Chapter 1: Kyuubi's attack, Uzumaki's burden.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, stood with a platoon of the elite Anbu behind him, fire blazing in his eyes as he stoically faced the Kyuubi across a clearing. The Kyuubi, a towering nine-tailed demon fox, had attacked the Hidden Leaf Village and was driven to a clearing in the outskirts of the village through the heroic efforts of the elite shinobi, for some at the cost of their lives. The Sandaime's mission was clear, stall long enough for his successor, Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, to put the finishing touches on the last jutsu he would ever perform, and to give the man a much deserved moment to say goodbye to his wife Kushina Uzumaki and his newborn son Naruto.
Kushina was, until mere hours ago, the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, meaning the tailed beast was sealed inside of her. The problem is that earlier that evening she was giving birth to her and Minato's first child and in her weakened state, a man in an orange spiral mask managed to rip the demon fox from her seal and set it upon the village while Minato was preoccupied with protecting Naruto. The family of three were in Minato's study at the Uzumaki Estate (Minato was an orphan so after marrying, he and Kushina took residence in the abandoned Uzumaki Clan Estate) while he was doing a final review of an eight trigrams seal that was the pinnacle of his achievements in Fuinjutsu, or the sealing arts. His plan was to reseal the Kyuubi, but into his own newborn son Naruto.
"Minato, please just reseal the Kyuubi into me" Kushina pleaded, "I'm an Uzumaki, I can take it!"
Minato tried to comfort his red-haired wife, "Kushina, my love, we both know you can't take the strain after the complications from giving birth and having the Kyuubi taken from you. And if you were to die after the sealing, the village would face the same crisis within the next few years. And summoning the Shinigami to complete the sealing will take my life, Naruto needs at least one of us to be there for him. I . . ."
BOOM! The door to the study flew open as a tall spiky white-haired man stormed inside. "Minato, Kushina, I got the message through the toad summons and just got back to the village, what do you need me to do?"
"Jiraiya! It's so good to have to here for this, for now go assist Sandaime with holding the Kyuubi away from the village," Minato said to his sensei with a sense of relief in his voice.
Jiraiya was about to set off to assist his own sensei, Hiruzen, when he caught a glimpse of what Minato was working on. As a veteran spy master, it was hard for Jiraiya not to absorb any information around him. As he was also a Fuinjutsu master in his own right, Jiraiya was drawn to the intricate seal Minato was working on, as he started to recognize it as the eight trigrams seal, something the young Hokage could only use by sacrificing his own life to summon the Shinigami, his eyes shot wide open. "Minato, what do you think you're doing? If you perform this summoning the Shinigami will claim your soul, killing you in the process," Jiraiya said to his student.
"I know, sensei, but this is the only way," Minato replied solemnly.
Jiraiya pleaded, "Let me or Sarutobi Sensei do it, we're both old men without families depending on us!"
"There's no time for that, it would take even you days to learn the summoning and seal work. And I need you to be here to take care of Kushina and Naruto. Now go, that old man could use your help, I'll be there soon," Minato told his sensei, giving him a small but genuine smile.
"Sandaime Sama," a bear masked Anbu kneeled in front of the retired Hokage, "The Kyuubi is starting to push us back towards Konoha again, I don't know how much longer we can hold it here."
"Very well, it's time for this old man to show the will of fire still burns within him," Sandaime replied, more to himself than to anyone else, stepping forward to confront the Kyuubi. Blazing through a series of hand seals that even the Anbu couldn't track, Hiruzen inhaled deeply, swelling his chest, "Fire style, Annihilation!" he cried. The moment he began to exhale, a thin but intense stream of fire shot out towards the nine-tailed demon fox. When the small stream reached the Kyuubi, it erupted into a pilar of flame as if the very gates of hell were opened beneath the bijuu. The Anbu accompanying the retired Hokage had to fall back, unable to handle the intense heat from the Sandaime's S-rank fire jutsu. While the Sandaime was still spitting flames, two more Sandaimes puffed into existence on either side of him. The new arrivals quickly went through the same set of hand seals and inhaled deeply, they simultaneously shouted, "Wind style, Great Breakthrough," and shot streams of air into the original's fire stream.
The fire stream quadrupled in size and once it reached the Kyuubi, the pillar of flame became a raging mountain. Hiruzen's breath, and the stream, lasted nearly a full minute but the flames engulfing the Kyuubi remained.
"Kami," was all dog masked Anbu could utter.
"The God of Shinobi," said the dragon masked Anbu commander.
The Kyuubi let out a thunderous pained roar before violently waving its tails extinguishing the flames. The demon fox set his eyes on the retired hokage sending chills down the backs of all the shinobi present. Just as the Kyuubi began to move, another cry could be heard, "Summoning, Food Cart Destroyer!" Looking up, the shinobi saw a massive smoke plum from which a toad larger than a house fell. The toad, magenta with black markings, was holding a shield and a sasumata, slammed into the Kyuubi and pinned his head to the ground with the forked weapon. The Kyuubi tried to slam his tails into the toad, but the large toad was able to stand his ground, blocking with his shield.
Just as the Anbu began to cheer, the Kyuubi wrapped one of his tails around Gamaken's leg and threw him off his back. Jumping up, the Kyuubi began amassing a ball of chakra at his mouth swallowing it when it grew to his satisfaction. Jiraiya landed next to his sensei and thought out loud "We've done everything we can, the rest is up to you, kid."
Just as the Kyuubi was about to release a village destroying beam of chakra, a flash of yellow shot in front of the assembled shinobi and before they could register what happened, there was another flash and the Kyuubi was gone. Various cheers could be heard once the shinobis' brains caught up to their eyes, "The Yondaime!" "The village is saved!" "Namikaze Sama will defeat the demon!" They were silenced moments later when an explosion in the distance leveled an entire mountain peak.
"Get back to the village, start transporting any injured to the hospital. Jiraiya, come with me to help Minato." The Sandaime gave his orders and set off toward the explosion, Jiraiya on his heels.
The sight that greeted the two older shinobi sank their hearts. Minato was standing behind an altar holding his hands in a ram sign, panting heavily. Atop the alter was a blond infant, Naruto, crying because of all of the commotion going on around him. And in front of the altar, Kushina stood, thick golden chains had erupted from her body and were holding back the Kyuubi, one on each tail, one around both his waist and neck, and one around each of the demon fox's limbs. She was holding it, but blood was trickling down her mouth and flowing down her front as the Kyuubi's claw was pierced through her abdomen. Minato shouted, "Fuin!" and the clearing was engulfed in a bright light. Once it disappeared, the Kyuubi and the altar were gone, leaving the family of three on the ground.
Kushina and Minato dragged themselves over to their blond-haired blue-eyed baby, Kushina taking him into her arms and Minato taking them both into his own. "Naruto, my son, I'm sorry mommy can't be there to take care of you. I want you to be happy and be good. Eat all your vegetables, not just ramen, bathe regularly . . ." Kushina continued saying goodbye to her son as the Sandaime and Jiraiya approached.
"Hiruzen," Minato said, setting his eyes on his predecessor, "The Kyuubi has been sealed inside Naruto, please, make sure he is seen by the village as the hero he is," he continued, "Jiraiya, now that little Naru-chan has lost both of us, I need you to promise me you'll be there for him. I know how hard this is on you, but I need you to be here. I hope the village will rise up and meet my hopes, but you know how jinchuriki are treated throughout the elemental nations. Especially after today's attack, he'll need you there to help raise him, train him, and most importantly to love him."
Tears streaming down his face, Jiraiya knelt down in front of his former student, "I've always seen you as the son I never had, I give you my word, I will be there for him and stories of the legend he'll become will reach you and Kushina in the heavens."
Minato just smiled to his sensei and looked down towards Naruto. "Well, it doesn't look like your mother left me much time," he managed to flash a smile towards Kushina, "but I love you, my son, and I'm sorry for this burden I've placed on your shoulders."
And with that, the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, both passed. Jiraiya sealed their bodies into sealing scrolls and scooped up Naruto, rewrapping him in his blanket. "Let's go Jiraiya, by now, the council should be assembled."