Madness Spiral

by Lord Dragon Claw

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto is the purveyor of "Naruto", whereas Junji Ito created "Uzumaki".

Finally! A sign of weakness! The fox could feel that she was weakened. He didn't know why, he didn't know how. Nor did he care. She was weak! He could finally kill her, eliminating the bloodline that was the bane of his kind forever!

The Kitsune no Kyubi, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox of the Bijuu (the great Tailed Beasts), chuckled darkly as he advanced on Konoha, intent on destroying her.

Uzumaki Kushina never would have placed herself in this position had her half-brother never been killed by the Yonbi in a stroke of bad luck. It was up to her to continue the Uzumaki bloodline for the idiot demons, the Bijuu, still existed.

Right now, she was pregnant and going into labor. Because of her bloodline, she would not survive birthing the child. But the child would be strong. She made sure of that. The Namikaze bloodline did not have any special abilities, just general strength and endurance. That was why she had gone to live with Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha. She hoped that the epistle she sent her father would find him and let him where to find her child, so that her baby would be properly trained in the powers of the Uzumaki bloodline.

It was painful, but she could feel the child within her, writhing as the contractions became more intense and more frequent. Then she felt it: the umbilical cord had wrapped around her baby's throat. That would certainly complicate the child's birth. She used her powers to loosen the cord and unwrap it, despite the fact that she felt the urging for it to coil more tightly. Survival instincts also demanded that she kill the child, for she knew that she would die. She resisted those as well.

"K-Kushina!" exclaimed the Yondaime, knowing that the love of his life was dying. Behind him sat the Sandaime, his face worried and grim.

"M-Minato... it'll be al... alright. I know... my f-fate. But our... ch-child... w-will be... st-str-strong." She then felt a familiar feeling. A Bijuu was approaching. "Mina... Minato."

"Yes," answered the Yondaime. He leaned in close to hear his lover's words.

"A Bi... Bijuu is coming," she said. "Protect... our ch-child fr-fr-from it..."

At these words, the Sandaime disappeared, to rally the village against the demon, against all hope.

"But, Kushina?" cried Minato. "How can I do that?"

Before she screamed out with her final contractions, placing the baby boy into the medic-nin's waiting hands, she uttered two words: "Seal it."

The baby was born healthy and screaming, but the mother lay there, lifeless.

Minato's soul ached. First he fell in love with her, though her stoic nature turned many away. Then, after her half-brother had died due to circumstances he was not privy to, she turned to him for comfort. Because of his many enemies, they did not have a wedding, for even the most secretive ceremony would have been discovered. And finally, within a year she was pregnant, only to die in childbirth.

Now he had to seal the Bijuu, whom an ANBU arrived to inform him was the Kyubi, in order to protect his son, the only thing he had left of his darling Kushina.

But how? The Shiki Fuujin (Dead Spirit Sealing Method) was great seal, but even one that powerful would only slow the fox down, AND he'd die from using it anyway so it'd have to be sealed in another person. He'd have to seal it within a child to avoid killing the host and unleashing the demon from its prison so soon after the sealing. Not just any child either, an infant.

Minato ran a hand through his blonde hair while he held his child in his other hand. He couldn't, and wouldn't, ask anyone to give up their child to be a Jinchuuriki, the container for a demon. It would have to be the very child who was born this morning, the one he currently held.

He'd need to spend the whole day just preparing the seals. He ordered the medic-nin to inform the Third Hokage that they only need to hold the demon off until midnight at the latest. He also wanted the medic-nin to inform the Sandaime that he had a plan that was bound to work.

He went to work, writing the seals that composed the Shiki Fuujin as well as a companion set of seals to cause his child to gain benefits from the demon fox: Hakke no Fuuin Shiki with the Shishou Fuuin (Eight Divine Signs Sealing with the Four Image Sealing).

The Third Hokage sighed. Seems that human nature had once again prevailed over common sense. The idiot sheep that made up his Hidden Village, as well as the moronic shepherds better known as ninja, all wanted the blood of Uzumaki Naruto. They wanted him dead, even though the boy's existence was what had saved them. Foolish beings, all of them.

So the Hokage had passed a law, preventing people from being able to kill the boy, as well as passing another that no one may speak of the Kyubi and Naruto in the same breath except to those that already knew.

A gnarled old man was seen walking northeast, towards Konoha. He had on a dark brown robe with a black cloak. On the back of the cloak, a silver double-spiral was embroidered. He had a weathered face and long, grayish-white hair. His walk was aided by a cane. Instead of a hook on the end of the cane, it was a spiral, and the straight shaft that reached the ground was twisted and had spirals etched onto it. He looked like an eccentric old man, until you saw his eyes.

Two pitiless azure pools shifted constantly, always on the alert for danger. The man, though old, carried himself with the grace of a predator.

Unfortunately for the mercenaries under the employ of one of the rebel factions in Rain Country they missed all these visual clues.

"Trying to escape to Fire, eh?" asked one of them, sneering at the elderly man.

"I can assure you," began the old man far too softly. "escape is not my plan. Move aside."

The mercenaries laughed. Some of the samurai drew their swords. The ninja from various villages drew their weapons and prepared jutsu.

"We don't like it when people get out of our turf. It's as if you 'refugees' don't even like us. You're going to stay, regardless of whether or not you're alive to do so. Make your choice: life or death?"

Slowly, the old man looked around himself. He could feel the presence of twenty of them, and they were letting him know that there were four more that had cloaked their chakra signatures perfectly. He then turned back to the man who had been ordering him around.

"I choose both," he whispered very softly. However, everyone could hear it. It was as if their own ears had spoken the words to them.

That was when the killing began.

Five minutes later, the old man continued on, ignoring their demands for blood and more death and other such dark things. He was quite practiced in ignoring them when they were excited.

He left the mangled, twisted bodies of the mercenaries behind, their limbs and spines twisted and coiled unnaturally. Their weapons were similarly twisted. Some of the men had been strangled to death by their own hair. The trees, grass, and other plants were also twisted and coiled.

If anyone were to look upon the scene, they'd think they had seen some sort of morbid modern art with a spiral theme. If they were from one of the many powers that vied for position in Rain Country, they would be instantly reminded that the southern half of the country used to be Whirlpool Country, before it was conquered by Rain eight years previously. The site would soon be regarded as a haunting ground for the vengeful ghosts of Whirlpool, and would be avoided no matter what it came down to.

Uzumaki Naruto, the container for the Kyubi, had turned four years old when the gnarled old man arrived in the village. The old man requested an audience with the Hokage, for he was searching for his daughter and grandchild. The ANBU who greeted him felt something was off, but he was granted audience anyway.

The gnarled old man entered the office of the Sandaime Hokage, a similarly gnarled old man. The Hokage was going bald and was loosing most of his body fat. He had become scrawny with age, but he was by no means less deadly.

The two old men locked eyes, gauging each other. The newcomer smiled slightly, as if he approved of what he had seen. The Hokage, on the other hand, was very nervous for he knew that the stranger was powerful, Kage-level even, but he couldn't tell exactly how powerful the newcomer was.

"Greetings," said the Fire Shadow. "I am the Sandaime Hokage. Welcome to Konoha."

"Thank you," spoke the other man, his voice hollow but resonating with immense strength. "I am Uzumaki Rasen; I am here to find out the fate that my daughter and her child were subjected to when I lost track of them four years ago."

"U-Uzumaki?" stuttered the Hokage.

"The same. Kushina was such a beautiful girl, if a bit cold towards other people. She told me she had gotten pregnant... is she alright?"

The Hokage considered his options for the moment. "No. She died giving birth," he said guardedly.

"I see. Her mother also died in labor. Well, surely the father is taking care of the child?"

"He died in the Kyubi attack."

"My condolences," said Rasen as he bowed his head in respect for the dead. "A Bijuu attack is always very catastrophic."

The Hokage didn't like where the conversation was going, so he puffed his pipe three times in succession. ANBU hidden in the room began to silently prepare their weapons for an attack.

"Call them off," said Rasen in a condescending tone. "I mean no harm to this village or anyone in it. But I will kill all nine of the Black Ops. ninja you have hiding in this room if I have to defend myself."

The Sandaime's pipe hit the desk when his jaw slackened. How did he know they were there! The Third Hokage had trouble sensing them himself.

"I am only here by request of my late daughter to oversee the training of the young Uzumaki in his Kekkei Genkai."

If the Hokage thought his jaw had dropped as far as it would go, he was wrong.

"I see. You are unaware of the child's bloodline?"

The Hokage quickly collected himself and put fresh tobacco into his pipe. He lit it to calm his nerves.

"Yes, I am not privy to its status as a carrier of a Kekkei Genkai."

"The Uzumaki Clan of Whirlpool Country always was a small clan, but their powers are immense."

The Hokage knew of the fall of Whirlpool, but he caught the usage of both past and present tenses in Rasen's comment. Before he could question the fellow elderly man, he continued.

"I see you recognized me using two different tenses. The Uzumakis have always been small in number, and we still are. We have always had the most powerful bloodline, surpassing even the doujutsu bloodlines, and we still do. My grandchild and I are the last two left alive."

"What does your bloodline do?"

"First of all, the bloodline is named after our clan, Uzumaki. Spiral. We have power over spirals. Since spirals are the simplest and most common of all patterns in nature, this seemingly small power is quite strong. However, side-effects are madness, bloodlust, wrathfulness, and ultimately suicide. Which brings me to the point of my visit. I must train the child in his or her bloodline so that he or she does not kill everyone around him or her."

"I understand, but exactly how powerful is the bloodline?"

"Even the most powerful shinobi and kunoichi can only knock a Bijuu out or seal it within something. We Uzumakis can kill it and walk away from the fight. I lost my son, Shinji, to the Yonbi through a fluke. Which brings me to my next question: where is the Kyubi?"

"Jailed within a Jinchuuriki," replied the Sandaime guardedly again. Rasen's condescending tone and his hollow voice did not inspire trust.

"Within my grandchild I suppose," remarked Rasen. "Only makes sense because Kushina did mention that her child was Namikaze Minato's child in her last letter. In code, of course. And knowing what I know about Namikaze, he was the Yondaime Hokage and the Yellow Flash of Konoha, correct?"

The Hokage was angry. This utter stranger had just leaked sensitive information to nine members of his ANBU, and it was only a matter of time before word got out. But he was stilled by the soft chuckle that Rasen made at his reaction.

"Don't worry. I've silenced the ears of everyone around us so that they could not hear, and I guarded my lip movements so that they could not read them. Please, what is my grandchild's name?"

"Naruto," breathed out the Hokage in relief. "His name is Naruto."

"Ah, so she bore a son? Most interesting. When may I see the legacy of my clan?"

Rasen saw the orphanage. A rather decent place. Modest, actually. His opinion of Konoha rose a notch. But then he saw how the people who ran the orphanage sneered at Naruto. He noticed that Naruto was practically shunned by all the other children there. Rasen's mood darkened slightly. They were urging him towards a slaughter, but he ignored them.

Naruto had his father's blonde hair, but his mother's eyes. Rasen's eyes. Those azure pools of infinity were a mark of the Uzumaki bloodline. Rasen could sense the seal on Naruto's stomach. He could feel the demon slumbering inside its prison. Things had gotten so much more interesting, because from what they were telling him, Naruto would eventually be able to use the demon's chakra. Most interesting indeed.

Rasen put in for him to gain custody of Naruto, but the approval of the Konoha Council was required to adopt him.

Rasen sat in the middle of the council chamber, a circular room with seats for the council members raised above the central area. The old Uzumaki recognized those from the Uchiha and Hyuga clans, as well as Aburame, Akimichi, Nara, Yamanaka, Haruno, Inuzuka, and several other minor clans.

The Hokage warned Rasen that the battle for Naruto's custody would be mostly uphill. The one Rasen most needed to look out for was Danzou, a leader on the council and a war hawk. Rasen felt he was appropriately prepared.

"Why should we allow you custody of... the... of Uzumaki Naruto?"

"First of all," Rasen said quietly, though everyone in the chamber still heard it. "I already know that the Kyubi has been sealed within Naruto. Second, I am his only living blood relative; his mother was my daughter. Third, Naruto has a powerful and dangerous bloodline that he must be trained in else he will go on a rampage soon."

"Liar," calmly countered Uchiha Fugaku, head of the Uchiha Clan. "There is no bloodline in the demon brat."

"The Uzumaki kekkei genkai originated in Whirlpool Country, hence the country's name. There was more to the name than just the fact that there were a lot of whirlpools in the rivers and lakes there."

"Assuming you and Naruto share a bloodline limit," began Danzou, silencing the other members of the council. "I would be willing to welcome you into the village."

"Good that someone sees reason," muttered Rasen. This time, no one heard it. He continued speaking softly again. "I will do whatever it takes to prove that I have a bloodline limit so that I may gain custody of my grandson, Naruto."

"I have an idea," proposed Hyuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuga Clan. "How about a duel with the head of another kekkei genkai clan?"

"I agree," concurred Fugaku.

"Very well. I will fight the heads of both the Hyuga and the Uchiha clans at the same time to prove my bloodline."

"That was not the deal," stated Danzou.

"No, but do humor this old man in his willingness to show off."

"Very well," said the Hokage sadly. "Assuming Uzumaki Rasen wins his fight against Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuga Hiashi, he gains custody of Uzumaki Naruto. All votes for?" A resounding chorus of "ayes" answered him. "And opposed?" Silence. "The fight will begin tomorrow in Training Field 42 at ten in the morning."

Rasen faced off against Hiashi and Fugaku. Rasen had removed his cloak, but kept his robe on, revealing another silver-embroidered double-spiral on his back. He still held on to his cane.

The whole Council was present to watch.

"Begin," called out the Hokage.

Hiashi held back to make observations about his opponent while Fugaku charged in, the three tomoe in each of his Sharingan eyes spinning wildly. Rasen locked eyes with Fugaku and the Uchiha stopped.

"What have you done to me! I can't see!" screamed the head of the Uchiha Clan.

Rasen lifted his cane and pointed it at Fugaku. The shaft twisted, extending itself quite rapidly and hitting Fugaku square in the chest. The Uchiha was catapulted backwards.

"You should be able to see now," said the Uzumaki, condescendingly.

Fugaku got up and glared at Rasen. Then he glared at Hiashi.

"No point in being mad at me," commented the head of the Hyuga. "I am merely observing him so that I might spy a weakness."

The Uchiha muttered something about idiot pompous Hyugas and where they can stick their Juuken techniques. He then formed several hand seals.

"Goukakyuu no jutsu!" (Grand Fireball no jutsu)

As the fireball raced towards Rasen, the old man inhaled. When he exhaled, a tornado of wind was formed. The rapidly flowing air snuffed out the gigantic ball of flame like a gentle breeze would a candle. Then the tornado continued towards the two clan heads. Hiashi dove right and Fugaku dove left. The tornado missed, but Rasen wasn't finished. His cane extended again and he managed to peg Hiashi in the side of the head with it. It knocked the Hyuga out of the air as he attempted to dive away from the tornado.

Each deciding to attack the Uzumaki from a different angle, the two clan heads charged. Rasen threw his cane to the side. He dodged Hiashi's Juuken and Fugaku's kunai by bending over backwards. Soon, Rasen was standing on his hands. He spun himself around and decked both clan heads in their craniums. He quickly flipped back onto his feet. Then his right arm did the strangest thing: it began to twist and coil. He nailed Fugaku in the solar plexus with a spinning fist, sending the Uchiha sprawling. Rasen's arm quickly straightened. Hiashi attempted to charge, only to find that the grass had somehow elongated and was trying to wrap around him. He Juukened several of them before he simply went into a Kaiten (Heavenly Spin) to obliterate the grass.

Rasen smirked and pointed at Hiashi's spinning form. Hiashi soon found that he couldn't stop spinning, and that he was spinning faster and faster. Unable to take the G-forces, the head of the Hyuga Clan soon passed out. Rasen stopped pointing at him in time to block Fugaku's roundhouse kick. In retaliation, Rasen's hair began curling. The hair lashed out at Fugaku. He was able to dodge the hair for several seconds before one lock managed to curl around his left leg. He found himself tossed like a rag doll towards a tree. He slumped to the ground after hitting it, unconscious.

"Winner: Uzumaki Rasen!" happily declared the Sandaime Hokage.

End.

Author's Notes

I really liked the idea behind this. But I can't get myself to write the second chapter. At all. I'm no good with horror.

Anyway, off to the Brain Dump with this. Maybe someone else can do something with it.