It had all gone to hell. This was supposed to be the best day of his life, perhaps only matched by the day he married Kushina-chan. His wife had gone into labor and they had rushed her to the safe location he had prepared specifically for this day. The birth had been rough, his wife's water wasn't expected to break for another three weeks or so. But still in the end his wife pulled through and he was greeted by his child loudly declaring she was alive to the world. The girl had Kushina-chan's beautiful red hair and his eyes. The infant girl was wailing loudly and she couldn't have been more perfect. This had perhaps been the single happiest moment of his life thus far. Then it all went down hill from there. He and his wife had stopped paying attention to her seal for a second, and the beast sealed within took it's chance to break out while she was weak. He and Konoha were quickly met with the meaning of despair.

The beast had ten long tails and a single red eye, that bore the familiar tomoe of the Sharingan. It seemed to peer into the very depths of his soul, he almost felt his heart stop just from seeing it, like the icy hand of the Shinigami had come to rend not only his soul but the very meaning of the word hope from existence. It was despair incarnate, that was all he could call it. The beast wasn't even at full strength from what he could tell, as though it's millennia spent in seals had left it dormant and only now had it begun to wake for the first time since it's first sealing. And if it is despair incarnate when it's this weak, what could he possibly do as it grows stronger and more awake by the second? It was-

"Minato!" He was snapped out of his thoughts by his wife's plea. She was dying, they both knew it. She had already been exhausted from the childbirth, let alone the fact that it was premature, add on top of that the beast escaping and she was thrown onto deaths door. But his wife was strong and that alone wouldn't be what truly brought her death. No it would be the fact that she was currently using every ounce of chakra she had left to restrain the beast in her chains. It had gotten to the point where she had to forgo her own safety to maintain them and make them truly a part of her, rending the flesh from her back to directly link with her chakra core. Not even Tsunade could save her after something like that. "You know we have only one option." Sealing the beast in his daughter. The thought made him want to wretch.

"Kushina-chan, is there really no other way?" Kushina-chan had a far better life than his daughter would. No one had seen the demon in over a millennium, save the Uzumaki family who had been keeping it locked away in their main family for generations. The modern people had no idea that the legend of the Rikudo Sennin was true. But it had been truer than anyone could have ever imagined, the untold destruction wrought on Konoha was proof of that much. And he knew that it was exactly this destruction that would condemn his daughter to a life of hell. Assuming anyone finds out that he sealed it in her. If all goes well only Kushina-chan, Jiraiya-sensei, Tsunade, The Sandaime (who would really only learn of it today), and himself would ever know. And hopefully all of them would take this information to their graves.

Kushina shook her head, "Only an Uzumaki can contain the beast, it's the only way to save the village." They both knew it, they had discussed how they would one day have to place the beast in their daughter. The Uzumaki family could only contain it due being saturated in the chakra from the moment of their inception. Anyone else would quickly be consumed by it. And even then an Uzumaki could only carry it for about forty years if they're lucky, though there were exceptions, like Kushina-chan's great grandmother, Uzumaki Mito's sister (She was made heiress after Mito's engagement to Hashirama Senju) carrying the beast for close to one hundred years. Kushina sighed and Minato snapped out of his thoughts once more. "We're not going to be there for her." His wife was crying, she had dreamed of starting a family after they were married, the fall of Uzushio had always left her longing for one. Truthfully speaking he had too. After he and Kushina-chan had gotten married he had come to a realization. More so than even being Hokage, his dream was to live out his days with his family in peace. How cruel fate is to rip that away from him when he was so close.

"We can only hope that Sensei and our students will be able to care for her." Really he meant Jiraiya and Tsunade, his students were adults and all were jonin, as were Kushina's, but they were only 16, no age to be taking care of a child. The chains let out an intense groan and he sighed, they were out of time. "I'm sorry Naruko, Daddy's not gonna be here to see you grow." He was holding his perfect little daughter in his arms. She looked up at him and gurgled happily. He smiled softly, she was a tiny little thing, an effect of being delivered early, but he loved her regardless. "You're gonna have to be strong. You probably won't remember us, but know that we love you so much." He looked to Kushina and nodded.

Their hands flew through a series of hand signs and both shouted in unison "Fuin!" Minato's hand landed on his daughters stomach while Kushina's landed on the beast, at the same time one of her chains pierced him, one of the ones directly linked to her chakra core. He had to hold back the cough of blood. He was going to die regardless, he could already feel the icy breath of the Shinigami grasping his soul, guess his statements earlier weren't that far off. It extended through the chains and Kushina to the Juubi, sucking the beast down into his newborn. Fortunately this process wouldn't trap his wives soul as well, but it would still condemn him for eternity. It was their only option to seal the beast on such short notice.

The Juubi let out a single might roar before it was fully sealed into his daughter. He could feel his life draining as he got one last look at his daughter. Her red hair had turned white as snow, but more striking than that was her eyes. No longer did she have his blue eyes, instead they were the eyes of the beasts, with that awful version of the Sharingan or whatever it truly was. Still she was his perfect baby girl and even with the change to her pigments he thought she was beautiful. He carefully laid down and held her as she cried. It would be okay, his friends and students would understand they would be there for her.

He heard his wife fall to the ground next to them and hold their daughter. He let out a faint smile. "Kushina-chan, little Naru-chan. I love you two more than you could ever know." His wife said something but he couldn't hear her, but he knew what she was saying all the same. She was saying the same thing, in the end he loved his daugther more than even his own life, perhaps even more than the village he swore his life too. She would grow up to be great, he just knew it. He smiled. And then he died.

She had watched the light fade from his eyes. The Shinigami wasn't kind enough to give him time, but she had to hold out a little while longer. She knew someone would arrive soon and she had to make sure her daughter was taken care of. Even if she was exhausted beyond all reason. Even if she was in more pain than she had ever felt before. Even if she could feel her life force draining away by the second. She wouldn't die until her daughter was in safe hands. She'd use what little time she had left to talk to her daughter while she waits. "Naruko, Mommy and Daddy love you so so much. It's a shame but we won't be able to watch you grow up. To comfort you when you're hurt. To scold you when do something wrong. To cheer you on when you're feeling down. We're going to miss it all." The words seemed to get to both of the Uzumaki remaining, as tears burst forth from both herself and her daughter. "So you're gonna have to be strong. Stronger than anyone's ever been. But your daddy and I believe in you." She let out a pained cough, she was running out of time. "Stay away from the three shinobi vices, well I guess for you it would include men instead of women. Of course my points remain. Find some people you can truly rely on, they're the people who make life worth living." She couldn't keep going, fortunately Hiruzen seemed to show up just on time to let her finish her little speech.

She could see the grief on his face, Biwako (his wife), had died right away when the beast was released. "Hiruzen." She let out a cough, she could feel the blood filling her longs ever so slowly. When the beast had escaped it didn't just pop out of her, it took some her internal organs with her. She had been bleeding to death for a while now. It was only the Uzumaki vitality that had kept her going for as long as she had. It was because her seal wasn't as perfected as her daughters, the Shiki Fuin was made to be easier on the bearer of the seal, and to allow for more control. Her seal was not so perfect, to make it easier it was woven into her body, inside and out. So when the demon went so did some of the organs that had helped bind it. And none of that even considers the holes her own chains had created when she had directly connect them to her chakra core. All in all her insides were practically mush, or at least that's how it felt. "Please take care of her. I know all of this is unheard of to you, but believe me when I say, she's no monster." She didn't have time to hear his response. Her body couldn't take it anymore and so just like her husband before her, she died.

Grief was a funny thing. He had seen much of it over the course of his life, he had felt it too. But he had never really thought about how it affects him and those around him. He didn't really have time to grieve his wife's death. He didn't have time to grieve the death of so many villagers. But he supposed for the moment he could grieve for Minato and Kushina. He could grieve for the child that would grow up with out her parents. He could do all that. But he can't bring himself to. He want's so badly to feel anything resembling passion for this child, but looking into those red eyes that so perfectly match the demon he just can't. He had never heard of sealing another conscious being inside a person before, so what proof did he have that the girl wasn't consumed by the beast? She certainly had the appearance. Kushina had said she's no monster, and certainly the fiery red head was better at Fuinjutsu than he'll ever be, but to seal a monster that seemed to appear from no where, how could she know?

He heard two sharp knocks on his door. Danzo then. "Enter." His longtime friend and rival hobbled in. It would seem he was freshly injured in the battle, if his brand new bandages were anything to go off of.

"So that's her?" Hiruzen nodded. "What do you think we should do?" He knew Danzo wouldn't bother to state his opinion, what he wanted was known long before he even walked into the room.

"They would want me to care for her, but look at her, she's a monster no matter how you slice it."

"Do you think we can tame it then?"

"Perhaps. You know as well as I there are only two ways to tame a beast." That is to harm it until it's to scared to fight back, or to shower it affection until it'll lay down it's life to protect those who raised it.

"Look at it, do you really think affection will be possible?" Hiruzen shook his head. If she was going to look like this, then certainly he wouldn't be able to protect her from the scorn of others. "What if one of the Sannin or their students raised her?" Minato and Kushina had put it in their will that Jiraiya or Tsunade were supposed to care for the girl in the event of their untimely deaths. But the circumstances were far different than normal deaths in the field. Likewise the girl was no longer their daughter.

"Jiraiya might, but we need his spy network now more than ever. It pains me to do so, but we'll have to lie to him about her. Regardless of our choice we can't afford him feeling the need to look after her." Danzo nodded. "As for their students, they're still children." the oldest among them was only 16.

"Tsunade could still be convinced."

"The only way to convince Tsunade is if we let her take the child with her outside of Konoha." They both knew that wouldn't do. If they were going to have the child, the monster, fight for Konoha then it needed to be raised in the village. An idea came to him. "We'll have the child raised properly by a wet nurse for a while. In that time if one of the students volunteer to raise her then we'll let them."

"I thought you were against having the children raise it?"

"I am, but this can work in our favor. In this case we can use fear and affection." Danzo understood where Hiruzen was going now. Certainly the Hokage hadn't lost his edge with age. He was still willing to make the hardest of sacrifices.

His eyes flickered to the child, and he had to hold back his surprise. She looked human once more. Her hair was the same red as her mothers. He could make no comment about the eyes, as the child had drifted asleep over the course of his conversation. Guilt filled his conscious already. Was this really the right choice? Only time would tell. He could only pray that he hadn't made the wrong decision.

His plan had worked perhaps a bit to well. The wet nurses hadn't been tight lipped about the monster girl. The village was in a frenzy to have her killed. It had only three days since his meeting with Danzo but already it seemed the whole village knew. Several frantic knocks rapped against the door to his office. "Enter!"

"Sandaime-sama! Is it true Kushina-sensei's daughter is alive?!" Ah, so Kurenai was the first to respond.

"Yes, she's the child everyone in the village has been in such a fuss about." Kurenai seemed surprised by this, if her gaping mouth was anything to go off of.

"I-Is she really a monster?"

"Kushina told me before she died that she is not." He didn't state his own opinion on the matter, he merely wanted to let her draw her own conclusions. It seemed to reassure the girl. Her face locked in determination, and Hiruzen knew then and there that his plan had worked.

"Please, let me raise her." He gave a kind smile and said.

"Alright, but there is a condition. She'll be placed in an orphanage if it impedes you as a shinobi, this includes your mission record and your growth. This is non negotiable." He knew she would inevitably fail to meet the condition, raising a child is hard enough, doing it alone at 16 would be even harder. Put that on top of her being a demon, well Kurenai likely wouldn't have the child for long. He only needs to have the child know what affection feels like, just enough to desire it.

"Alright then. I accept." Hiruzen nodded and gestured to the crib, the child was hers to take.

He had been surprised, Kurenai had made it a whole two years without any slip ups. So he had to take matters into his own hands, before the child will be able to remember her clearly. All it really took was to convince his son how great a match he is with the girl. Asuma had managed to worm his way into the girls heart, and she may have worked hard enough to balance a child and a work life (he had found out that Kakashi, Gai, and Rin had all been helping) but she couldn't manage a love life on top of it. Even still he was impressed by her. She had managed to go one whole extra year without any slip ups, but finally the day came and he pounced on the opportunity.

He saw it as a win win situation. He had told Kurenai that if she manages to become an elite jonin before Naruko becomes a ninja then she'll be allowed to adopt her. His son got to try dating, and perhaps finally would end that rebellious streak of his. And Konoha got the perfect scapegoat. All in all it looks like Konoha came out on top from his decision. They had already started to recover, and now they have one more thing to unite over, he was sure the tree would only grow stronger from all this.

He had come to visit the Orphanage, the girl had been alone there for about half a year now and it was time to remind her of the feeling of affection. The matron had tried to persuade him otherwise, likely thinking he'll be upset at whatever states she's in. He had placed her in this orphanage specifically because the matron had lost family in the catastrophe.

The girl was locked in a room with no windows. She was a tiny thing, both in height and weight. Much to his surprise however she didn't look scared, instead she looked vacant. Like there was no soul inside her, she was dead to the world. She was dirty too, she likely hadn't been clean since she was with Kurenai. He slowly walked to her and smiled, "Hello there."

She seemed to snap out of her funk and actually noticed him for the first time. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I'm only ever in trouble when someone comes in."

"Not even to feed you?" She shook her head. "Do you eat at all?" She shook her head again.

"I sleep when I feel hungry."

"When was the last time you ate?" She shrugged. "Do you ever leave the room?" She shook her head again. "Then why do you get in trouble."

"I'm the cause of all the bad stuff."

"Do they hurt you?" She nods. "Do you want them to stop?" She hesitantly nods once more. "Then I have good news. If you become a ninja in the future, it will be illegal for people to hurt you, and you'll be able to eat."

"How do I do that?"

"You train, and when you've trained enough, you'll be a ninja."

"Oh, okay." He smiled at her again.

"Wait a moment, I'll go get you some food." He exited the room and went to the matron. She seemed nervous. "Fear not, you're not in trouble." She seemed to visibly relax at that. "You need to start feeding her, and letting her out of the room. I want her alive to become a ninja. You don't have to do it regularly, but enough so we can ensure she won't die. Now make her some food, bring it to me when you're done." The woman quickly rushed off to do so, and returned just as fast. It wasn't good food, it was actually moldy bread, he raised an eyebrow at her but decided it was good enough.

He quickly went back to the room and gave the demon the bread. Her face recoiled in disgust but none the less she ate it all, she seemed to understand how much better it felt to have food in her belly. "I've ordered the matron to feed you and let you out of the room occasionally."

The girl smiled brightly, the first look of happiness he's seen on her and said, "Thanks funny hat man!" It's a shame, he would have honestly believed her to be a real innocent child if he was a more naive man. Still he smiled back and said.

"Of course. If you ever need anything come looking for me." He didn't mean it really, but if the girl is loyal to him then she's loyal to the village and that's all that really matters.

As soon as the man left she could feel her expression to return to that stiff one. The food in her belly did seem to make her feel a little better, but the taste was bad. It also wouldn't take long for her to find out that the food would be forced out of her. She recoiled at the smell. Funny hat man hadn't gotten her good food. But maybe he just didn't realize it wasn't good. Whatever that food was she wasn't going to eat it again. She'd rather be hungry than full and in pain, and then hungrier. Still she felt a warmth fill her. It felt good to finally have someone who seemed to care.

"Don't trust him." She scrambled into the corner. It was the voice again. It seemed to mostly pop up in her dreams, but today it was even there when she was awake. She was afraid of it. It seemed two toned like one voice was that of a woman, and the other that of some monster. She didn't like it. So she did what she does in her dreams. She quietly started singing a song to herself. She couldn't remember where she heard it, but it more than anything else made her feel safe. It almost made her feel cared for. But she wasn't about to believe anyone cared for her. Not really. Maybe funny hat man did. Or the black haired woman with red eyes she occasionally dreams about. But a dream lady and a man who fed her bad food is not much to go on.

He was upset. No upset couldn't really describe his feelings. He still was being put out on spy missions. He hadn't even had a chance to see his goddaughter yet. Sure the village was weaker than usual as a result of the beasts attack. But it had been nearly four years! But Sensei assured him that she was being taken care of and that she was showered with love. Apparently it's been a struggle to try and stop the girl from acting spoiled with how much Kurenai has been doting on her.

"Why did we go drinking with him again? He's a more annoying drunk then you are Tsunade-Hime." It was a cold voice, one that bore apathy for the world that broke him out of his thoughts. The man had pail while skin, yellow eyes, and long black hair. This was of course his treacherous teammate Orochimaru. He supposed it was a bit treacherous of him to be going out to drinks with him, but for all that Orochimaru was, he was never one to betray his teammates. So when he had told them why he had fled the village they had trusted him. He may have betrayed Konoha. But Team 7 was still his family.

"You know how upset he'd be if we didn't invite him for our monthly meet ups." A femine voice popped up. The woman who spoke was of course none other than his gorgeous teammate and Konoha's princess Tsunade. She had long blonde hair tied in two low pigtails. Of course her most striking trait, or rather traits, were the two large breasts on her chest. He had written many novels with those glorious breasts as the main source of inspiration. He was pulled out of that line of thought as he felt his hair get yanked. She forced him to make eye contact with her. He gulped audibly. She may be smiling but it was cold and malicious. He hastily nodded and she let him go. No words needed to be said, he got the message.

"Yeah but for the past few years all he's done is be upset over not seeing their daughter."

"You don't understand Hebi-teme. I've never seen her once. All I get are Sensei's reports on how she's doing." Orochimaru raised a brow at that, they still trusted sensei's reports after what he had done to them. He voiced that concern.

"You still trust his reports, when he clearly isn't letting you see her, and knowing how he betrayed me?"

"Yeah but she's a child, and she's Minato's daughter. I can't believe he'd lie about how he's treating the Fourths daughter." He wasn't afraid of people overhearing. He had put a sound proof seal here long before the others had arrived. The only ones able to hear their conversation was them. He had also made sure no one would recognize their faces thanks to the seal. Just in case there was someone who might think it wise to report that the two loyal Sannin and meeting with a traitor.

"I think you're being naive. That man will always put the village first, and he has a rather twisted way of thinking when it comes to what is right for the village." It had only been further warped by his success during his reign, further proving to himself that it's the best way to lead.

"Well for what it's worth he said I can raise her if I go back to the village. So I doubt she's being treated poorly, otherwise he knows damn well what will happen." She cracked her knuckles. If that girl had been mistreated in any way she'd destroy the village herself. Of course not before breaking every bone in Sensei's body.

The two men got a dark glint in their eyes. If she really was treated poorly then Konoha would be dealing with three very angry Sannin. Each one of them had a strong connection to Minato and Kushina. Their daughter had inherited these connections, even if the girl herself didn't have any idea. They would fight the world for her if need be.

A/N: Oh boy it's the rewrite no one asked for but I sure am delivering. I'm so much happier with the way this first chapter turned out compared to the original stories. So yeah for any of you who have read the original fic can tell, this first chapter is pretty wildly different than the original. It's got a ton more detail. And more importantly there is no council. In the original story I intended to use it and it would be super important around the time of the chunin exams. But then I went in a very different direction and it ended up being pointless. So I'm just cutting it out of this story. Anyways what'd you all think? Good, bad? For those of you who read the original, better or worse? Well regardless of whether you review or not thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next one, which should hopefully be in two weeks to a month from now, but we'll see. Lastly for all the new readers, this is yuri. If you're not into that well . . . sorry but not sorry.

CM 09/26/2019