It was the last days of the War, and Kushina had insisted she be allowed to come out onto the field since she'd been "Missing all the action lately". It wasn't much of a battle, especially with him doing most of the mopping up and causing most of Iwa's disheartened forces to break and run, and Kushina could hold her own. But still, he worried...

As he was Hiraishining into a knot of exceedingly stubborn Iwa nin from the Explosion Corps someone from one of the more whacked out fringe elements that he tended to feel sorry for because they often got themselves killed protesting the fighting ran out onto the field.

"Make Love not War!" the man yelled before opening a canister and throwing it into the middle of the melee which was looking to once again be ending in Konoha's favor.

A pink mist escaped from the canister, and moments after it did, all hell broke loose.

Minato's eyes narrowed coldly as Kushina wrapped her arms around a complete stranger who just so happened to be the enemy and started kissing him.

Fellow lover of peace or not, that bastard who had started this mess was so dead when he caught up to him!

Two Months Later:

Kushina paced back and forth as she tried to come to a decision. The choice was tearing her up inside. There was a chance that the child was Minato's, but...

But, could she really kill a baby because someone had gone and done something stupid and mean that resulted in its creation? It wasn't a baby yet, but if she let it, it could be...

Eight Months After That:

When Minato had seen the blond hair and the blue eyes, he had allowed himself to hope. For the barest instant, his heart had leapt within his chest, and then something small licked his finger, bringing him down to Earth again. Blond was a more common hair color in Earth and Wind. It stood to reason that the baby's father could've been blond like himself.

When Kushina saw the unhappy expression on his face, she began crying.

"Shh, don't do that!" Minato said, trying to calm his wife. "Look, he's a pretty baby, and if I didn't know any better..."

"But, he isn't yours!" Kushina sobbed as a stranger in a mask snatched the small infant out of Minato's hands.

"Whoa! Cheating on you already! I bet my cousin Tekka a hundred ryo that it'd take another year at least! You gotta admit that she's got quite the reputation though..." the man said as he held up the small blanket-wrapped bundle.

Kushina's scream of fury and anger could probably have been heard all the way in Iwa.

"...And, I am outta here! See you next time!" the masked stranger said an instant before he had tossed the baby and ran.

And not a moment too soon, as Kushina had managed to return the Kyuubi to its seal through sheer willpower and now had a crackling aura of its unholy power surrounding her...

Three Years Later:

Young Naruto sobbed as he stood by his parents' gravesides holding his baby brother. Behind him, the Sandaime placed a comforting hand on the small boy's shoulder. Off to the side amongst the crowd, Uchiha Fugaku scowled as Minato and Kushina's coffins were lowered into their graves. For three years, Minato had been accusing an unnamed member of his clan of attacking him on the day of Naruto's birth, and now that the Kyuubi had been released and unleashed upon the village, the villagers had come to believe those accusations and had called for sanctions against their clan.

Thirteen Years After That:

A blond-haired, blue-eyed boy whose smooth blond hair was tied back in a low ponytail jumped onto the flying clay transport that bore a certain member of the Akatsuki who'd originally been from Iwa on its back.

"Stay away from Menma-ttebayo!" the blond Konoha ninja who looked a great deal like him, probably because he was blond, shrieked in his face as he grabbed his arm, trying to throw his aim off and prevent him from hitting the Kyuubi Jinchuriki with his "Art".

Much to Deidara's surprise, something bit his arm when the younger and smaller ninja had grabbed him. Grabbing the Konoha brat's hand and turning it over, he nearly had a heart-attack over what he saw.

Considering the fact that his clan was virtually extinct, this wasn't too surprising a reaction.

"What are you, un?" he asked as he took in the boy's features and noted a strong resemblance to his barely remembered father who had blown himself up when he was small.

"Your worst nightmare." the boy growled in a manner that could be considered cute as he attempted to break his grip and attack him again.

Oh Gods NO! He'd seen them trailing around the village distracting people, disrupting training, and destroying artwork like this creature was doing now. They constantly demanded food and attention, and did everything they could to get kids in trouble with their parents, and people seemed to like them for some strange reason, even and especially their victims. He'd dreamed that one had trailed after him and that his parents had told him that they liked it better than him, but every time he'd had that dream, he'd woken up to the reality where he was an only child. An only child in a home with one parent, but an only child nonetheless.

Until today that was...

"How the hell did you know that having a little brother was my worst nightmare un?!" he exclaimed.