The moon hung in the night sky over a serene and peaceful Konoha. Its bright light was smothered under the thick clouds that loomed over the quiet village. Leaves danced in the air as a calm and cool breeze carried them through the streets.
Hiruzen had enjoyed yet another day away from the title of Kage. He took another long drag from his tobacco pipe while he sat on the balcony of his home next to a half-finished painting of his beautiful village.
It had been five years already since he gave it away and even though he adored serving his home he had no issues admitting that he equally loved retirement. Sure, not every day was amazing or even eventful, but most of the time they were relaxing. So far, Hiruzen could say that retirement had treated him well. It did have faults that left him without extra years on his life though.
The falling out between him and his star pupil – Orochimaru, had left some permanent scars on him. More importantly, it had also injured the productivity and safety of the village with the fracturing of the Legendary Sannin.
Still, that ordeal had been over three years ago now and while scars don't go away, the wounds heal themselves over time. Konoha had truly begun to repair itself. It was astonishing to Hiruzen. Even though Orochimaru had tarnished his legacy and became an infamous criminal, and even though Tsunade had abandoned the Leaf altogether, the Will of Fire still managed to persist without them.
Hiruzen eyed the next gap to fill on his canvas and exhaled the tobacco he'd been holding within. The white smoke lazily pooled out of his mouth and wrapped around the painting. He then sized up his reference – the Hokage Monument – before he began. He smiled, the smoke reminded him of how the monument looked during those misty summer mornings. Where the base of the mountain was covered in fog before the bright sun had time to burn it off. Hiruzen retrieved his color palette and dipped his small, horsehair brush into an earthy tan shade of brown before he committed to a long series of short, intricate strokes.
He then paused to examine his work. A smirk curved on his lips. "Heh. I think I got your features down pretty good, Minato," he mumbled proudly to himself.
He looked back to the notorious monument. A thoughtful glint shined in his eyes. "I wonder about whose face will accompany ours after you retire," he said, "I trust that you'll make the right decision."
Hiruzen looked at the canvas again to add to his art piece. He dunked his brush in a bucket of water to clean it. Suddenly, the water in the bucket began to shake violently and splash everywhere. Hiruzen's canvas fell onto the ground. He felt the chaotic vibrations underneath his seat and braced himself, grabbing onto the railings of his balcony.
'Konoha doesn't get earthquakes!' he thought with gritted teeth.
The violent tremors ceased. Hiruzen leapt to his feet as he scanned the condition of his village. 'What could have caused that?'
Looking over the Leaf, his question had swiftly received an answer. In the center of Konoha was a billowing white plume of smoke that swallowed the middle of the village and towered into the sky.
Hiruzen's face became pale. 'What the hell is that?!' he thought while he maintained an intense stare trying to figure out what caused this sudden anomaly.
In rapid succession, nine enormous tails coated in red-orange fur pierced the smoke screen. They whipped and lashed throughout the surrounding buildings and homes, obliterating them into rubble without effort.
Hiruzen was filled with dread and paled at the sight. 'It can't be!' he thought with beads of sweat forming on his brow. 'What has happened to Kushina for the Nine-Tails to get out? Minato assured me that he'd personally oversee that the birth went over smoothly!'
His wrinkled face formed a scowl when the building-sized hand of the Kyūbi tore the entire top half off an apartment complex from its base and threw it. Hiruzen watched in shock as the several stories of the building soared across the sky and over him like a meteor before it crashed into his clan's estate. A shockwave reverberated from the impact towards him. Windows shattered as the concussive force threw him against the balcony railing.
He scrambled to his feet and dashed into his bedroom, toward his quaint wardrobe. The family portrait of his wife and son caught his attention from the bedside nightstand. He hesitated to go looking for them but brushed his familial worries aside. 'I have to go out there and do something about the Fox.' he concluded as he scrambled to prepare.
Resolve set in as he wrapped himself in his infamous ninja attire; a full-body, charcoal black suit over a layer of chainmail that was exposed at his wrists and ankles. He had strapped a dark green armored bracer over his right forearm. At his waist was a blue band that hugged his body suit to his person. A dark green kabuto helmet rested atop his head. Over the top of the helmet was a black bandana-style Leaf head protector tied together with straps that were so long they straddled the floor when Hiruzen walked. Across his back was a white patch that began at the front of his shoulders. Engraved in the white patch was the kanji for "Fire." Hiruzen then finally wriggled his feet into his black sandals.
'Now time for some assistance,' Hiruzen thought. He bit into the tip of his thumb and flew through hand signs faster than the eyes could follow before finishing with the 'Ram' sign. He could hear someone running throughout his home and up the hallway to his bedroom door.
A Konoha jōnin rushed into the room. Hiruzen did not turn to acknowledge him. "Lord Third, the Nine-Tailed Fox is running rampant through the village! We need reinforcements!" he cried frantically.
"Don't worry, son," Hiruzen said with a calm but stern voice. Hiruzen knelt down to the ground and slammed his palm onto the floor.
"Huh?!" the jōnin blurted out in confusion.
A vast array of complex patterns spread across the floor in a circular shape, then a puff of white smoke consumed Hiruzen. Before the jōnin could ask what he was doing, he swiped the smoke away with one swift swing of his notorious Monkey Staff.
He held the almost pillar-sized black staff with golden ends under his right arm and faced the Konoha jōnin with a threatening mug of determination.
"I will protect this village!" Hiruzen declared.
"Yes, Lord Third!" the jōnin stiffened, fighting off a look of wonder and amazement at the battle-ready Kage.
"Do whatever you can to locate Jiraiya or Minato and get them to me," Hiruzen ordered as he dashed for his balcony. He didn't have time to waste, but he had noticed that the fresh rendition of Minato's face on the monument he had just painted had been smudged beyond recognition, and even got all over his own face on the Hokage Monument too.
Hiruzen couldn't help but shove his worst thoughts away. They'd only make him hesitate in battle. He can't be concerned with Minato or Kushina now, he has to defend the Leaf. He stepped onto the balcony's guardrail and steeled his nerves as he glared at the rampaging Demon Fox. He had to trust that Minato was handling himself for the time being.
Hiruzen leaped from the balcony and into the sky with a masterful degree of flexibility.
He pointed his staff at the ground. "Extend!" he commanded it while falling from the sky.
The end of the staff shot at the ground instantaneously, digging itself into the dirt at least a foot. The other end of the staff lengthened into the sky, carrying Hiruzen higher and higher up.
The top of his kabuto helmet scraped the bottom of the clouds before he pivoted his weight forward toward the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. He was soaring down to the center of the village.
'You can't have my village…' Hiruzen thought from the skies as his staff abruptly shrank to its original size. The Beast was only a hundred meters away from him now.
He held the heavy Monkey Staff over his head and flung his weapon downward with all of his might. The staff snapped down as he allowed it to extend several times its normal size in length towards the Fox and it plunged through the air.
WHAM!
The end of his Monkey Staff cracked over the head of the rampaging Nine-Tails and slammed its face into the ground, forming a small crater.
Hiruzen landed gracefully in the street as his staff retreated into its normal state.
"Lord Hokage!"
"It's the Sandaime!"
"Hiruzen is here!"
Hiruzen could hear several civilians and shinobi take notice of him from where he stood.
'Gotta contain the Beast!' he realized. His hands sprung into motion, forming an elaborate set of seals in only a fraction of a second. "Earth Style: Great Binding Earthly Shackles Jutsu!" he exclaimed as he firmly stomped the ground with his right foot.
Giant earthly chains shot from the ground, wrapping around the Fox's legs, tails, and snapping closed around its throat, successfully restraining the writhing behemoth to the surface.
"Lord Hiruzen!" two familiar voices called to him from his side. He turned to identify them.
"Ah, Shikaku and Chōza, do you have any idea about Minato's situation?" Hiruzen inquired with a serious expression.
"No clue, Lord Third," Chōza replied with a stressed air about him. Hiruzen narrowed his gaze on Shikaku expectantly for a reply. The Nara shrugged his shoulders.
"It can't be helped then," Hiruzen uttered with a tired sigh. "We'll just have to make do without him," he stated.
"So, what should we do, Hiruzen?" Chōza inquired of him.
Hiruzen racked his brain for the best course of action. With the stillness that hung in the air, Hiruzen was able to assess the state of his village.
His old eyes scanned over the toppled, burning buildings. They reminded him of older times. Of all the countless villages he watched burn down before him as a young jōnin serving in the Land of Lightning during the Second Great Ninja War.
Worst yet, the mangled and deformed bodies of his people and comrades that speckled the area similarly aroused memories of the past. The screams, the cries, the chaos – it was just too much for a man like him.
"Lord Third?" a voice uttered which dragged Hiruzen out of his thoughts.
His head whipped around to the voice. Shikaku was planted next to him with a worried expression. Hiruzen realized that he had lost his train of thought. "I'm fine, Shikaku," he reassured his former advisor, which seemed to quell the Nara's concerns. Hiruzen stiffened his shoulders and steeled his nerves. "We have to focus on getting the Nine-Tails outside of the village."
"I'm excited to hear your idea about how we go about doing that," Shikaku stated with a curious edge.
"First, we need to evacuate the civilians to safety," Hiruzen explained with emphasis.
"Up there!" Chōza exclaimed and pointed to the closest shinobi in the area, perched on top of a half-destroyed tower.
Hiruzen nodded at the Akimichi in understanding before he planted Enma into the ground, hugged his staff to his person, and wrapped his leg around the staff. "Now, Enma!" he declared.
The staff shot upward with Hiruzen in tow. He used his weight to lean his staff toward the unsuspecting shinobi before swooping down next to him. "Gather the other ninja in the area and start evacuating the citizens," Hiruzen ordered the ninja.
The young shinobi gasped, startled by the sudden presence of the Third. The ninja halted his complex string of hand signs and saluted his superior.
"Yes, Lord Hiruzen!" The ninja then leapt away to a new group of shinobi.
Hiruzen waved Shikaku and Chōza over to him where they subsequently joined him atop the dilapidated tower.
He focused intently on the shackled Beast below, he felt unease in watching it writhe uncontrollably in his jutsu and growl like a deranged animal. "Now we have to remove the Fox from the village," Hiruzen revealed.
The Akimichi scratched the top of his head in contemplation. "Do you have any ideas, Shikaku?" he asked in forfeit.
Shikaku's gaze was sternly focused on the Nine-Tails. "Look at how uncontrolled it is," the Nara said in regard to the Fox's barely contained outburst.
"It's almost like the Kyūbi isn't thinking at all," Shikaku inferred.
"Perhaps it has already tired itself out against our other ninjas?" Chōza offered in retort.
"I doubt that," Shikaku shot back.
"Hmph," Hiruzen mused with a frown, "it doesn't matter, we can just exploit this weakness to our advantage," he concluded.
"So what do we do then?" Chōza asked.
"Watch out!" Shikaku warned.
The crumbling of solid rock could be heard tumbling against the surface. Hiruzen's attention snapped onto the Nine-Tails which had broken free of his jutsu. It snarled and clawed at the trio who narrowly dispersed in time to avoid a painful death.
"Chōza, you know what to do!" Shikaku shouted to his comrade.
"Right!" The Akimichi's hands snapped together to form a seal. "Expansion Jutsu!"
Hiruzen watched hot wisps of white steam roll off Chōza's body before bursting from his person and covering him in a billowing cloud of mist.
Chōza dashed out from the dancing pillar of steam with booming footsteps. He now towered over his peers at an astonishing fifteen meters tall. His very mass had managed to expand and grow so exponentially that Chōza had become a giant almost the size of the colossal Nine-Tails itself.
Clawed fingers locked with bare hands as Chōza engaged the raging Fox.
"Try to force it out of the village!" Shikaku instructed his teammate from below.
Hiruzen sprinted to reposition himself behind the Demon while the Akimichi grappled with it and its intense rage, struggling to gain leverage.
As the Kyūbi fended off the giant shinobi, Hiruzen halted at the backend of the Fox. He threw his adamantine staff over his shoulder and heaved a deep breath before swinging the staff with all of his might. It extended at breakneck speeds as it flew through the air before slamming into the hind legs of the Fox. The Demon's bones groaned from the overbearing attack and its legs buckled beneath it.
Now that the giant had toppled over itself, Chōza was swift to take advantage, swooping down on the Fox from behind and restraining its waving arms. Hiruzen and Shikaku observed the Akimichi nervously when he summoned all of his strength and lifted the writhing Demon into the skies, throwing it over his shoulder as far as he could.
'That'll surely get the Demon out of the village!' Hiruzen thought victoriously.
The Fox howled at the top of its lungs while it soared through the sky before crashing into a nearby forest just clear of the village walls.
"Chase the Fox, Chōza will catch up with us," Hiruzen ordered Shikaku with urgency.
"At least it's out of the urban part of the village now," Shikaku remarked by Hiruzen's side while they raced to close the distance between them and the Nine-Tails.
"We just have to try and keep it there," Hiruzen stated with no small amount of stress teeming from his voice.
The duo dashed to the top of a tall tree to get a good look at their adversary. Its massive body had totally splintered and felled the trees beneath it and it laid in the middle of the crater it formed.
"Get ready," Hiruzen warned when the Beast sluggishly began to recollect itself. Its massive hands crushed the trees beneath them while it slowly pulled itself from the ground.
"I'll try restraining it with my shadow, then you can crack it over the head with that staff and put it to sleep," Shikaku suggested hastily.
"Not exactly your most well-thought-out plan," Hiruzen noted with a smidgen of concern. "Are you sure there is no other way to get rid of it without trying to engage it again?"
Shikaku rejected Hiruzen's sentiments with a nod, much to his displeasure. "Minato and Jiraiya are missing, and they are the only people that could remove the Kyūbi from the area swiftly," the Nara tactician explained. "We can't use Chōza to move the Fox away because it would destroy the village in the process."
Hiruzen sighed with a dejected frown. "We can't beat it in a battle of attrition either," he realized. "I guess a knockout blow will have to do," he said resolutely.
"Alright then, let's do this," Shikaku said. "I'll need you to draw it in for my shadow to reach," the Nara informed Hiruzen.
Hiruzen merely chuckled indignantly with a tired grin. "And here I thought these restless days were finally behind me," he mumbled with a hint of bitterness. "How foolish."
He didn't even wait for Shikaku to respond. He hopped down from the tree and into the Kyūbi's path of destruction. He ran into the new clearing in the forest and laid eyes on the bijū which was still getting its bearings.
Hiruzen held his staff to his side and raised his right hand to his front before making a single hand sign. He focused his chakra expertly, like the other tens of thousands of times he had done this. In an instant, two smokeless shadow clones poofed into existence.
The real Hiruzen retrieved a trusty fūma shuriken from one of the seals on his wrist guard. He reeled it back and then slung it toward the Fox with great effort.
Each clone sped through hand signs simultaneously with the original who completed his jutsu first.
"Multi Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he exclaimed as one fūma shuriken quickly became a hundred projectiles soaring at the none the wiser Fox.
"Lightning Style: Piercing Electric Shock!" the next clone proclaimed to his right before using his fingertips to zap a fūma shuriken with a blue bolt of lightning that quickly jumped to the shurikens, shrouding many of them in blankets of crackling plasma.
"Wind Style: Slicing Wind Torrents!" the final clone said as it gulped down a large breath and blew out a violent wave of gales that swept over many of the fūma shuriken, causing them to spin much faster and more accurately.
The Fox was met with a downpour of massive shurikens slicing into the right side of its entire body. Hiruzen observed with a stern expression as the lightning tipped blades that assaulted the Demon caused it to writhe and spasm in shock. Its eyes shut tight in pain from the wind coated shuriken cutting deep into the muscles and tendons of its right leg.
The Fox heaved in distress before the massive blades' effect began to wear off and it was already beginning to repair itself. Its blood red eyes shot open in the direction the shuriken pelted it from. Hiruzen grit his teeth and shuddered at the pure, feral hatred that emanated from the Nine-Tails' crippling roar.
'Now that I've made myself known –' Hiruzen thought while he turned away and ran for it. He dashed through the clearing, the leaves danced in the trail of wind he left behind him but the Fox trailed him like he was wounded prey.
The ground quaked beneath Hiruzen's feet from the lumbering Fox's giant size. He narrowly escaped the clearing before the Fox could bite him in two. Its jaws snapped down, clamping shut to try and catch Hiruzen's heels. He took to the trees, leaping from branch to branch as one tree after another succumbed to the bijū's rampage.
Hiruzen could feel the world-enders' steaming breath flow down his back. It made the hair on his neck stand. In the distance, he finally saw Shikaku and Chōza who had caught up, perched inside a tree.
Hiruzen drew the Beast closer and closer, until he was just meters from the Nara. He ground his teeth together, 'Here goes,' he thought as he abruptly blitzed to the right.
The Fox dug its hands into the earth and skidded to a halt, Hiruzen stopped in his tracks in time to watch the towering monster draw its arm back, preparing to rip Hiruzen to shreds. Just as it began to swing its mighty hand down, it abruptly froze in place.
"Shadow Possession complete!" Shikaku yelled with strain.
The Beast snarled with its fangs bared. Its body inched back and forth, fighting against the constricting hold of the Nara's shadow.
"You two have to make this count… can't hold this thing forever…" Shikaku warned, desperately battling the Nine-Tails' strength.
Chōza sped through hand signs. "Partial Expansion Jutsu!" Both of his hands rapidly expanded into the size of boulders.
Hiruzen and Chōza leapt into the air. Chōza interlocked his gigantic hands together and threw them well above him. Hiruzen flung his staff over his head. "Now, Enma!" Hiruzen declared. He quickly snapped the staff forward while it rapidly increased in size.
The Fox roared defiantly. A sudden brain rattling ring could be heard. The trio of ninja were overcome with horror at the sight of the Nine-Tails amassing an unfathomable amount of chakra at its mouth. Before either attack even connected, the Demon Fox had managed to form a pure black sphere of solid chakra.
'A bijūdama!?' Hiruzen thought in shock. The sheer amount of heat that radiated from the attack caused all three shinobi to squint and turn their heads. 'It's going to incinerate this entire part of the village to take us out!'
Hiruzen had already put everything he had into this attack. No matter what happened now, that coal-black ball of destruction was going to be set off and there was nothing any of them could do about it.
"We'll just have to take you with us!" Hiruzen concluded with resolve, following through with his final attack.
CRACK!
The adamantine staff combined with the Akimichi's fists connected with the skull of the Nine-Tails. Hiruzen could definitely point out the distinct cracking noise of bone before the Fox's body met the dirt.
However, something was off. "Where the hell did the bijūdama go?" Hiruzen wondered desperately as his feet touched the surface.
A flash of light illuminated the entire forest like the sun was about to set. Hiruzen flung his attention to the light-source. A fireball towered over the mountains from several kilometers away. He watched in awe as the ground began to violently tremble beneath his feet.
BOOM!
The deafening explosion rattled in his ear drums. 'How?!' Hiruzen was bewildered as to how the Tailed Beast Bomb fired in that direction. He quickly scanned the area for answers. It was then that he saw it.
Standing right before the half opened mouth of the Nine-Tails was the Fourth Hokage, sporting his iconic cloak. 'Minato!' Hiruzen could only see the right side of the Hokage's determined gaze. Minato laid his left hand on the bijū before forming one sign with his right hand. Hiruzen watched the Fourth and the Kyūbi disappear from the battlefield in an instant without so much as a trace.
"Hiruzen, the shockwave!" Chōza yelled.
He was dragged back into reality and began to race through a number of signs. "Earth Style: Earth Wall!" A large, firm layer of sediment erupted from the ground at Hiruzen's feet, forming a barrier that Shikaku and Chōza darted behind.
No sooner than the wall materialized did a booming blast of superheated air tear through the forest around them. Trees uprooted and debris flew chaotically, the powerful winds buried stones into the sides of mountains. Hiruzen grit his teeth at the sound of rocks bursting against his defense. Shikaku fell onto his rear when a branch was lodged through the wall, nearly piercing his throat. All the trio could manage was to hunker down for the moment.
Seconds passed but eventually the vicious winds subsided, leaving the once chaotic clearing in an unsettling silence.
"What the hell just happened?" Shikaku asked in bewilderment.
"Minato saved us," was all Hiruzen could think to say. It was only now that he realized his heart had been beating out of his chest the entire time. A wave of gratitude overcame him, but it had a hard time convincing him to forget that he was only a few milliseconds from certain death.
He heaved a labored sigh.
"So what do we do now?" Chōza inquired.
"We should find and support Minato as soon as possible," Shikaku stated sternly. "We have to help him put that Beast away again."
Hiruzen nodded. "Shikaku is right."
"How are we going to even find where he went?" Chōza asked with a perplexed expression.
Hiruzen did not give a verbal reply. He planted his trusty staff firmly on the ground, held it to his body, and stood against it with both legs.
"Take me up, King Enma," Hiruzen commanded his staff.
The pole flew into the sky at a slight angle with Hiruzen in tow. He clung to it with little effort as it rapidly increased from the base of the ground to the clouds. Now several kilometers high, Hiruzen had the chance to scan the area for Minato's whereabouts.
From up so high, Hiruzen could marvel at the spectacle of his village and see over the hills and mountains into the tucked away valleys.
'Minato wouldn't teleport so far away that we couldn't provide support!' Hiruzen rationalized.
He squinted his eyes to gain focus while he scanned the lush forests below. Finally, he spotted it. The whipping and lashing flurry of ginger tails that towered meters over the trees.
'There you are, Fox. Minato can't be far away…' he thought.
"Take me back down," Hiruzen mouthed with haste. In only a moment, Hiruzen was once again touching the ground. Both the Nara and Akimichi looked at him expectantly.
"The Nine-Tails is directly east from here. About ten kilometers away," he informed.
Shikaku and Chōza seemed to release all their pent up tension with one relaxing sigh.
"Great, let's go. We don't have time to waste!" Shikaku claimed.
"Let's use your Body Flicker to get there," Chōza suggested to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen approached both of them, placing one hand on Chōza's shoulder, and he felt Shikaku put his own hand on his opposite shoulder.
'Here we come, Minato.' Hiruzen thought assuredly before turning east and forming a single hand seal. His chakra flooded into his leg's tenketsu like rushing water into finely crafted canals before he burst forth with greatly enhanced speed. The parting winds beat against his person with intensity and the leaves struggled to follow in the dust of his trail.
In only a moment, it was over and the scenery had morphed from the shambles of a half destroyed forest to the serene, lush greenery that surrounded the outskirts of Konoha. The calm wind and tranquil atmosphere that surrounded Hiruzen was a very welcome change.
"H–Hiruzen…" Shikaku muttered into the silence with a quaint whisper.
Hiruzen turned to his left where Shikaku and Chōza stood, looking on at something.
He calmly made his way to the duo. Something about the way they were acting threw Hiruzen off. It all felt so eerie.
He stood between the Akimichi and the Nara genius, regarding their faces. They were both totally consumed by whatever they saw. Chōza's face was masked with total shock, like he couldn't even conceive what he had laid eyes on. Shikaku's expression was adorned with worry. His teeth ground together in indignation as sweat rolled down his cheek.
A sudden chill crept down Hiruzen's back. An abrupt and smothering weight of anxiety ravaged his old nerves. He scanned the scene to find what wrought these two veteran jōnins with such overwhelming distress. His wrinkled face sped threw a look of concern to eye-bulging shock, and settled on utter devastation.
"Minato…" Hiruzen muttered.
No less than fifteen meters away was the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, accompanied by his dear wife, Kushina Uzumaki. Both of them had been impaled through the abdomen by one of the Nine-Tails' razor sharp claws.
"Oh no," Hiruzen's voice was riddled with dread.
Minato slowly turned his head to Hiruzen and offered a weak smile. "We just moved without thinking," he explained before tilting his head to the right for context.
Hiruzen's eyes dashed to the right. Just out of the Fox's reach was a small altar bathed in warm candle light. Inside the altar, however, was a truly astounding sight: a sleeping newborn baby. I appeared wholly unscathed, not a single blond hair disturbed on its tiny head. Minato and Kushina never allowed the child to fall into the mercy of the Demon Fox.
Minato hacked up crimson blood into his own hands. It poured out between his fingers and ran down his wrists. His blue eyes were half-lidded.
"Meet Naruto," Minato said with a bloody but genuine smile.
Hiruzen hardly noticed Kushina slowly running through hand seals. "Hidden Jutsu: Adamantine Sealing Chains," she managed to weakly utter.
A flurry of chakra chains shot out from the Uzumaki's upper back. Each chain soared toward the Kyūbi, wrapping around each limb and tail, constricting its mighty strength.
Hiruzen stepped forward to approach the duo.
"No," Minato blurted out. "Keep your distance, we have this under control now."
Hiruzen scowled at his successor. He knew that Minato would not refuse assistance if he could not deal with the issue himself. "Alright, I'll trust your judgment," Hiruzen replied in compliance.
"Please begin the seal, Kushina," Minato instructed his wife with a soft tone of voice, "I'll get the Nine-Tails."
Kushina's body fought off tremors as she dabbled the tips of her fingers in the crimson blood that gathered on the Kyūbi's white claw and began to draw intricate symbols onto her infant son's abdomen. Her concentration never wavered even as her blood poured out of her body and pooled on the ground.
"It's finished," she whispered while she made the last stroke.
"Alright," Minato sighed, "Here I go."
To Hiruzen's right, Shikaku stepped forward in protest. "Don't tell me you're going to seal the Nine-Tails into your infant son?!" Dejection was tearing the Nara apart.
"It's the only way to contain the bijū," Minato retorted bluntly.
"Naruto's the only one here with enough chakra to contain it," Kushina added weakly.
Shikaku balled his fists. "He's just a baby!"
"T-They kinda have a point, Shikaku…" Chōza defended which got a disgusting look from his friend.
Minato gazed upon Shikaku with his dreary blue eyes. "The Nine-Tails can't escape," he retorted with finality.
The Hokage collected himself and took a deep breath. He adopted a determined aura before his hands sprung into action, sign after sign going by in a flash.
'Those seals–!' Hiruzen's eyes grew wide with shock. "Minato, don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing!" he said in disbelief.
The Fourth didn't respond, focusing all of his attention into his jutsu until he finally made the necessary hand signs.
"Reaper Death Seal!" he exclaimed while he slammed his hands together.
Minato grunted in horrible pain. Hiruzen watched the Hokage's very soul be torn from his body and remain pinned in the sky like it was crucified. His spirit's only connection to him was hanging blue tethers.
Just behind the fiery blue construct appeared a mystical, smokey white cloud. The gaseous cloud swiftly began to transform. It expanded until it towered over the Hokage's spirit. It took the form of a ghostly, tattered cloak that danced in the wind. From the sleeves emerged two decrepit, purple hands with abnormally long fingers and similarly large, black fingernails. The left hand grasped a set of prayer beads. From the v shaped collar, the head of the creature took shape. It sported a lion's mane of white hair, a sharp chin, and its glowing yellow eyes were sunken in its skull. Its serrated teeth were clenched shut around an intricately crafted wakizashi.
"The Reaper," Chōza marveled. His hot breath became misty in the now chilling air.
Hiruzen grit his teeth in frustration. "Don't you know this jutsu will kill you?!" he reminded the Hokage with yells, as if he'd lost his mind and forgotten the requirements of the feared Uzumaki technique.
"Reaper, fetch me the Kyūbi's soul," he commanded the spirit.
Hiruzen's attention latched onto the looming Reaper. It's menacing figure levitating above everyone while it sauntered over to the writhing Fox.
The Nine-Tails tried and tried to fight against the adamantine constraints, but couldn't make any ground. The Reaper was inching closer, unphased by the Demon's feral growls and snarls.
Hiruzen took note of the fiery eyes of the Fox and all the blood red hatred that emanated from its gaze, its sharp, blood covered fangs bared for all to fear. He knew that no human could approach this bijū, even while it was restricted, without a concrete resolve.
The Shinigami was no human. It made its way to the cornered Fox as if it couldn't even understand threats or fear. The Death God stopped before the Fox, its low growls had no effect. Hiruzen saw the Reaper's ghostly purple hand reach for the wakizashi between its yellow teeth. It licked the sharp blade with its long, narrow, black tongue and held it before the Fox.
Without hesitation, the Shinigami plunged the wakizashi deep into the Nine-Tails' jugular. The fight between the Demon and the chains halted and then the Reaper dragged the wakizashi through the rest of the Kyūbi's throat.
The Nine-Tails' eyes rolled into the back of their sockets as it choked on its own blood. All it could manage to do was lie motionless on the ground, gargling a mix of oxygen and crimson.
The Shinigami focused it's supernatural power into a one handed sign. From within the fatal gash in its neck, a fiery red mass that crackled like fire began to seep out from the Beast's neck at the Reaper's command. 'The Nine-Tails' soul,' Hiruzen inwardly remarked. 'Full of so much anger!'
Searing heat was flung from the Demon's amassing soul and battled with the chilling aura of the Death God. In moments, the entire bijū's life force took the shape of its physical body. The sheer power of it beat against the trees and made the wind roar uncontrollably.
With the Fox's spirit separated from its person, its body gave out under the chains before rapidly decaying into dust. The Nine-Tails was dead. Minato and Kushina both collapsed face forward onto the ground because they could not stand anymore.
The Shinigami swiftly whispered mystical chants over the prayer beads that clung to its left hand. When it concluded its murmured prayers, the ghastly figure held the hallowed beads before the bijū's soul.
Between the hollowed bores of the beads the breeze eerily whistled until something changed. Abruptly, the soul of the Demon was being hastily consumed by the beads. It was as if the Reaper's venerated tool was some sort of soul-catcher. They acted like a vacuum to the Beast's life force, sucking it away to be contained inside.
Hiruzen gasped in bewilderment, he couldn't believe how quickly such a strong spirit was being devoured.
"T–The Nine-Tails' soul is gone!" Shikaku shakily blurted out.
When all was said and done, the Reaper leisurely turned around, beads in tow, and made its way back behind Minato's spirit.
"Now that we have the bijū's spirit, its body will have no choice but to reform within Naruto, thereby securing the Kyūbi's full power within him," Minato explained simply.
Minato wiped the blood from his chin and wearily began a series of hand seals.
"What are you doing now?!" Hiruzen's eyebrow twitched frantically as he beckoned the Hokage.
"The next step," Minato replied as he finished his next jutsu. "Summoning Jutsu."
He laid his right hand on the surface and a wispy plume of smoke erupted into the air next to him. A kneehigh toad hopped out of the white column. Its back was colored black, and its front was a warm orange pigment. Most peculiar of all was the toad's midsection, which was wrapped in a layer of white bandages.
"Minato?" the toad beckoned with its high pitched voice. "Ma and Pa just informed us of what's going on in the Leaf. Is Master Jiraiya okay?" the amphibian asked, its voice not betraying its concern.
'What's wrong with Jiraiya?' Hiruzen instantly wondered.
Minato apparently did his best to smile. "Not the time, Geratora," he said while throwing his thumb over his shoulder to point out the giant hole in his back.
Geratora gasped. "Great Sage! What do you need me to do?!" the toad waited intently for instruction.
Minato choked out another bloody cough. "We need to use your scroll," the Fourth said.
Geratora immediately tore the bandages from his abdomen, exposing a lightly tanned cylinder where his guts should be. He then stood on his hind legs, and focused his chakra with a hand sign.
"Release!" Geratora commanded, and suddenly his upper body shot up from his legs an entire meter, his midsection was one long scroll that he unfurled for use.
Kushina held her hand up and extended her pointer finger which radiated with the blue flame of her chakra. She began burning something into the paper of the scroll in numerous careful, long strokes. "This is the key to Naruto's Eight Trigrams Seal which will restrain the Kyūbi," the redhead explained as she made the final stroke in the scroll.
"Make sure that this scroll gets to Master Jiraiya and that he knows what it's for," Minato instructed the toad.
"It will be done," Geratora nodded before disappearing in a dancing cloud of white smoke.
Kushina coughed into her hand. She looked terribly distressed and the sweat and grime that dotted her face didn't help. "Please, get Naruto for us," she softly instructed.
Hiruzen dashed to the altar and carefully cradled the sleeping Naruto in his arms. He had only just gotten to take notice of the baby's defining whiskers, of which there were three on each cheek.
'His eyes are even bluer than Minato's,' he realized.
Shikaku and Chōza had gone through the courtesy of laying the impaled couple on their sides, facing each other. Hiruzen laid the infant boy in Kushina's arms, who caressed his cheek tenderly.
"Hiruzen," Minato called his attention.
"Yeah, son?" Hiruzen responded softly.
Minato's dim, blue eyes settled on him. "I have one final request," the blond revealed.
"I want you to make sure that Master Jiraiya raises Naruto," he stated firmly. "And I want you to tell him I'm sorry for dumping a huge task on him with such short notice," the Fourth instructed half-jokingly.
Hiruzen resolved himself. "I'll see to it that it's fulfilled," he assured his dying successor with a stern nod.
A calm but melancholic stillness consumed the area.
"Let's infuse what remains of our chakra into the seal so that one day he will be able to meet us," Kushina offered to her husband, never taking her eyes off of Naruto.
Minato just laughed weakly while he stared longingly at his son. "That's a great idea."
His fingertip was engulfed with a new, warm, blue flame of chakra. It danced in the wind until he placed his finger on the seal of blood over the boy's stomach. "This is all I have left," he quietly noted while he eloquently traced each line of the seal with his finger.
Kushina swiftly followed after Minato had finished. "Now the seal will be reinforced with both of our chakras," she murmured in whispers.
"I guess this means it's time for goodbyes," Minato said somberly.
Hiruzen's stomach folded over itself when he heard Kushina sniffle, before she wiped away the tears clouding her eyes and sighed weakly. Hiruzen couldn't help but wonder why it needed to be this way.
"I'm sorry that our time is being cut short," she spoke softly into her child's ear. "I know it's unfair that we won't be there to watch you grow," her voice started to break. She continued on, "It's going to be difficult to contain the Kyūbi. People are going to treat you differently and much will be expected of you."
The Uzumaki held the infant closer and tighter to her with all the remaining strength she had. "There's going to be a lot of hardship ahead that we won't be there to help you with and times will come where everything will feel hopeless."
She clenched her eyes shut to pinch off the tears that kept building up. They streamed down her chin and stained her cheeks. "But, regardless of all of that, just know that your father and I will always be with you in your heart."
Kushina touched her forehead to her son's and ruffled his short, blond hair. "There's no doubt in our mind that you'll make a wonderful shinobi that will become big and strong… strong enough to always keep moving forward, no matter what's in your way."
Hiruzen hated watching Kushina pour her heart out to her son, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. Her pain and sorrow was not lost on him. "And know that even though we couldn't raise you, we're certain that Master Jiraiya will turn you into a fine man," she asserted through gritted teeth.
Kushina winced in distress but never took her eyes off Naruto. "I just want you to know that we love you more than anything in the whole world," she concluded through shaky cracks in her voice and began to sob.
Minato smiled warmly realizing that it was his turn to pass on his final words. He wrapped his arm around Kushina, and rested his hand on Naruto's stomach.
"I don't really have much to say that your mother didn't already tell you, heh. I just wish I could've done more as your father," he said as a single tear ran down his cheek. He used a moment to silently compose himself. "Be strong, Naruto. I know that… you'll do better than we did," he concluded with a bittersweet smile.
Hiruzen could tell the light in Minato's eyes was fading away. Minato got one more longing look at his wife. "Are you ready?" Minato softly asked Kushina.
She nodded her head in confirmation.
Minato raised his left hand into the air signaling the Death God. "Give the boy its soul," the Hokage commanded the ever looming Reaper. The Shinigami removed one of the beads from the band of the venerated item and held it over Naruto's gut. Then it held its other hand before its face and made a single hand sign.
At once, the small bead exploded with the burning red mass of the Kyūbi's soul. It streamed into Naruto's body sporadically. The boy instantly began to wail and cry. Hiruzen couldn't help but wince watching all of the Fox's hateful life-force flood Naruto's person.
The soul ceased pouring from the prayer bead. A hiss could be heard over the child's screams as the soul of the Nine-Tails was wholly forced in the seal of Kushina and Minato's blood.
Minato formed a final hand sign. The Reaper sliced open its own stomach with its wakizashi because it understood what came next.
"Seal!" Minato demanded with finality. The red configuration on Naruto's abdomen constricted and changed into a tight swirl that was surrounded by complex symbols and patterns.
At the same time, the Reaper used its wakizashi to sever the tethers of Minato's soul from his body and seal his spirit within the dark innards of the Shinigami's stomach.
The deafening sound of Naruto's screams were overshadowed by Minato and Kushina's silence.
Hiruzen somberly knelt down closer to the family. They died while holding Naruto tightly in their grasp. Kushina still didn't take her eyes off Naruto even when she passed. Hiruzen took it upon himself to carefully close their eyelids.
Hiruzen shared melancholic glances with Chōza and Shikaku. Even he could tell that they all knew the same thing: Naruto didn't choose this life and it wasn't going to be kind to him either.
END
Author's Note
Hey everyone.
I hope this chapter finds you well and that you enjoy it thoroughly.
I have been planning this AU fic for a very long time with the help of a lot of different people.
There are many, many changes to come that deviate from canon, far too many to name, but just understand that this story will be tailored to how I feel Naruto should have been written more or less.
This is the first of many chapters to come. Speaking of which, chapter 2 will be coming out 2 weeks from now. I've been working on this for a while already, so I have about 10 chapters ready to post. The current schedule for the foreseeable future will be 1 chapter every 2 weeks.
I'll also just say it now to get it out of the way – this fic will NOT focus much if ANY on romance or ships. Will those things be in the fic? Sure. They will not be a main focus of this fic though.
I'd also like to give a big thank you to some of the people who have been instrumental in helping me get this thing out here so fast and edit it.
The first is V3X, who did a HUGE amount of editing on this chapter. He's an author on here too. He has some great stuff that he's working on such as his fic 'The Wind Walker'. Definitely reccomend you check it out.
The other person I need to show gratitude to also read and edited a bunch of this chapter. Her name is Kastra Pyrolux. Irreplaceable help with all this.
That's about it for now. Come back September 2nd for chapter 2. Favorite, follow, review, all that awesome stuff that makes the dopamine spike.
Godspeed,
Salt.