DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. Not Naruto, not , not enough talent to make money off writing, and certainly not enough money to be worth suing. So please don't ;_;

Prologue: A Life Denied

The Sandaime stood at a circular table, around which nearly two dozen ANBU and jounin were gathered, himself included. For the most part, these were high-ranking members within the village, people of influence and power, those qualified to make military decisions. The single exception was the silver-haired youth with the uneven hitai-ite that covered his left eye. Hatake Kakashi was a powerful member of the ANBU, but lacked the influence of the others in the room—he noted that White Fang's son had not been allowed to participate in the defense of the village despite his skills, because his youth meant he had to be protected for the sake of the future, even if everyone else in Konoha burned to keep himself and those in his age group alive. Fortunately, and thanks to the sacrifice of Yondaime, it had not come to that. But he [i]was[/i] being allowed at this debate, in the absence of Jiraiya, as the inheritor of Namikaze-sama's Will of Fire. Sarutobi had insisted the boy be present for the matter at hand.

The matter that, even now, slumbered in a bed in the center of the table, blonde hair already giving him a resemblance to his newly-deceased father.

He leaned against the wall, half in shadows, watching his fellow Leaf ninja. Many notable people were there. Sarutobi Hiruzen, called back into the post of Hokage by simple virtue of emergency laws governing the death of the current Hokage in time of war, which an attack from the Kyuubi certainly qualified as. Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuuga Hiashi, heads of their clans, possessors of the strongest doujutsu in the world. Aburame Shibi was also present, his stoic, logical attitude always counted on to cut through to the heart of the issue. Shimura Danzo, of course, was here, always looking to provide a more final solution to any perceived threat to Konoha. He didn't particularly have any problems with the man himself, but he rarely found himself agreeing with Danzo's stances. Even the shinobi in his own division retained their humanity, and he believed that was crucial to being a shinobi. At times—particularly for his division and ROOT—it was necessary to set aside one's humanity for the sake of the village, but Danzo wanted to cut it out entirely, like a weakness to be purged from the body. And his solutions were almost always a variation of "let's kill them without getting caught" with very little regard for collateral damage to anyone or anything outside of Konoha. It disturbed a huge majority of the jounin and ANBU that knew of him, but when Danzo was allowed to employ his solutions, they were always effective. And so Danzo had stayed in power, a necessary evil, the dark side of the village—much like himself and his division, though he hoped never to see the day that he became as...stubborn...as Danzo.

"So that's the container for the Kyuubi?" one of the jounin asked, eyes narrowed. The Sandaime turned to him, pulling the pipe from his mouth before responding. "Yes. Yondaime's last request was for this child to be treated as a hero. He will be spending his life protecting us from the Kyuubi, after all." The jounin sucked his teeth in irritation, seemingly fiddling with his shuriken holster absentmindedly. Kakashi was less subtle as he took a step forward, straightening his hitai-ite and revealing the Sharingan in his left eye. He said nothing, but the implication was very clear: anyone considering attacking the child was going to go through White Fang's son first. Unfortunately, a large number of the jounin seemed to have similarly murderous thoughts. He sighed mentally. They were seeing the child as its guest already. Objectively, they knew that this kid had nothing to do with the attacks. Objectively, they knew the Yondaime was too good with his sealing techniques for the Kyuubi to take over the body. Objectively, they knew that killing this physical form was a bad idea in the long run, as the Kyuubi would simply reform, and nobody would know when or where.

This was apparently difficult for many of them to set aside in light of the huge sections of Konoha that had been carved up, the dozens of shinobi dead by the Kyuubi's actions, the mourning of a nation for so many fallen.

Idiots.

He was old. Not as old as the Sannin, but older than the fallen Yondaime. And he was experienced. He'd been all over the world in the course of his job. And all over the world, the jinchuuriki were the same: lonely, isolated, barely loyal to anyone but themselves, shunned by everyone else. Konoha hadn't been as bad in the past. The prior containers of the Kyuubi had both been wives of the Hokage, affording them a great deal of respect and protection from this attitude. The child would not have the same shield. He already knew that this kid's life was destined to be harsh. "We can't leave him alive, Hokage-sama. The Kyuubi has the most potent chakra among the Tailed Beasts, nobody can seal it. Kushina was the last one who could." But the Sandaime shook his head. "No. The boy is Uzumaki by blood. He can suppress the demon fox." That got his attention. Uzushiogakure had been completely wiped out, the Uzumaki clan slaughtered, a handful of survivors scattered to the four winds. The prior jinchuuriki had both been from this prodigious clan, but to find a newborn Uzumaki at just the right time...he was suspicious. But Hyuuga Hiashi nodded thoughtfully. "That would explain the potency of his chakra and the thickness of the coils." His eyes flicked over to the jounin who had spoken up. "As well, the seal is perfect. Kyuubi's chakra is completely suppressed. Nothing escapes my eyes." Beside him, Uchiha Fugaku said nothing, but nodded agreement.

"Why take the chance?" another jounin piped up, her eyes narrowed in disgust as she looked at the child. "It would be safer to reseal the Kyuubi in an older ninja." Of course, this has the side effect of killing the infant. "There's nobody else who can do it," Kakashi snapped. "Certainly nobody in this room is qualified for the job." He locked eyes with the kunoichi, and it was hard to tell who was angrier with the other. Scratch that—Kakashi's Sharingan was beginning to spin slowly, he was definitely the angrier one. They were interrupted by another suggestion. "Why not simply raise the boy away from the village?" It was Aburame Shibi who replied. "No jinchuuriki would survive outside of the capital hidden village of each country. He would be assassinated before he learned to walk. Attempting such a thing is no better than killing the child." Very few people were perturbed by that idea, and he reflected on the irony that he was one of the more humane people in the room right now. He was sure his superiors would have been thrilled. The Hokage watched quietly, and though the man understood that many of these shinobi were speaking out of grief, he felt certain that Sarutobi was keeping a mental checklist of people who would not be assigned to keep an eye on the brat in the future.

"Your pardon, Hokage-sama." Now it was Danzo's turn to speak up. He strode forward, placing his hands on the table. "I may have a solution. Allow me to train him in ROOT. We are used to raising shinobi from infancy." He shivered. Nobody in ROOT had anything resembling a personality, and they were more unsettling than any other group he'd ever met. "No!" Kakashi exclaimed, the teen turning on Danzo. "No way Minato-sensei would have wanted this kid put under your control." Danzo looked slowly at the prodigy, one of the greatest ninja Konoha had produced. "As noble as the Yondaime's sacrifice was, he is no longer here. And you cannot speak for him, grieving as you are." Kakashi glared angrily at Danzo, but many of the jounin were nodding in agreement. Until a deep, gravelly voice cut through the room. "It's not who he can't speak for that should bother you, it's who he can speak for." Nara Shikaku, face bandaged up from where he'd been slashed across the right side of his head during the Kyuubi's rampage. He sighed, looking at Danzo. "If Kakashi says the Yondaime wouldn't want this, then Yondaime wouldn't want this. Tell me, Danzo, would you willingly pit your ROOT against a grieving teacher? When Jiraiya returns, he will find out all these details, and he'll come for the child if he has to. I for one would not want to be between the Toad Hermit and his goal in that situation." Danzo narrowed his eyes, but did not dispute the argument. Sarutobi, however, smiled slightly, apparently pleased by this accurate assessment of his student.

"For now, he will be moved to an orphanage in Konoha. Kakashi, for the time being, you will be placed in charge of security for the child. Form an ANBU team, around-the-clock surveillance. Protect him from any threats." There was no implication in the Sandaime's words or voice, but he heard it nonetheless: Kakashi was being assigned because he would protect the infant from the wrath of the villagers as best he could, not only from assassinations. "Furthermore, I am decreeing a new law, here and now. Nobody is to speak of that fact that this child is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. No children are to be told of his identity, no outsiders, nobody who does not already know will be allowed to know. The penalty for breaking this rule will be severe." The Sandaime turned to him, and he pushed off from the wall to stand up straight, knowing it was coming. "Ibiki, you will be in charge of administering punishment to those who break this law. Make sure anyone who breaks it will never consider doing so again."

Morino Ibiki's dark eyes swept the room, his deadly calm and reputation letting him get under the skin of many of those present, hardened jounin that they were. "I will only have to punish the first person who breaks your law, Hokage-sama. After that, nobody else will want to." A little dramatic, but the words had a powerful effect, which was what he had been going for.

The Sandaime nodded. "Very well. Dismissed." The room emptied quickly, soon leaving only the Sandaime, Kakashi, Ibiki himself, and Uchiha Fugaku, who turned to the Copycat Ninja. "The Police Force will assist in the boy's protection as needed. Mikoto and Kushina were good friends, and I have no intention of letting her son die." Kakashi's eyebrows rose up, but the head of the Uchiha clan merely smiled as he walked away. That little fact had not come up during the meeting, though that meant nothing to those in the loop—including the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans. Ibiki turned to follow the doujutsu user out the door, but he paused, looking at the infant. Wisps of blonde hair covered his head, and his cheeks bore whisker marks. Likely a result of Kushina being the host of the Kyuubi at the time of his birth, but the village would see the markings as a sign that the kid was in fact a monster. As his immediate superiors had died during the attack, Morino Ibiki was the de facto head of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Squad until one could be chosen officially. That meant he had a lot of work to do on such short notice. Still...his fearsome reputation was being used as a shield for the kid, he might as well take a moment to learn just a little bit more about him.

"What's the kid's name?"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

Author's Notes:

Um, hello o_o

So yeah, this is the prologue to a story I've been mulling around in my head. I'm aware I'm not a very good writer, and I probably shouldn't bother posting on at all, but I wanted to give it a shot, so here's to the start of a horrible disaster, eh? ^_^

So if it wasn't obvious, this story's going to involve Morino Ibiki, a character I thought was particularly cool. Who says terrifying sadistic torturers can't be nice guys, right? I liked his attitude in the manga, for what little of him we saw. I won't say any more about it, except that the story I've got mulling around my head is going to start well before the canon started, and I'm hoping it'll be a bit different from what everyone's expecting! Not that I expect to get a lot of attention, but if someone likes it, then yay me, not a total failure! =D