DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, speaking internally to Kurama, etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

"Mito-chan, there could be grave consequences for telling me what you have today," Hiruzen said as he chewed his lip and allowed the light in his pipe to completely dim. "I am glad that you came, but," he sighed heavily, "your father is the Hokage now."

"I know that, Oji-san. I just… I don't want him to die! Not only do I need him, but the village needs him! And what he's planning to do…"

"Worry not, Mito-chan," Hiruzen said, smiling ruefully at the cute little girl his family and students had primarily raised. "I may not be a seal master, but I can think of a few things that may help us in case of a… dire situation." He looked at the sullen girl critically and asked the very first question that popped into his mind once she brought Minato's foolhardy plans to his attention. "How did you learn that your mother is a jinchuuriki?"

Mito didn't want to give Tsunade up; she could only imagine Ojii-san's reaction to learning that a drunk Tsunade pretty much told her that her mother was the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. "I heard things… And Mom sometimes whispers curses at a 'fox.'" Her answer seemed to appease her grandfather figure somewhat.

"I see," he muttered before lighting his pipe again. "Have you heard when your mother will be induced?"

Ojii-san's really getting old, Mito thought, giving me information freely like that. She hadn't known that her mother would be induced at all, although it made sense. Her quick mind ran through scenarios that the village must surely be contemplating already. Naruto's birth was anticipated in only two weeks. "I don't know. Will the village be evacuated? As a precaution? And we need to get Tsunade baa-chan back here, don't ya think? Dad doesn't want me near Mom when this all goes down - which is bullshit - but he said he wants me at the hospital."

Hiruzen knew that evacuating the village, perhaps by saying it was a drill, was a good idea, and intended to bring it up to Minato. While his first thought was that Kushina-chan giving birth could be used by Iwa or another village as the perfect time to attack and grab her again while the redhead was weak; he wondered if Minato's thoughts were focused solely on the Kyuubi and his expanding family. Probably not: Minato loved his village and was absolutely brilliant. Hiruzen knew that his thoughts at this point in time would be on his family first, though, so maybe he hadn't thought other possibilities through.

He considered the Namikazes family, too. The former Hokage watched as the girl with the distinct features puffed up her chest and clenched her fists in determination. "What are you thinking, Mito-chan?"

"If... if the worst happens, make me the jinchuuriki. Don't do it to Naruto-chan: he's just a baby."

Hiruzen groaned: there was so much wrong with that, although he considered the girl very brave to want to take over the duties for her unborn brother should the worst thing possible happen. "Mito-chan, I - I'm afraid you're too old for that." Seeing the girl pout and stomp her foot, he was very much reminded of her mother when Kushina was young. "This is S-ranked classified information, Mito. Your mother became the Kyuubi jinchuuriki shortly after arriving in the village when she was a little younger than you. Her chakra network wasn't... fully formed," he sighed as he thought more about it. Kushina had been an Academy student, but she'd certainly already begun training as a kunoichi, especially with those chains of hers and fuuinjutsu in Uzushio. "If you were forced into the role and survived, you'd never have the chakra control you have now. I know how important your goals are, Mito."

Mito slumped back onto the chair behind her. That was bad news: she was so ready to do this for Naruto. Just in case the worst happens, she reminded herself as she sat, frowning, staring at the floor. She wanted to be an ANBU medic so that she could be out in the field saving people, whether they were in ANBU or just victims of attacks that ANBU were often sent to help. She could potentially save a lot of people - if her father ever let her out of the village as a member of a real ANBU team - OR she could save her brother's horrible potential fate.

Hiruzen, though, had a thought: a twin seal. Perhaps splitting the Kyuubi's chakra in half, placing the Yin and Yang halves of the demon into each one of the half-Uzumaki children? Kushina really wasn't too much younger than Mito-chan at this point when she became the jinchuuriki. And Mito-sama, the Shodai's wife, the FIRST jinchuuriki, was a fully-grown adult when she took on her burden. She survived and eventually thrived, with the ability to soon even use iryo-ninjutsu as well as most of her frightening techniques after becoming the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

...And she sealed the entire Kyuubi within herself, as an adult kunoichi! But of course, she, like Kushina, was a full-blooded Uzumaki. He needed to consider this more, and go back to his library. Perhaps he could even speak with Jiraiya and sneak into Minato's library.

"Mito-chan, we prepared for the Kyuubi's escape when you were born and that was during wartime. Your mother's seal is very strong, and all of this planning is purely precautionary," the Sandaime said with a gentle smile as he tried to make the child feel better. "Your birth went splendidly, and I'm sure that Naruto-chan's will go well, too. If you really want to be helpful and ease your mind, why don't you go spend some time with your mother? Believe me: one way or another, you'll never regret the time you spend with those you love."

Mito smiled at her Ojii-san and got up to give him a hug. She bid him farewell after bringing him a cup of tea, but he called her back. He was obviously thinking about heavy things, and she prayed that The Professor could come up with a better answer for her family's plight.

"Mito-chan, I may have to request assistance as I investigate this. If I require your help, your father will not be pleased. He could potentially even court-martial you," he warned just to make the girl think about her desires again. Mito was a splendid kunoichi and he felt that she could do remarkable work for the village in the future.

Mito nodded her head, believing him to be considering making her the jinchuuriki, after all. She smiled up at him as best she could and agreed to help however she could, feeling sick that what had to be a sentient being - no matter how supposedly monstrous - should be caged within any human. Or caged at all! She decided to take him up on his advice and spend more time with her mother.

And her father... She was not going to let them die!

"Where in the world have you been, young lady?!"

Mito groaned out loud. No wait, I did want to be here... "I just went to see Ojii-san."

"Oh?" Kushina asked, her hair still crackling with chakra. Mito was so glad that her own hair didn't do that weird thing: her mother looked terrifying when her hair started splitting and defying gravity, no matter how nice a person she really was. "Why did you go over there?"

Mito pouted and threw her hair back. "When I've seen him in Dad's office, he's always doing paperwork," Mito replied sassily, her hands on her hips as she threw her mother off what she'd actually been seeing the Sandaime about. "Why?! Is there some reason I can't go over there? He's my grandpa, 'ttebane!"

"Well..." Kushina began, her hair beginning to fall back to her ankles, although it rose up almost as quickly again. "No, but you didn't tell us! Kakashi-kun was the one that had to tell us that you'd snuck off in the dark, and he also told us that you were trying to sneak into one of that snake's labs!"

"Oh for fuck sake, Kakashi-kun," Mito grunted angrily while she bared her teeth at the boy who was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed as if he hadn't done anything wrong. She ignored her mother's aggravation over her language. "You just had to be a prick and a tattle-tale, didn't ya?"

"Mito-chan!"

"Maa, maa, Mito-chan," the silver-haired fink drawled lazily, "it's my job to keep an eye on the place...'

"Bullshit! You're supposed to guard my mom, not be a rat-fink-bastard-know-it-all blabbermouth that puts his hands on me like some kind of creep... And I wasn't 'sneaking' anywhere!"

"What? What did you do, Kakashi-kun?" Kushina asked dangerously, flipping a switch as she now glared at the Jonin.

"Maa, Kushina-nee-chan; Mito-chan was trying to go into one of Orochimaru-sama's laboratories..."

"Bastard!" Mito had lost track of why she was so, SO mad; she just knew that she was! Plus, she was also really stressed out as hell from all this jinchuuriki bullshit, too. And that Kakashi was such a snitch! "You tried to grab me and I fucking warned you!" The girl's fist was in the air, glowing with chakra.

For all of Minato's smarts that her daughter possessed, Kushina knew that her daughter was really raging like an Uzumaki now - again - and was close to attacking the boy she saw as her son. And to make it worse, Kakashi-kun was just smirking behind that mask of his! "ENOUGH," she screamed while expelling a pulse of chakra.

"Mom!" Mito yelled as she ran forward to catch her mother - who ended up not falling down after all. "You can't do that! You have to be careful with your chakra usage and stability at this point in your pregnancy."

"Well then you'll just have to behave yourself, Mito-chan," the redhead replied easily, trying not to grin at the interesting variety of names her daughter was now calling Kakashi under her breath. Very creative, indeed, she thought. She'd have to use some of those profanity combos, but not toward Kakashi-kun, of course.

Fugaku would be a perfect target.

"I'm gonna flick you through a wall," the girl muttered ominously toward the masked teenager.

Kakashi was looking awfully feral behind his mask, and Kushina was positive she heard the boy growl, just like his father would when she and her Genin teammates had really gone overboard in ticking him off. "You guys are ridiculous. Now, Mito-chan, why were you going into that ass's, Orochimaru's, lab?"

Mito pouted and tried to look innocent as she stifled her anger. This really didn't bode well for her though, and she could just imagine her father also going off on her Uncle Rochi about it. "I've got a friend over there. Orochimaru-sama's apprentice is a girl named Anko-chan, and we get along really well." She wasn't sure if that was true or not. Both girls riled each other up, but Mito thought that Anko was pretty fun and nice to be around. "And he made me a kimono. I had to leave it there, though, 'cause I knew you would get mad!"

"A kimono?" Kushina asked in shock. She couldn't help the next few questions she now had for her daughter. "How long have you known Orochimaru? And how did you know about his lab? And the kimono..." Damn: that man knows how to dress! "...what's it like?"

Kakashi groaned and went into the kitchen, used to Kushina's attention deficit and unsatisfied that Mito wasn't getting into more trouble. What a big mouth that girl was.

Had he been being honest, he would admit to himself that Mito (literally) getting the jump on him the day before (and flicking him through a tree) had hurt his pride. And his back.

Days later -

Jiraiya stared at the messages from his sensei and student, wondering what the hell was going on. They usually left him alone when Mito was in the village.

"Aww, fuck..." So Minato found out that he and Tsunade had "occasionally" left Mito with Orochimaru, huh? It's not like my teammate's that bad! He decided to ignore the problem and opened his sensei's note, gawking after reading and then glancing over it several times.

"...Twin seals?" It was too close to his godson's birth for this to be anything other than troubling. Still, Hiruzen-sensei's questions were worth considering. As long as the shinobi splitting this supposed husk his sensei had somehow encountered had enough chakra, he supposed it would work with a strong enough seal.

IF the thing could be split.

What and where in the world was this Gedo Maze/husk thing, though? And just how strong a seal would be necessary in order to lock it away? And what did it do or formerly house? Was this theoretical: something the Sandaime had read about or had his sensei actually located something supposedly ancient and incredibly dangerous?

Or was this husk thing a ruse? Surely, his sensei wasn't thinking about... No. His sensei wasn't the Hokage anymore, his student was!

And his student was a genius.

Still, though... The more he thought of it, the more he decided he needed to get back to Konoha. He didn't want to think of either his sensei or student doing something terribly dangerous when he could help.

His decision to leave Ame early again would have consequences that he couldn't imagine.