AN: Thank you for continuing on this journey with me. I will try to update every couple of weeks. The next few chapters are written and need to be edited before posting. As always, please feel free to subscribe and comment! Enjoy!

Roshi was not happy. Not happy at all. One minute he was content dozing off in a meadow on the outskirts of Iwa. The next, he was surrounded by Iwa's shadow unit with the Tsuchikage floating above him.

"ROSHI. Lying on your back like the good for nothing shinobi you've always been. Honestly, a shinobi of your stature laying defenseless.. How dare you call yourself shinobi." The Tsuchikage sneered down at the Jinchuriki with hate in his eyes.

Nothing ruins a good peaceful snooze like the old fence sitter antagonizing him.

"Why don't you try seeing for yourself just how defenseless I am." Roshi lifted an eyebrow from his supine position in challenge. "I left Iwa for good. I no longer need to listen to you. Now buzz off before you make me angry." He let a little of his bijuu chakra leak out in a warning.

At the casual threat, all fourteen Iwa shinobi became tense and shared a look of fear, as well as a deep unsettling hatred for the Jinchuriki. Roshi was used to this behavior though. He grew up with the glares and parents who wouldn't let their child anywhere close to him. He knew he was hated and discriminated against. He knew how they would protest and demonstrate against.

The Tsuchikage's face only seemed to get redder with the lack of respect. The Yonbi wouldn't even look at him! "I'll show him!"

"ROSHI! YOU HAVE A MISSION. YOU ARE TO REPORT TO THE EASTERN FRONT OF THE WAR. I WANT KONOHA TO BURN! And you WILL listen to me. Unless.. You want me to send Han instead? I have ways of making him do as I ask." He said with a smirk.

Han was Iwa's other Jinchuriki, the older of the two. Roshi didn't have friends but would consider Han the closest thing to one. Han protected Roshi when he was younger and taught him to cope with the hatred. He protected Roshi from the mean glares and helped train him to harness his bijuu chakra.

Han had a more empathetic soul and still cared, if only a little, about the well-being of the Iwa people. Last time Han had refused an order, the Tchuchikage had a child befriend him before torturing the child afterwards while Han watched. Eventually, Han gave in to stop the torture and did as the old man asked.

Roshi held no empathetic attachments. "I have been feeling bored anyway.. I guess this is as good a time as ever to pay Han back.."

"If I go, will you let me finish my nap? Demanding old geezer.."

The Tsuchikage smirked, then floated away with his entourage in tow. "Remember, ROSHI! I WANT THEM TO BURN!"

Roshi snorted and closed his eyes again. "Why does he always have to yell? It's always the short ones who are the loudest.."

So there he was, walking to the eastern front of a pointless war that will only incite more anger and pain in this ridiculous cycle of hatred. All because of the old Geezers power struggle with the surrounding nations. Iwa could easily have stayed out of the war, as they have the least to gain and the most to lose. "What if they lose.. All those who hated me would finally get what they deserve.. I'd rather see them burn instead.."

Alas, he was shinobi and as much as he dreamed of getting revenge on those hateful civilians, his training would not have hm harm innocent civilians. "It's all because I was stuck with that stupid Ape.. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let loose. It has been a while." He mused as he began the long trek to the warfront.

Four black Anbu agents were poised and ready to strike at their target. "Red hair. Short build. Looks slightly inebriated.. And is that the smell of.. Sake? Yes, this is our target" Akanji thought.

Their plan was a-go. Step one was to wait for their target to walk over the trap zone. Step two was for Kushina to activate the four seals, set up in a box formation, to suppress Roshi's chakra and feed it into the seals. Step three was to restrain Roshi with another paper chakra suppression seal onto his chest, just in case he stepped out of the zone. Step four was for Kushina to seal the four-tails into the jar. Step five was to return home safe and sound so he could hug his wife and son.

Of course, plans never work the way they're intended.

Once Roshi unsuspectingly entered the trap zone, he could feel the faint buzzing of residual chakra in the area, indicating a barrier had been activated. He quickly flared his Bijuu chakra, letting the dense chakra roll out of his coils with trained ease. "This level of seal is nowhere near enough to suppress my chakra!" He loudly exclaimed with a lopsided smirk, face still flush from the sake.

In an instant, hundreds of shuriken were hailing towards him from the sky as he overheard his opponent exclaim "Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" Two other black figures were quickly coming in from opposite sides to trap him in a pincer maneuver.

"Amateurs" Roshi thinks, and tries to cover himself in lava only to find out he is unable to access his chakra! He can feel it right under his skin, however, it's not responding to his commands. His brief surprise is enough of a moment for Lynx and Beaver to close in. He had to quickly jump back in order to dodge. Lucky for him, the motion has landed him outside of the trap zone and he can now fully call upon his chakra.

Like a rush of adrenaline, Roshi felt the heat from his lava release cover him and let out a large plume of lava high into the sky, instantly melting the shuriken.

"You think something like this can defeat me!? You are GRAVELY mistaken." Roshi completes hand signs so fast to the eye it seems only a blur.

"Lava Style: Lava Dragon Jutsu!" With a flare of chakra, a large dragon made of lava moves forward to engage the shadow shinobi. Kushina, who was focusing on making another seal to increase the target zone from a square to a pentagon, was caught off guard from the sudden large lava monster. Beaver, knowing her survival was vital to this mission and Honoha's success in the war, pushed her to safety.

Kushina landed hard on her arms before she turned back, just in time to witness the lava dragon eat up the beaver entirely.

"Nooo! Not the Beaver!" Kushina emphatically screams." This was her first mission as an Anbu and subsequently the first mission she lost a comrade. Pain and fury swell inside her and a heavy KI settles over the area. Her chakra is thick in the air. Her hair defying gravity justifying her moniker as the Red Hot Habanero as a reddish aura begins emanating from her being.

Akodi was there in an instant and pulled away Beaver's scorched remains and sealed the body within a second. Emotions pulled in tight, Ram issues his next command.

"FALL BACK!"

Roshi didn't give them that option. He shunshinned right above Akodi in an attempt to catch him off guard. "Lava Style: Molten Wave!"

A lava wave ten feet tall erupted from the ground towards Ram and Lynx. As the wave descended over their bodies, a last minute substitution jutsu narrowly saved their lives before they had to roll out of the way again.

"Fox, NOW!"

Previously hidden by a stealth genjutsu, Kushina, with her hair still defying gravity and a red aura surrounding her, lashed out with half a dozen chakra chains that she directed at Roshi. Six chains punctured through his chest and limbs, effectively holding him in place. Akodi ran ahead with an Uzumaki style chakra suppression seal but just as he made contact, Roshi fired a last attempt lava bullet at him and hit his hand and scorched the seal and the hand holding it. With a scream, he was blown back holding his singed extremity.

He looked up just in time to see Lynx place the same chakra suppression style seal on Roshi's back. Immediately, his lava armor receded and his body appeared fully immobile as he sank to his knees, eyes blank and distant. Lynx put him in a paralysis genjutsu just in case and ran over to treat her injured captain.

Kushina took this opportunity to begin the seal work necessary to extract and reseal the bijuu as she tries to regain her composure without looking at her injured teammate.

She began the preparations necessary for sealing the Yonbi into the jar while Lynx watched her back. The process lasted ninety minutes and required intense concentration and precise brush strokes on the jar, the ground, and over Roshi's body. However, this is Kushina's art. Nobody was better qualified for this task than herself. She was the only one who had experienced Uzumaki bijuu sealing herself. Nobody else had the enormous chakra reserves required nor the sealing expertise to pull it off.

Once the Yonbi was fully sealed into the jar, she collapsed on the ground in exhaustion and took her time to rest. Eventually, they needed to return home so their captain could receive treatment.

Jar in hand, soldier pills eaten, bandages applied, and the bodies sealed in scrolls, the three remaining shadow shinobi made the long journey back to Konoha.

A small fist punched through the air followed by a chakra enforced kick that hits no target in particular. Akodi was running through his katas in the Sarutobi compound. He jumped over an imaginary fire jutsu before disappearing in a shunshin behind the imaginary opponent.

He'd improved greatly since his father left. "I can't wait to show him how much stronger I've become! He might even teach me a new jutsu!" he thought as he continued his movements.

After landing from a backspring, he stood up and wiped the sweat from his brow. Elida waved him in and greeted his son with a smile and a tall glass of water.

"It's so nice to see you train like this, but don't neglect your other skills by favoring your taijutsu. I haven't even seen you pick up your calligraphy in days and you're so exhausted at the end of the day you just skip meditating." She scolds him.

With the same resolve and determination in his eyes as ever, he exclaimed, "I promise I'll meditate tonight! I feel like I sleep better afterwards anyways. But Dad is out there fighting the war and I need to get stronger while he's gone to protect you!"

Before she can reply, a chunin messenger with a worried expression appeared via shunshin to speak with Elida.

"Urgent message for you from Hokage-same, it's about Akodi. He was brought back by his team and is now being treated by Tsunade-sama".

Elida does all she can to keep the tears from her eyes as she nodded in understanding. After gathering her composure, she asked Akodi to work on his calligraphy while she shunshinned to the hospital. The chunin messenger now turned to the little boy in front of him. Terrified, red rimmed eyes look back up at him.

"Come on kid. Let's get you inside. Where's your calligraphy set?"

Akodi lay awake in the hospital bed, still groggy from the anesthesia. He had just woken up and was now taking in the new information given to him.

Diagnostics from Lady Tsunade revealed the chakra pathways in his right hand were severely injured. Only because of her great skill was his hand able to be saved. Albeit, it would take years before he was back up to his previous standards.

Chakra coils regrew similar to nerves in the body. Which meant they grew back painfully slow and required daily exercising to regrow the muscle tissue, improve nerve efficiency with interacting with the muscle, improve synapse transportation, and reteach his hand to respond to his commands again. It was a dreadful diagnosis for a man in his position.

Without use of his right hand, he would have to step down from his position as Captain of the Hokage's guard.

Akinji sighed in the hospital bed and looked up towards the ceiling tiles. He closed his eyes and let his body relax. The process itself caused pain throughout his body. "All I've known is the life of a shinobi. Shinobi endure, that's what we do." He glanced at the worried, tearful eyes of his beloved. He looked down at the small, sad eyes of his child. "I became a shinobi to protect those I hold dearest. I will endure this until I can protect them again" Akinji promises himself.

He looked towards his son's dejected form. "Akodi, you will be starting up at the academy soon right?"

Fire replaced the sadness in his son's eyes immediately. "Yes! I will become the strongest shinobi in the village so I can protect you, Mom, Grandpa, and the rest of the clan! And, and everyone else in the village too!" He shouts enthusiastically, pumping his fist in the air.

"The will of fire burns strongly in him" Akodi thought with a twinkle in his eye. "Then I will oversee your training in the evenings once you return from the academy." Akinji reached down and ruffled his son's hair.

Pure excitement and happiness now reached Akodi's eyes at the prospect of his father, one of the strongest and well-rounded ninja in the village, training him. "Tsunade-sama said it may take up to five years for him to get back to full strength. I'll be able to spend so much time with him!"

"Yes, Father!" He gave his signature 1000-watt smile and hugged him tightly. "I'll make you proud and become so strong that nobody will even think of messing with Konoha! That way everybody stays happy and safe." He ducked his head onto his dad's chest and hugged him tight. "I won't let anything ever happen to our family. It's my turn to protect us" he says in barely a whisper.

Akinji could only smile and hugged his son tighter as he rested his head on his son's messy brown hair. He felt Elida's hand rest gently on his shoulder as they all shared a warm embrace. "I am truly blessed to have such an amazing family. This is all that matters. Right here. Right now."

Later that night, in the Hokage's office.

"Hokage-sama" A masked figure appeared, already taking a knee in front of her Hokage.

"Rise. What is the status of the Yonbi?" The elderly Hokage asked the Fox masked Anbu.

"The jar is showing signs that it can't contain it much longer. We initially thought the jar would be able to hold the Yonbi for at least a month, but there is no guarantee how much longer it will hold, Hokage-sama." Fox states with emotion sneaking into her voice. Fox, more than anyone else, would know the implications of a tailed beast loose in Konoha. She steels herself to speak what's been on her mind. "We must find a permanent container.. As much as I hate to say this, A human container is our only option."

The Hokage exhaled a deep breath he didn't realize he was holding in. He now looked like the elderly man who many often forget he was becoming. Deep wrinkles on his face from decades of stress under the hat now became more apparent. His knees popped when he stood and his lower back sent a sharp pain as he stood up from his chair. He walked around to the front of the desk to stand in front of his newest Anbu.

"I understand. Fox, you may remove your mask and speak freely. You have my attention."

The Fox mask was removed and Kushina stood tall.. Determined. Fierce. No longer the trained Anbu agent in the mask, but the woman who has endured a lifetime of obstacles thrown her way, and plowed right through. Somehow, she was more intimidating without the mask hiding her features.

"Hokage-sama. As you are aware, I am the last known Uzumaki. If I have any living family, their whereabouts are unknown. I can not take the Bijuu into me as I already have the Kyuubi. Another will need to be selected, one with the heritage of strong physical endurance, deep chakra reserves, and most importantly an individual with an ironclad will that will resist the temptation of the Bijuu. It will attempt to manipulate them, to rip the seal off so they will be set free.. Although, it must be a child with still forming chakra pathways.. Or else they will die and the Yonbi set free".

Kushina was not happy with this revelation. As someone who endured the anger and hate from the rest of her village, she understood exactly what she was sentencing this child to. Kushina had a fiery and determined character, yet she still suffered greatly.

The Hokage's wrinkles further deepened as he took a puff of his pipe. "A child you say.. To condemn one so young. I had hoped never to repeat what we had to do with you Kushina.. To this day I wish we could have found another way, but it seems we are out of time and optio-"

"I WILL DO IT!" A high pitched and shaky voice yelled as Akodi Sarutobi slammed open the door, standing firm and determined in the doorway. Fire blazed in his dark eyes with the conviction of someone far older. "I will do it".

"Akod-"

"Grandpa. I heard what she said. You need someone my age, from a strong family and a strong will. I promise you, nobody has a stronger desire to protect their family than me. And there isn't a better family than the Sarutobi! Father almost lost his arm. You spend all day in this room sacrificing your time to be the Hokage. Grandpa, it's my family's heritage to protect the Hidden Leaf. It is my turn to protect the family!"

The Hokage turned back and slumped back into his desk. He leaned forward, shut his eyes, and rubbed his temples as he exhaled a deep, jagged breath. He kept his eyes shut as he considered his options, but knew full well what the end result would be.

Kushina turned to the young boy, recognizing him as the honorable grandson of the Hokage. "If I may make a suggestion, Hokage-sama. There are so few who are aware the Yonbi is in our possession. I would not wish this life on anyone, as it is a hard and lonely life. Besides your immediate family, myself, Jiraiya, and Minato, nobody should know about this."

The Hokage did not look up at either of them. Small, jagged breaths were leaving his body as he kept his face hidden.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the Sarutobi Compound. Akodi, Elida, Akinji, and even Hiruzen cleared his schedule to be with his family. They sat in silence, as little else needed to be said.

Akodi made his decision, and just as he convinced his Grandpa, he convinced his mother and father that nobody but him had the willpower to contain the Yonbi. Reluctantly, they agreed, understanding the dire circumstances of the situation.

Hiruzen was proud of the sheer force of his will of fire although guilt plagued him. Akinji logically understood this to be the only option and silently cursed himself for not being able to do more - for not being able to find another way. Elida was heartbroken knowing her son would no longer live a normal life, but the life of a jinchuriki.

The information was S-ranked classified. Nobody but the Hokage, Kushina, and immediate Sarutobi family were aware Konoha had stolen one of Iwa's bijuu and were making the first grandchild of the Hokage its jinchuriki. Minato and Jiraiya were still away from the village training and were unable to help with the sealing ceremony, however they would be the only other two who would gain knowledge of what happened. Jiraiya, because he was close with the Saruobi clan and spymaster for Konoha. Minato, because honestly nobody would expect Kushina not to tell him as they were practically joined at the hip. She would need his support after the ceremony. It would be very hard for her to condemn Akodi to the life of a Jinchuriki after having lived the life herself. She would be an emotional wreck for the following weeks.

The ceremony was performed in secret underneath the Hokage monument mountain that surrounded the village. Minato and Jiraiya returned a few days afterwards from the immediate summons from Hiruzen. When they returned, they found the young Sarutobi with even darker skin blowing a fireball the size of a house from his mouth while training under Akinji's watch in the Sarutobi Compound.