"Prologue"
The night sky was lit up like the Fourth of July as flames spewed forth from the mighty creatures maw. It's nine tails thrashed against the land, as it raged throughout the village, and tore the ninja opposing it to pieces. In one fell swoop hundreds of ninja were reduced to ash as it's powerful assault painted the land with fire, and the populace ran away with all the strength they had.
"Earth Style: Snaking Pillars!"Giant pillars of stone rose from the ground twisting to aim their sharpened points towards the beast. Acquiring their target, the four columns ran the beast through, anchoring, and locking the monster where it stood. Dazed, but otherwise unaffected, the beast became non-corporeal and allowed itself to pass through the stone, the chakra making up it's body resealing any 'wounds' it had taken from the attempt at trapping it. Shocked at the unexpected development, the barrier assault squad that had erected the pillars retreated a safe distance away to come up with a different solution as other teams took their place to hold the force of nature back from tearing apart the rest of the village.
Four Jonin stood atop a nearby canopy, their leader looked back at the other's "Everyone know what to do?" The remaining three nodded in confirmation, before readying themselves for their planned assault. "Alright then everyone! Let's do it!" Two of them combined their techniques together, and raised a massive wall of earth, and steel to hinder the creatures progress while the group leader and his companion jumped into action running through hand seals, and summoning massive statues that conjured seals across the sky. The seals formed a grid of chaotic energy which surrounded the being and began to close in on it, and unfortunately being where they were, effectively sealing themselves inside the barrier with it. Surrounded and trapped, the large fox-like entity stopped moving and particles began to gather in the shape of an orb in front of them after being ripped from the very air around it. Blue and red orbs compressed into a larger purple sphere. It roared, and the sphere was launched forward. Condensed chakra made contact with the statues, reducing them to ash with a blinding explosion casting their pieces across the scenery, simultaneously nullifying the barrier entrapping it, and somehow not destroying the surrounding area besides some stray houses. A massive red claw pierced through the stone/steel wall, the last thing the two jonin who created it witnessed was the eyes of the Sharingan, tomoe spinning wildly in the fox's skull.
"Lord Third, the nine tails is inside the village, it's overwhelming the defense teams!" The Third Hokage secured his war-helm, body armor, and gauntlets. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind as he readied his weapons. "I know." he said, maintaining his calm under the pressure of this immediate dire threat. "You.. gather everyone else, and protect the people of the village. Me, and Minato will restrain and subdue the Kyubi." he gave his order, and the Anbu quickly left to follow through with the orders given to him. 'Minato what happened? I thought the seal was under control. What happened?' he thought as he wondered of the fate of one of his greatest shinobi, and friends. Glancing at the ANBU accompanying him he nodded, they returned the gesture. 'We need to stop the Kyubi before it can do anymore damage. Hiashi and his clan mates should be out there now activating the barrier seals.' He shunshin'd to the roof of the Hokage tower as the ANBU guarding him followed closely behind. Reaching the rooftop, they began preparing for possibly the last fight of their lives.
Hiruzen tossed his pipe aside letting it land atop the roof, and began moving through the necessary hand seals before palming the ground, releasing seals across it. "Summoning Jutsu: Monkey King Enma come to me." A Large plume of smoke jet towards the sky, and the monkey king stood before Hiruzen. Upon being summoned he immediately began analyzing the situation. He came to his conclusion. "I see, so the seal was broken then, this is not gonna be as easy battle my friend." he spoke calmly, taking in the view of the Kyubi absolutely wrecking havoc across the village. "Indeed, but this is the Kyubi, we shouldn't expect easy from this type of opponent. We must protect the village, well drive it from here with the Adamantine Staff." The plan would be to relocate the Kyubi, then from there they would be able to deal with it without having to worry about destruction coming to the village. Nodding in agreement, Enma transformed into a bō staff as Hiruzen grabbed a hold of him. The staff thickened to the width of Hiruzen's body before extending out towards the Kyubi at break-neck speed. The Kyubi exclaimed a surprised shout as it was lifted from the ground, and was pushed through the air, before being slammed roughly into the forest floor. Towers could be seen rising from the forest, emitting arrays of seals. They formed a barrier around the village. 'Nice work Hiashi. That should keep it out.' he thought, before seeing something he wasn't expecting.
Hiashi and Hizashi Hyūga sped through the forest followed by a team of thirty or so Hyūga members of both the main and branch families. Hopping from tree to tree under the cover of the canopy, they bore witness to the Kyubi suddenly falling through the trees and impacting the ground directly in front of them, making them scatter to avoid running headfirst into the beast, or being crushed under flying debris. The ground cracked underneath it as the earth seemed to separate. The Kyubi, having regained focus, attempted to stand, or it would have if a million small human like creatures hadn't crawled out of the cracks in the ground and begun latching themselves onto the Kyubi and begun feeding off of it, taking massive bites out of the fox/rabbit hybrid. Flaring it's chakra, the beings covering it's body were incinerated with a wave of malicious energy, leaving only the ones surrounding the Hyūga alive.
"Everyone, In Formation! Steady!" Hiashi commanded as he and his clan took up position in preparation of an assault by the hundreds of thousands of small monsters that had crawled from the fissures. The Kyubi was lifted once more by the sheer combined strength of Enma, and Hiruzen, and carried even farther away before being thrust into the side of a mountain. One of the creatures jumped some ill prepared chunin and tore through their throat before crawling down the hole they made in the ninjas neck. The jonin took position and began firing katon-jutsu to burn the creatures alive, and make space for everyone else to begin moving in. The invaded body began to twitch, and move again. Launching a fireball, they made sure to incinerate it quickly before anything happened.
Hiashi focused chakra into his eyes as he analyzed the creatures before him. His eyes widened before he directed a question towards his younger sibling. "Hizashi, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Hiashi asked his brother who nodded in response before replying just as firmly," they only have a single Tenketsu point throughout their system, but that's not even the strangest part about these creatures…
they have no chakra whatsoever." It was unheard of, all living beings had some sort of chakra running through them. "There's a lot of them, I'm not sure well be able to hold them off forever unless we use our special technique." Hiashi supplied his suggesting, but his brother seemed to disagree. "Too dangerous, well have to make a retreat, but well need an opening." He returned. "but wha–"
"Multi – Human Bullet Tank!" The shout interrupted Hizashi's thought, and drew the attention of the creatures as a dozen or so of the Akimichi clan came rolling over the forest. Their large size crushing everything in their path with the use of their clans unique body expansion jutsu. Trees were splintered and tossed as they tore through. The things didn't stand a chance, flattened and reduced to stains of gore spread across what remained of the forest floor. "Hiashi! You and your clan head back, and regroup with the others! Well clean this mess up!" Chōza hollered down as he rolled passed them, smothering more of the little shits under his incredible mass. Hiashi, following Chōza advice, left with his clansmen.
Landing quietly upon the remnants of an old watchtower, he gazed at the sight of the Kyubi rising out of the rock face of the mountain. Fire spew from it's mouth as the forest was set ablaze, the flames casting it's silhouette across the sky. He regarded it for a mere moment, knowing what he must do to stop it's rampage once and for all. "I can't let you destroy my home... my people... my family." The Kyubi turned, recognizing his form in the distance. Crouching down, particles compacted as it prepared another Bijūdama. Releasing the bomb, it flew forth before being stopped midair. Seals spread out across the air itself as the bomb was seemingly sucked into another dimension before disappearing. In the distance a tremendous ball of light signaled the explosion went off, it's blast reaching beyond the clouds as it leveled the landscape.
Sweat dripped down his forehead as he looked back at the explosion 'I don't wasn't one of those hitting me head on… I'll have to do this quick.' It was then, when he looked back at the Kyubi that he noticed the tomoe spinning in it's eyes. 'The Sharingan… it's being controlled then.. but by who?' The beast let out a roar as it prepared to launch another one. 'I need to alert the Third Hokage.' Before he could though a hand grasped his shoulder. He turned his head just in time to see a white mask as his vision began to spiral. "I think it's my turn now Fourth." said the masked figure as reality itself seemed to spiral between them. Minato now realizing what was happening as he was being sucked into the jutsu, activated his Hiraishin which teleported him to a faraway clearing, and away from danger just as a Bijūdama tore through where they once stood.
A couple hundred meters away, time space began to distort as the masked figure warped into existence. "Running are we... doesn't matter, this all ends here." Minato stood up, throwing kunai at the man. They simple phased through him as if he wasn't even there. "That wont work on me." he spoke almost tauntingly as he pulled chains from his sleeve and attached them to his wrists. Gripping the chains, he ran at Minato who in turn ran at him. As Minato reached him they ran straight through each other. Feeling something tug at his chest he looked down to see the chains wrapped around him and trapping him in place. "I got you." he spoke before his one visible eye widened in slight surprise as suddenly Minato disappeared from eyesight and reappeared on the other side of the clearing. "That's a unique trick you have there. The Flying Thunder God if I remember correctly?" spoke the man once more, amusement clear in his voice. "I could say the same to you. It's not everyday you fight someone who can become phase themselves out of existence." Minato wasn't smiling, not sharing in the mans enthusiasm.
The man stared him in the eyes, Sharingan flaring once more as space distorted around him. Minato, feeling a presence behind him, leapt forward, as a blast made impact behind him. Turning around he was met with the image of the masked ninja running at him once more as smoke filtered from the crater where he once stood. Throwing one of his special kunai, he charged as well. As they made contact with each other, Minato disappeared from view. 'what?' thought the masked man, alarmed as his intangibility jutsu wore off, before suddenly he was being drove into the ground by the force of the Hokage's Rasengan. Activating Kamui again, he warped away to the treetops to make space between them. 'That was rather close. He actually did some serious damage hehe.' he thought. Their back was bleeding heavily, and their arm melted away. Looking around, he couldn't spot the Fourth Hokage 'Where did he go?' Blonde hair filled his vision as a hand thrust against his chest, spreading seals across their entire front. "The nine tails is no longer under your control." he spoke smoothly as the masked stranger warped away.
He reappeared atop a upheaved boulder. "I must commend your efforts Fourth, you actually did damage to me, and severed my control over the nine tails." The outcome didn't seem to bother him at all. "I am going to take over the world." Finality stressed in every syllable. "The nine tails was only the beginning, there's more then one way to conquer the world. Unfortunately you won't be around for the second." With his piece said, he disappeared.
In the distance the Kyubi began to wobble. Tomoe disappeared from it's eyes as it regained control of it's movements. Looking around, it realized where it was. 'I'm..free?' Realization dawned on the creature as it made a move to run. It didn't get far, as glowing chains of chakra burst from the earth and held it in place. "NO.. I refuse to go back!" it growled as it struggled against the chains in futility, chains which bonded it to the space where it stood.
She could barely stand. Leaning on Minato who stood beside her as they stared up at the now re-captured Kyubi. "Minato… I don't have much left in me." she said, legs wobbling, she fell to her knees out of exhaustion. Giving birth, and having a bijū ripped out of you at the same time isn't exactly an ideal scenario. "Do you think you'll be able to seal it back inside me?" She wondered as she didn't exactly have the chakra or energy to seal it back up herself at the moment. Being on deaths door, she didn't exactly have that capacity. Minato thought for a while as the beast struggled in front of them. "I can't seal it back inside you… If you take the nine tails with you… there will be no Jinchūriki till he reforms. Without one, the balance of power will be disturbed, and we will be leaving our home, and our friends unprotected." he locked eyes with his wife. "I'm gonna seal him inside of Naruto." he spoke looking down at his son in his arms. Kushina's eyes widened at the implications. Here she was dying, and if she knew Minato, she knew how he would have to go about sealing the Kyubi. Tears streamed down their faces. They knew the future they were gonna leave their son with, but they really didn't have a choice here. Their home, their people, their friends. Their very existence and safety relied on them to make the right decision.
"Minato… I can't do this to my baby. I know what it's like being a Jinchūriki. Look around, no one is gonna forget this. I want him to have at least a chance at living a normal life." She spoke through tears not wanting to accept such a future for her child.
"I don't want to accept this either, but…" he looked sadly at his wife as their eyes met. She knew it had to be done just as well as he did, but that didn't mean either of them had to like it. "You know what we must do, for everyone right?" A choked sob broke free from her lips as she became more distraught. "It's going to be okay. One day years from now he'll have the life we want for him. It might not start out how we planned, but…" he knelt down, and kissed his wife's forehead, and wiped her tears away. "He's gonna be okay. He IS a Namikaze, and an Uzumaki after all. He's our son, and if he's anything like you hell no doubt make friends the moment someone sees him." They were both smiling sadly, looking down at the child in their arms.
"I will always love you Naruto" he solemnly spoke, holding Naruto close to his chest for one final hug. Sighing, he kneels and places Naruto on the ground. Coming to a stand he casts his final jutsu. Methodically he went through the required hand motions. "Reaper Death Seal!" A phantasm formed behind him as he focused on his wife, and the ghastly form of the Shinigami became clear. The Shinigami's hand extended into his back, and burst from his chest reaching for the Kyubi. Gripping the tailed beast, the Shinigami ripped the soul in half, before sealing one half into Minato. Gasping, Minato reached down and grabbed his son as a small podium formed in front of him. Placing Naruto upon the podium he began the sealing for the other half.
"YOU WON'T SEAL ME AWAY AGAIN!" The Kyubi roared as it's eyes lock on the infant. A clawed finger aimed for the child. As it came down ready to strike, Kushina hopped into action, Minato behind her, they body blocked the strike which skewered both of them. Their son, while crying, remained unharmed.
How would you spend your final moments? To them it was obvious. Minato would use his sealing half the beast in himself, and half within his own son, ending his own life, and sealing his sons fate as it's Jinchūriki. Kushina would spend hers keeping the beast at bay using what little energy she had left holding it with her sealing chains. Their final moments were spent protecting their home, and their son.
Hiruzen approached the child laying atop the small stone altar, and he thought. He thought of the friends he had lost, and of the fate that now fell upon the shoulders of the child to two of them. There was no way to make this right… Too many had been lost, and while the beast may now be sealed away behind a Shinigami bound seal, the catastrophe would remain in the hearts and minds of the village for a long time to come with no end in sight. He cast a solemn gaze towards the crying child as he knelt down, and took hold of him. He looked a lot like his father… he had his mothers eyes… theirs no doubt he has their heart as well. He would likely grow to be just like them.
It was gonna be hard for him in the coming years, and there was no doubt about that. Those like him rarely walk life without strife. They are burdened by a power unimaginable to most, and people fear them for not just their power, but also the threat that their existence can present. Tonight was just one example of that. The consequences of creating Jinchūriki, and the risk pertaining to them were high in price, and unfortunately with the current state of the nations, they were vital if a village wishes to survive.
'What do I do?' he pondered, there were a couple choices he could make, but it was quite clear which one would be better. 'I'm sorry Naruto… Perhaps if things were but a little different you wouldn't have to bear this burden I'm about to place on your tiny shoulders.' He took one last glance at the fallen bodies of the loving couple smiling as tears soaked their face, who sacrificed themselves to protect their child, and glanced back down at the boy in his arms who did nothing but cry.
'Perhaps one day you'll be able to forgive this old fool…'
