards. Awoken from his thoughts, he swiftly reached his hand behind his back and unraveled the large scroll that was sitting there, hands flipping through a few practiced hand signs before biting his thumb and slamming his hand into the paper.

"Hiruzen?! Holy hell… is that the..?" came the warm, yet commanding voice of Hiruzen's now summoned partner Enmu, the Monkey King. The monkey had been summoned facing the demon, not expecting it in the slightest.

"Yes, it seems the Nine-Tailed Fox has broken out of Kushina's seal and is tearing through the village. I will need your help to subdue it and decrease it's damage as much as we can."

The Monkey King only took one second to compose himself before nodding seriously, transforming into a large staff that Hiruzen promptly took in his hands, feeling a large amount of Chakra enter his system.

Slinging the staff on his back, Hiruzen jumps from the safety of his building and directly towards the beast. When in distance, he stilled himself, rapidly going through hand signs.

"Katon: Karyuu Endan!" [Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb]

Gigantic flame erupted from his mouth in a concentrated beam, growing in size and forming into a large dragon baring its fangs.

Hiruzen poured even more Chakra into the Jutsu than normal due to the sheer fact that if it hit the beast as it was now, it would only give it a useless burn wound. Expanding his lungs as large as he could he bellowed out even more flame, making the Jutsu just as large as one of the demon's tails.

Startled by the large Chakra blast behind it, the Kyuubi turned only to be hit directly by the fire, blowing up as it impacted the demon in the head. A strangled roar erupted as the flames pushed it backwards onto it's back, tails flailing wildly around it.

Hiruzen stopped the Jutsu, allowing his lungs to once again capture air instead of fire and paused for a slight second to regain his breath. He looked at the beast and paled; that much Chakra and the beast was barely singed? Steadying himself he scoured the battlefield with his eyes whilst once again pulling the large staff that housed Enmu into his hands.

A portion of around 10% of the entire village is flattened and in flames, becoming an accurate representation of… well, hell itself. Before Hiruzen can pause to think of the lives lost he looks at the remaining Shinobi scattered on buildings surrounding the beast or on the battlefield itself with a calculating eye, attempting to find some specific Ninja that he oh-so desperately needed to find.

Finally, he spots them, wide eyed and staring up at the beast and then back to him. He breathed a sigh of relief at the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and jumped towards them as fast as he could. Landing a second later he looked up at Shikaku with a seriousness and steel in his voice not normally witnessed by many.

"Shikaku, organize all of the Shinobi gathered into two squads. One will act as a diversion while the other attacks from behind. Our main purpose is to keep it in the area already destroyed and not let it destroy any more of the village."

Shikaku nodded, "Of course, Sandaime-sama" before jumping off to gather the remaining Shinobi.

Hiruzen turns to Chouza who immediately stands tall with a grim face, readying himself for orders. "Chouza, lead the squad that will attack it from behind. Using your clan Jutsu you are one of the only ones who can fight the beast at the same size. Wait for an opening and attack it, try to keep casualties to a minimum." Chouza nods before jumping away to follow Shikaku.

Hiruzen turned back to the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon and sighed as it began to right itself and get back on its feet, without looking away he spoke to Inoichi.

"Do you have any idea where Minato is?"

"No, but sensors sensed an unknown Shinobi just before the Nine Tails appeared and then felt whoever it was rush towards there." He points to a cliff just on the perimeter of the village with a small plateau on it. "I can only presume whoever this unknown Shinobi is summoned the Nine Tails with a summoning Jutsu and then moved away to combat Minato-sama."

Hiruzen cursed and allowed himself to think. The Nine Tails appearing was already a worse case scenario and the worst threat the village had seen since the end of the Third Shinobi World War, but an unknown enemy Nin strong enough to summon the Nine Tails - which mind you was meant to be sealed safely inside Kushina - and then combat with Minato for this long? This day was truly making its way up Hiruzen's long list of worst days ever, nestling itself deeply near the top.

What had happened? Kushina's pregnancy was, of course, an S ranked secret and an extremely sensitive topic that only few village higher-ups had even heard about let alone completely knew. Hiruzen could not stop himself from thinking of his old, bandaged friend with that god awful walking cane that was not necessary at all. Would you really go this far, Danzo? Hiruzen didn't want to ask the question because he himself was too scared to admit he did not know the answer.

Every precaution had been made when Hiruzen had heard of Kushina's pregnancy. During childbirth, the seal holding the Fox Demon would undoubtedly weaken to an all time low and because of this he and Minato had organized the birth to take place at a top secret ANBU encampment protected by the most powerful and trusted ANBU guards that he and Minato could think of.

Not only this but Minato would be present for the birth himself. Being one of the only seal masters in the village and definitely one of the best meant that he would maintain the strength of the seal to the best of his abilities while she gave birth whilst also acting as further security.

To top it all of, Hiruzen had made sure his own wife, Biwako, was present. His heart paused as he thought of what possibly could have happened for things to become this bad. She was a great Medic-Nin and held experience little Shinobi had grown to the age to have. The plan was flawless, so he thought, and what a damn fool he was.

He came back to his senses, taking the roaring flames, horrible demonic Chakra, and utter destruction back in.

He sighed and looked at Inoichi, "You likely already know what your job is. Stick near Shikaku and help when required but focus on using your Mind Jutsu to announce instructions to all assembled Shinobi."

He paused again and Inoichi could see a more tired look in the God of Shinobi's eyes, one that speaks of exhaustion and resolve. "This is a battle that we can not likely win without sacrifice. Taking the fox itself down will come at a large cost that I am not willing to make, so for now focus on keeping as many people alive as possible while we wait for Minato to arrive. He is the only one capable of being able to seal the Fox away."

The fox had gotten back up, setting it's gaze solely on Hiruzen with a viscous venom no human would or could ever achieve.

"Go!" he shouted to Inoichi, who was still at his side staring at the fox. Inoichi only nodded and slowly managed himself across the burning buildings towards his comrades.

He turned back to the fox, noticing it was readying a charge towards Hiruzen for daring to attack it with fire Jutsu. He sighed for what feels like the millionth time that night, well, morning now, before slamming the staff into both his hands and adopting a combat stance. This was going to be a very, very, long morning.

\v/

Minato landed on the ground, picking up his kunai from the air before it could fall and looked at his assailant.

The man wore a beige yellow mask with black marks, making an intricate pattern around the one eye hole that it provided. He was dressed for combat, a short sleeved long black coat that went down to his knees provided enough cover so that Minato couldn't see his muscles movements. As Minato was looking at him, he had also started shackling a spiked chain from one wrist to another to act as a weapon.

With time for thoughts quickly running out, the man spoke in a deep, drawling tone.

"I see you live up to your name as the Yellow Flash of the Leaf. You truly are fast." It wasn't really said as a compliment, and Minato's face was completely impassive when he answered.

"Are you… Madara Uchiha?" He felt stupid immediately after saying, but who else could it be? A masked man with a Sharingan, the ability to sneak into an ANBU stronghold, the capabilities to summon the Nine Tails and this unique… teleportation Jutsu? No matter who this man was, he was a danger to the village and Minato had to finish the fight fast.

He allowed a quick glance into the distance towards the village, focusing on the extremely hard to miss rampaging demon and scowled. So that was what the Nine Tails looked like… This was what Kushina was holding inside of her all this time? His heart panged when he thought of his wife, she had looked so weak when he had lifted her to their home and they both knew what happened to Jinchūriki when their Bijū were ripped out of them…

Minato looked back at the man, destroying any emotion he had been feeling and analysing his opponent as tactfully as he could. He was obviously extremely powerful and held a large array of different techniques that Minato had yet to see, if he truly was Madara Uchiha he would also have to worry about any secret clan jutsu the Uchiha had yet to disclose to the village.

Not only that but the man could… go through him? Minato was still trying to make sense of the unique space-time Ninjutsu that had almost got him when he was standing on the Hokage monument. There was no time to theorize the basics concepts of the Jutsu but one thing was sure, if Minato wanted to land a hit on the man he would have to do it while he was tangible and about to attack.

As fast as he could, he lunged. Putting all his power into a simple thrust with his tri-pronged kunai, attempting to place it straight into the mysterious man's chest.

As Minato had theorized, he passed straight through the man, stumbling slightly as his momentum carried on driving the thrust through the man's body. Before Minato could correct himself he was all the way through, caught in the suddenly solid spiked chain that the man had shackled to his wrists moments before.

The chain tugged, attempting to viscously squeeze and split him in half. Before it could be done Minato teleported suddenly to one of his many kunai that littered the battlefield, taking a moment to look back at the man who was now standing still and staring at him.

They both rushed once again, but instead of attempting to stab, Minato threw his kunai ahead of him into the mysterious Shinobi's head. The man once again became intangible, letting the kunai fly through him and past his head.

"Rasengan!"

A perfectly cylindrical ball of blue Chakra came to life in Minato's hand, whirring violently in a controlled and perfected manner.

Both shinobi carried on charging towards each other, holding their hands out to hit the other, the only difference being Minato held his infamously feared technique in his hand.

To any watching, it happened in a split second. Before the man could grab onto Minato with his outstretched hand, the Yellow Flash had suddenly disappeared, teleporting to the kunai that had been thrown through the man's head. Without any chance to activate whatever teleportation Jutsu he had, the Rasengan came rocketing into the man's back; destroying a large portion of white, gooey flesh along with the entire black robe.

Acting quickly Minato placed the Hiraishin formula on the man's back before flipping away quickly, giving himself a chance to breathe. The robed assailant slowly got back up again, holding his wound painfully and breathing harshly. Before anything could be done, once again Minato had teleported to the man, cutting his arm off with one hand and slamming the other into his chest as hard as he could. Once again with the experience one would expect from a seal master, Minato placed a contract seal onto the man's chest, before backing off for good.

"The Nine Tails is no longer under your control."

It was a few seconds until he got a response, which was warranted, as the man struggled to stay upright from the back and arm wound combined. He spoke in a much more strained voice, pausing to take a breath frequently.

"... No matter. I must hand it to you Yondaime Hokage, you have managed to wound me and pull the Kyuubi from my grasp. However, the Nine Tails will be mine eventually, and there are many different ways to take control of the world in the meantime. Until then, farewell..."

Before Minato could do anything a swirling vortex erupted from the man's one visible eye pulling him away, slowly engulfing his entire body before disappearing all together, leaving Minato alone on the field once again.

Minato sighed, allowing a few seconds to regain the breath that he had been unknowingly holding and once again moved his gaze towards the village. From his vantage point, he could not make out much, but even after being released from the mysterious man's control the Kyuubi was still very much destroying the village, swinging it's tails wildly and roaring.

Collecting his kunai from the ground Minato teleported to the Hokage monument once again and immediately felt the atmosphere change. From here, he could make out small individual dots jumping around the gigantic beast, attempting to keep it distracted and in one spot. The air was filled with demonic chakra that made Minato stutter, having to take a moment to refocus and look at the beasts eyes.

The Kyuubi suddenly turned, somehow aware of the Hokage staring at it from behind and snarled. Minato's eyes widened when he realized what the Kyuubi was starting to do.

The atmosphere once again seemed to pop, and all the air and Chakra was sucked in front of the demon's mouth that was now wide open. Chakra seemed to gather around the beast, culminating in a spherical orb, getting larger at the second in front of the beast's mouth.

Minato cursed, knowing the technique all too well. It had been the attack that his original Jutsu Rasengan was based on, but even the Rasengan held no power against this pure destructive orb of pure Chakra. His only option was to teleport it away so that it wouldn't blow the village up in a raging inferno.

Minato quickly went through hand signs before pulling a kunai into his hands and thrusting it forward with both hands.

"Hiraishin: Dõrai!" [Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder]

The now gigantic blue ball of Chakra the beast had been producing released, blazing forward towards the rock that Minato had perched himself on and destroying anything that dared get in it's way.

Suddenly, Kanji appeared in the air in front of the Hokage Monument, creating a large net shape almost as big as the rapidly approaching Bijūdama. Instead of passing through, the colossal orb paused, and slowly sunk into the net of Kanji.

With a twist of his infamous kunai the orb reappeared a mile outside the village before exploding into a large inferno, destroying an area as large as at least half of Konoha.

Minato paled, it had taken him a large amount of Chakra to absorb such a powerful technique, and even more to teleport to a distance that kept the village safe. Fighting the Kyuubi would be beyond even him, he just didn't have enough energy, Chakra and firepower in order to fight it to a standstill let alone defeat it.

This was a losing battle, and it was becoming more obvious by the minute. Whole entire segments of Konoha were destroyed and in flames, most Shinobi par Minato and Hiruzen could likely do nothing to wound the beast or incapacitate it and most civilians could barely get away in time.

What can I do? I can't just let my village… He stopped his thought process, thinking of the only possible solution to this catastrophic problem.

Sealing. He would have to seal the Kyuubi into someone in order to stop it. Sure, it was much easier said than done and the Kyuubi wouldn't exactly sit still as he did it but besides letting the village crumble and burn there wasn't really any other option.

A now lingering question remained unanswered in his mind, who would he seal it into? He could try and seal it back into Kushina, but she would likely still… No, that was not an option. He couldn't really think of anyone else, no Hokage, especially Minato would ask anyone of their village to give themselves up for the sealing, it was just too much of a sacrifice for anyone not willing or personally related to bear.

Before he could stop himself, one thought for potential candidates passed his mind. Naruto. No, he couldn't. His barely hour old son?! What kind of heartless monster would seal one of, if not the strongest Chakra construct in the world into someone who had been born into the world for not even a day.

Aside from ethical reasons, Minato doubted that his son would even live through the process of the sealing. His ungrown and weak Chakra networks would likely fry and burn up, the overwhelming negative energy of the Kyuubi destroying his body from the inside out before the innocent new born could even know what was happening.

He could probably split the Kyuubi's Chakra in half to weaken the impact of the sealing, but that would not only be extremely taxing, but also would require a technique that would likely take the life of the user as well.

No, he would not do this to his own son or any infant for that matter. It was not unheard of in the Ninja world to seal Bijū into innocent and unprepared infants, but Minato would never stoop down to that level.

That left one individual that Minato would even consider sealing such a… monstrosity into. Himself. He would be the next Nine Tails Jinchūriki, taking on the burden no other Ninja could. Yes, it would have to be him, he wouldn't let any other get in the way or have to suffer from this beast ever again.

Minato finally looked back up into the flaming whirlwind that was now his village, returning the glare with equal ferocity that the Kyuubi was giving him.

\v/

Hiruzen cursed himself for joking about how much of a bad morning this would be, seriously, why in hell did he have to joke about that?!

Another bushy yet lethal tail broke through the growth of trees to strike the aging Sandaime Hokage, twisting his body on the tree branch he was crouched on, Hiruzen jumped to the left to another tree, before resting yet again.

The battlefield had changed. Despite Hiruzen's and the remaining Ninjas best efforts the Nine Tails was not a force that could be contained, and had soon broken through one of the walls of the village and escaped to the once green and luscious woods of outer Konoha.

Said once luscious woods were now also in flames, adding to the toxic air and choking any Shinobi unprepared to enter such an environment with equal ferocity to the beast itself.

Hiruzen wasn't faring much better either. The poor old man, albeit being one of the strongest Shinobi of his time, was beginning to feel his old age seep through.

All of his muscles ached, burn marks from the constant flames littered his body making him cringe with every movement and shallow scratches and cuts were everywhere, a result of the constant flying debris of buildings and trees.

The demon roared once again, bringing itself to its full height before opening its jaw, gathering Chakra in front of it.

Hiruzen scowled, turning so that he was facing "This technique again?! Inoichi! Tell everyone to retreat immediately!"

Behind him, Inoichi nodded before relaying the command to everyone and retreating himself.

Hiruzen turned back to the beast, as the Chakra ball grew larger and larger before enveloping a few of the trees surrounding them and inwardly groaned.

He did not have enough Chakra to devise anyway to combat the hulking technique and he had no Jutsu in his arsenal to stop it either way. Desperately trying to think of something, he dropped the staff that he had been holding in his hands and let it fall onto the ground, once again summoning the Monkey King.

"Enma, is there anything we can do to stop this?" he said, almost ready to give up already.

The Monkey King stared at the orb, now the size of a two-story house and shook his head, "No, the best we could do with our remaining Chakra combined is deflect it away from the village, but the Chakra depletion will very likely kill you.

So this would be his fate, huh? After all these decades successfully protecting the village he would die protecting it once again, but this time from a gigantic orange fox. It wasn't a bad fate, he thought, but there were so many regrets. He hadn't made up with Danzo, one of his only remaining compatriots, he hadn't stopped Uzushiogakure from being destroyed, he hadn't… well he hadn't done a lot of things he could've, and should've done. But what was he doing, being remorseful and reflecting on the past like an old man? No, this would be his fate.

"Enma, it truly has been an honor old friend. Please make sure that the Monkey summoning contract doesn't die with me and is passed along to Asuma." he spoke in a tired tone.

Enma widened his eyes only a fraction before nodding, looking Hiruzen in the eyes. "It truly has been an honour for me as well, Hiruzen. Perhaps in death you will find an escape from this blasted paperwork you constantly rattle on about."

Hiruzen smirked, allowing himself to resign in his final moments. "Yes, that is a nice thought."

Before anything else could be said, Enma turned himself back into a staff which Hiruzen promptly took hold of. Holding it in front of him he started channeling his Chakra straight forward into a barrier to block and hopefully repel the now mansion sized Bijūdama with the last of his strength.

Hiruzen allowed himself to smile as he felt his Chakra slowly leave him. Yes, dying to protect what he loved was a fine way to die and would allow him to rest peacefully, to honor those under his command that had made the same sacrifice countless times in his years.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" [Summoning Jutsu]

A sudden yell rang out through the clearing and Hiruzen rapidly stopped the Jutsu he was attempting, wide eyes attempting to locate the source of the yell.

A gust of air erupted from the Nine Tails and for a short second Hiruzen's heart stopped, thinking that the Bijūdama had been released without him doing anything to stop it. A crashing sound followed and debris was sent everywhere, destroying the immediate vicinity of the Nine Tails and cutting through any Shinobi unlucky enough to be in the way.

Hiruzen lifted a hand to his head, blocking the suddenly harsh wind and looking towards the centre of the explosion and his eyes widened even further. A gigantic orange toad just smaller than the Nine Tails had been summoned mid air, falling and crushing the now flailing demon before it could release the destructive purple Chakra orb. Standing on top of the toad, eyes boring deeply into the orange fox demon, was none other than the Yondaime Hokage himself.

Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief, hope flooding through him like a drug and giving him enough power to battle through the wind and jump closer, within hearing distance of the scowling warrior.

"Minato! What happened? Can you seal it?"

The blonde haired man looked down, narrowing his eyes on his predecessor before softening somewhat, obviously relieved that the old man was still alive.

Minato jumped off the toad landing beside Hiruzen and looked up, staring it in the eye.

"Gamabunta, how long can you hold it off?"

The normally completely confident toad grimaced, a loud thundering voice echoed throughout the snarls and thrashing of the fox stuck underneath it.

"Not even I can hold down a tailed beast for long, boy!" The toad grunted with effort. "Whatever your planning, make it quick!"

Minato nodded and his hand went to his tool pouch, bringing out one of his now infamous kunai and going through hand signs, obvious strain on his face, without looking away he began talking.

"An unknown Shinobi attacked just as Kushina had finished giving birth, he managed to slip through and kill all of the ANBU and deceive me into leaving Kushina unprotected. He extracted the tailed beast and then summoned it in the centre of the village before leaving to fight me so that I wouldn't interfere."

He finished talking just as he finished running through hand signs and paused, turning his head to look Hiruzen in the eye.

"I'm going to teleport it further away from the village so that it cannot harm anything anymore. Please put your hand on my back, I'm going to need you for the next part of my plan Hiruzen-sama."

Hiruzen's eyes darkened, the situation seemed to only get worse by the minute and the poor old man wasn't sure how much he could take. He nodded, the only sign that he had listened to what the young Hokage had said and planted his hand firmly on his shoulder.

Minato looked back up at the toad who was now struggling very violently to keep the tailed beast underneath him and took a large gasp of air.

"Gamabunta! Now!"

The toad lept of the beast and before it could collect itself and get up Hiruzen felt an odd sensation in his stomach, the world seemed to fade before his eyes and before he could even blink they were in a completely different forest, the flames of Konoha very obviously billowing miles away in the distance.

Before he could come to his senses another loud crash echoed through the once quiet woods and the land was flattened once again before the hulking form of the Kyuubi.

Hiruzen looked to his side and saw Minato looking at the beast intensely.

"Please wait here Hiruzen-sama."

"Minato wait-!"

Before Hiruzen could stop him and enquire about the plan Minato was gone in a yellow flash, returning not even a second later with something, no, someone in his arms.

"Kushina?!" the old man said in shock, not really expecting an answer.

Hiruzen had thought that she would have died by now, the extraction of a tailed beast by no means being a delicate process. He looked at Minato for answers but received nothing, only noting that the man was looking more desperate than he had ever seen him.

"Kushina, are you sure?"

"Of course! I'm the only person that can-" The redhead suddenly went into a wet coughing fit, bringing her hands to her mouth to try and minimize the damage. She didn't stop for a good few seconds, all the time Hiruzen was becoming more aware of the Nine Tails slowly getting onto it's paws and shaking it's head.

Kushina finally stopped and both Hiruzen and Minato somehow paled even more. Thick wet blood now coated her hands where she had been coughing, but never betraying her nickname the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero merely scowled and looked Minato straight in the face with a burning passion.

"Minato if I'm going to die, I'm going to die fighting that bastard!" On the last word she pointed directly at the beast, now seemingly having regained it's bearings and glaring at the sight of it's old Jinchūriki.

Minato gently dropped Kushina onto the ground and pulled a kunai, preparing to combat the beast but before he could do anything, glowing yellow chains erupted into the clearing, snaring the beast and chaining it to the ground with a snarl.

Minato and Hiruzen both turned their wide eyes back to Kushina, who was breathing heavily but had gotten onto her feet and was holding the glowing chains from her palms.

"Never underestimate an Uzumaki!"

She turned to Minato with tired eyes, seemingly realizing what was to come next.

"Do it Minato, I will hold it down"

The beast snarled at being mentioned and thrashed against the chains but if anything, they got even tighter.

Minato suddenly swirled to look at Hiruzen, who was standing quite still at the side, not understanding what they were about to do.

"Hiruzen-sama, I'm going to attempt to seal the Kyuubi within myself-" A loud roar erupted from said beast at being told it was going to get sealed again.

"- If I falter, I need you to help me."

Hiruzen nodded, knowing that the beast would eventually need to be sealed but surprised that Minato himself would be it's vessel. Knowing better than to argue with him, Hiruzen stood closer to Minato, ready to help with the sealing and supply Chakra if need be.

Hiruzen watched as Minato prepared Chakra in his hand as the beast roared once more, and saw the young Hokage's breath falter.

"Hakke no Fūin Shiki!" [Eight Trigrams Sealing Style]

Minato moved his hand, now blazing with Chakra towards the beast, appearing to grab it's very essence before slowly but surely dragging it towards his stomach.

He took a step back and almost stumbled as he felt the enormous Chakra of the beast begin to enter his own Chakra system, but was held securely still by Hiruzen behind him.

He continued, bringing the palm to rest on his stomach before twisting his hand sharply.

And then he screamed.

Words couldn't begin to describe the pain that Minato felt. It was like his entire Chakra network had suddenly and violently turned into molten magma and was melting through his body and towards his toes. His vision faded and he was no longer in the mortal realm, entering a level of pain so intense that all he could see was white and all he could feel was agony. Minato thought to himself how he could have even considered doing this procedure on anyone but himself, how he could have done it to his own son.

As quick as it had started the pain faded, but not completely. His entire body was still on fire, aching as if it had been used for months without rest. He slumped forward, completely forgetting the situation and allowing his body to give up and god, he just wanted to sleep.

He was caught by someone and they were shouting, looking at him with desperate eyes and fumbling to position him comfortably onto the ground patting him lightly on the arm in an attempt to return him to normal.

Slowly, and with great resistance, he tried to gather himself. His entire body screamed at him to just stop and give in to the overwhelming demand of sleep but no, he had to make sure everyone was alright.

He blinked harshly, his arms going to shield his eyes from the world and he slowly sat himself up, breathing heavily.

He put his arms down and was shocked to see the Kyuubi had disappeared, completely gone in the now quiet forest, only broken by the crackling of fire and the man by his side who was still shouting.

"-inato! Stay with me, come back to it!" The voice shouted, and Minato tiredly gave in to the voice's command and looked towards it.

"Hiruzen-sama… where did the Kyuubi go… did y- did you stop it?"

The old man shook his head, his eyes still wide and desperate. "No Minato, come back to. You succeeded… it's over." The Sandaime Hokage softly reached to Minato's stomach and Minato was surprised to feel his cold and frail fingers instead of the thud of fabric.

He looked down and paled, the fabric of his jacket and shirt had burned away and instead of clean and smooth skin a black, swirly circle with eight prongs lay permanently implanted on his skin, impossible to remove.

Minato stared at it for five full seconds before remembering what he had done and why he was here. Minato opened his mouth before closing it again, and then looked at his mentor. "Is it… sealed in me?"

Hiruzen still looked awfully worried and wide eyed but nodded ever the same.

Minato took a few more quick breaths before attempting to get to his feet, only to stumbled back into Hiruzen's grasp.

"Minato, you need to rest, we don't know the consequences of sealing a tailed beast inside a fully grown adult let alone the consequences of you being the one to do it yourself."

Minato gasped again, shocked at the weakness of his limbs before attempting to stand again, successfully achieving a low crouch.

"Kushina. Where is Kushina."

Minato followed Hiruzen's gaze to a small clearing to the right of them and saw the prone form of his wife.

"Kushina!"

Minato, completely ignoring the screams of pain, rushed towards the unmoving body and was there in an instant, rolling it over so that he could see his wife's face.

"Kushina. Kushina, wake up! I know you're still there!"

On the side of the clearing, completely unseen by Minato, squads of ANBU and Jonin arrived, looking wildly and taking in the scene before them. One of them began to shout out a question before Hiruzen raised a palm, a simple command to remain silent.

Defying all odds, the woman slowly fluttered her eyes open, settling her tired gaze on her husband before looking down at the hole in his clothes, revealing his stomach.

"Did we… succeed?" she breathed, her voice now having permanently lost the fury of the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero.

"Yes, you saved everyone, it can't hurt anyone anymore."

She smiled before stopping again, adopting a worried look.

"Naruto, is he safe?"

Minato paused and then disappeared, returning barely a second later holding a bundle of clothes in front of him.

Kushina breathed out a sigh of relief, reaching to hold her new born son and Minato relented, placing the soft bundle in her arms as she brought it close to her face, attempting to see the face of her son.

"Oh… He's beautiful isn't he Minato, I wish he had red hair instead of your…. blonde flop."

Minato let out a sound, one that couldn't be distinguished between a sob or giggle before he stopped it all together.

Kushina, still holding the bundle close, slowly turned her head to look at Minato, his face completely blank and unmoving.

"Take… care of him Minato. Make sure… he is loved and looked after."

His face never changed but he paused, "... Of course."

Kushina paled even further, exertion evident on her face as she struggled to continue talking. "And for god's sake… make sure to not let Jiraiya around him… until he's sixteen."

Minato couldn't help himself, a small smile graced his face whilst he looked at his wife and that was all that she wanted to see.

"Don't forget… to look after yourself as well. Especially… now. Mito's journal… is in my study. You should… read it."

Minato nodded, looking at his wife one last time as she struggled one more sentence.

"Don't forget… I… Love you." She looked down at her son one last time, giving him a small smirk.

And then she was unmoving, stone cold against Minato's body, his baby began to cry.

Minato reached forward and picked the baby up, cradling it in his arms silently.

Hiruzen moved forward, using his body to block the view from the assembled ANBU and Jonin, preventing them from seeing the singular tear that ran down their leader's face.

Minato stared at his baby's face before slumping forward slowly, welcoming the cold embrace of unconsciousness and the relief that it would bring to his body, both physically and mentally.

AN 2: And that's part one! A lot of it followed canon but everything from here on out will be original content. I always questioned Minato's decision to seal the beast inside of Naruto in canon, I mean, I understand that it would help the Shinobi in the later generations but if he sealed it in anyone else or himself it would have the same benefits without having to give his son a bastardized childhood.