A/N: I was introduced to FanFiction several months ago. After a while, I notice that there were some stories I wanted to read, but nobody had written them. So, when nobody does something, you have to do it yourself, and here I am publishing this. Enjoy!

Chapter 1
The Sealing

Namikaze Minato looked around his office and sighed in frustration. Ever since he had learned the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the lord of the bijuu, was headed towards Konoha, he had resurrected way to seal it just in case it decided to attack Konoha. Now it was attacking and he still had no way to seal it. Or, he admitted to himself, no way I want to seal it. Oh Kushina,why did we wait so long before we... he sighed. There was a knock at the door.

"Enter. Jiraiya," he sighed when he saw who it was. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking up on you progress. How is it going?"

"Both good and bad. What do you want to know first, the good or the bad?"

"The good: I could really use it right now."

"Well, the good news is that the Kyuubi can be sealed with the Fuuin Jutsu: Shiki Juuin."

"Is that with the alterations we made to the seal or without?" Jiraiya looked worried.

" With." He looked up at Jiraiya. "If Naruto had been conceived a few months earlier we wouldn't even be in this predicament."

Jiraiya looked shocked. "You would not seriously consider turning your own child into a jinchuuriki!"

"If that was what it took to ensure the safety and preservation of Konoha then I would gladly make that sacrifice. As it is, Kushina is five months pregnant so there is no way the Kyuubi can be sealed into Naruto."

"So that's the bad news?"

"Yes."

Jiraiya looked confused. "I don't get it. Why would it have to be Naruto? Other than the fact that he would have both you and Kushina's enormous chakra reserves, I don't see why it has to be him."

"It has to be him. Not because of any abilities he will have, but because I cannot force the burden of being a jinchuuriki on another child when I am not willing to sacrifice my own child."

"We may have to do just that." Jiraiya and Minato looked at each other. They both knew that if the Kyuubi was not stopped here, he never would be.

Minato sighed in defeat. "I guess I'll go see if there is any babies in the hospital that fit the criteria for the sealing. Do you want to come with me?"

"Yeah, I'll come." Jiraiya and Minato got up and walked to the door. Minato turned around to get one last look at his beloved office.

"I will miss it," he simply said.

"Miss what? Being Hokage or the paper work?" Jiraiya laughed at his own joke.

"Both actually. What?" Minato said, seeing the look on his sensei's face. "How could you not miss it when the only paperwork you ever did were the decrees you wrote?"

"Wait a minute, that's why your office is always free of paper work. You never do it. Actually that doesn't make sense. You had to have done it because people complained about how fast you got their paper work back to them. So," Jiraiya looked at his student. "How do you do it?"

"Kage Bushin. They're also useful when you want to get out of those annoying council meetings. Don't tell Sarutobi. He never figured out how I got all my paperwork done and I consider it a matter of pride that he never will."

"Don't worry I won't." Jiraiya and Minato laughed and another laugh, one Minato knew well, rang out with it.

"Kushina!" He wrenched the door open. Standing in the hall was his red-haired konochi wife who was obviously several months pregnant. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was going to ask you how things were going, but I just found that out from you." Kushina smiled at Minato. "But now I think I'll give you some friendly advice."

Minato had learned long ago that his wife's advice turned out to be good more often then not. That's probably why we made such a good team. "What do you think I should do?"

"You know that both me and my teammate, Uchiha Mikoto are out on maternity leave. She was due last week."

"That won't work. The child's umbilical cord must have just been cut for it to work. Even if the child was a few hours old much less a few days old it wouldn't work." Actually, Minato thought, Mikoto's child wouldn't be a bad choice. Mikoto is completely loyal to Konoha even if most of her clan isn't. She also has a head on her shoulders and would understand that her son is not the Kyuubi, but the container of it. If the child hadn't been born, it would have been an ideal alternative.

At his explanation Kushina laughed. "I didn't say that Mikoto's child had been born last week. I said that it was due to be born. She's in the hospital because of the Kyuubi attack, but she hasn't given birth yet."

Minato looked at Jiraiya. "Should we take the chance with Mikoto's child?"

"Will she understand what we are doing and why?"

"Yes," Kushina answered.

"Then ask her."

"Kushina, lead us to Mikoto." Now that a decision had been made, Minato was determined to see it through.

The three shinobi make their way through the village, jumping from roof to roof. Looking to the north-east, Minato could see the red glow against the sky that was caused by the Kyuubi's chakra. I'm running out of time. As soon as we finalize this with Mikoto, I'll go to seal the Kyuubi while Jiraiya will prepare Mikoto's child for the sealing. This had better work. We only have one chance to get this right.

Kushina led them into the hospital and up the steps wit out even talking to the nurse. It was obvious she knew where she was going. When she got to the third floor, she turned down a hallway. She stopped in front of a door and looked at her husband. "Well, this is it." She opened the door.

Five year old Uchiha Itachi held as had against his mother's stomach. He giggled. "Kaa-san, my brother's kicking me!"

Mikoto laughed. "Imagine when he's old enough to play with you."

"Hai, then I won't be lonely." Itachi had a thoughtful look on his face.

"What was that?" Mikoto looked questionably at her son.

"I said I won't be lonely anymore."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know." Itachi sighed. He had always been told that he was extremely observant for his age and wondered how his mother could not have noticed what was going on as he had learned he had gotten his observational skills from her. He decided to explain. "Tou-san has been keeping the other children away from me so that I am not distracted from my training. It's okay because I'm learning a lot, but I some times get lonely. I figure that if I have a brother, Tou-san will not be able to tell him to stay away form me." He stopped and looked at his mother. "Will he?"

Mikoto's lips pursed and she frowned. "Don't worry Itachi. I'll make sure you get to play with your brother. I promise."

"Thanks Kaa-san." Itachi flung his arm around his mother and they hugged.

As they hugged, Itachi thought about his father, Uchiha Fugaku and his mother. They were very different, almost opposites. Fugaku was like fire. He had a quick temper and a fighting style to go with it. In battle he was a fiery maelstrom that quickly assessed the situation and then exploited it in the fastest way possible.

If Fugaku was lake fire, then Mikoto was like water. She was calm and calculating, both on the battlefield and off. She took in every detail of her clan and make decisions based on the facts she saw and not the rumors she heard.

There was one way, Itachi reasoned, that his father and mother were alike. They were both strategists. Different types granted, and in different areas, but they were both strategists. His father, he reasoned, was a strategist as far as people were concerned; he had the counsel eating out of his hand. His mother was a tactical strategist; she was on of the few people who could claim she had beaten a Nara at shogi.

The way they carried out their strategies was very different. Fugaku's strategies relied on Fugaku being stronger then his opponents, either by physical strength or political blackmail, usually both. Itachi knew that if you didn't know what to look for, you wouldn't know about this trap until it was to late. If you did know what to look for, like himself and especially his mother, it was almost easy to avoid.

His mother's strategies were far more cunning that his father's. Her strategies were deep, complicated, and took a long time to set up, but he had never seen any of them not fail unless she wanted them to.

It was for these reasons that Itachi was glad that he took after his mother. He knew that he would grow up with a cool disposition that would let him take down anyone who crossed him with ease. As long as Tou-san teaches me to fight. His fighting style is more powerful than Kaa-san's. In the long run it will probably be more to my advantage to learn it and then modify it to my own fighting style.

Itachi massaged his brother through his mother's stomach. Who will my brother take after? Hopefully not Tou-san, one of him is bad enough as it is, but a mix of Kaa-san and Tou-san wouldn't be that bad. "Kaa-san, when's my brother going to be born?" For the first time in his life, Itachi had a look of impatience on his face. "You said he'd be born last week."

Mikoto laughed. "Your brother will be born when he's good and ready. Not before. Now be patient."

At that moment the door opened and standing in the hall was Namikaze Kushina, Mikoto's teammate; Jiraiya, the gama sennin; and Namikaze Minato; Kushina's husband and Yondaime Hokage. Both Mikoto and Itachi looked shocked. Mikoto was the first to recover.

"Ho... Hokage-sama." Mikoto sputtered, mind working furiously. "You can't be here just for a social visit weeing who's attacking the village at the moment, can you?"

Minato was glad that she did not beat around the bush. "That's right. I'm not here for a social call. In fact the reason why I'm hear is because of who is attacking the village."

"What?" There was total silence in the room. "You are telling me that the reason you are here is because the Kyuubi no Kitsune is attacking the village. Why? I thought you were researching ways to seal it."

Itachi didn't even flinch at the mention of the Kyuubi. He knew of course what was going on in the village, but he wondered why the Yondaime needed his mother. The Yondaime is stronger than my mother in every respect. What does she have that he does not? The answer came soon and it horrified him.

"I was." Minato took a deep breath. "We found a way to seal the Kyuubi. A method called Fuuin Jutsu: Shiki Juuin. It is a method that summons the Shingami himself to seal the souls being sealed into the body of the summoner. While the two souls are fighting over control of the body, the Shingami devours both souls, thus sealing both souls inside his stomach for eternity." He was speaking very fast now, obviously wanting to get his explanation over with. "The Kyuubi is the king of the bijuu and his soul and chakra are so powerful that they would take control of my body before the Shingami could devour us. If I split the Kyuubi's chakra in two and only have one half of the Kyuubi's chakra sealed in me I will be able to hold him until the Shingami devours us. The only way to split the Kyuubi's chakra away from its soul is to seal its soul and half its chakra into a newborn child whose umbilical cord has just been cut so that the Kyuubi's chakra can be absorbed into its own chakra coils. It has to be a newborn because its chakra coil are undeveloped. If I was to seal the Kyuubi's souls and chakra into anyone older, that person's chakra coils would reject the chakra and end up killing the person thus letting the Kyuubi reform and take over my body."

No, Itachi thought, no! He cannot be asking Kaa-san to give him permission to seal the Kyuubi inside my brother. In order to do that he would probably have Kaa-san forcibly five birth to my brother. His wife is pregnant. Why can't he seal the Kyuubi into his own child? "Are you so heartless that you would ask someone else to condemn their child to the very fate that you are unwilling to condemn your own son?"

"Itachi!" Mikoto glared at her son. Itachi gasped with horror when he realized what he had just said.

"It's okay." Minato looked thoughtful. "Itachi, there's a reason I can't seal the Kyuubi into my own son. As your mother knows Kushina's five months pregnant with my son. If Kushina were to have him tonight and I were to seal the Kyuubi into him, he wouldn't even survive the initial sealing. If my son was ready to be born, I would gladly seal it into him in fact I would prefer it. I understand why you asked that question and I'm glad you love and care for your brother. If your mother agrees to let me turn your brother in to the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, he is going to need all the love and care he can get." Itachi nodded in understanding.

Mikoto broke in. "Before I decide to let you do that to my son, I have a few questions for you Minato."

"Of course." Minato looked at Mikoto, relieved that his explanation was over.

"When the Kyuubi is sealed into my son, will he be able to influence the way my son thinks?"

"No. He won't be able to influence your son's soul, at all. His chakra will be a different matter."

"What do you mean?"

"The way I'll seal the Kyuubi into your son will cause him to absorb the Kyuubi's chakra and convert it into his own. It will greatly augment his own chakra reserves."

"Let me get this straight." Mikoto had a sly smile on her face. "My son will be keeping the king of the bijuu from going on a rampage, will not be controlled by it and will get its massive chakra reserves as a bonus. Is that all that will happen to him?"

"Yeah. There's a few more things that will happen to him when he gets older, but they won't change the stuff I already told you. Jiraiya knows exactly what I'm doing and would answer any question you would have."

"Okay." Mikoto nodded. "Well," she said, looking up at every body, "seeing how desperate we all are, and how Minato would sacrifice his own son if the circumstances were different, I"ll let you seal the Kyuubi into my son on one condition. You let me raise him. I know the council well, and they will try to make him into a weapon if they are given the chance. As long as that doesn't happen, I'm fine with him being a jinchuukiri."She looked straight at Minato. "Promise me that I will be allowed to raise my son without interference from them."

Minato looked straight at her. "I promise."

Mikoto smiled and laid back on the bed. "Thank you."

"I assume you want me to help you girth to him, seeing as Tsunade trained me it it when she heard I was pregnant." Kushina got up from the chair where she had been sitting and walked over to Mikoto.

"Of course." Mikoto had a fierce look in her eyes.

At that, everyone started to prepare for the sealing of the Kyuubi. Mikoto kissed Itachi and told him to wait with Jiraiya and Minato until she had given birth. Kushina disappeared into another room and reappeared with a bunch of towels. Jiraiya and Minato cleared furniture next to Mikoto's bed to make room for the connective seal between Minato and Mikoto's child.

"Are we all ready?" Minato asked. Everyone nodded, "Well, I guess this is good-bye then." Minato's eyes started to water. "Jiraiya, thanks for being the best teacher anyone could ever have. Teach my son to the best of your ability. Mikoto, thank you for sacrificing your son to save the village. I wish both you and him a good life. Itachi , jinchuukiri are often hated and lead lonely lives. Love him for who he is not what he holds. He will need that more than anything else. Kushina..." Minato's voice broke. "Kushina, I love you . You've bee the best wife any man could hope to have. Thank you for that and everything else you've done for me. I'm so sorry I'll never get to see our son. Raise him to love Konoha as I do." Kushina and Minato embraced.

"I will, oh I will." Kushina murmured. "I love you so much." Both were silently crying.

"Kushina, I need to go. The sooner I seal the Kyuubi, the more lives I save. Come on, let me go." Kushina and Minato slowly pulled apart. "Well, is there anything else here I need to do?"

"Yeah. I need some of your blood for the seal." Jiraiya held out a glass.

"Oh, right." Minato cut his finger and let some of his blood dribble into a glass. "Well, I think that' s it then. I'll go my office and write out the edict declaring that Mikoto is to retain custody of her son. What else? Jiraiya, I'll send you a messenger toad when I get to the front lines. When it gets here, cut the baby's umbilical cord; I'll seal the Kyuubi soon after that." He turned to face everyone in the room. "Thank you all for your help and sacrifices. Good-bye." Minato turned to Kushina, gave her one long last kiss and went to the door. "One last thing. Jiraiya, tell Kakashi that his heritage is nothing to be ashamed of." With that, he went out into the hall and shut the door. It was the last time any of them saw him alive.

As soon as he left, Kushina rounded on Jiraiya and Itachi. "Why don't the two of you go and draw out the seal on the floor. It will probably take as long as it will take Mikoto to give birth and I really don't want my husband's death to be wasted just because we had bad time management skills."

Jiraiya and Itachi made there way to the space they had cleared on the floor. Kushina pulled the curtain around Mikoto's bed and Itachi heard something about sound-proofing seals being mentioned. A few moments later, Kushina and Mikoto could not be heard.

"Itachi, help me connect these candles to make a star." Jiraiya had placed eight candles equidistant from each other in a circle and was drawing lines between them with chakra-laced ink to make an eight-pointed star. Itachi took a brush and started drawing.

About half an hour later, Kushina poked her head out of the curtains. "Are you done?" They both nodded. "Itachi, do you want to see your brother before the Kyuubi is sealed into him? Mikoto said its okay if you come in." Itachi nodded vigorously and ran between the curtains. Kushina stepped out.

"How are they?"

"Both of them are fine. We decided to go ahead with a C-section because that would be fastest. The umbilical cord's still attached and will remain that way until Minato tells us it's time to cut it."

"Good. What's the baby's name?"

"I don't know." Kushina chuckled. "Mikoto said she wanted Itachi to be the first to know because he was the only one of her family here."

"Speaking of her family, I hope the rest of the Uchihas will be okay with this. Having a jinchuukiri in the family and all."

"I hope so." Kushina sounded hopeful, but she was worried.

Itachi ducked inside the curtain and went over to the bed. "Kaa-san, where is he?" For one brief moment, Itachi sounded genuinely happy and anxious.

"Right here, do you want to hold him?" Mikoto handed her youngest son over to her oldest one.

Itachi took his brother in his arms and looked at him. The reaction he had was, "Kaa-san, we have a problem."

Mikoto gave him a funny look. "We do?"

"Hai. He looks even more like you than I do." It was true, Mikoto's newborn son had Mikoto's thick bluish-black hair, pale skin and glittering black eyes full of intelligence. Itachi had his mother's looks and skin, but he had is father's grayish-black hair and dull black eyes that were full of cunning.

"Why is that a problem? I look beautiful and you don't look too bad yourself."

"That's the problem. I have fan girls following me everywhere and I'm only five. He'll have an even worse problem."

"Then why don't you give him some of your in valuable tips on how to avoid them." Mikoto laughed. "It can be the first thing you teach him."

Itachi laughed with her. "What's his name?" he managed between laughs.

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

"I'm sure Tou-san will like the name."

"I hope—"

Kushina stuck her head through the curtains. "Jiraiya just got the messenger toad from Minato. It's time."

"Itachi, could you leave us?"

Itachi nodded and handed his brother back to Mikoto. That's the last time I am going to see him just as my brother. The next time I will see him he will have the... No! Don't think like that. That's the very thing the Yondaime warned you not to do. He went out to sit next to Jiraiya. "When do you think this will all be over?"

Jiraiya thought about it for a second. "I'd say less than an hour. If he doesn't do it fast enough, the umbilical cord will seal up and we will be back to square one."

"Here he is." Kushina gave a crying Sasuke to Jiraiya. It was easy to see why he was crying. His umbilical cord had been cut and was still bleeding.

"What's his name?" Jiraiya turned to Itachi for an answer.

"Sasuke."

"It's a good name. Now let's get to work. I still have one more seal to do and it's more complicated then the last one." Jiraiya took Sasuke and went over to the seal on the floor. "Would you bring the Yondaime's blood with you. I need it." he called over his shoulder. Itachi quickly grabbed the glass and in his hurry, he spilled some of the blood over his hand and down his right arm. "And please try not to spill it. It's important and obviously I can't get any more of it."

Itachi looked guiltily down at his arm and pulled his jacket on hiding it from view, deciding that he was lucky Jiraiya was too focused on his brother to see what had happened. He walked over to Jiraiya and handed him the glass. He then sat down on the ground next to the star to watch Jiraiya.

Jiraiya dipped a brush into Minato's blood and proceeded to paint a spiral on Sasuke that started from his naval and circled around itself several times. Around that he painted a ring that was several inches thick. When he was finished, he laid Sasuke in the middle of the star. "Well, that's done. Now all we have to do is wait."

"Wait for what?" Itachi looked at Jiraiya.

"Wait for Minato to do the sealing."

Itachi nodded in understanding. A silence settled over both of them. Itachi watched his brother waiting for the inevitable.

Several minutes later it happened. The ring around the spiral on Sasuke's stomach broke up into individual seal marks. Dark red chakra, the Kyuubi's chakra, pored down from the ceiling right above the seal. The second it hit the seal, it was funneled towards the spiral. It traveled along the spiral to Sasuke's navel where the chakra entered his body. Throughout the entire sealing, Sasuke was crying as if he knew what was happening to him. Five minuets later, the last of the chakra entered Sasuke and he fell fast asleep. The sealing was over.

Jiraiya picked him up and examined the seal. It was blood red as if the lines had just been drawn, but they were dry. Jiraiya smiled, glad that the sealing had worked, and gave him to Kushina. He then proceeded to erase all traces of the seal on the floor. Before he could do that, he needed to move Itachi, who had for some reason fallen as fast asleep as his brother had right next to the exact same seal.

Itachi knew something was wrong the second the blood on his brother's stomach broke into seal marks. When that happened, he felt the blood he had spilled on his arm lightly burn. With shock, Itachi saw that his arm was somehow inside the seal painted on the floor. When the Kyuubi's chakra touched the seal on his brother's stomach, it also touched the blood on his arm. Pain seared through Itachi's arm like he was being branded. Itachi recognized the feeling. It was not his physical arm that was in pain, but the chakra coils that ran through it. For some reason, the Kyuubi's chakra was flowing through the blood on his arm directly into his chakra coils. That was all Itachi could comprehend until the pain increased to such a degree that he could not think anymore. All of a sudden the pain stopped and Itachi fell into a deep sleep.

Itachi woke to find himself sleeping on a couch in a hospital room. He looked over to see Jiraiya sleeping in a chair. Kushina was nowhere in sight. He pealed down the right sleeve of his jacket to see if there was anything wrong with his arm. The only thing different about it was a thin, shiny burn scar that ran from the palm of his hand to the crook of his elbow. He smiled. It would be easy to hide and explain away because many of the ninjas in his clan had similar scars from practicing katon jutsu. Once he was convinced that his body had not been hurt, he then checked out if there was any changes to his chakra coils. The first thing he did was mold chakra. That was different then it had been. It didn't feel as if the chakra had changed, but his reserves were greater, and he was not as tired as he should be. Satisfied that he hadn't been hurt, Itachi started to figure out how long he had slept. Fortunately, Kushina entered the room.

"How long have I been asleep?"

Kushina walked over to him. "About eight, nine hours."

"So, what time is it?"

"About nine-thirty A.M."

Itachi nodded and remembered she had had his brother last. "Do you know where my brother is?"

"He's with your mother, but he hasn't woken up from the sealing yet."

"Is he okay?" If me and him fell asleep at around the same time, he should be waking up soon.

"Oh, he's fine. Do you want some water?" she was going to the sink already.

"Hai, please."

Kushina got two glasses of water and sat at the end of Itachi's couch. She gave one to him and started drinking her own glass.

"What happened last night after the sealing?" Itachi asked after he had had a drink.

"Well," Kushina took a deep breath. "After all the Kyuubi's chakra had been sealed into Sasuke, both you and him fell asleep. Jiraiya looked at Sasuke's seal and said that everything worked out exactly as it was supposed to and would fade in a couple of days. Jiraiya gave him to me so that he could clean up the seal on the floor. I gave Sasuke to Mikoto who took him went to sleep with him right next to her. You had fallen asleep right next to the seal so Jiraiya picked you up and put you on the couch. After that me and him washed the floor, threw away the candles and rearranged the furniture. If you hadn't been here last night, you would never know what happened. Jiraiya then went out to explain the situation to Sarutobi. After a few hours, he got back and said that everything had been taken care of. He sealed the door so nobody could get in and said it was high time that both me and him got some sleep. That was probably four hours ago. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Hai." Itachi looked worried. "Does Tou-san know what happened?"

"I don't— " A sharp knock on the door interrupted them.

Kushina got up very slowly. "Who is it?"

"Uchiha Fugaku. I don't know who you are, but let me in so I can see my wife." The voice had a harsh tone to it.

Kushina took her time to reach the door and open it. Fugaku quietly slipped into the room. He raised an eyebrow at Itachi, silently asking him why he was there. Itachi ducked his head. He had no answer. Kushina disappeared inside the curtain surrounding Mikoto's bed. Voices could be heard behind it. Kushina then reappeared and said, "She'll let you in." She pulled the curtains back from the bed to reveal Mikoto and Sasuke.

Fugaku went over to his wife and son. He looked pleased at the sight of the both of them. He held out his hands to his wife. Mikoto, used to the silent ways of her husband, knew what he wanted and placed Sasuke in his hands. Fugaku looked him over and, for the first time in a long while, genuinely smiled. He moved to give him back to Mikoto and as he did, he noticed something on the newborns stomach. He bared Sasuke's stomach, leaving the seal in full view. In an instant his face was full of rage and fury and his killing intent paralyzed everyone in the room.

When his father's killing intent filled the room, Itachi looked at him and saw that what he had feared had happened. Fugaku had found out that the Kyuubi's had been sealed into Sasuke and did not agree with his wife's decision. He saw Fugaku hold his brother in one hand with the seal in plain view while his other hand was by his side right next to where his kunai holster was strapped to his leg. Itachi feared for his brother when he saw that. Fugaku was one of the best kunai users in the clan, and he never missed.

"Mikoto," Fugaku's voice boomed in the silence. "I will give you a choice. You can let the child go and remain Itachi's mother, my wife and an Uchiha or you can remain this child's mother and let Itachi, me and the Uchiha go. Choose." As soon as he said the last word, he grabbed a kunai and slashed it through Sasuke's eyes.

No, not his eyes, not his eyes. Itachi gasped in horror at what his father had done. His father had slashed out his brother's eyes. In his clan, loosing your eyes meant more than just loosing an organ. It meant permanently loosing the sharingan, the one trait that defined who was an Uchiha and who was not. By slashing his son's eyes, Fugaku had taken his sharingan and declared that Sasuke was not a member of the Uchiha clan.

Itachi looked at his mother. She first looked at Sasuke with sorrow and then at Fugaku with anger. Then she looked at Itachi and the look on her face said 'I'm sorry'. Itachi nodded in agreement. He knew who she was choosing to stay with and he completely agreed with her. Better for her to stay with him than me. Without her, he has no one while I still have the clan.

Mikoto looked back at her husband and said, "If that is the only choice you give me I will go with him. Not because I love him more than I love you or Itachi, but because he has no one else beside me who will care for him." With that she took Sasuke from Fugaku and gave him to Kushina. "Would you please take him and wash him up for me. And don't take him back here until Fugaku is gone?"

Kushina nodded and took Sasuke out of the room. Itachi would not be this close to his brother again for many years.

Once she had left, Fugaku rounded on Mikoto. "Seeing as you were my wife, I guess I'll let you keep your eyes." He put the bloody kunai back into its holster. "But don't expect the Uchiha do anything for you. Itachi!" he turned to his oldest son. "We're leaving."

"Tou-san," Itachi began, "can I say go—"

"No! As of now this woman has no relationship to you."

"Hai, Tou-san." Those were the hardest words Itachi had ever said.

"Now let's leave. There is nothing more to do here." He swept out of the room followed by Itachi. When Itachi passed by his mother he gave one last look at her. It was the first time he had ever seen tears in her eyes.

Itachi didn't see anything as he fallowed his father back to the compound. Instead he was having an intense mental battle. At the end of it he came to several conclusions. I will never take anyone's word for the truth until I have tested it myself. The only person who will determine how I will act is me and me alone. If I follow someone else's advice it will not be because they said so. It will be because I happened to come to the same conclusion they did. Itachi's childhood ended when he saw his fist battle, but today was the day when he became an adult.

After Fugaku left with Itachi, Mikoto just sat and silently cried until she heard a knock at the door. She quickly dried her tears and told the person to come in. Kushina came in with Sasuke. "How is he?"

Kushina gave Sasuke to his mother who began to nurse him. "He's completely blind. He'll be able to get them replaced though so that's not too bad and I healed all the facial wounds so that's not a problem. The only thing that will be different is that he won't have the sharingan. Why didn't Fugaku take your eyes?"

"Being the wife of the clan head does have its perks." Mikoto took a deep breath. "I suppose I'm going to have to find a new place."

"You are?" Kushina gave her a funny look.

"Well, yes. I need a place to live, but nobody is going to want to take me in now that Fugaku has cast me out of the clan."

"I don't know about that." Kushina had a smile on her face.

"Huh?"

"Mikoto! We've been on the same team since we've been gennin. You didn't possibly think that I wouldn't let you say in the Namikaze compound did you." Kushina looked at her friend in disbelief.

"Wouldn't we get in you way?"

"Mikoto," now Kushina looked sad, "the only living Namikaze will be born in approximately five months. The only person who would be living there besides me would be Yamato, Kakashi's ANBU squad mate. We have so much room you could have your own house and I'm sure Yamato would like to have a younger brother as a distraction."

"How hard is it to get into your compound from the rest of the village?"

"If you are asking if people will be able to come into the compound to hurt Sasuke in some way, that's impossible. Minato was a seal master and he rigged the walls so that they would provide the ultimate defense for assassinations because Iwa has been attempting to slaughter the clan since the Third Shinobi war broke out. Once he gets inside the compound anybody who wants to kill him won't be able to get in. And that's if they're able to jump the ten foot wall around the entire compound; there's no front entrance"

"How could you function without a front entrance?" Mikoto laughed.

"When your clan's small and everyone in it is a shinobi for some odd reason nobody has a problem climbing a ten foot tall wall." Both Kushina and Mikoto laughed.

"Yamato, he's that mokuton user, right?"

"Yeah."

"What's he like?"

"He's a nice guy. He understands what it's like to viewed as an oddity and not a person. He'll probably have a lot in common with Sasuke and he definitely won't hate him."

"Well, it sounds like a good idea. I guess I'll move in sometime next week then."

"Sounds good."

A groan was heard from behind the chair. "What did I miss?" Jiraiya's head could be seen moving behind the chair. Kushina and Mikoto looked at each other. The next couple of hours were going to be a nightmare.

A tall man with long black hair made his way stealthily through a breach in Konoha's city wall made by the Kyuubi. He turned back to his apprentice. She had spiky purple hair and was young, to young to be in the academy, but she was a genius like him and so smart that it almost scarred him."Come on. We have to hurry. We don't want to get caught." It was time to leave Konoha for good.

The great beast roared in anger. He was stuck inside that wretched world again. That wretched world with the red sky and the black moon that was covered by gray clouds that looked like tattered rags. At least the last time he had been free. Yes, he had been in torment, but it had been free. Now it was locked up behind iron bars in a cave in the side of a cliff. At least the fool who had locked him up in here had given him a lake in the back of the cave that showed him what was happening in the outside world. The great beast decided to make the best of it. He curled around himself and went to sleep. He never noticed that in this world black and white were not inverted.

A/N: I hoped you liked it. This is my first FanFic and I could use some advice on what I did right, what I can do better, etc. Thanks for reading!