I do not own Naruto.

This story is A.U. so be warned.

Normal speech- "I am talking"

Thoughts- "I am thinking"

For Sarutobi Hiruzen coming out of retirement had been the last thing he wanted to do. The death of his equally, if not more powerful, successor was a large blow to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Namikaze Minato was the sole reason that Konoha came out of the third great shinobi war as the superpower of the continent. The Yondaime brought a period of prosperity and peace by literally destroying the forces of Iwagakure. Iwa was so utterly damaged that after the peace treaty signed, the ninja village could hardly be called one of the Five Great Countries anymore. Somehow the village had rebounded at an astounding rate though. Establishing the fact that Iwagakure really deserved its place in the Shinobi Godaikoku.

The Sandaime was proud to pass on the title of Hokage to Minato. The boy deserved every single bit of the position. Minato was logical, powerful, cunning, brilliant. The list went on and on. But most importantly he had compassion. The Will of Fire had been passed on through Minato. Hiruzen had no doubt in his mind that he had made the right choice by denying his corrupted pupil, Orochimaru, the position.

If Orochimaru had been the chosen Hokage, the village would become no more than a dictatorship. The snake-like man was power hungry and would do whatever he could to accomplish his goals. The inhuman experiments that he had discover Orochimaru performing was disturbing. The fact that he had not noticed his pupil's corruption earlier was a sign of his failure as a sensei. Or perhaps he had noticed and had made excuses to himself that everything was right.

His decision to appoint Minato as his successor might have been the best decision he could have made. The Sandaime shuddered at the thought of what the village would be like today, had he not.

Why Minato had to take his life to save the village was a mystery to the Sandaime. The Kyuubi no Youko had seriously appeared out of nowhere.

Flashback

Luckily Minato had, at that time, been delving deeper and deeper into the arts of sealing. It did not take but an hour or two for a seal to be drawn up that could seal the ominous beast. Of course both Jiraiya and Hiruzen had a hand in creating and perfecting the sealing matrix. There was one drawback to this seal though, which was that the executor of the fuuin would offer their soul to the death god as a sacrifice. He would be forever trapped in the death god's stomach, an afterlife worse than hell. The Sandaime had immediately offered himself for the deadly ritual, but the Yondaime quickly shot that down. Spouting some bullshit about the reigning Hokage taking responsibility for his village. An argument quickly ensued between the two, with Jiraiya staying unusually quiet. The argument ended however with a direct order from the Yondaime to back down. As much as Hiruzen did not like it he complied, taking on a sullen expression.

The only other requirement for the fuuinjutsu would be a container for the seal to reside in. The three had already decided a newborn baby was needed to host the Kyuubi. This was because the Kyuubi's chakra was too poisonous for a human with already developed chakra coils. Babies did not develop fully develop chakra coils until about a month after birth. The baby would be able to adapt to the Kyuubi's chakra without rejecting it. If the chakra was rejected the chakra coils of the person would be destroyed and ultimately killing the person.

So the three were at a dilemma since none of them with good conscience ask a family's newborn to take on the responsibility of such a beast. Minato would have offered his son Naruto, but he would not be born for another week or so. The only option that they could find was a newborn orphan found on the hospital front steps two days ago. A note stated that the boy was only a week old. Other than his name, which was Fuki, and his date of birth nothing else was given. None of them wanted to do this to the boy but it was not avoidable.

Minato abruptly stood up and spoke in a wavering voice, "I hope this boy can forgive us for the burden we are about to give to him. Please look after the boy. I am not naive enough to think he will be treated kindly."

Hiruzen gave a solemn nod while Jiraiya cracked a smile and stuck one of his infamous poses. "The valiant Jiraiya shall watch over the boy like a mother bear to a cub!"

Minato tried to smile and laugh at the stupid attempt by Jiraiya to keep the atmosphere more lighthearted than it was, but he just did not have the will at the moment. Minato shoved Jiraiya's shoulder slightly before giving him a hug. "Watch over my son too. I know that Kushina will be there for him but its good to have a father figure in life."

The Sandaime stared on intently at the sensei and pupil, letting the two have their moment. He felt out of place in this scene as he had never been that close to the boy. Like he was intruding on a tender moment not meant for him.

Minato withdrew from the hug and walked up to the Sandaime, looking him in the eye. "Thank you. Thank you for everything. I am forever grateful to you."

Hiruzen smiled at the boy and shook his hand before giving him a short hug. "Nonsense Minato-kun. You do not need to thank me for anything."

Finally Minato stepped back from the two and said goodbye for one more time. Then the Yondaime disappeared in a flash. Off to take down one of the most powerful bijuu of all time.

End Flashback

It was now a week later and the entire village had a depressing atmosphere. The death of their famed leader was a harsh blow to the population's moral. The ominous feeling of doom however was lifting little by little. People were starting to come to work again. Ninja missions were picking back up again. Reconstruction of the destroyed areas of the village were taking place. Everything was starting back up again.

Unfortunately though, the hospital was still overflowing with those injured from the Kyuubi's attack on the village. There were at least a thousand that were wounded in the attack and the hospital did not have enough room for every patient. Many patients had to be moved into other buildings around the village. There were quite a few who had died from a lack of sufficient care.

Luckily though Tsunade had arrived in Konoha three days ago and was working miracles left and right. Without her help the hospital would not have been able to cope with the situation as well as it had.

At the moment Hiruzen wished he could be down at the hospital where Minato's wife was giving birth to their son, Naruto. He desperately wished he could be there for the distraught woman but the village came first.

Hiruzen's desk was completely covered with stacks upon stack of paper. Detailing reports on construction, border patrol, casualties, domestic issues, etc. As the reinstated Hokage, he could not just leave at the drop of a hat. His schedule was filled to the brim with meetings and assigning missions to teams.

He had forgotten how much work it took to be the Hokage in his retirement. It had felt good to not bear the entire weight of the village on his shoulders and it had just dropped onto him once again. He was not enjoying it in the slightest.

Konoha Hospital

Kushina tried and tried and tried to hold on, but she felt herself slipping. Childbirth is a long and torturous process in the first place. However if you add in the complications she was experiencing it was pure hell. Kushina was losing and excessive amount of blood and it was bordering on lethal.

Normally this would have been easy to fix and she would be in no danger at all, but the staff on hand was stretched so thin that it was difficult. Those attending to her were barely competent and should not have been thrown into this situation with so little training.

Her little Naruto had already been delivered though. She could see his tiny blond head while the doctor cleaned and gave him a check-up. And barely, just barely, Kushina could hear the faint cries of Naruto. She smiled in bliss before her body was wracked by more pain. Although her vision was starting to become hazy Kushina thought she could see Tsunade rushing into the hospital room.

To put it frankly Tsunade looked like she had been to hell and back. Here hair had a slightly red tinge to it and there were dark circles under her eyes. The genjutsu that kept here visage youthful was slipping a bit, showing off a few stray wrinkles.

Tsunade quickly went to her side to see what she could do. Checking Kushina's pulse, she noticed it was starting to drop to critical levels.

"We need to get her to surgery. If she does not get immediate attention she will die of blood loss!"

Kushina realized Tsunade wasn't freezing up at the sight of blood. She chuckled a bit at that.

Weakly Kushina turned her head to Tsunade and held her arms out. "Tsunade can I hold my Naruto-kun?"

Naruto had been deemed as healthy as can be and was brought back to her bedside. Tsunade looked down at Kushina with a troubled frown. It was the first time she had seen the red head so weak and immobile. A pang of sadness struck her heart at the site.

"Only for a few minutes, but you have to get to surgery."

Gently, Tsunade placed the still crying Naruto into Kushina's arms and then started to push her bed to the ICU.

Kushina stared down at the little bundle with joy. The immense love she felt for her little one at that moment was overwhelming. "There, there little one. No need to cry your mommy is here. Nothing bad is going to happen to you."

And slowly with her gentle cooing Naruto began to calm down and look at the person holding him with interest. His bright blue eyes opened wide and stared directly at her. Kushina was in awe of the the big, blue eyes.

Then Kushina started seeing black on the edge of her vision. Her eyes drooped and her heartbeat started to fade even more. The grip Kushina had on Naruto began to loosen and she began to lay her head back.

Tsunade noticed this and picked up her pace to the ICU, while a midwife picked Naruto up from Kushina's arms.

The midwife walked down the hallway in a hurry. There were many other patients that needed to be attended to and she could not afford to be wasting time doing nothing. She walked into the room and carefully placed the young infant down into the small bed built just for newborns.

Naruto by now had fallen into a deep slumber and was unconsciously sucking his thumb. The midwife stared at the newborn and squealed with barely controlled giddiness. He was just so cute, she wanted to pick him up and hug him tight.

"Oh Naruto you are just too cute. Who's the cute little baby.. You are! Yes you are. Yes you are."

The midwife decided to not bother the sleeping infant anymore, in case he decided to wake up and start crying.

Then her beeper started to vibrate, indicating that her help was needed elsewhere. Quickly she ran out the door of the room to head to the emergency.

Unknown to her the window of the room had swung open and on a branch right outside the room a hawk peered into the room curiously. The bird hopped onto the ledge of the windowsill and then onto the counter next to Naruto. The bird squawked and ruffled it feathers a bit. Its feathers were myriad of different colors. The bird's feathers were mostly a sleek brown. However there were streaks of blond, white, black, red, and orange. What was even more peculiar was the large diamond piercing on the bird's beak. It looked utterly ridiculous.

The squawk was just enough to wake Naruto from his sleep. Instead of wailing and shedding tears, the expected reaction, Naruto gazed up at the bird with interest.

"Well aren't you a delicious looking little human. I could just eat you up if I didn't have a conscience." The hawk spoke in a piercing voice. Yes the hawk spoke and no it wasn't your imagination.

The bird looked around the room to make sure nobody was looking. Then as gently as possible wrapped the blanket up into a makeshift sack to hold the boy.

"How 'bout I do one better than eating you? I'll just kidnap you... Heh heh. The boss has always said he wanted a human summoner."

Naruto, instead of responding started to drool a bit from the mouth.

"So you think its a good idea too then? That lady said your name was Naruto right? Well Naruto I think were gonna get along just fine."

Grabbing the little bundle in one set of talons, the hawk carefully hopped back out onto the branch. Suddenly the lady from earlier walked back into the room.

The midwife had come back because she had forgotten to get her clip board, which detailed all of the patients she was assigned to.

"Oh your back... Well I was just leaving so sorry, no time to talk. Hope you don't mind" The hawk chuckled and winked at her before preparing to take off.

At an utter loss for words or actions she witnessed as the talking hawk kidnapped the child under her care. The situation was so bizarre that she had no idea on how to handle the situation. At the last minute she yelled out for the bird to halt, but the hawk took off in flight.

"Too bad lady. This human belongs to the birds now."

Here's a candle for you to light,

Once stork has made its flight.

With the flicker of the flame,

Say a prayer in the baby's name.

Kushina slowly opened her eyes to a sunlit room. Her entire body was exhausted and it felt as if she had been trampled by a stampede of elephants. Well maybe not that extreme but the point is that her body hurt. She couldn't quite remember how she had gotten hospitalized though. Everything was a little foggy at the moment and she wasn't fully awake yet.

She noticed Tsunade was at her bedside looking over her chart. Tsunade looked up from the chart once she realized Kushina was awake.

"You gave us quite a scare there Kushina. You almost died from blood loss. If you had been kept from the ICU a few minutes longer not much could have been done. How are you feeling?"

Kushina was confused by that. Blood loss? Why would I have almost died from blood loss? I haven't been on active duty since I left on... maternity leave.

And then it suddenly came back to her. The reason she felt like a sack of dirt was because she had almost died during childbirth. She had finally given birth to her baby. I just wish Minato had been there for it. Why did you have to go off and die Minato-kun?

"I feel exhausted. I don't think I ever want to go through that again." Her voice was soft and raspy. Kushina looked around the room, taking in more detail. "How long have I been out? And where is my baby?"

Tsunade frowned and avoided Kushina's gaze. She started to fill out a couple boxes on the chart in her hand. "You've been out for three days."

She did not answer her second question though. Kushina's heart skipped a couple beats.

"Tsunade tell me where my son is right now." Kushina could feel her eyes tearing up and her voice wavered. Dammit she would not cry because of this. Uzumaki Kushina never cried.

"I don't know."

Kushina looked like she had grown a second head. "What do you mean you don't know? You have to know! How do you lose an infant that can't even crawl?"

"When you were in surgery Naruto was brought back to his room. The midwife left the room for a moment and Naruto was kidnapped." Kushina grew deathly pale and a couple teardrops fell from her eyes. "The midwife came back to the room in time to see a talking hawk fly away with Naruto. Obviously the hawk was a summon creature but any sort of bird summoning contract is unheard of."

Sobs started to rack Kushina's body. "I'm all alone. Everyone has left me. God damn it Minato why did you have to be so selfless."

Tsunade crossed the room and laid next to Kushina, comforting her as best she could. She knew what it was like to lose everyone dear to you. Really the only reason she was in the village at all was because Sarutobi had guilted her into coming back. She had not even been aware that Minato and Kushina were expecting though.

Kushina eventually cried herself to sleep, with Tsunade trying to help her cope.

Our mind thinks of death.

Our heart thinks of life.

Our soul thinks of immortality.

Pheonix Isles

Once the hawk, Toritsukai, had gained sufficient height so that he did not have to concentrate on flying and could just use the drafts of wind. Under normal circumstances he would have just dismissed himself, but with a human not bearing a contract to the birds things were more difficult. If Toritsukai just dismissed himself, the poor boy would not be included in the trip back to Pheonix Isles.

This meant that Toritsukai had to attempt a self reverse summoning while in contact with the boy. That way the reverse summoning would include the boy in the seal matrix. Toritsukai gathered a decent amount of chakra into a sealing tattoo on his right wing. A sealing matrix appeared on the wing before the two disappeared in a puff of smoke and feathers.

Once the pair had arrived above the Isles, Toritsukai flew straight for the largest island. The volcano that was located on that mountain was where Leader-sama and his wife resided.

The Birds were a summoning clan just as reputable and revered as the toads or monkeys. Its just that the human world was not aware of the clan yet. While the toads were discovered on Mount Myobokuzan by that Jiraiya fellow and the apes in the Jungles of Fire, none had been able to locate the Pheonix Isles. Of course the Birds could have contacted a human to be their summoner, but they were too prideful to submit to making that should be the human that seeks out them not the other way around.

Toritsukai looked into the bundle to check up on the kid. "Wonder how Leader-sama will react to you. I bet he'll reward me with something delicious, like a snake or a bunch of mice."

The bird salivated at the thought. "Your gonna love him though. While Leader-sama acts all high and mighty, he is really a big softy at heart."

When Naruto didn't even show a response, intent on blowing spit bubbles, the hawk sighed dejectedly.

I must sound completely crazy talking to a little baby and expecting him to understand. Maybe I am crazy?

Toritsukai arrived at the top of the volcano. The volcano was so high up that clouds shrouded the very top. Just below the rim of the volcano was a cliff overlooking the rest of the islands. The cliff was where Leader-sama's and Hekireki-hime's nests were perched.

Leader-sama was a legendary Pheonix and Hekireki-hime was a Thunderbird. Leader-sama could control both wind and fire. Hekireki-hime could control wind and lightening. Both were monstrous in size. And while Leader-sama was supposedly the boss of the clan, Hekireki-hime was thought to be just as powerful as Leader-sama. Plus she had Leader-sama whipped to the bone, even if he wouldn't admit it.

When Toritsukai and Naruto got to the cliff, the two leaders were at odds with one another. About what, no one was sure since the two had resorted to just screeching at one another. The fact that the two had stopped forming coherent words at all was a pity. With the two making so much noise, Naruto grew upset and started to make a ruckus.

This caught the attention of the quarreling lovers. They were both confused by the sound until they looked over to Toritsukai. When they saw the wailing bundle realization donned upon them.

Leader-sama glared at Toritsukai as he placed Naruto down on the ground and unfolded the blankets. "Why have you brought an infant human to this island?"

Impressively, Toritsukai did not seem to be affected in the slightest. So much for the treat that I expected him to give me... Not that I should be surprised or anything. It was just wishful thinking. He shrugged and said in a nonchalant tone.

"Well you're always talking about how you wish the world would know of and respect the great Bird Clan. With a human summoner we can spread our fame."

"No I refuse to just give away the right to summon our people. It must be earned properly."

Hekireki-hime whacked her husband up the side of the head. "Oh please Sparky! Your too stubborn and prideful for your own good. Loosen up a bit and be open-minded."

Leader-sama literally glared beams of fire at his wife. "I told you not to call me that. My name is Leader-sama now! Not... Sparky."

Hekireki-hime easily batted aside the attack. "I'll call you what I want, Sparky-chan." She laughed at his contorted expression before directing her attention to the little human. "I think he is cute! And we get him all to ourselves."

Gently she picked Naruto upped and rocked him back and forth in an attempt to calm him down some. "Don't worry the big bad pheonix isn't going to hurt you. He's just a stupid idiot. I'll protect you."

"Hey! I resent that! What makes you think that you can just go around talking bad about me? I am the leader of the Birds and I demand more respect." Leader-sama spread his wings wide in an attempt to intimidate her.

The Thunderbird barely even glanced at him. The things she had to put up with when she was around her husband. All men must be half retarded or something.

"Oh shut up Sparky-chan. The only person you're scaring is the baby." Somehow Naruto knew that Leader-sama was being made fun of and started laughing at the Pheonix. "Oh wait never mind. He thinks your dumb too."

The Leader finally relented the argument, admitting his defeat and shutting up. Depressed and downtrodden, he flew up to the brim of the volcano and dove into the lava to go to sleep.

"He is such a wimp, I swear." She gave the baby back to Toritsukai. "Now since you brought him here you're in charge of him. You can get Torikomori help you if you want. She should be working at the springs right now."

Toritsukai bowed low for the Thunderbird and carefully picked Naruto up in the bundle of sheets. "Of course Lady Hekireki-hime. I shall seek her out immediately."

Konoha (Four Days Later)

Kushina had finally gained enough energy to have an audience with the Hokage. The hospital had released her for a quick meeting and once it was through she was to come back immediately. She was required to sit in a wheelchair and allow someone to push her around. Actually the only reason Kushina was allowed to leave at all was because Tsunade had pulled some strings. Punching her fist through a wall to intimidate the administrative staff.

Kushina was still weak though. She fainted easily if riled up and could not do much physically because of the exhaustion. Mentally, Kushina was doing better than expected. She was doing great if you considered the unpredictable hormone changes from childbirth, husband dieing to save the village and baby getting kidnapped by a talking bird. The same bravado and fiery like spirit Kushina possessed was in place. Kushina was determined to find out where her precious baby was and nothing was going to stop her.

Tsunade and Jiraiya would be attending the meeting so they could help locate Naruto. Jiraiya would be very necessary because of the vast spy network that he kept up. Also since Naruto was kidnapped by an unheard of summon animal, the toads and the slugs would be very helpful in gathering information.

When Kushina and Tsunade to the Hokage's office Jiraiya was already present. He was off in a corner scribbling in a little notebook and giggling perversely. Right beside him and about four feet shorter than him stood a toad. The toad had large eyebrows, a goatee, and a tuft of hair sticking up in the back. Kushina might have laughed at the odd looking toad if she had the strength to.

The Sandaime looked up from his desk as the two entered the office. "Kushina I am glad to see you are ok. I am sorry I could not have been there for you at the time." Kushina gave a nod in reply. "Also I am very sorry about Naruto. I believe that with the proper information, we can track him down fairly quickly."

"Now I have already to spoken to Jiraiya already and we have decided that the best way to find Naruto-kun would be through finding the hawk that kidnapped him. We can conclude that Naruto was not kidnapped by ninja since the hawk had said he belonged to the birds. The only problem now is to find where the birds' home is. Jiraiya summoned Fukasaku here for any information he may have on the Birds."

Fukasaku cleared his throat and hopped on top of the desk. "The Birds live somewhere in the seas to the west of this continent. There is a group of islands called the Pheonix Isles. This is where they are located. The exact location is not known though and no human has ever set foot there. This is why not many know of the Bird summons, since there has never been a human to summon them."

Kushina pushed her wheelchair forward a bit. " So you're saying that if I can find this place called Pheonix Isles then I can find my baby?" Fukasaku nodded his head slowly. "Jiraiya please help me find these islands. Naruto is the only thing that I have left in this world."

Jiraiya didn't bother to look up from the notebook he was still writing in. Instead he just grunted an affirmative.

A large tick grew over the women's heads in the room. Tsunade started rolling up her sleeves and Kushina had pulled out a golf club from somewhere. They started to close in on the naive little pervert, radiating killing intent that was nearly palpable.

Jiraiya looked up from his writings when he noticed the killing intent. As soon as he did bullets of sweat started to form on his forward and a wet stain mysteriously appeared on the front of his pants.

"Jiraiya... We're going to kill you!"

The screams could be heard all throughout the village.

Wow it sure has been awhile. I don't have an excuse other than I got tired of writing so I stopped for a little while. Thought I'd try out a new take on Summoning. I know that there is a bird summons in the manga used by Pain but in this story that is changed. Also this story may or may not take all of canon as fact. I can't guarantee that I will update in a timely manner or even continue the story but who knows... Sometimes I get random inspiration and I can start writing again.

As for the manga, well I am really confused with it at the moment. Who would have thought that Sakura would actually confess. Personally I side with Naruto. I mean you don't just stop caring for your obsession when you here its hurting one of your friends. Well not all the way at least. I predict that Sakura will think through her actions a little more once in Konoha and decide to stay as just friends.

Sarutobi Hiruzen- The Sandaime Hokage. His first name was released awhile ago but some may not have known.

Shinobi Godaikoku- The Five Great Shinobi Nations.

Fuuinjutsu- Sealing Arts.

Genjutsu- Illusion Arts.

Tori- (Bird) Tsukai- (Messenger)- Naruto's sensei, personal summon, and caretaker.

Mount Myobokuzan- The home of the toad summons. Jiraiya had stumbled upon the mountain as a young boy and signed the summoning contract. The elder sage toad predicted a prophecy stating Jiraiya would teach a student that would either bring world peace or destruction.

Hekireki-hime- (Thunder Princess) Co-leader of the birds. She is the Native American bird of myths, the Thunder bird. The Thunder bird is said to control thunder and storms.

Leader-sama- Co-leader of the birds. He is a mythological pheonix. The pheonix is said to live for 800 years and at the end of its life, it bursts into flames. From the ashes a new baby pheonix arises. The pheonix is a bird of fire and believed to reside in a volcano.

Tori- (Bird) Komori- (Nursemaid)- Torikomori is a stork. In some myths storks are said to bring babies to their mothers.