Chapter 2: The seal

Exert from the Sage of Six Paths

Part 2: Chakra manipulation.

"Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Kenjutsu, even Taijutsu."

"The manipulation of chakra flow to use these techniques is fairly simple from most women's perspectives. To be able to manipulate ones chakra is the key to success within the ninja world, yet this is something that males cannot do."

"Since their chakra flow is so weakened, they lack the ability to manipulate their actual chakra. This means that they cannot use the techniques we can, meaning they couldn't defend themselves against a kunoichi even they wanted to."

"Interesting, but it won't last forever."

Hagoroma Otsutsuki

As the night was deep within the Leaf village, Naruto was sleeping peacefully within his bed at his home. In his dreams he had this idea of wanting to have the strength to protect the people he cared about and even protecting the village itself. Naruto always had this desire to be able to do more than what he could currently do. All his life, he was only able to do so much as he was just a boy in a world where women had the power and ultimately the final say. It always worried him if one day he got horrible news that one of his precious people fell on a mission. He knows how difficult the life of a kunoichi could be, and it terrified him to think that one day his sisters would be living that life themselves. The blond had always dreamed of one day being able to help not only his sisters that he loved with all his heart, but also everyone else in the village. Even the men that gave him cold glares that he really knew nothing about. He was just to kind-hearted for his own good at times. Oh well, he thought he might as well do everything in his power to help his precious people, whether that was just cooking, sewing up their clothes or just spending time with them in general to brighten up their day.

While Naruto slept off those thoughts and went into a blissful sleep, he was unaware of someone outside of his window, watching him with a keen eye. This kunoichi was keeping her eye on the boy as he was her target those men hired her for. She remembered how those fools approached her with this job. They supposedly took a trip out of their village and made their way to hers to sight see. Since they were males not many people paid any attention to them. They stayed for a few days until they began to ask if there was any kunoichi who would take a small job from them. Her curiosity peaked as she approached the group in a bar and they told her of what they wanted her to do. Safe to say, this woman's grin grew at who she was tasked with taking.

The masked woman peeked through the glass window, thankful that the boys room was on the first floor for easy access. Those men really did their research. Not only had they provided excellent detail of the guards rounds at the gates, they also were able to provide her with a description of the house and where the boy's room was. They were good at gathering information in her opinion, but that was going to get them killed in the future, that, she knew.

As she carefully used her ninja wire to reach in through the small crack of the window frame to unlock it, she noticed how similar to the Yondaime the boy looked. His hair and his face reminded her so much of the forth that it was eerie in a sense. Once the window was unlocked, she silently opened it up and went inside. The room was nothing really all that special aside from toys placed all over the floor. It wasn't too messy to be a problem, which was good for the kunoichi as it meant it would be no problem getting in and out. She made her way to the bed of the boy and looked him over carefully in the dim light of the full moon through the window. Aside from the features of the Yondaime, the boy just had a cute aura about him. She couldn't help but want to touch his cheek and caress him in her arms. For a brief moment, she was actually regretting what she was about to do and wanted to leave before he had a chance to wake, but that was not going to be the case.

Naruto stirred in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes as the last thing he saw before things went black for him again, was a headband with the familiar symbol for Iwagakure on it.

Elsewhere

Anko Mitarashi, the teen snake mistress of Konoha and one of the most frightening kunoichi within Konoha not including her former sensei or her boss Ibiki, was back from her mission a week earlier than expected. Despite the fact that she should be excited to be back so early, it didn't help that she was also tired. Taking out rouge kunoichi was a tiring job, especially when they have a decent strategy on how to deal with you at least for a few minutes.

Anko stretched her limbs out as she was making her way back home to throw off her clothes and lay on her comfortable bed o natural. That was one of her guilty pleasures really, in the hopes that someone would be ballsy enough to join her like that, especially her favorite little blond boy. That thought alone was enough to make her blush.

'Maybe when he gets a little older.' She thought to herself as she immediately began to think of an older, more muscular Naruto without a shirt on. Her blush intensified as she giggled like a school girl for a moment.

That was all interrupted when she caught a brief glimpse of something yellow moving fast in the darkness. "What the?" She started as she knew for a fact that her Hokage wouldn't be out this late without a reason.

Anko decided to follow who she thought was her leader and instantly a red flag went off in her mind. Even with a brisk jog, Minato Namikaze was still one of the fastest kunoichi's within the ninja word, so why was she going so slow that even Anko could easily catch up to her with ease? Another red flag was when she saw how low to the ground the blond hair was. Minato was tall, so why hunch so heavily?

It didn't make any sense, until the moonlight shined down onto them and Anko gasped in horror. It was an Iwa kunoichi dressed in all black, wearing a mask and carrying an unconscious Naruto under her arm. Instantly seeing red, Anko rushed even faster toward the woman who dared to hurt and take away her favorite blond.

"HEY YOU BITCH!" Anko shouted out as she rushed over, catching the Iwa nin's attention.

Said woman gasped as she recognized the famed Snake Mistress and instantly clenched her teeth in frustration. Thinking fast, she pulled out a kunai and held it to Naruto's neck, instantly stopping the purple haired teen. She saw how Anko reacted and raised a brow briefly under her mask.

'Seems this boy is indeed special to this kid.' She thought before gaining another idea. "Bring your Hokage outside of your village, or this boy dies right here and now!"

Not wanting to take any chances, Anko had to relent and watched as the Iwa kunoichi rushed out to the gate. She gritted her teeth and quickly made her way to inform the Hokage of the terrible news she would have to convey.

With Kasumi

The copy cat kunoichi continued to follow those men, watching them disperse one by one until only Mizuki was left. Personally, Kasumi hated this man as he had tried to hurt Naruto more than just the group did. She would love nothing more than to end the man right here and now for all he had tried to do to Naruto for a few years now, and her sensei would gladly allow her too, but that damn civilian council continues to interfere in kunoichi business. It irked her to no end how those bastards continued to get in the way of ninja affairs. She sighed as she saw Mizuki walk into his home and had to resist the urge to go in there right then and there. It would be oh so easy.

Just as Kasumi stood up to leave, she saw out of the corner of her eye a head of purple running towards her sensei's home. Raising her brow, she leapt over to the familiar snake mistress and landed in front of the teen. Anko stopped in her tracks and panted heavily as she saw Kasumi.

"Anko, what's wrong?" Kasumi asked in her usual, calm tone as she put her hands in her pockets.

Anko looked at Kasumi and caught her breath long enough to explain everything that has happened so far. Safe to say, Kasumi's one visible eye widened, and she knew her sensei would not like this. Not at all.

With Naruto

Naruto had awoken from his forced sleep a few minutes later, feeling the wind rushing past him in the process. He had felt this type of rush before when one of his mothers would take him and his sisters out for a run. Those are some great memories he shared with them, though he had no idea why he was out here in the forest at night.

'How did I get here?' He thought to himself as he looked and saw a dark clad kunoichi carrying him under her arm like a toy. His arms were tied behind his back and his feet were bound by the ankles. His brain began to slowly put everything together as what happened in his room hit him like a fist to the face. 'HOLY CRAP! SHE KIDNAPPED ME!'

The woman noticed the shifting under her arm and looked down to see her target staring right up at her with those beautiful, ocean blue eyes. For a second, her heart skipped a beat as she looked at him and actually took in his features for the first time. His slightly tanned and completely smooth skin, spiky sun-kissed hair that was like Minato's but smoother, and those eyes of his. Innocent and afraid, yet somehow still filled with kindness even in his current position. The kunoichi had to quickly look away from him as she could easily see why that teen stopped in her tracks earlier.

Naruto wanted to struggle at first, to try and break free from this woman's grasp and make a run for it. Only problems with that was; she was a highly trained kunoichi who was faster than he was, they were moving at some pretty high speeds on the tree tops and he would just wind up falling to his possible death, and then there was the fact that he really didn't want to test this woman right now.

He sighed as he had no choice but to watch where they were heading towards and tilted his head a bit. He recognized this place as she landed in a clearing with one object in the center on a small, raised platform. The platform was made of stone and had many different seals etched into the floor by powerful fire jutsu's. In the center of the platform large, black boulder with a spiral-like seal also etched into by the same flames.

Naruto recognized this area as a forbidden zone for most of the people of Konoha, kunoichi or not. He remembered hearing his mom(AN: Kushina will be referred to as Mother while Minato will be Mom, got that? cool) speak of the dangerous Kyuubi being sealed in this very area all those years ago. He didn't know much, but it was probably a very bad idea for them to be here.

The kunoichi went over to the platform and set Naruto down as roughly as she could without hurting him to badly. She started to pace as she looked off into the distance where Konoha was. She didn't care about the money anymore, she just wanted to ensure that the forth suffered for what she did.

Naruto sat up on his own and was able to sit on the edge of the platform, watching the woman pace with anticipation in each step she took. Not fully understanding anything just yet, Naruto decided to speak up.

"Um." He began as she stopped for a moment and turned her head towards him. "Why are you doing this miss?"

The woman looked away from him as she heard how calm and peaceful his voice sounded. "Because I was hired to do so." She answered him, not sure why as she continued to pace. "Apparently you have some spineless men in your village that seek your death in a way."

That caught Naruto's attention and he sighed in mild annoyance. That stopped her again. "Sounds like that Mizuki guy and his group again. Not the first time those guys tried something drastic."

The kunoichi stopped once again and looked right at the annoyed child. "You mean they've had you kidnapped before?"

Naruto chuckled a bit and gave the woman a big toothed smile that she actually blushed under her mask. "Nah. Sometimes they would try and bribe some people in the village to do so or try and catch me themselves. One time they actually caught me and put me in a box then sent me down river. I wound up in a small village for about a day before Kasumi-nee and a squad anbu found me." Naruto started to laugh under his breath at the memory.

"Did those men face any sort of punishment?" The woman asked, genuinely curious as to what happened afterwards as she stood in front of him.

Naruto stopped his laugh and answered her. "Sort of. The civilian council gave them a year on probation. My mom was super pissed and tried to get those guys arrested, but it was technically a civilian issue, so mom couldn't do anything." Naruto looked up to her with a smile. "Wasn't all that bad. Now I have a few friends in that village I visit sometimes with my mother."

The woman stifled a chuckle as she knelt down to look him in the eyes. "That sounds terrible that those men did that. If I had known they held that much malice towards you, I probably wouldn't have accepted this job."

Naruto could tell she was feeling uneasy. It was kinda like a skill he had towards others. Always able to tell when a person was feeling sad, or upset, or even conflicted. He would call it his own personal ninja-sense just to get on Natsumi's nerves sometimes. He looked at how she didn't look him in the eyes or how she was shifting her hands all around her. She was nervous, that much he could tell.

"Is there another reason you took this job miss..." Naruto asked as he wanted to at least know who his kidnapper was.

The woman looked back to him and saw those eyes once again. How they were simply asking her her name and why she was doing what she was doing. The woman had no idea what came over her as she sighed and removed her mask, letting her black hair flow out. She had fair skin and brown eyes as she looked at Naruto with a look of regret. "Aika." She spoke up. "Just call me Aika."

Naruto smiled to Aika and asked her. "So why did you take this job, miss Aika?"

"It's because of what your Hokage did to my village." She started as she actually sat down next to Naruto and continued. "During the war, she came onto the battlefield and wiped out our entire platoon in a matter of minutes. She took away our spirit and will to fight as we were forced to see our home surrender to her." Aika clenched her fist as she remembered that day in all its entirety. She was staring forward with a hard scowl on her face.

Naruto could tell something far deeper than a simple defeat must have set Aika off to do this whole kidnapping thing. But what was it? Naruto had heard more from the war from Aika than he had from his parents or any of his older kunoichi friends like Kasumi or Kurenai. Maybe he needed to find the root of Aika's problem.

"Miss Aika," Naruto started while Aika just continued to look forward with that scowl. That's when he noticed something briefly shine on her neck. "What's that?"

She turned towards him and a silver necklace with locket spilled out of her top. Aika immediately grabbed it and placed it back in her top. "It's nothing."

That's when Naruto got it. "Losing the war to my mom isn't the only reason you hat my mom is there miss Aika?" She didn't answer him and instead continued to look away from him. "You lost someone important to you, didn't you?"

Aika sighed as she turned to face him once more, one lone tear going down her face. "I lost my wife in that battle."

Naruto went wide eyed as he couldn't even imagine the kind of pain she was in. It explains why she would risk capture or even death just to make his mom suffer a bit. Looking down for a moment as he wished he could do something to help her, Naruto thought of all the people he was fortunate enough to know and never wanted to see them in pain or worse, dead. The very thought made him feel sick to his stomach. He didn't want any of them to suffer and would do whatever he could to help them. It was at that moment he made up his mind.

He was going to be a doctor and save the lives of those precious to him. Maybe his Godmother could help with that.

Back to the here and now, Naruto looked up to Aika with the same gentleness she had seen before, but now there was a fire in them. A determination she had never seen any man, let alone a child, do. It reminded her of some people that had earned her respect throughout the war. It was truly eerie to her.

"Miss Aika," Naruto started. "I may not know much about what happened to you during the kunoichi war, or what my mom did completely, but what I do know is that I don't believe your wife would want you to do this." Aika widened her eyes for a second as he continued. "Do you really think she would want you to do something like this?"

Those words hit Aika hard. Was this what her wife would've wanted? Is this really the proper way to seek revenge? It was a war after all, and unfortunately people die in war. Was Aika right for openly seeking revenge though against Minato like this? What was she doing here? Why was she so filled with a lust for revenge in any way possible? Was this what her wife would've really wanted?

Aika let the tears flow as she clutched the locket in her hands tightly. She remembered how kind her wife was back then and how she would probably give Aika an earful if she continued with this.

Naruto saw how Aika was beginning to relax and was actually smiling at how she was letting her emotions flow out. He was happy to see her really contemplating what to do and question if it was right, hopefully when everyone got here, no blood would be shed.

"NARUTO!" A loud and easily recognizable voice yelled out.

Both Aika and Naruto turned toward the voice and saw an angry Minato staring daggers into the woman who kidnapped her only son. All around the clearing were Anbu units and even a few jounin to ensure that Aika couldn't escape.

"I don't know who you are, nor do I care." Minato started low as she began to walk forward, slowly. "But you placed your hands on my son, for that, you die." She spoke those last words with an intense fire in her eyes.

Aika, in her emotional distress from not only her confession to Naruto, but also the fear from seeing the Hokage like this, grabbed Naruto and held a kunai to his neck. Everyone stopped as they didn't want to risk Naruto getting hurt.

"Miss Aika." Naruto started, distress clear in his voice. "Don't do this. This isn't the way."

Aika didn't say anything as she stood on the platform and stared daggers at Minato's concerned face.

"Let him go!" Minato demanded. "Your quarrel is with me Iwa-nin, leave my son out of this." The fire in her eyes from earlier was gone now, replaced with fear.

"I'm sorry kid." Aika started as her tears hit his face. Naruto looked up to her and saw how afraid she was. How desperate and terrified her brown eyes were and shuddered as the kunai began to move across his skin.

Pain.

An intense pain washed over Naruto as he felt the kunai slash his neck wide open. Fresh blood poured out and he couldn't breath. Each gasp for air sending more and more blood out and splashing onto him and the platform. Naruto looked out to see the horrified eyes of his mom and few other kunoichi around her. He saw tears as he was let go to fall onto the floor and for the first time in a long time, he saw his mom cry. He had seen it once and promised her that he would never let her cry ever again. That he would protect her as well as his mother, Natsumi and Aoki so they never would cry. Now here he was, the reason for her tears to fall.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion now as Naruto fell to the floor, his blood still pouring from his open wound. Aika was sobbing as she fell to her knees, completely broken from what she had done. Minato in tears as she ran towards the platform to get to her son. Kasumi and Gaia rushing forward to kill Aika for what she had done.

All Naruto could do was close his eyes as he could feel his left leaving him. The feeling of death was strange to the child. He felt empty, weightless and yet for some reason he also felt at peace despite the fact he shouldn't be. It was all foreign feeling to him that he didn't know how to describe. Little did he know, the blood on the platform had started to sink into the seals and rise into the large stone's seals.

"Oh?" A dark and feminine voice spoke up as she could feel the life force of a proper sacrifice was finally given to her. "Finally. Now, who is my vessel this time?" The voice closed its eyes and focused as she saw the body of the boy bleeding to death from a slash in the neck. Wait. A boy?

The entity gasped in surprise at first, then a sinister smile spread onto its large mouth. "Interesting." She started as she accepted the blood and began to fade away from her dark prison. "I can't wait to speak to this new vessel. This..." she thought for a moment before her grin grew. "Kit." And with that, she disappeared, eager to see where this boy takes her.

Sorry for the long wait, but now I've got a good idea where I want this story to go. Like I said before in my Dead Space/Naruto story, I will try to update on the weekends.

Now, I don't know whether I want Aika to live or not. What do ya'll think? Should Aika live, or die?

Stay awesome out there guys, and as always,

PEACE!