Chapter 02: Trusting Strangers
Minato appeared on the Hokage Summit, standing over his own head. He looked onto the distance to see the giant nine-tailed fox glaring at him, the tomoes in its eyes spinning slowly. The Kyuubi opens its mouth, a huge ball of energy forming. Minato tenses, grabbing one of his three-pronged kunai, preparing to throw. As the Kyuubi launched the ball of energy, Minato threw the kunai as hard as he could. As soon as the kunai made contact with the mound of energy, he focused intensely in a spot he had marked several hundred meters behind Konoha. "Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!" Minato exclaimed, pouring his chakra into the two points. Suddenly, the energy ball vanished, exploding in the spot he had focused on. Suddenly, Minato felt a flare of chakra behind him. He turned around just in time to block a kunai thrown by Tobi.
"I won't let you get in the way," Tobi said, the tomoes in his eyes moving slightly faster to represent his agitation.
"Getting in the way is what I'm good at," Minato smirked, throwing a kunai at Tobi's feet. Tobi easily dodged the kunai, but Minato teleported to it, slashing Tobi in the face. Minato's eyes widened slightly when the kunai went right through the man. Tobi then punched Minato in the stomach, sending him flying a few feet back. Tobi's fist was completely corporeal when he punched Minato, so how was he able to evade the attacks?
"Give up," Tobi said, spinning a kunai with his finger. "You can't beat me."
"He can't," Minato heard a voice come from nowhere. Suddenly, a black portal opened up from behind Tobi and a man stepped out. Minato recognized the man to be Sasuke from earlier. He unsheathed his sword and went to stab at Tobi's shoulder. Tobi stood still, which Minato can only guess that he did it because he was confident that the blade would go through him, but to his obvious surprise, the blade cleanly cut through Tobi, stabbing him through the shoulder.
"Impossible…" Tobi gripped his shoulder as he fell to one knee. "How did you…"
"How did you think?" Sasuke walked around Tobi until he was in front of him. "You can't win against me."
"I guess you're right," Tobi said, coughing. "I guess there will be other chances for world domination."
"Yeah, and we'll be right here waiting," Sasuke said as a sort of black hole appeared in front of Tobi's mask where his other eyes should be. Tobi constricted and folded into the small hole until both he and the hole were completely gone. Sasuke then turned towards Minato.
"Get your wife," he said. Minato opened his mouth to protest, but Sasuke continued. "We need to find a way to seal him. I'm not sure how long my partner can hold him off."
"Okay," Minato said. Not wanting to talk to Sasuke anymore, he vanished. There was something off-putting about the man. The way his hair covered his eye. It was not unlike the way Tobi only had one eye showing in his mask. He shook the feeling off as he appeared back in his house.
"Kushina," Minato said, walking up to his wife and son.
"I thought you were helping the village," Kushina said.
"That's the thing," Minato looked down, his expression solemn. "I need your help."
The Kyuubi opened his eyes to see that he was in front of Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. Those damn Uchiha, The Kyuubi thought to himself. In any other circumstance, now that he was free, he would have just walked away, but since he was close to the Uchiha Compound, he might as well destroy it, along with that stupid village. He swished his tails, razing the forests behind him as he charged a Tailed Beast Bomb and aimed it towards the village. When he shot it, there was a puff of smoke as the Tailed Beast Bomb was cut in half. When the smoke dissipated, a giant toad holding a tanto and smoking a pipe. Only one thought permeated through the Kyuubi's mind.
Minato!
"Huh? What the hell?" Gamambunta looked up to see who summoned him. One minute, he was just casually drinking, and the next, a giant ball of energy was flying towards his face. He saw a man standing on top of him, standing proudly with his arms crossed. At first, Gamabunta mistook the man for Minato, but the man was different. Gamabunta wondered how the man had summoned him. He had never met the man in his life. Maybe Raiya let him sign the contract? If that was the case, then there was no chance the man summoned him on his first try. That was outlandish. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'll explain later," the man looked down at the chief toad, a confident smile on his face. "We have something to take care of first."
Gamabunta looked back at the Kyuubi. How could this man look so confident when one of the strongest beings to ever exist was staring right back at him? Gamabunta tensed. "Fine, but I want some good booze after this."
"I'll try my best," the man said before inhaling a large amount of air. "Kurama!"
Thy Kyuubi froze when he heard his name. Last time he checked, no one should know his name. He looked on top of the toad's head to see a man, crossing his arms confidently, giving the Kyuubi a cocky smile. The man looked like Minato, but he wasn't Minato. He was a bit taller, his hair was shorter, and his smile. That smile reminded him so much of his most recent container. It infuriated him. "What do you want, brat?!" The Kyuubi roared, the trees below him shaking at the sheer force of his voice.
"I just wanted to talk," the man jumped off of the toad and hopped across the tops of the trees until he was right in front of the giant fox. Kurama looked down at the puny human. Something about him seemed… familiar. Not in the sense that Minato or Kushina gave off. Something different. Something warmer. "It's been a while since you've had a proper conversation, huh?"
"No thanks to you humans," the Kyuubi growled. "Now give me a reason for me not to eat and kill you right this instant."
"Well, it's not like you could in the first place," the man chucked, shaking his head. A tick appeared on the Kyuubi's forehead. Did this human just imply that he was stronger than him? The Nine Tailed Fox? "Now, I can't rectify the whole sealing thing, but I can promise you one thing."
"Now what would that be?" The man still infuriated the Kyuubi, but he was interested in what he had to say.
"Your next container won't be quite as bad," the man said. "Just give him a chance. Just guide him on the right path. Hell, who knows? You might actually like him."
"Next container?!" The Kyuubi roared. He thought the man, after learning his name and going so far as to risk his life just to talk with him would have learned, but he was just talking about containers. He didn't want to be contained anymore. He just wanted to be free. He roared, lifting his paw to crush the man, but he was stopped by a glowing yellow chain. It seems that Kushina made it to the site. The Kyuubi roared again, pure rage filling his eyes. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"
"Yeah, yeah," the man waved the giant fox off as he was being dragged down. "Now, treat your brother well, okay?"
"Brother? Wha-," The Kyuubi started, but the man was already gone, concealing himself in the trees.
"I can use the last of my chakra to seal it into myself," Kushina said as she struggled to pull the Kyuubi down with the chains on her back. "At least I can take it with me."
"I won't allow you to do that," Minato shook his head. "Save you chakra. After all, you'll need it for when you reunite with him."
"Reunite?" Kushina looked at her husband with a bewildered expression.
"I'll seal the rest of your chakra into Naruto and use a part of the reaper death seal," Minato said. "After all, it's the best I can do, considering I'm not a jinchuriki."
"But that'll kill you!" Kushina protested.
"I know, but I'm only going to seal half of the Kyuubi," Minato said. "I want to seal the other half into Naruto."
"But-,"
"Kushina," Minato looked his wife in the eye. "You remember what sensei said about the prophecy. I believe the Tobi man who attacked us will come back, and little Naruto will need any help he can get against him."
"Minato…" Kushina could only look at the Fourth Hokage. Of course, she trusted him, but being a jinchuriki wasn't an easy life, especially if both of his parents weren't going to be there.
"Let's trust him," Minato said, forming the hand seals. "He is our son, after all."
"But Minato," Kushina looked conflicted. "He shouldn't need to bear such a burden. And you…! Why do you have to die for him?! Why do you have to die for the village?!"
"Because, that's my job as a shinobi," Minato smiled as the reaper flew out of him. "Plus, you have something that I don't. Though we don't have much time left with him, I know that Naruto will need his mother's love. So please. If not for me, let me do this for him."
Kushina wanted to respond, but Minato's stony look prevented her. Minato nodded his head and turned to the Kyuubi. The reaper's hand went through Minato, heading straight for the giant fox, stabbing it in the leg. The Kyuubi roared in anguish as it started to shrink in size, the arm pulling out a large amount of charkra before sealing itself into Minato.
Minato forced himself over to Naruto, gingerly picking him up and placing him on the alter. "It's time," he gasped. "I'll seal the last of it into Naruto…"
"I won't let you!" The Kyuubi roared as it reared its claws back. Kushina coughed out blood as the chains started to strain themselves.
"Kushina!" Minato called as she saw Kushina launch herself towards Minato, the Kyuubi's claws speeding to the altar at an alarming rate.
"Susanoo!" Sasuke's voice rang throughout the area as Minato closed his eyes. When he didn't feel an impact, he opened his eyes. He turned around to see Kushina gawking at the same thing: a giant purple arm grabbing the Kyuubi's claws.
"You know, it would be nice for little me to have at least one parent alive," both Kushina and Minato turned around to see the blonde that called himself Naruto. Minato then looked towards his son. The hair… it looked exactly the same.
"Naruto…?" Kushina managed. Minato looked at Kushina before looking back at the man. A mother's intuition was never wrong. This man must be his son.
"You don't have to sacrifice yourself, mom," The older Naruto knelt before his mother and placed a hand on her shoulder, a red coat of chakra flowing through Kushina, healing her wounds and revitalizing her instantly.
"That's…" Kushina gave Naruto a blank expression. Naruto winked at his mother before standing up, facing Minato. "We need to hurry. I'll give you as much chakra as you need to finish the seal."
Minato nodded before wincing, putting an arm over his new seal. "Let's do this," he said as Naruto walked over.
"Wait!" Kushina called. "What about me?!"
"I can't let you die yet, mom," Naruto said. "I can't raise myself all on my own."
"But…" Kushina fell to her knees, tears pouring down her face.
"Son?" Minato looked at his son, a weak smile on his face. "I wish I could have had the time to find out what kind of man you became. Regardless, I just want you to know how proud I am of you."
"I know," Naruto smiled back as he put a hand on Minato's shoulder, pumping chakra into the Fourth Hokage.
"So, did you ever become the Hokage?" Minato asked as a bright light filled the area.
"Yeah," Naruto smiled at his father. "The seventh, in fact."
"Really? Who came before you?" Minato looked towards his son.
"Tsunade, then Kakashi," Naruto said, directing his attention at the baby.
"Really?! Now that's a surprise," Minato laughed as he uttered his last words. "I just hope little Naruto gets to live through it."
The older Naruto nodded as they finished the sealing. A tear dripped down Naruto's cheek, falling onto the floor as the last bits of life ebbed from Minato's body. "Damn it!" Naruto cursed as he looked at the smile left on the face of his deceased father. "I wish I could have saved you too."
Saskue looked away as soon as he saw the pained expression of his rival. Having his father die right in front of him… Naruto's situation reminded Sasuke of himself. Alone, helpless as his father died right before his eyes.
"Uchiha Sasuke," A deep voice said. Sasuke turned around to see the Shinigami staring right at him. "That eye of yours may cause some problems."
"I'm well aware of the power I possess," Sasuke closed his eyes and nodded. "I promise not to-,"
"I know about your circumstances," the Shinigami cut Sasuke off, causing the man to open his eyes in shock. "I will let you bend the rules, but only so much. As much as I would love to let fate run its course, it would cause too many problems for the entire living world to cross the threshold."
"Thank you," Sasuke said, bowing before the Shinigami. He grimaced, remembering the morally grey things he had to do in the past… and what the Shinigami may have thought of them. "I promise not to use this power unless deemed necessary."
"Naturally," the Shinigami said as it faded away. "Don't abuse this power, Uchiha Sasuke, and may your endeavors be successful."
"I'll be sure to see it through," Sasuke said, looking up at the full moon. "It seems things have taken a turn, huh?"