A new original for you guys today. All credit for the idea goes to my friend mellra, thanks again man for this sweet idea. I don't own Naruto or any other elements I've thrown in.

The fabric of time is like a pond, a single ripple can be a single universe.

Throw a rock in it, the ripples change direction. One simple alteration can mean the difference of something little in the grand scheme of things, to something major.

Mountains and rivers could cease to exist, people could never be born, and universes could never be created. Futures become nonexistent, choices can forever be blocked off, fate itself is rewritten.

A simple choice can change the future.

One. Simple. Choice.

Years before the First Great Shinobi War

The defeated forms of the once legendary Gold and Silver Brothers lay in a pool of their combined bloods, a massive form towering over them.

"Hmmm, almost captured by two vain idiots. This world is not ready for my power"rumbled a deep and powerful voice, full of wisdom and anger.

A small fox padded up to the larger form without a care in the world," Master Kurama, I believe returning to our realm would be the best course of action."

"Perhaps you are right, Takeshi. If the world came to control my powers…"Kurama trailed off as he considered the repercussions.

Nine massive shadows swung behind him before he disappeared in a flash of crimson, the little fox in tow.

Would the entity return?

Only a single choice could decide.

Valley of the End: The Warring States Period

"Madara, must it be like this?" the saddened voice of a man bounced across the valley where two figures stood, a brown-haired man lying in a pool of his own blood.

"Sadly, it must…Hashirama. A village with so many secrets cannot stand, nor will I allow it to stand" intoned a more serious voice, a raven-haired figure in blood-red armor stood above him with his blade poised to strike.

"The Will of Fire will always prevail, Madara."

"You do not know the true meaning of shinobi, within all men…there is darkness. And that darkness has infested you, and your brother. Your Will of Fire has cast a shadow in your hearts."

"This battle would have been so much easier without your…'help'."

Behind them all, standing tall even against a waterfall, stood a creature with five whipping tails. A huge, sentient being of chakra.

A tailed-beast.

The Gobi, otherwise known as Madara's new pet.

"So, you actually got it" Hashirama sounded mildly impressed.

"It was not easy, taming a tailed beast; even with the Sharingan at my disposal" Madara cupped a hand over his bleeding eye.

"What do you think Izuna would say about this?" Hashirama tried to stall for time.

"Izuna? Izuna gave me the drive to follow through with this course of action. I can hear his spirit cheering me on from the grave" Madara gave a smirk before looking up to the hypnotized tailed beast.

"Think about this, Mad-"

"I grow tired of your constant distractions. Gobi, attack" Madara leapt forward alongside his tailed pet.

"Well, today just got so much more complicated."

The two shinobi clashed, their powers rocking the very foundations of the mountains around them. Waves crashed, rocks tumbled and split, and the land itself was rewritten under the sheer force the two warriors wielded.

Hashirama's sword clashed with the battle-fan and scythe of Madara, the wood-user dodging strikes from five separate tails and blasts of steam that were fired from the enraged beast looming above him.

'I've got to end this quick. I don't have too much left to give' Hashirama growled in his mind.

"What's wrong, Hashirama? Finally growing tired? Pity."

"Hardly. Wood Style: Great Binding Timber!" Hashirama roared as branches with the thickness of buildings wrapped around the Gobi, binding it to the ground.

"Damn you, Hashirama! You always have to impress me!" Madara shouted and cloaked himself in his Susanoo.

He was even more surprised when the man in front of him disappeared in a plume of smoke.

He lost his composure as a fist slammed hard enough into the side of his Susanoo to shatter it into ashes of chakra.

Now, now the fight had begun.

From the smoke strode a lone figure, red markings under his eyes and on his forehead, and an image that would forever be burned into Madara's mind.

Hashirama's glowing yellow eyes.

Madara involuntarily shivered.

Hashirama had engaged Sage Mode, this was not good. Not good at all.

The two shinobi looked to the sky; the once blazing sun had set and thrown them into the blackness of night.

It was time to finish this.

"Well, Madara? One final attack?" Hashirama strode confidently towards the tall Uchiha.

"I guess it comes down to what we have left in our reserves. Somehow I always knew it would" Madara charged up the largest fireball he could.

"Katon: Majestic Destroyer Flame!" Madara exhaled a wall of fire so tall, it dwarfed even the form of the downed Gobi.

Hashirama simply stood and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The fireball struck home with a resounding boom that rattled the Earth to its very core, the very mountains themselves reshaping under the mighty pressure. The lake boiled and rocks were superheated to the point of shattering and yet Hashirama did not move. Not an inch.

'How is he still standing?'

Madara was answered by a plume of smoke, almost like a signal of his defeat.

Thunk.

He felt sharp steel find a new home inside his chest, the blade glinting in the moonlight with his blood.

The Uchiha felt something wet on the back of his neck,' It must be raining.'

Hashirama stood behind him, the sword gripped tightly and his jaw clenched tighter as tears streamed from his eyes.

"Why did it have to come to this, Madara?" Hashirama whispered quietly.

"It was bound to end like this my old friend. I'm honestly glad I will fall to you, you will always be my greatest rival" Madara bowed his head as a rivulet of blood trickled from his mouth.

A great crack of thunder rippled throughout the sky as rain finally began to fall, almost like it was trying to wash away the regret both shinobi felt.

"Do it, Hashirama" Madara whispered.

With a sharp tug, the sword came free in a geyser of blood that soaked both warriors in its crimson coating.

'Goddamn you, Madara.'

'Goddamn you, Hashirama.'

The legendary Uchiha fell to his knees, offered a final gaze at the world, and then fell to the ground in death.

Hashirama couldn't remember how long he stood there, just staring at his former friend's body and silently mourning.

Only the raging of the Gobi brought him back to his senses, along with a pair of slender arms wrapping around his chest.

Mito.

"You did what you had to do" she whispered in his ear softly.

The years seemed to way down on the First Hokage of Konohagakure, making him feel so much older.

"We still have to deal with the Gobi" he motioned to the pinned mass of chakra.

"Seal it within me; my Uzumaki blood can hold its chakra. We need to keep it hidden" Mito began drawing the seals herself.

"Are you sure? We'll have to keep passing this burden down."

"It is for the good of the world. We cannot let this power roam loose, free to do what it pleases. Eventually we'll release it, in an era where it cannot be manipulated like it was here" Mito began to draw the chakra from the Gobi into herself.

'Let us pray you are right, Mito.'

Many Years Later

The crying of a newborn bounced around the hidden cave where Kushina Uzumaki had been taken to give birth.

"You did it, Kushi-chan! It's a beautiful baby boy!" a nurse cried happily as the women clutched her baby.

Her husband was busy reinforcing the seal on her stomach; to make sure the tailed beast inside did not escape.

Outside the cave ANBU were stationed to deter any and all threats against the women and her husband.

One spoke into his earpiece," Hokage-sama, we've spotted movement outside the entrance, we recommend moving Kushina."

"Thank you, Falcon. We have to-"

The Fourth Hokage was cut off as both nurses fell to the ground with their throats cut into bloody smiles.

"Give me the woman or your child dies" a voice snarled from behind him.

Minato Namikaze swung around and caught the masked man off guard with a spinning backfist to the side of the head, the mask absorbing a huge chunk of the blow.

"Not a smart move, Hokage" the man held a bundle in his hands, one wired with explosive tags.

"Don't you dar-"

The man threw the child into the air; Minato acted on instinct and snatched his son from the air before defusing the tags.

A rush of air announced his wife being kidnapped by the masked man.

"Dammit!" he cursed before using his patented Flying Thunder God technique to teleport to his house, placing his son in his crib before grabbing his battle coat and going to save his wife.

"Just hold on, just hold on" he repeated like a mantra as he teleported in his yellow flash to Kushina's location.

He ended up in a valley, his wife chained to the middle of a rock formation as the Gobi ripped its way out of her seal and in the process, slowly killing her.

"Kushina!" he roared and charged forward, just in time to watch the Gobi break free.

With a roar that seemed to almost shatter the sky, it charged towards Konoha in a cloud of steam.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?"

The Fourth Hokage wheeled around and spotted the masked man sitting on a cliff edge, swinging a leg like he was in the deepest form of relaxation.

"Why are you doing this!? WHY!?" Minato screamed at the man.

"For simple entertainment, Fourth Hokage! This is just for me to enjoy, the destruction of the Leaf Village!" the man chuckled.

"Who are you? What do you have against Konoha?"

"My name is…Madara Uchiha and I have everything against Konoha. I want nothing more than to see it burn" Minato could feel the man's enraging smirk from the orange mask he wore.

His thoughts were interrupted by the cries of pain from his wife.

"You'd better hurry. She doesn't have much longer" the masked man chuckled.

He was caught off guard when a kunai sailed over his head and a Rasengan was rammed into the base of his spine.

With the satisfying crunch of bone, Minato Namikaze knew he had crippled the man.

"GAH!" the man who called himself Madara shouted before disappearing in a swirling vortex.

"And that is the reason you don't fuck with a kage" he growled before flashing to his wife and freeing her of her bindings.

"Mina-kun. Where is Naruto? Where is our son?" Kushina gripped her husband's hand tightly.

"He's safe, Kushi-chan. I'll take you to him."

The pair disappeared in a yellow flash.

Back in the Apartment of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki

The wailing of their child could be heard as the pair appeared in their apartment, Kushina hobbling over to cradle her son.

"The Gobi is attacking the village. How do we stop it Kushi-chan?" Minato looked to his wife.

"You can't, you can only seal it again…I don't think I can survive another sealing" she fell to the bed with Naruto in her arms.

"Then we'll have-"

"Don't say it…Don't say it! You know what the villagers will do!" Kushina shouted with a surprising amount of strength for someone who just had a tailed beast ripped out of them.

"I know, dammit! But we can't let the village be destroyed and we can't ask another family to give up their child!" Minato shouted back.

The pair was silent, only listening with bittersweet happiness to Naruto's light cooing.

"We have to do it, Kushi-chan" Minato spoke in a small voice.

The redhead answered only by clutching her blonde bundle tighter.

"Fine, but one of us has to live for him" she smiled sadly as Naruto gripped her finger tightly.

"It'll have to be you, Kushi-chan. I have to use…The Reaper Death Seal, it's the only thing that can stop it fast enough" Minato stood and threw off his battlecoat.

"Mina-kun…"

"Be a good mother, Kushi-chan. I'll see you in the afterlife, my love" Minato gave her a final warm smile before taking Naruto and disappearing in his yellow flash of chakra.

All Kushina could do was sob quietly as she prepared to lose the man of her dreams, and possibly her son.

She lamented and cursed the heavens for robbing her of her chance to finally have a full and beautiful family; this was supposed to be her happily ever after.

It was a good fifteen minutes before she felt it.

She felt a twitch in the back of her mind, like it was telling her something was wrong.

"Mina-kun!" she gathered the last of her strength and shushined to Minato's location.

She arrived just in time to stop a giant hoof from crushing her son; Minato supported it with her although she could tell he was drained of chakra.

"Kushi-chan? How did you know?" Minato hacked out some blood.

"I just…felt something" Kushina could feel her organs being destroyed by the pressure and charka the Gobi emitted from its entire being.

"Dammit! You were supposed to live, you were always the survivor" Minato cursed as he could feel his strength waning, the Reaper Death Seal slowly killing him.

With a massive combined shout, the pair threw the Gobi away from their son. It was done, the seal was in place and the Gobi soon found itself being sucked back inside of a jail cell.

The day was saved, Konoha wasn't destroyed, and all it had cost them was everything.

Both parents crawled their way over to their son, slowly and painfully.

"Naruto-kun" Kushina clutched her baby to her chest.

"Hey, buddy" Minato hugged the both of them tightly, everything was beginning to feel really cold.

"Be a good boy, Naruto you're going to experience a lot of pain and suffering. Remember who you are! Find a goal… a dream… and don't stop trying until it comes true. There's… there's so much more that I want to say… to teach you… I want to stay with you… I love you."

"Kushi-chan…" Minato felt his wife growing colder as well.

"Don't look so sad, Minato. I'm… I'm happy. Happy that you loved me. Happy that it's… our son's… birthday. If I try to imagine surviving and the three of us… living together… I can't think of anything… beyond 'I'd be so happy. If I had any regrets… It would be that I won't see Naruto grow up."

Minato could only laugh," Naruto… This is your dad. Listen… To your motor-mouth mother."

"We love you, we love you so much" Kushina finally felt her body giving out.

Finally, almost mercifully, the two great shinobi became one with the afterlife.

The only sounds that filled the air were the sounds of a crying child, roaring fires, and steam hissing.

Fourteen Years Later

Naruto adjusted his hood with a grumble," Bastards."

He had just gotten a small beating from some angry fuckers who kept calling him 'Demon' and 'Horse Brat'.

Seriously, Horse Brat just sounded ridiculous. If they were going to insult him they could at least think of something clever.

'That's humans for you kid.'

'You got that right, Kokuō. Thanks for the armor ideas by the way.'

No one knew it but Naruto had been in contact with his tenant ever since he could form a coherent thought. If Kokuō hadn't stepped in, Naruto would have had no idea how to make his Steam Armor more bearable.

Instead of the heavy red armor the Hokage had first given him to contain and control the fluctuations of steam that emanated from his body, he wore armor that was a quarter of the weight.

His left side was covered in a myriad of bronze and leather armor, different entwining gears and pipes circling his left arm. A gauntlet with many flashing lights and buttons that allowed the blonde container to direct the flow of steam wherever he wished it was attached to his wrist and forearm.

Other than the armor, his outfit was quite simple, a pair of black ANBU pants that held two shuriken holsters on his left thigh and a pair of thick, leather combat boots that reached mid-shin level.

With Kokuō's chakra enhancements and a healthy diet, Naruto had grown to be one of the tallest kids in his class and was muscled to boot.

'So, today we graduate huh? It'll be good to finally get rid of those goggles and put on a real forehead protector.'

'As long as Hokage-sama honors our request about team selections.'

'Getting paired with the Uchiha could prove problematic.'

'Neither of us have had great experiences with the Sharingan, I think Hokage-sama will realize that we're made for a Frontal Assault Squad.'

Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by a bark of laughter and then a shout," Hey, Naruto!"

"Kiba, what have I told you about being loud?" Naruto grumbled.

"S-sorry, Naruto" Kiba rubbed the back of his head.

"It's no problem, work on it" Naruto whacked the dog partnered ninja in the back of the head with his armored gauntlet.

"That wasn't very polite, Naruto-san" a chunnin asshole by the name of Mizuki chided.

"I'm not a polite person, you should probably get used to it" Naruto flipped the chunnin the bird and walked inside.

"That's a detention!" Mizuki called.

"I won't serve it!" Naruto called back.

From somewhere far above, Naruto's parents watched.

The world would watch as he became something of legend.

A steam powered shinobi.

A great new idea from my friend mellra, thank you again my friend! If you don't like it you can kiss the fattest part of my ramen and anime loving ass! Read, review, favorite, flame, whatever.

See you later bro's.