Jiraiya was walking away from a town in the Land of Earth just having finished the last of his objectives in the country. He had finally gotten information on the state of affairs in the village hidden in the stone. While they seemed to be training shinobi slightly quicker than they had been over the last decade, there was no sense of extreme hostility to indicate a war effort.

Leaving the village out of view, Jiraiya began his trek to another country, one that bordered the Land of Earth, the Land of Waterfalls. With the sun showing signs of shortly setting, he decided to speed up and started jumping between the few trees that surrounded the path he was on. As he came upon the town he was planning to stay for the night, a hawk's screech drew the man's attention. With the messenger securely on his arm, Jiraiya extracted the scroll it carried on its back. After the contents of the scroll were revealed to him, without a second thought, the sage darted away from the town and started rushing back to the hidden leaf.

By midnight, Jiraiya was nearing the border of the Land of Earth and was preparing to move through the Land of Rain, a small country housing its own hidden village. Thankfully, the Land of Rain bordered the Land of Fire as well as Earth, making the trip that much quicker. Shortly after crossing the border of the two nations the terrain changed noticeably with smooth rock based ground being replaced with damp plants and mud, with a large storm befitting of the country's name visible in the distance.

As two more days passed, Jiraiya finally began his approach to the Hidden Leaf Village. The sun was rising, barely peeking over the Hokage Monument giving the mountain an almost heavenly visage. Once he entered the village, he immediately rushed to the hokage tower to meet his old sensei. Jumping onto the windowsill, he found his sensei hunched over his desk, looking over a thick stack of paper.

"Heya Sarutobi-sensei, you miss me?" Jiraiya proclaimed, throwing the window open.

"It's good to see you too, Jiraiya, but now is not the time for catching up with each other."

"You're right. Where are the kids?"

"The ANBU hospital, follow me, quickly."

With both disappearing in a body flicker, they arrived in the hospital within seconds. As the two shinobi made their way down the halls of the secret ANBU base, they saw a few rooms occupied by injured ANBU operatives. As they reached the end of the hall, the Hokage and his student entered the room to find the Uzumaki twins still in bed with sweat dripping down their faces.

"So these are the two, huh?"

"Yes. The last known Uzumakis alive as well as the shared hosts of the nine tailed fox."

"Well let's get down to business before they decide to croak right in front of us."

Lifting up Naruto's shirt, a matrix of black lines and spirals that comprised his seal covered his stomach. The toad sage carefully observed every detail of the seal until he finally found the root cause.

"The layers that regulate the tailed beast chakra flowing into his body have been loosened slightly, likely from a sudden surge caused by the beast itself." Jiraiya said as he went to examine Natsumi. "Thankfully it'll be an easy job to fix, although it will take a few hours, especially since I'll have to do both individually. While I can't claim to understand the seal, I do know how to tighten it."

"How quickly can you get started?"

"Give me an hour to gather the supplies I don't have on hand. Once I'm back, I'll start with Naruto and get to Natsumi right afterward."

"Will you have enough chakra to do the procedure twice?"

"I should, but if worse comes to worst, a soldier pill should be enough to get me through."

"Alright, get your supplies and be back as soon as you can. Time is not a luxury we can afford right now, Jiraiya." the Hokage stated.

"Hmph, have ye no faith sensei?" As quickly as it appeared Jiraiya's carefree attitude vanished, replaced with a more serious expression. "I refuse to let those two die, especially when I have the power to do something about it."

Shortly after the sentence left his lips, Jiraiya disappeared, racing to gather what he needed.

"That boy never changes." Hiruzen sighed with a smile.

Moving as fast as he could within only half the time he gave himself, Jiraiya returned to the twins' side with all the necessary supplies.

"Sensei, I'm going to begin. The more space and the less noise I have, the better."

Understanding his student Hiruzen left the room to ensure no one intruded on the procedure. As his teacher left the room, Jiraiya lifted Naruto's shirt and began to repair his seal.

The Hokage anxiously waited for hours outside the room for his student to emerge with news. As he sat, he began hearing footsteps. Turning his head, he saw the one man he truly had no desire to see at the moment, Danzo Shimura.

"Hiruzen, what has befallen the Jinchuriki?" Danzo immediately questioned.

"Not here." Hiruzen responded sharply.

Sighing, Hiruzen said, "Meet me in my office. We can talk more there."

The old man looked on as his advisor disappeared in a body flicker. "That man and his endless need for efficiency." Hiruzen muttered under his breath.

On his way to meet his longtime comrade, the Hokage slowly made his way through the village on foot, shortly conversing with those who would greet him in an effort to forget his worry. When he finally arrived at his office, he was greeted with Danzo along with his old teammates, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.

"Hiruzen, why did you not inform us of the Jinchuriki's condition?!" Homura shouted.

"Because it would have done no good." Hiruzen replied wearily. "Even if you knew what had happened to them, what would you do about it?"

"We would be mobilizing the village to prepare to engage the Nine tails and find a compatible host!" Koharu argued.

"You know full well there would be no compatible hosts in Konoha. Only the Uzumaki clan can contain the Nine tailed fox. Without their heightened life force and chakra, the tailed beast chakra would eat a Jinchuriki from the inside out."

"Then what would you be doing?!" Koharu snapped. "As unlikely as it is to find a non-Uzumaki Jinchuriki, we cannot afford to lose the Nine tails! If any of the other major villages caught wind of us losing the beast, they would not hesitate to attack!"

"She's correct Hiruzen, if they got so bold, even the failures in the hidden sand could cause us significant damage if they properly used the One tail. If they or any of the other villages did attack, then they would inspire the others to attempt the same." Danzo stated. "Such a possibility cannot come to pass."

"You don't think I know that? Jiraiya is already working on fixing the problem with their seals and restricting their ability to access the fox's chakra. If you all would stop to care about people as individuals rather than just their use to you or this village, then maybe you would see the solution staring at your face. Saving those two children can solve all of these issues at once, but in your paranoia and cynicism, you look to abandon them and find new youths to condemn."

"And if your student fails?" Danzo asked.

"Then we will fight, whether it be the Nine tailed fox or the other shinobi villages. Konoha has survived for over seventy years without forcing our Jinchuriki to use the Nine tails. As shinobi, we will continue to endure."

At the ANBU facility's hospital

Jiraiya looked over Naruto. Even with his seal tightened, he had yet to recover from his fever, although he seemed much more relaxed than he previously had been. After resting Naruto back under the covers of the bed, he stood up and began to analyze his own condition.

'Damn, I underestimated how draining this would be.' Jiraiya thought. 'I'll have enough chakra to get Natsumi's done too, but I'll be close to empty once I'm done. Either way, making sure these two are safe is more important.' Absently, Jiraiya let out a low and humorless chuckle.

"This is probably what you were thinking when you died, huh Minato?"

Thoughts subsiding, Jiraiya swallowed a soldier pill to ensure he had enough chakra, before lifting Natsumi's shirt and beginning to retighten her seal.

Elsewhere

Naruto woke up on the ground, staring up at a dark void. His backside, as well as his hands and feet, felt wet, yet his clothes felt dry. As he sat up, he found metal walls surrounding him on three sides with the fourth instead lined with large bars fitted with a large sheet of paper with the kanji for 'seal' written on it.

"Where am I?" Naruto asked himself.

"You seem…confused." a voice boomed from behind the bars.

"Who's there!?"

"Look a little bit closer…" the voice drawled.

As Naruto looked beyond the bars, his eyes began adjusting to the odd lighting. An extremely large silhouette, seemingly the owner of the deep voice, was laid across the floor with several massive protrusions coming out of its back. When his eyes finished adjusting, Naruto could only stand, scared and speechless.

"Honestly given your usual tendencies, I would have expected you to have… a more noisy reaction." the figure noted.

"You're th-the Nine-tailed fox…" Naruto stated dumbly.

"Indeed I am."

"H-How are you here? The fourth Hokage killed you…"

"Defeated would be a more accurate term."

"So… because you're a spirit, y-you can't be killed?

"So that myth has persisted all these years later, hmm? No, I don't continue to live because I'm a spirit. I'm known to many as a tailed beast, though I can understand why you might have heard otherwise. Hundreds of years ago a cult called 'The shackles of peace', who vilified a man known as the Sage of Six Paths, tried to undermine much of his work in an attempt to return to how things were before his arrival. As one such creation by the sage, they spread the rumor that I and others like me were demons made to deliver retribution for the sins of the human species. People became scared of being judged for the sins of others, and that fear, as well as the rumor, spread amongst the ignorant. It is why most of your kind share the same knowledge of me as you."

"So you're not a s-spirit?"

The fox let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll explain again when you'll understand. For now, though, let's return to your earlier question. You asked why I was here. Would you still like to know?"

Naruto could only nod silently.

"I told you before that saying that your fourth Hokage defeated me rather than killing me would be a more accurate description of events. During our battle, he was forced to seal me as he no longer had the strength to subdue me. He used a jutsu known as the reaper death seal to split my chakra in two sealing the second half into you. On the day that you were born, you became my host."

"So half of your chakra… is in me?" The fox nodded. "Then… does the village hate me because of you?" Naruto asked sadly.

"Yes." the fox affirmed.

"But, but you said that only your chakra was sealed in me! Why would they hate me just because I have your chakra!?"

"Most probably believe that my body, which would typically contain my chakra, was sealed. In reality, all tailed beasts, including myself, are entirely made of chakra, making myself no different than my chakra. Besides, did you really think you could just talk to normal chakra?"

Naruto looked down, slightly embarrassed, but also in an attempt to hide his teary face from the fox. As he calmed down, he began to fully notice a hazy feeling that had been pulling at the back of his mind. Gulping, almost as if to swallow his fear, he turned back to the fox.

"You said your chakra was split in two. Your other half… is it sealed in my sister?"

"... Yes."

"Why? Why did it have to be us?"

"While I would answer your question, we seem to be running out of time for now. Time tends to work differently in here compared to the outside world, and with your emotions going haywire like this, several hours have gone by even if for us, this has only been about twenty minutes. When you wake up and have some time, try to remember the feeling you had when you first awoke in here."

As the Nine tails finished speaking, the feeling from when he first fell unconscious returned, and his mind returned to sleep for only a second. A moment later, he woke up again, feeling as if he were falling for an instant before he regained his bearings. Sitting up, he looked around, seeing the Hokage and a large man with white hair talking about something on the other side of the room.

"Old man..?" Naruto asked tiredly.

Hearing his voice, both men immediately turned to face him.

"Naruto, you're alright!" Hiruzen exclaimed.

"Um yeah, I'm feeling okay. Who's that guy?" Naruto asked, pointing at the unrecognized man.

"This is Jiraiya. He was a former student of mine and is one of our village's best ninja. He's also the one who helped you wake up."

"Hey, kiddo. Sorry I wasn't here to help you and your sister sooner. Unfortunately, I was out of the country when I got the news. Either way, I've heard plenty about you from Sarutobi-sensei. I was wondering.."

"Is sis okay?" Naruto asked, interrupting Jiraiya.

"As far as we know, she should be fine. I used the same technique on her as I did you. Unfortunately, there's something that might affect the process that's out of our control."

"Is it the Nine tails?"

Suddenly, both Jiraiya and Hiruzen gave each other grim looks.

"Naruto, did you talk to it?" The Hokage asked seriously.

"A little bit." Naruto replied, made nervous by the gaze of two incredibly strong shinobi.

Hiruzen sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. We were about to tell you about the fox, but we wanted to give you a few minutes to wake up. I didn't tell you when you were younger because I was unsure of how you would react."

A tangible pause permeated the room. Neither the men nor the boy truly knew what to say to each other. Reflecting on the events, Jiraiya realized the important topic they almost glossed over.

"Naruto, what did you talk about with the fox?"

"Um, he told me he wasn't a spirit and that me and Natsumi each have half his chakra. He was really scary 'cause he was so big but… he didn't seem too bad." Naruto said.

The Hokage and Jiraiya shared another glance, but Naruto couldn't figure out what it was.

"I was going to wait for your sister to wake up so I didn't have to explain twice, but now seems like a good time. Your name, Uzumaki, has more meaning than you think. The Uzumaki clan was famous for their skills in sealing jutsu." Jiraiya explained.

"I… have more family?"

"Sadly no." Hiruzen continued. "When the hidden village system became widespread, they founded their own village in the Land of Eddies known as the village hidden in the whirlpools. They were allied with the leaf since both villages' creation. Unfortunately, many of the other large villages banded together to deal a devastating blow to Konoha during the second great war, and they left few survivors. As far as we know, you and Natsumi are the last of the Uzumaki clan."

"Despite all the traveling I've done in my life, I've only known two Uzumaki. One was a student of mine from the hidden rain village, who died a few years after the hidden whirlpool was destroyed. The second was your mother, Kushina Uzumaki."

"My mom?"

"Yeah, she came to Konoha when she was young. She had incredible chakra, so she was sent to Konoha to become the second Jinchuriki of the Nine tails."

"Jinchuriki?"

"I'm not a fan of the word." Jiraiya said, sighing. "It means 'the power of human sacrifice'. Jinchuriki are hosts of tailed beasts, and with the right training, they can use the beast's power. In exchange, though, the hosts are often hated by their community, and their minds are sometimes tortured by the tailed beast inside them. The villages sacrifice someone and their happiness so that they gain incredible power."

Naruto looked down, contemplating all the information. As he kept thinking, he kept returning to one question.

"Why… was it us?"

"As Uzumakis, your family has one more trait that you share. The Uzumaki clan's members have a heightened life force leading to longer life spans and more chakra than most. This makes them the only possible hosts for the Nine tailed fox, the only tailed beast under Konoha's control."

"Then…what happened to mom? If she was a host before us, then how did we get the fox?"

"I won't bother explaining all the details you won't understand, but basically while she was giving birth to you two her seal was weakened and somehow the fox managed to escape and it began to attack the village. My student, the Fourth Hokage, battled it and used two sealing jutsus to seal it inside you and Natsumi. Your mother was dying from the Nine tails escaping her, so the Fourth was forced to use you two to ensure the safety of almost one hundred thousand lives."

Naruto quietly thought about the story he had been told. He felt somber until he realized what had been said. "The Fourth Hokage was your student!?" Naruto Asked excitedly.

Both Jiraiya and the Third chuckled. With one small detail the mood of the room had completely changed.

"You bet he was!" Jiraiya proudly exclaimed.

"Naruto, I briefly talked with the Fourth before he died. While his decision to seal the Nine tails in you was partly from necessity, he fully believed in both you and your sister. That faith is shared by me, Jiraiya and several others in this village."

"The Fourth believed in us…" Naruto restated in awe.

"I know he did." The toad sage whispered to himself. "You know in a way you two are the Fourth's legacy. If he were able to meet you I'm sure you both would be what he was most proud of."

"Really!?"

"As his teacher, I'd say so. And as his teacher it's also my job to help him even while he's gone, so if you want I'll train you to be as strong as you can get!" Jiraiya declared.

"You'll train me, you'll really train me?! I'm gonna get super strong ya know!! I'll be caught up to you in no time old man, then I'll be an even cooler Hokage than you!"

'Just as excitable as Kushina.' both men thought.

"I hope you will be my boy. But until then, train hard and start studying more. While you might not need to know everything the academy will teach you, there is just as much that you will have to learn. Don't forget that you'll need to pass several exams to become a shinobi." Immediately Naruto began to grin sheepishly.

"Alright kid, it's starting to get late and I'm really tired from helping you two. Get some rest and I'll come grab you tomorrow morning to start your training. Sound good?"

"Yes sir, Jiraiya-sensei!"

Hey people. Hopefully, this chapter is decent. My main worry is that it jumped around a bit too much, but I'm happy with how it turned out. As always, I would greatly appreciate reviews so that I can improve. Hope this proves enjoyable.