Youko no Kage

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters associated with it as they are all the property of Kishimoto.

Additionally this story is the intellectual property of NYCDMan as his idea is the creator of this story.

"Talking"

Thoughts

Kushina

~ Konoha forest ~

Minato fought desperately to save his wife and new born son. Upon defeating the masked man and breaking the contract he placed on the Kyubi, the yellow flash of Konoha returned to do what he could to save his village. Getting back to the battle nothing more could be done.

On the outskirts of the village, his wife Kushina was going to sacrifice herself to drag the Kyubi with her into the afterlife. However this was unacceptable to him. As a father, a husband, and as a hokage, he needed to think about the future. With so many thoughts racing through his mind like variables in an equation, there was only one solution he could think of in order to save both Kushina and his newly born child Naruto.

Quickly weaving his seals, he casted his jutsu as the god of death materialized behind him. As the deity ripped his soul right out of his body, Minato imbued with the shinigami's great power stole half of the Kyubi's chakra as he prepared himself for the hardship he was going to do next preparing the ritual of the eight trigram seal of putting the bijuu into his son.

Sensing its imminent re-imprisonment, the demon fox spotted his new host as he aimed to kill him before the ritual could complete itself.

Without needing a second to think, both Minato and Kushina reacted to protect their son.

But as Kushina jumped to protect Naruto, Minato was first to intercept the attack using his own body as a shield as the demon fox's massive claw skewered easily right through him destroying several of his major organs as wet chunks and blood splattered out. As strong as the fox was, Minato's will power was stronger.

Grinding his feet against the ground, his teeth clenched shut in pain, adrenaline surging through his body; any normal ninja would have died by now. But for the sake of his family and that of his village, he will not fail to protect any of them. "You will not touch my family!" Minato thought out adamantly with his hands firmly gripped around the bijuu's claw making sure his body did not move. The Kyubi could easily tear right through him if he gained anymore momentum. So bracing himself, he made sure the fox didn't move.

"Minato . . . ." said Kushina shaken and horrified as tears streamed down the sides of her face. Her husband was successful as he stopped the demon fox's attack just inches away from her and their son. But with the ritual going as it was, the moment the Kyubi disappeared into their son, Minato would die. So with only precious moments left, there was only time for last minute words.

"Don't give me that face" Minato chuckled half-heartedly as blood seeped from his mouth. "Today . . . . Is supposed to be a happy day . . . ."

"Don't say such stupid and useless crap" as Kushina tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. But trying to find the right words to say, she couldn't properly articulate as there was so much that needed to be said and yet not enough time to say it all. But thinking carefully as her eyes clamped shut as she continued to wipe them dry; her body trembled as she sniffled. Giving one strong snort biting her lip to steady herself, this was one thing she had to say if it was going to be the last thing her husband ever heard. "I love you Minato!" she screamed at the top of her lungs wanting the entire world to know what she felt at the very bottom of her heart and soul. Just at that moment, Hiruzen and several shinobi had arrived to witness their hokage's last moment. "I'll tell our son how great his father was. I'll tell him just how much he loved his family. I'll tell him . . . . Just how much of a hero he was".

Minato choked a bit as he gave sigh of relief. "What more . . . . Can a father ask for?" as he then passed away as the bijuu's body began to shrink and condense dissolving into pure energy as it disappeared into his son's body. Upon completion as the Kyubi was no more, a spiral seal was left in its wake as the only thing that could be heard now was that of the cries of a child yearning for his parents as his voice bellowed through the forest within the cold night.

Crawling her way to her son as fresh tears formed, Kushina could feel her consciousness slipping as the damage to her mind and soul was severe from having the Kyubi ripped out of her. She had no idea if she would make it past this night. Although her Uzumaki lineage was strong, her chances were not good as no one ever survived a bijju extraction. But if she were to die tonight, she would at least want to hold her son within her arms just once.

As painful as it was feeling her body so battered and beaten as if she were flipped inside out, she pushed herself to stand as her legs trembled to stay upright. Struggling as she did as her body screamed at her to stop, she finally reached her son as she dropped to her knees as her eyes gazed down upon him.

Scooping the infant up, a sad smile graced her lips as her tears fell upon the young Naruto as the child stopped crying within her arms. "Happy birthday Naruto" she sniffled now feeling her eyes so heavy from the strain. "Welcome to the world" Kushina whispered as she faded off slipping into a deep dark slumber with her baby cradled in her arms.

Hiruzen and some others then walked out as they looked sadly to what have become of the family. But with things the way they were much needed to be done.

Taking Naruto from her, medics checked on Kushina through several diagnostic seals as her life force was very weak. As it was, she had slipped into a coma as her body and mind were not able to deal with the strain that was inflicted on her. So grabbing a stretcher, Kushina was lifted up and taken away to see if there was anything more that they could do. But considering what was done to her, they didn't expect much as they could only hope she would pull through. However the likely hood of that was slim to none at the very best.

As Hiruzen looked to young Naruto along with several other ninjas, they could only feel sympathy for the child. Losing both his parents after barely just being born, and without any real choice was forced to bear the burden of being the Kyubi's jinchuriki. But as things stood, for Naruto's safety and that of the safety of the village what had happened this night must be kept a secret.

Although the shinobi present knew the truth, they understood why no word of this must be uttered for two reasons. They shared the commonality of keeping Naruto's identity a secret. Seeing as he was the Kyubi's jailer as well as the son of the fourth hokage and one of the few Uzumaki's left, his very existence would become the number one target for enemy villages to either capture or kill. So they were sworn to secrecy.

Eventually the truth of the Kyubi would inevitably get out. This being fact, Hiruzen would try his best to paint Naruto in the best possible light as a hero for enduring this undertaking. But this news will not go easily as humans in a nut shell were ignorant creatures. When they will look to Naruto, all they will see is the monster that killed their hokage, his wife, and many others in the village. Although this news will go easier if they were to learn his parentage, the danger to Naruto would be too great. Thinking about it, Hiruzen could only looked down saddened as he saw the reflections of Kushina and Minato within the child in his arms. "I'm sorry. But for everyone's sake, he must not know where he comes from until he is ready".

~ Konoha ~ (fourteen years later)

In a hospital within Konoha, a very secret room very few knew about had only one patient that this particular room was meant for. There in this dimly lit place lay Kushina Uzumaki as she was hooked up to several machines that diligently monitored her condition. For fourteen years, several medics had attempted to revive her. But it was all for naught as they did not completely understand what was wrong with her.

Attempting to call Tsunade for help was pointless as she swore never to practice medicine again. Trying to diagnose the damage to her soul was a futile effort even with the best Yamanaka technique as they could not comprehend the vastness of what made the red headed jinchuriki herself.

Even their attempts to repair her seal hoping it'll fix her were a failed effort. As great as their knowledge was in seals, they still paled in comparison to those descended directly from the Uzumaki line as it was knowledge kept exclusively amongst their clansmen. In a rather twisted sense of irony, the only person who could have helped was lying in bed in a coma.

Although it had been discussed rather heavily amongst many medical personnel and those in charge of her well being to pull the plug or not, it was ultimately decided to leave her be just hoping for a miracle to come along.

As fourteen years had passed, Kushina did not seem any older due to her catatonic state keeping her in a metabolic stasis.

However on this day as it seemed like any other day, something did change. Beeping on the heart monitors could be heard in increasing frequency as her E.K.G. was spiking. On other machinery, her E.E.G. was racing pulsing as her mind was showing rising activity.

~ Konoha stadium ~

Elsewhere an intense battle was being waged between a certain blond jinchuriki and Hyuga prodigy as their battle had now come down to the wire. But in one quick exchange, the scales of the match had been tipped as the young blond was ragged and beaten as he was barely standing on his feet. But even in the face of defeat, he refused to give in to such a whiny little b**ch.

"There's no way I'll lose" heavily breathed Naruto, "to a coward who whines about destiny".

"An ignorant brat like you should not be lecturing" Neji glared. "People are born with a destiny they cannot oppose" as he recalled the words of his father. "You could never understand what it's like to be burdened with a symbol you can't rid yourself of!" accusingly pointing at him.

"Yes I can" Naruto glared back as the two continued their debate of ideals and beliefs. Quite frankly he was getting quite tired of someone like Neji constantly acting like some helpless little child who can't do anything to which just to make a point, he swore he was going to defeat him regardless of how lousy his odds were. Cycling through his options, he still had one trick left up his sleeves as he got into a concentration stance attempting to call a power that was buried deep inside him.

Neji sneered in his confidence as his victory was just a mere moment away. "Tell me, why do you go against destiny so much?"

". . . . Because . . . . I was called a loser" as Naruto then pulled forth the Kyubi's power.

~ Konoha (hidden room) ~

All throughout the room, loud mechanical sounds were being made. Appearing on Kushina's stomach, chakra illuminated as slowly the once broken seal began to repair itself piecing together recreating its original seal formula of several sutras as the spiral began to twist and turn on her stomach. Finishing its rotation, the seal began to glow pulsating with power as the monitoring machines reacted to their subject's sudden and spontaneous reconstitution with higher pitched sounds.

Thrumming with power as if reacting to an external stimulus, Kushina gave a pained face as her hands gripped her bed side wrinkling the blankets in reflection to her agony. From the seal, a certain red and orange chakra began flowing through her chakra channels illuminating under her skin as it stretched outwards until eventually she was completely covered within it. Gritting her teeth at the unbearable pain, Kushina's eyes snapped open shooting up into a sitting position as her voice shrilled in pain to what her body felt as soon the light from her chakra channels began to fade off retreating back to her seal as it too disappeared.

Taking labored breaths as she shakily raised her arm to shield her eyes from the light, Kushina reverted to her ninja instincts by attempting to gain her bearings on the situation. However all she could think about was the massive migraine pounding against her head as she felt like she had a nasty hangover. Not really thinking, the former jinchuriki pulled off all the monitoring devices that was connected to her as a flat-line noise was heard humming in the background. Feeling a slight stinging sensation, Kushina looked to her right arm to see an IV pack hooked up to her. So pulling it out and throwing it aside, she unfurled the blanket as she attempted to get out. But to her immediate surprise, she couldn't feel her legs as she ended up rolling out of bed falling to the floor only to at the last minute brace herself with her arms.

Feeling herself tremble, she then spotted a chair as she began to pull herself up to sit in it.

As this was going on, ". . . . What is happening? What is wrong with my body?" Taking some time to self-diagnose and analyze her current dilemma, the most likely answers started to come to her. Remembering the very last things that happened, the Kyubi was taken from her resulting in massive damage to her soul before she blacked out. So more than likely, she was still in Konoha. Although it crossed her mind that she might have been in an enemy village, the evidence spoke for itself with a lack of restraints or guards. As for her legs just barely feeling the tingling sensations at the tip of her toes, it would seem her muscles had completely atrophied. Going over the likely cases of why, the most likely reason for this was because she hasn't been using her legs which meant, " . . . . I've been in a coma". But then that was the troubling part, how much time had passed exactly? Weeks? Months? Years? She didn't know. All she knew was her last memory of holding the proof of her and Minato's love as her baby boy was taken from her. So regardless of whatever was said, Naruto was first person she wanted to see.

Sitting in the chair, she was still having trouble with her motor functions as she concentrated really hard to will her body to move. Although luckily her muscle mass did not degrade due to her strong yang chakra lineage, it still didn't change the fact she felt stiff like a board. But the way she saw it, there were two ways to rehabilitate herself back to full functionality. Either wait it out with long strenuous exercises or her way which was the fastest of revitalizing her muscles with seals.

Never being the patient type, "this is going to hurt a bit" as her arms trembled just trying to form the proper seals. Bracing herself for the pain, her fingers touched against her skin using a twisting motion as they soon got to work as electrical like current began to re-vigor her once stiff body as muscle tissue began to come alive again. Trying to rebuild an entire organ system in a matter of a few minutes was not an easy task. Kushina felt like millions of little needle pricks were stabbing into her from every angle. But to see her son, this was a small price to pay as she began to feel more of her physical senses come alive. However, she was not nearly at full capacity as it would take a bit of time till she could move properly again.

Just as she attempted to walk on her own, the door to her room barged open as two anbu had practically kicked it down with their hands on their weapons ready to attack the intruder that had dared entered this room. But to their immediate surprise was something they did not anticipate as they saw the room's only patient now conscious. Instantly acting in respect, they stopped a foot away from her as they got on their knees. "Lady Kushina! Welcome back!"

Looking to the two new occupants, Kushina scanned them carefully as slowly as her fogged up mind began to clear as she recognized who was before her now. "Komachi? Towa?"

"Yes lady Kushina" said Towa.

"We will inform a doctor to come here at once" said Komachi.

"No" as Kushina struggled to stand on her feet. "The first thing I'm going to do is go see my son".

"But lady Kushina . . . ."

"Do I still have some authority or don't I?" she then asked with sharp glaring eyes.

Remaining silent for a moment, the two anbu nodded.

"The doctors must have been notified by now of your current condition" said Towa. "I'll see to buying some time for you to leave without any trouble".

Acknowledging the plan, Komachi slung Kushina's arm over her shoulder as she helped her to her feet as they began to make their way out. Doing as he was told, Towa redirected the on duty doctors to Kushina's case as a simple false alarm as he had already investigated the situation and that they shouldn't worry. Meanwhile, Komachi gathered some cloths hiding Kushina's identity as they made their way outside as they walked trying their best not to seem conspicuous. But after a bit, Kushina was starting to feel her legs again as she felt confident enough to walk. Though wobbly at first, she was fine after a few minutes as they continued on. Upon making it out to the streets of Konoha, the red headed Uzumaki attempted to pull off her hood only to be stopped by a hand over her own.

"It would not be wise to reveal yourself yet as there are quite a few foreign ninjas in the village at this time as I am not certain what their reaction to you will be".

Quirking her brow to this, Kushina looked around to see a few officials and Suna ninjas walking around along with another clan to which she didn't recognize their symbol. "What is going on right now? Why are there so many foreign ninjas?"

"The reason for this is simple as the chunin finals are being held here within Konoha".

Blinking a bit to that information, she looked around the village as she saw a wide array of something new and something old as frankly she would have not recognized this as Konoha if not for a few land marks within the village. Upon looking to what her home had become, a lump had formed in her throat as her stomach fell a bit. With this kind of change, a good deal of time must have passed. As hesitantly as she looked to Komachi, she was unsure whether to ask this certain question which she knew was going to hurt her. "Tell me" she started still wavering whether to ask or not, "how much time had passed since I have been asleep?"

Hesitant as well to answer this question, the truth was going to be said one way or another whether by her or someone else. Although she did not have the tact for this, it was her anbu training which told her to be direct about things. So collecting her thoughts, she told her what she wanted to know. "Lady Kushina, much has changed in Konoha since the time you have been asleep. For fourteen years had passed since that day".

Her eyes wide like saucers, Kushina bit her lip as she looked to the ground in absolute dread. "Fourteen years?" she thought bitterly. "That . . . . That must mean Naruto has already grown to his teens . . . ." If this was true, then she had completely missed his childhood and worse completely failed at being a mother to him. As she was about to sink further into her self-loathing, there something more important on her mind. "Please tell me about Naruto. Is he OK? Did he grow up alright?"

Once more, Komachi was not sure how to answer this considering the difficulty of the truth. But as she told herself, the truth was going to come out one way or another as there was no point in beating around the bush about it. "Naruto has indeed grown up to be a fine young man as he shares a quite a good resemblance between you and Minato-sama. However . . . . Things have not been easy for him".

"Explain" as Kushina was deafly afraid about what she was going to hear.

Taking a deep breath, Komachi relayed everything she knew concerning Naruto's life. Although their current hokage Hiruzen did his best for him, people in general were an arrogant bunch. All the people saw when it came to the young blond was the monster sealed into him. From the time he was a baby till now was exceedingly rough. From the cold relationships to the rare violent beatings, Naruto had a hard time growing up.

At hearing this, Kushina could feel her heart breaking like glass and shattering into hundreds of shards. She could not fathom how an entire village could turn against her child like that. Just allowing these thoughts to dwell, she could only feel anger and resentment in just questioning how her husband could have fought so hard for these people only for them to turn around and be like this? Although they were ignorant of the entire truth, it still did not change the fact of what had happened.

"But as of recent times" continued Komachi, "he is starting to earn their respect. Upon becoming a shinobi, he was key in thwarting a traitor in stealing one of our most sacred scrolls. Beginning his career on missions, he was thrust into a dangerous circumstance ranking a A-level danger. Most recent, he has even gain tutelage from Jiraiya-sama".

"Jiraiya?"

"Yes" the anbu nodded. "Even now he is participating in the chunin finals. Would you like to go see?"

At hearing such a prospect, Kushina could not agree fast enough as they made their way to the arena grounds. At meeting the guards at the entrance, they did not question to stop them seeing as one of them was anbu. Making their way in to the main area, they were just in time to hear the results of the match.

"Winner! Naruto Uzumaki!" to which the young blond could be seen running a victory lap below as the audience cheered to the spectacle they were witness too.

"Way to go shrimp!"

"That was incredible!"

"Awesome fight!"

"Did you hear that?" asked Komachi. "Your son won" as she turned to look to Kushina but saw as she was in a daze as she was staring to her son below.

Although she heard, it was all drowned out. "There he is . . . . My little Naruto all grown up" as she began to shed tears of how proud she was of her son, but also for being able to see him after so long.

"Lady Kushina?" Komachi asked worriedly.

"It's alright" she sniffled rubbing her eyes dry.

"Would you like to meet your son? I'm certain you would want to after so long".

"No not just yet".

"But why?"

"He hasn't known a mother for fourteen years. It wouldn't be right if I tried to step in now out of the blue. But slowly in time I want to get to know him as he will get to know me. I don't want to overwhelm him".

"Then will you at least introduce yourself?"

"Yes, but not just yet" as Kushina found an empty seat and padded the seat next to her for Komachi to sit as well. "When the exam is over, it is then I will go to him".

To be continued . . . .

Author's notes: Just a pilot chapter to gauge what everyone thinks.

Well thanks for reading.