Chapter 1: One Loved, One Hated

The roars of the Kyuubi rang out through the forests surrounding Konohagakure, the flames of destruction swelling all around as the demon fox rampaged through the village's perimeter. It all happened to fast, the release of the beast from its container to the senseless attack on the village itself. No one was prepared, be it ninja or civilian, and they were paying the price. Hundreds laid dead in the streets, buildings collapsed or burning while children cried for their parents that would never return home, and parents called for their children to never be seen again. Yes, death was plaguing the powerful village, but as a man traveling within a yellow flash made his way to the beast there was hope.

Minato Namikaze was rushing through branches and limbs of destroyed and scorched trees, racing through the forest as he headed to his target. He had a plan, a horrid plan, but a plan nonetheless. It didn't take long for the demon fox to spot the container's husband, roaring in rage as the battle began that would shape and rock the village. It was a desperate battle, the one the Yondaime Hokage was struggling to get ahead of. After all, no mortal could kill the nine tailed fox. However, the Hokage planned around this.

As he worked to exhaust as much of the fox's chakra as he could, a woman was in a clearing not far away. She was exhausted, the red haired beauty gently setting down her newborn twins on a stone surface as she worked to prepare the seals she and Minato rushed to create to enact their plan. She, of course, was not fully prepared for what would happen. As she was kneeling down and working on another marking for the seal, she looked to the sleeping children on the stone. Both were sleeping so peacefully, not a sound coming from their lips despite the destruction happening around them. She struggled to stand up as she finished the last of her preparations, going to her children and placing a hand on each of their cheeks. The one occupying her left hand was a sleeping, smiling baby boy. His blonde hair was a clear showing of his father's genetics, while the baby girl to her left hand had her own auburn colored locks. They were practically spitting images of their parents when they were born, and she wouldn't be happier to see this. Though, she hoped she would be able to see them grow up after tonight.

"Kushina!" The woman turned to see Minato landing beside her. He was exhausted it seemed, but otherwise unharmed. "We need to do it now. He's seconds away from getting her."

Kushina nodded, looking to the forest's edge as the fox was trampling towards them. She took a deep breath as she prepared herself, and when the fox was close enough she activated her family's Kekkei Genkai, the Chakra Chains. The chains, though weak compared to her normal strength, held the fox in place exactly where she and Minato wanted him. With a grunt of annoyance Minato set to work preparing the sealing. His hands raced as he made the signs for the ritual.

"Reaper Death Seal!" The blonde Hokage called out, and the eyes of the Kyuubi widened at the jutsu. Before Minato a figure appeared, a creature of death and darkness itself. The figure wore pure white robes, though loose enough to expose the purple skin of his upper chest and hands. His hair was long, wild, and as white as his robes while within its mouth was a tanto gripped tightly in its jaws. The Shinigami looked down to the group of humans, eyes darting around before turning to see the Kyuubi bound, though barely, in the chains of chakra.

"Kushina…" Minato said softly as he smiled at her, knowing what the price would be to do what their plan called for. "I love you, raise our children with the love and affection we were never given. I am-"

"Not going to die."

The newly made parents looked to the Shinigami as it looked down at the infants, both children resting soundly before the entity of death that floated before them that spoke to their father. The Shinigami looked back to the two parents, eyes void of emotion as he took the tanto from his mouth and whirled it to the sky to begin the sealing that he was called for.

"Wait, I know there is a price for this jutsu, tell me what it is!" Minato screamed out to the Shinigami as it started to channel the chakra of the Kyuubi into only one of the children. The baby girl started to cry, tossing slightly at the sensation it felt as the seal was being created and in turn the tenant to come being channeled into her. The Kyuuni roared out in frustration, trying to break free of its chains but it was powerless against the Shinigami's far superior power. Sure, it was the greatest of the nine tailed beasts, but no one is more powerful than death.

Both Kushina and Minato looked at the Shinigami performing the ritual, and in mere moments it seemed that Kyuubi was no longer. Minato looked down at his daughter, taking her into his arms and Kushina smiled. They looked down at their daughter, trying to soothe her as their attention was solely on her. They turned their heads to look at their son, but to their horror he was no longer on the stone slab. They looked up at the Shinigami, eyes wide in shock and disgust as the entity held the child in its hands.

The Shinigami looked down at the two, eyes still void of emotion as he rocked the sleeping boy in his arms."Your price has been paid, Namikaze Minato. Kyuubi is sealed, your threat is gone."

And with those words, he started to vanish into a thin, pale smoke. Kushina tried to tackle the god of death, but when her body meant to make contact she instead slipped through the mist, falling to the ground as she looked up to see the smoke dispersing into the night sky. It was on that night that Konoha was dealt a great blow.

It was on that night, Kushina and Minato lost their son.

A few hours later Kushina and Minato were in the Hokage Tower, their daughter sleeping soundly in Kushina's arms while her mother was barely able to talk. The tears never stopped leaving her eyes. She hated how within the first day of their lives she failed to protect one of her children.

Minato was cold, looking out the window as his own cheeks were stained with the dry trails of tears long cried at the loss of his newborn son. The news of the events that happened to the Kyuubi traveled like wildfire, and the population of the Hidden Leaf Village wept not only for their fallen kin, but also for the son that was stolen from their beloved Yondaime Hokage. The village would recover physically, but for Minato and Kushina, the blow may never heal within their tattered hearts.

~~The Pure World~~

The Shinigami appeared within the land of the dead, the Pure World, with the slumbering infant in hand. He was not expecting such a thing to happen tonight of all nights. No, he expected to have his solace before the events to happen by dawn. He looked down at the boy, hair as yellow as the sun's rays and a smile on his chubby cheeks that seemed to remind the Shinigami of the fragility of the human soul. He sat down on a patch of grass, the two in a never ending meadow as he contemplated on what to do with the child.

For the life of him, he did not know why he chose to take this child instead of the soul of the human that summoned him. Traditionally, he never took an alternative payment for the action the Hokage needed of him. But when he saw the two children, something in his ancient mind brought interest to the boy. He sat there in quiet contemplation as he thought of what to do. In no less than ten hours the Celebration would be happening within Chikyugakure. He needed to prepare for the event, but his mind kept the thought of the boy in his arms at the front of his thoughts.

As he thought, the baby stirred. The Shinigami, for the first time in thousands of years, allowed a smile to grace his typical emotionless lips. The baby boy opened his eyes, the eyes as bright as the mortal world's sky greeted the Shinigami's own dark, colorless pupils. The child, within its heart, was as pure as the souls that rarely ever made the Shinigami proud to have reaped them. The baby cooed, moving a bit in the cloth around it as a smile graced its chubby cheeks.

"This boy," the Shinigami thought, "seems to be important for the mortal world. I can feel it, he would have made massive ripples in the course of the human events. But here he now lies in my arms, in the Pure World…"

The entity kept his eyes on the child as that thought ran through its mind. He typically didn't care how or why humans died. In the end, they came into his domain. But the thought of keeping this boy here felt wrong to him. That's when a thought came to his mind. With his face now back to its emotionless shade he stood up, holding the baby in his arms still as he walked through the meadow.

"I know what I will do with you now, young soul." He looked up to the endless, clear blue sky that covered the fields. "I robbed you of your proper family, a family that would have loved you without condition. I do not have any regrets that I did, your parents knew there was a cost. However, I think for once I will break my own rules and return a taken soul to the mortal world."

His gaze returned to the boy, now again sleeping in his arms. "But before I do, I will give you something that my chosen people would see as a true blessing. My dear young soul, I will give you with a power that will help you fulfill the destiny you were meant to live."

With those words spoken, the Shinigami summoned from the air a thick, black cloth and wrapped it around the child. The original covers he came into the Pure World with now tossed and scattered into dust in the wind. As the black veil covered the child, the Shinigami steeled his immortal resolve to do what he must to give the boy abilities and power no mortal would ever dare to defy. The idea itself made the god chuckle within his own mind. With no more thoughts to stop him, the Shinigami went to work changing the infant, giving him the powers of his world. By the time he is done, the Celebration will commence. And from there, a new home for the boy.

~~Chikyugakure, Hidden Earth Village~~

All throughout the streets of the Village Hidden in the Earth thousands of lights, lanterns and other such things were blazing bright within the massive underground cavern the village was nestled in. Music played, people shouted and sang and cheered their voices out as the Celebration was in full swing. Nearly every citizen was wearing the white robes that were made to mimic the Shinigami's own, masks they wore being crafted with expert care to be akin to the death god's own. The sweet smells of dozens of different stands wafted throughout the streets, from the simple aroma of sweets to the zesty scents of spicy curry. All in all, the Celebration was reaching its peak.

At the center of the village was a single bell that hung highly by the obsidian stone pillars that held it in the air. Beneath the bell and stretching roughly sixty meters out was stone carved from the hands of the village's founders. The carvings depicted warring clans, great monsters known as the Bijuu, and depictions of the founding clan discovering the great cavern that housed the bustling city. Around the stone itself the few thousand that called Chikugakure their home massed together. It was nearly midnight, the time where the Celebration would hit its peak. Everyone was excited, hoping for news from their patron himself to be given to them. However, though their faith was strong, many doubted the mighty Shinigami would be able to entertain his chosen people once again.

The crowd slowly started to quiet down as four groups started coming to the plaza. From the north, twelve men and women walked with heads held high with utter prestige in every step. They wore robes similar to the Shinigami like the others of the village were wearing at the moment, but they held red trimming and a kanji for "First" emblazoned on their backs. From the south, a group of eight came, their robes with blue trim and the kanji for "Second" on their left shoulders. The group coming from the east, their robes with green trim and the kanji for "Third" on their right shoulders. The final group from the west bore the final altered robes, their trim black with the kanji for "Fourth" on their backs. At the head of each of these groups were a single individual. The first's leader being a man with wrinkly skin and sunken, tired eyes. His hair white as snow, and along with the cane he used to help him walk was a tanto in his hand.

The second group's leading figure was a younger woman, roughly in her early thirties with wild dark blue hair that was very poorly tied into a long, flowing braid down her back. She too held a tanto in her hands.

The third group's head figure was a young man that looked barely out of his late teens. His hair was an emerald shade of green, long and flowing to his shoulders with bone fragments tied into multiple braids. His tanto held firmly in his hand.

The fourth and final group's leader was as young as the third's. She was a young woman, the left side of head shaved down to the skin while long, flowing, black braids ran over the shaved skin. Her tanto strapped to her hip as she and the other three leaders made their way to the towering bell tower in the center of the plaza.

The four dismissed their groups to stand at the edge of the stone they now stood on, each looking to another before taking the tantos in their hands and cutting a slash in their palms. The younger of the four winced to the pain, as if this was the first time they had done this to themselves while the older of the four didn't seem to do much more than flinch. The four of them knelt down, putting their hands on the stone where the groves of hands were etched into the stone. Their blood, instead of pooling in the groves, were absorbed into the stone. As the last drop left their hands, the obsidian holding up the bell started to have bright, red streams as thin as paper cracking along their surface. The four smiled to one another, taking a few steps back before getting down on one knee as the bleeding cracks made their way to the bell. The thousands of others standing and watching soon followed, kneeling down as the cracks met the bell.

The bell started to move as it was covered with the blood, slowly at first, the inner metal not meeting the bell's walls, but as the movement grew with more momentum the village heard its sweet, somber tone for the first time in nearly twenty years. The bell kept ringing out, the entire village seeming to grow silent as the bell's soothing melody caressed the populace's ears. However, the sweet sound would not last forever, and before they knew it a power gust of wind washed over them.

When the people looked up to see, they all couldn't help but smile and some had tears growing in their eyes. Before them, standing beneath the bell tower, was the Shinigami. The four leaders kept their heads low as the Shinigami, after so many years, had finally returned to them. Before a single one of them could speak, the crying of a child rang out into the sea of people. Hundreds now turned to anger as they looked around to see what child was crying in the presence of the beloved deity. However, after a few seconds of hearing the sound, they all turned to the Shinigami and their eyes went wide. In the death god's arms was a child wrapped in fabrics as dark as the night.

The Shinigami turned his gaze to the four leaders who now stood before him, their heads bowed in respect before looking up at him. The First leader, with his wrinkled features, smiled at his patron.

"Lord of Death, Keeper of the Pure World…we welcome you to your humble village. I, Kisho Shintami, welcome you on the behalf of the entire Shintami clan."

Beside the older man, the older woman smiled lovingly at the Shinigami. "On behalf of the Yantoro Clan, I, Madoka Yantoro, welcome you home."

The next was the teenage boy, bowing his head once more before speaking nervously. "I-I am Genki Rashi, and o-on behalf of the Rashi Clan we welcome you h-home!"

The final leader, the youngest woman before the Shinigami, smiled as she took a deep breath before speaking. "I, Jin Tuyin, leader of the Tuyin Clan, welcome you on behalf of my clan."

The four leaders kept their gaze to the Shinigami, who seemed impassive at best judging by the look in his eyes. His pupils wondered for a moment, seeming to look for a specific person. "Where is your leader? Where is the Kuraikage?"

Kisho took a deep breath, not looking too excited to tell their lord the troubling news of their situation. "Forgive us, Lord Shinigami, but since the death of the Shodai Kuraikage we have yet to find an appropriate replacement to be even considered his equal. As such, the heads of the four clans you see before you now watch over the village and its affairs until the one chosen to be the Nidaime Kuraikage can be found."

A moment passed, the silence tense after the news was given as the four clan heads looked to the Shinigami in worry. They had failed to find a new leader in the twenty years he had been gone, and all four of them were prepared to give their lives as penance for the impudence. However, what they didn't expect was the slight chuckle from the Shinigami's lips. The four raised their heads once again to look at their god before they saw him lower his arms and place the now sleeping child on the ground.

"I present to you my choice for the Nidaime Kuraikage. A child that was payment for me to seal a powerful foe. A child whose destiny I have decided not to rob. He has slept in the Pure World as a living child, the energy of the afterlife tainting and empowering his chakra. It was my judgment that I also bestowed him with several gifts directly tied to my own domain of power."

The Shinigami took a single, undeeded, breath before speaking loudly. "My chosen people, I bring to you my choice for the next Nidaime Kuraikage. He will be welcomed and loved within my village. He will be raised by the four clans, his abilities will surpass that of any other kage of your mortal world. In my word as the God of Death, his soul will not be claimed from death of injury or poison. No…"

He turned his eyes to the sleeping child on the ground before him. "He will live long and prosper, as a sign of my patronage he will grow to be what he was destined to be."

The crowd smiled up at their god, applause soon followed by cheering erupted as they praised the child that was gifted to them. They in the same breath cursed the people who would offer a child with such a destiny for their lord's help. They themselves had no idea that outside their village, the other nations did not see the Shinigami as they did.

As the crowd cheered and the Celebration went back into full swing, Jin went to gently pick the child up in her arms. His hair was blonde, but at the end of the locks were black as the cloth he was wrapped in. She looked up to the Shinigami as he prepared to leave, the other clan heads discussing how best to raise the child while she held him. "My lord, does the chosen child have a name?"

The Shinigami thought of it for a moment, remembering the name the boy was supposed to have. Though he did want to honor his parents' wish for his full name, he couldn't give the child the family name since it could lead to issues down the line. He looked at her and nodded. "Naruto. Naruto Shingami. He will bear the closest I will allow to my own name. Raise him well, Jin. Do not disappoint me."

The girl nodded, smiling softly at the sleeping Naruto in her arms. She couldn't help but feel an instant bond with the blonde child. A tear even escaped her eyes. "My lord, I will treat him like my own. After all, I always wanted a child…"

(Author's Notes)

So, welcome to my first ever attempt at a Naruto fanfic! As you can see, there will be some changes to the original timeline. I do love the origin of Naruto, and the story as a whole, but this idea came to my head not too long ago when I was working on my MHA fanfic. I hope you all enjoy this one!

Also, before anyone says it, I know there is the Hidden Stone Village in Earth Country, and I can see that some might mistake Chikyukagure for Iwakagure. Its not the same thing, since as you will see further on that Chikyugakure is not in Earth Country.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. Take it easy!

-Vermillion Clover.