AN: Hey Everyone! I'm TimeisLife, but you can call me TiL. I've read and loved fanfiction for about four years now. I've decided to try my hand at being an author myself and created my own account. Naruto has always been one of my favorite anime, but I have always been frustrated by how they portrayed Naruto. This is my story. Thanks for checking it out. Please R&R.


Blood-curdling screams resounded through the crisp night air of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, as a gigantic, orange nine-tailed fox rampaged through the village, destroying buildings and ending the lives of shinobi and civilian alike. It had appeared suddenly and surprised them all, and rampaged through the village.

The surviving shinobi, led by Hiruzen Sarutobi, regrouped in front of the Hokage Tower to make their final stand as large, condensed spheres of pitch-black chakra were rocketed into the buildings surrounding them. They stood together in formation, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the cause of the destruction.

The civilians evacuated as fast as they could into the safe havens created in the forests, trampling over countless mangled corpses and body parts. Young shinobi were ushered along with them in order to secure the future of the village. They held their breath to avoid the smell of death and kept their gazes upward to avoid looking at the mutilated corpses of both shinobi and civilian that were littered on the grass. The once green grasslands were now painted crimson.

Even though they were miles away from the beast, they could still hear its thunderous screech as it fought against the weary defenders.

The Kyūbi let out a large roar as it tore through shinobi after shinobi with its monstrous claws and large nine tails. The shinobi fought admirably, throwing jutsu and projectiles at it, but they wouldn't last much longer, and they knew it.

Throughout all the chaos, a single thought lay within the minds of the civilians as they fled and the shinobi as they fought for their lives: 'Where is the Yondaime?'

This thought indeed ran rampant through Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind as he fought viciously against the fox, shooting out multiple jutsu at it within seconds. As the retired Sandaime, he was the most crucial of the current defenders, and even he was tiring.

'Where are you, Minato?' he thought, as he quickly went through multiple hand seals.

"Katon: Karyū Endan," (Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet) he said, then fired out three large dragon-shaped flames from his mouth at the Kyūbi. They collided with it directly but ceased to do more than annoy it. It shrugged them off, along with the multitude other weapons and jutsu the other shinobi hurled at it.

It then let out a deafening roar, then bared its fangs and began to charge another massive, dark sphere of chakra in its mouth. But instead of immediately releasing it, it continued to charge the sphere.

"It's going to destroy the Hokage Tower,' Hiruzen realized.

He could not let it do so; the Hokage Tower was the only building left that was marked with the Yondaime's Hiraishin. Most of the buildings that had surrounded the Hokage Tower were marked as well, but none of them were still standing.

He looked at the fox. It was about thirty feet away from them, and the sphere it was charging was larger than the others it had fired. He turned around and faced the shinobi who were with him, and was surprised by how young some of them looked; one thing they had in common, however, was the fear drawn on each of their faces.

He turned his head back to the fox; he knew what he had to do.

Without turning around, he said, "I know how terrified you all are. I'm terrified as well. But true courage isn't never being afraid; it is having the strength to fight no matter how scared you are. I beseech you all to stand with me. On my mark, we will all send our strongest jutsu at it."

He then turned around and saw hesitant agreement.

He then formed the seal for the Shadow Clone Technique.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he said, and created four clones.

They formed a horizontal line, and faced the fox.

The other shinobi stood around them, and faced the fox.

He and his clones rapidly went through hand signs, each channelling a different element. The other shinobi did the same.

"Goton Dairendan no Jutsu,"(Five Release Great Combo) they said, then prepared to release their jutsu.

Right before they did, Hiruzen sensed a familiar presence appear. 'Minato! He's finally here.'

"Everyone stand down," he shouted, "That's an order!"

His command confused them, but they complied with it. They cancelled their jutsu; some even shot them into the sky because they were too powerful to mitigate. They stood facing the orb that was now larger than the Hokage Tower. They stood as the fox blasted it at them, out of either fear, slowness, or blind faith.

Then, an instant before the globe reached them, a sealed kunai was launched into the air directly in front of it, and their beloved Yondaime appeared in front of them in a flash.

His golden locks glided back and forth as he stood in front of them, holding out the kunai defensively. The sphere of chakra then collided with him as he held the kunai out in front of him.

The shinobi were astounded as the attack began to grow smaller as it was seemingly sucked into the seal, until it completely disappeared. He then threw the kunai into the air, and a deafening explosion erupted into the sky, billowing ash and dust and debris into the shinobi. Smoke filled the air.

Hiruzen then felt a presence behind him as Minato put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm late, Hiruzen-san, but I had to deal with the perpetrator of the attack. He escaped, but Kushina survived the extraction."

"And what of my wife?" Hiruzen asked earnestly.

"I'm sorry...but she and the other midwife are gone." Both men bowed their heads down.

Minato then raised his head. "But now is not the time to grieve," he said, "I need you to distract the Kyūbi for as long as you can. I have already marked it, but it will take an enormous amount of chakra to teleport it with me."

Hiruzen nodded and sprinted through the smog towards the roaring beast.

After a while, the air cleared and the shinobi saw their Sandaime distracting the Kyūbi as their Yondaime stood still charging up chakra with his hands in the Tiger seal.

The shinobi began to run toward them to help, but the Yondaime halted them. He saw that almost none of them were in any condition to fight.

"Stop," he exclaimed, "Your lives need not be risked. Your Sandaime and I will handle this."

Minato then turned to Hiruzen and quietly said, "I'm ready. Draw the beast toward me. Kushina has already prepared the ritual throne. My wife and son are waiting for me."

HIruzen then realized what Minato was planning to do.

"Take me with you," he said. "I will not let you sacrifice yourself when you need not do so."

Minato shook his head, "I am hokage. I am the one who has to do this."

Hiruzen nodded sadly, then lured the beast toward Minato.

The beast drew dangerously close to him as Hiruzen led it toward him.

Minato then said, in a voice loud enough for the shinobi to hear, "I, Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime, hereby reinstate Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Sandaime and leader of Konohagakure no Sato."

The shinobi gasped.

"I guess you'll have to figure out the secret to paperwork alone, Old Man." Minato smiled and in a flash he and the Kyūbi disappeared, right as the monster charged toward him.

—o—

They reappeared in front of a destroyed home in a secluded clearing. Destroyed wood and stone surrounded the small cottage, and fresh smoke rose from the surface of the rubble. Near the rubble of the house were bunches of lilies and lilacs, standing proud and tall in a circle. Inside the circle were eight lit candles surrounding a ceremonial throne in an octagon shape, with an infant resting on it.

The baby had dark red locks of hair and whisker marks on the sides of his face. His little body rose and fell with his breath, and his unopened eyes would be a bright cerulean blue.

Next to the throne was, a beautiful woman, kneeling outside of the candles and gently rubbing her baby's cheek. She had fiery red hair and looked fragile and tired with bags under her light violet eyes. She turned around after sensing their arrival.

"You're back," she said, stating the obvious and knowing she was. She acted as if the demon was not next to her husband.

"I am," he said, ignoring the Kyūbi as well.

The Kyūbi growled and swiped his large hand at Minato, but he disappeared and reappeared next to his wife. He put his hand on her shoulder caringly.

She then held her hands out in front of herself and shot out multiple orange chains that wrapped around the demon and restrained it.

It roared and struggled against the chains, but they held still.

Kushina looked at her husband.

"Are you sure you want to do this to our own child?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

"We have to, Kushina. What kind of hokage would I be if I was not willing to sacrifice my own son for my village, my family."

He paused for a moment and stared at the Kyūbi as it continued to thrash against its restraints.

"He's our son. We should have faith in him," he then said.

"The reason I don't want to put this burden on him is because he's our son!" she shouted back, but she knew there was no other choice.

He shook his head solemnly at her.

She bowed her head in submission, then tightened the chains around the demon.

Minato then looked at his wife and said, "In order to seal the demon into Naruto, we have to keep it restrained and slowly siphon fractions of its chakra until we completely seal it. Our son is of Uzumaki blood and is therefore more resilient than an ordinary baby, but even he cannot survive it if we seal all of its chakra into him at once."

Kushina nodded in understanding.

"You are more foolish than you look if you believe you can seal me again," the Kyūbi bellowed, finally speaking.

"I will never be sealed in some puny human ever again!" it roared.

"I'm sorry, but you don't have a choice," Minato responded.

The monster bared its fangs at him.

"Foolish human. You should have at least taken the old man with you, if you wished to seal me," the Kyūbi mocked.

Minato scowled. "As hokage it is my duty to protect the village. By leaving him I know it is in good hands."

The fox attempted to charge at Minato, but he was stopped by Kushina after gaining a few feet.

Minato began to charge his chakra. He then walked over to sleeping Naruto and gently placed his fingers on the baby's stomach.

"Hakke no Fūin Shiki," (Eight Trigrams Sealing) he said, then channeled chakra into the boy's stomach.

He then teleported in front of the Kyūbi and did the same. The fox gave him a murderous glare, but remained silent.

He began to siphon the Kyūbi's chakra into the baby. It looked as if a small line of chakra was connected between the two. He then proceeded to transfer half of the Kyūbi's chakra into his son, using his own chakra as a siphoner.

Minato winced in strain.

Naruto slept as peacefully as he had before, blissfully unaware of everything that was occurring around him.

Minato began to seal the second half of tke Kyūbi when he heard his wife gasp aloud.

He turned to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, clutching her sides in pain and panting loudly. She wasn't.

"Just continue with the sealing."

And so he did. He had to work quick; he knew his wife couldn't last much longer.

The Kyūbi's body began to flicker out of existence, but it still continued to struggle.

Minato had almost completed the sealing when he heard his wife cough loudly behind him and saw the chains around the fox slightly loosen. He turned around to help her up. He made a mistake.

The fox saw its opportunity and took it.

"I'll kill that boy!" he snarled, and lunged at Naruto, aiming a deadly swipe with his paw.

Before his paw could reach the baby, it was blocked by two soft, fleshy bodies. The tip of its claw was barely a foot away from the infant.

Minato held Kushina in his arms as the Kyūbi's claw stabbed them both through the chest. They both glared at the demon defiantly.

"You will not touch my son! I will die for him; it is my right as his father."

"And it's my right as his mother!"

The Kyūbi remained silent in revere of their sacrifice.

He removed his claw from their bodies.

They fell on the ground beside the throne and knocked down a candle.

Minato coughed out a pool of blood over the candle, extinguishing it.

Kushina feebly lifted her arm to stroke her baby's cheek one last time.

"My Naruto, there is so much I want to say to you. Remember to wash yourself so you can stay clean, to eat well so you can grow up strong, and to study hard so you can become a great shinobi. And remember to always have dreams and precious people to protect; they are what make shinobi strong."

Kushina gasped for breath. "Oh there's so much more I want to say!"

Minato chuckled slightly. "The advice I want to give you is to stay strong; the burden you carry is incredibly heavy and the villagers will resent you for it. It is my dying wish that the villagers will see you as a hero, but I am not naive enough to believe they will."

Minato gently raised the tip of his finger to his son's stomach and channeled the last of his chakra. "And also remember not to fall for the wrong type of girl; she'll only hurt you in the end. Find a woman like your mother, a woman you are content dying with your arms around."

He lifted his hand from his baby's stomach and placed it around his wife's.

"Fūin," (Seal) he whispered.

The Kyūbi remained silent as it was sealed into the sleeping child.


AN: Thanks for reading! This is just the introduction; the chapters will get longer and better. I will try to post at least every other week, but as a teenager I'm rather busy. Christmas is also coming up, so for those who are reading: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!