Chapter 1

It was a sad day for Konohagakure, and especially for one Hiruzen Sarutobi, who after nearly a decade of blissful retirement had once again been called upon to take the hat of Hokage for the second time in his life. He had entrusted the future of Konoha to Minato Namikaze, one of the finest shinobi the village had ever produced, a man of both incredible passion for his people and unmatched power.

Hiruzen had believed that Minato would lead the village into a new era of prosperity, and for 8 years Minato had successfully done that, vastly improving Konoha's economic growth, instilling new training regiments into the Shinobi Academy that were quickly improving both the quality of shinobi in the village and reducing the death rate among the newly graduated in their first year by over 10 percent.

Minato was a truly brilliant Hokage, who was now tragically taken far too soon, and now Hiruzen far past his prime was forced to replace him.

Hiruzen sighed slightly, his Hokage robes flowing loosely around him as he put his hat on his desk and rose as a knock interrupted his work.

"Come in" In came a beautiful crimson haired woman, her hair tied back in a ponytail, forehead protector in place showing her to be a kunoichi of Konoha. She wasKushina Uzumaki, the girlfriend of Hiruzen's now deceased predecessor.

"I would like to resign Hokage-sama" she said, trying desperately not to break down in tears in front of the elder Hokage.

Despite what had happened to Minato this surprised Hiruzen. Kushina was one of the strongest kunoichi in the village, and had never seemed as though grief would affect her to the point that she would give that up.

"May I ask why?" he finally asked after a moment. She smiled a somewhat nervous smile and placed her hands on her belly

"I'm having a baby Hokage-sama, Minato-kun didn't know, but many people still knew of our relationship. I need to find a safe place for me and my child even if I can't serve the village that Minato-kun and I both love."

"That's wonderful news Kushina, I'm overjoyed to know that Minato's legacy will live on in your child and it is for that reason I must deny your request." Hiruzen said in a jubilant tone, smiling at her as he would his sons. He turned around ignoring the stunned expression on her face at his denial, and grabbed his hat off the desk along with his pipe

"There's only one place in the whole world where you can be safe from those who would harm your son, come with me" he said grabbing her hand and leading her out the door of his office, simultaneously he pulsed his chakra to signal to the masked ANBU that guarded him that he was not to be followed.

They walked through the nearly empty village save for the occasional genin or chunin patrol team that bowed respectfully at his presence before moving on. Despite it being early in the afternoon the majority of the village remained in doors, closing their shops and mourning their passed Yondaime.

A service was to be held the next day, but for now the withered Sandaime walked Kushina briskly to the edge of Konoha's most infamous training ground, The Forest of Death. As Hiruzen prepared to enter the forest Kushina stopped and spoke.

"Why are we here Hokage-sama? How could this place possibly be safe?" She questioned her tone betraying her irritation at being dragged here and having her request denied.

"You'll see in a moment, but I need you to trust that I serve Konoha's interests and protecting the child of our greatest Hokage is well within the interests of the village as a whole." Hiruzen replied, giving her a disarming smile. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding gently and following him into the forest.


The forest was just as dark as Kushina remembered from her own Chunin Exams so many years prior. Her chakra sensitivity informed her that the old man casually strolling in front of her was doing something with his chakra to keep the dangerous beasts of the forest away but she still remained ready should any of them roam to her.

That never happened and it was just a short while later that they reached another massive fence that was designed to denote the end of the testing grounds within the forest. Hiruzen turned and looked at her for a moment before he leaped over the fence and she followed suit.

Once they landed he said "The man we're looking for is probably already well aware that we're here, but he's probably not familiar with your chakra signature so it'd be best to inform him that you're not a threat by flaring your chakra. The man you're about to meets existence is to be kept secret on penalty of death, it is one of Konoha's most closely guarded secrets and if you had attempted to come here alone you would have been executed on the spot "

"I understand," she replied, nodding, bringing to bear the massive amount of chakra that marked her as an Uzumaki and flaring it wildly around herself. After a minute or so she regained control over herself and stared questioningly at the elder Hokage who was looking at her as if he was waiting for something.

5 seconds later she felt it.

A truly titanic amount of chakra was approaching them at a rapid speed, so much that it seemed to form a radius around the person at the center rather than being confined within them as was normal for shinobi. If she had to take a guess, whoever was coming towards them had more than 10x the amount of chakra that she did and she already had by far the largest chakra capacity in the village.

As the chakra got closer she began to feel as though she were suffocating. Not only were this person's reserves absurdly large but they also possessed chakra density that surpassed anything that she had ever seen. Where normal chakra was like a stream, Uzumaki chakra was like thick mud, the chakra she felt now was like a massive wall immovable and seemed as though it didn't flow at all.

It took Kushina nearly a minute after the man landed near them for her to be able to look at him directly. The man had crimson hair that went down to his neck and eyes of the same color that shone with mirth as he conversed with the elderly Sandaime, it was only now that she realized that they were talking.

". . . that's a shame, Minato-san was a good man." The man finished in his absurdly deep voice, that almost seemed to command respect.

"Yes he was, it seems like Kushina-san is rejoining us, perhaps some introductions are in order?" Hiruzen said, placing a steadying hand on Kushina's back as she continued to adapt to the crimson eyed man's presence.

"My apologies Uzumaki-san, Hiruzen is well aware that my chakra can be disorienting for sensors, but it seems he thought this would be funnier if he didnt warn you." She glared at Hiruzen who was smiling sheepishly at her but she found that she felt much too weak from the assault on her senses to do anything about it.

"Anyways," the man continued. "My name is Kurama and I am the guardian of this forest." he smiled at her, allowing her to see his sharpened incisors.

"I'm Kushina Uzumaki, it's a pleasure to meet you." she said after taking a moment to further compose herself.

"Okay well follow me we'll head to my home before we discuss whatever it is you sought me out for." The newly identified Kurama said, guiding them both further into the forest.

Unlike the rest of the Forest of Death this section seemed mostly like just a normal forest, squirrels and other woodland creatures wandered peacefully and the trees were lush and full without being as ridiculously tall as those that covered the Forest of Death in a dark canopy. The only true oddity was that as far as she could tell the trees that surrounded them were constantly emitting small amounts of chakra. For what reason she couldn't be sure but she resolved to ask Kurama about it when they reached his home.

Just a few minutes later they stopped, Kushina looked to Kurama in confusion not really understanding why they had, there was nothing particularly unique about their current location. Kurama raised his hand to placate the question that he assumed she was going to ask before placing his hand on a nearby tree and channeling what was for him a small amount of chakra, but Kushina was nearly certain it would have been more than most Jounin had.

She watched as the tree greedily absorbed his offering and massively increased the amount of chakra that the trees around them were emitting, until just a moment later their surroundings began to warp.

Many of the trees disappeared entirely and a large river appeared to the northernmost side of the massive clearing they now stood in. Dead in the center sat a rather large home, only about half the size of the Hokage mansion but still many times larger than the avg Konoha citizens home, a large garden filled with varieties of flowers and vegetables made up the distance between them and the home small paths allowing them to pass through without disturbing the vegetation.

Kurama turned to her grinning. "Welcome to my home, please let's head inside and get comfortable"

Hiruzen having seen the place before seemed far less shocked then she was and lead her inside where they sat in a surprisingly homey looking living room with an, extremely comfortable in her opinion, couch that she had taken on her own while Hiruzen and Kurama sat on the large reclining chairs that flanked it.

"Care for some tea" Kurama offered them. Hiruzen declined for the both of them before deciding that they should get to business.

"As you are now well aware Minato-dono has been killed;" Kushina winced at the harshness of hearing those words, "and I have once again taken the mantle of Hokage. Kushina was Minato-dono's lover, a fact that while fairly well hidden to the general populace was well known to most of the high level politicians and shinobi within the village." continued Hiruzen seemingly ignoring Kushina's reaction.

"I see, my condolences Uzumaki-san" Kurama offered with a small bow in her direction. Kushina waved him off as Hiruzen continued.

"Just before Minato-dono left the village for his meeting, Kushina-san discovered that she was pregnant, resolving to inform him on his return, which as we now know he did not. Kushina-san came to me earlier today requesting to resign as a shinobi of the village assuming that she could find a safe place to raise their child in peace." Hiruzen looked to Kurama as realization seemed to dawn on him.

"So you want me to offer Uzumaki-san and her child sanctuary." Kurama finished for him.

Hiruzen nodded, "This place is probably amongst Konoha's most sacredley guarded secrets, perhaps second only to your existence in this village as a whole. There is no location in the entire world that could possibly be safer, and no individual more qualified to serve as a guardian over Minato-dono's legacy."

Kushina, surprised to hear this, finally voiced her own concerns. "Hokage-sama as much as I trust you, but surely you can't expect to entrust the safety of my child to a man I've only just met?"

Before Hiruzen could respond Kurama spoke. "Perhaps it would be best if we reveal the truth to her first Hiruzen-san." Hiruzen nodded, indicating Kurama to continue. "What I am about to inform you of is a secret known only to the Hokage themselves as well as some select few trusted shinobi, even the family members of the Hokage are not normally given knowledge of my existence, it is only under these unique circumstances that you are being informed." he waited a moment for Kushina to confirm her understanding before resuming.

"As you may or may not have been able to tell due to your sensory abilities, my chakra is extremely abnormal. My chakra is not only abnormally dense even far exceeding the density of the Uzumaki clans chakra, I also have far more than any human should. The reason for this is that in truth I am not human at all, unlike humans who are beings who have chakra and wield it in a variety of ways, I am instead a being who is chakra."

At these words she let out a small gasp "That's impossible the only beings known to be made of chakra are the. . . " she trailed off in realization.

Kurama grinned at her once again incisors once again on full display "It would seem reintroductions are in order, I am Kurama creation of the legendary sage of six paths, and colloquially known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune."