I am the bone of my writing.

Words are its body, and thoughts are its blood.

I have written three prologues.

Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain.

Withstood sleep to type, waiting for one's idea.

I have no regrets. This is the only path.

So as I pray... UNLIMITED REWRITE WORKS.

Okay, maybe it's no way as epic as that nor as many as that made it sound, but I have, once again, rewritten the chapter, and I believe this to be the best iteration of my prologue chapter yet. So have fun, and have a read!

For those who followed this story, this won't have much in terms of change. Nearly all the important dialogues went unchanged, so you missed nothing... I think. But just give it a read if you want.

Also, I am, once again, in dire need of a beta reader to help check my grammar and word usage. So please, anyone who can and want to volunteer please step up.

PROLOGUE CHAPTER Uploaded 25 February 15

BETAED BY: Jamalymal 3 March 2015

-CHAPTER START-

Chakra.

The very essence of a creature. Their mental energies and their physical strength, moulded into a power that flowed within someone. A manifestation of a being's experience and knowledge combined with their material capabilities into a liquid strength that flowed within every creature, big or small, tall or short, strong or powerful within a metaphysical circulatory system within a being.

And just like the two aspects that made it, it can be trained like a muscle, growing stronger the more it was used and can grow infinitely, like one's wisdom as he ages.

And as the loss of either aspect to a being can kill it, so does chakra drain kill.

Humanity. The only being that can manipulate and use such a power.

And the pinnacle of humanity, the Sage of Six Paths, the Rikudou Sennin was the one to have discovered the ability and method to use this power. Even his blood contained a massive power, for he had a powerful bloodline, a skill carried by blood and cannot be learned by anyone. He was the wielder of the Rinnegan, a bloodline unlike no other.

And with his bloodline and skills, he saw the world and how it was constructed, giving rise to the art of seals, a way of how to deconstruct and reconstruct the world in the form of patterns and chakra lines, having learned, from his own observation and practice, how the world revolved around chakra and its flow. His knowledge of the world's flow and the influence chakra had on it gave rise to ninshu, later known as ninjutsu, the art of using one's chakra from within to exert influence on the five elements that made up the world, changing and manipulating it as one desires.

And with his otherworldly strength, he faced against a terrible beast unlike any other: a titanic being, vaguely human-shaped with ten massive flowing tails behind it, known only as the Juubi. No one knew where it came from or how it appeared. Out of nothingness it came, destroying everything in sight as it killed everyone and everything it encountered. The world itself seemed to cry as the powerful being rampaged through the world. A single swing of its tails crushed mountains; destroys armies like toys. A single step destroyed entire towns, its survivors fleeing as a terrible feeling of death and destruction followed its every step. Lakes dried with a single breath, its hunger knew no bounds as animals and humans alike ran from its unstoppable charge.

As one, humanity cried out to their gods. To save them. To destroy this merciless creature. To annihilate it. To return their peace. Peace from before the titanic being came.

And the gods answered.

The Great Sage came out from his meditations and training only to face this terrible monster that came from nothingness, intent on returning everything in the world to the same state it was once in: a state of absolute inexistence. The Great Sage roared his challenge to the massive beast, the massive storm it brought with its every move not scaring him at all as he charged, meeting the beast that towered over mountains with but one thing in his mind: to eradicate it and to return peace to the world.

Like two gods they met, their catastrophic clash a story told for aeons. Mountains were torn asunder and recreated as volcanoes erupted and cooled at a pace not seen in millennia. Seas rose and fell at their command, the waters raging and calming with every move they made. Islands sank and rose, rivers dried and formed as the two fought continuously, one to protect and the other to destroy. The climate was torn apart as Mother Earth became the greatest victim in their battle. The Great Sage tried saving everyone and everything with his ninshu as he fought, every death and destruction another heavy weight in his heart, pushing him further and harder to stop this mad being.

Days passed as they warred with each other, nature itself became their weapon in an effort to best the other, the Sage living on nothing but his own powerful silvery chakra, glowing with an unearthly shine as he manipulated it to take the terrible beast down. Finally, he succeeded in restraining the immense being. Yet it still roared and raged, its strength too strong for even the Great Sage of Six Paths to hold back for long. And with his immense knowledge, he made his decision.

He carved furrows on the ground around the immense being, restrained by silvery chains on the ground. Pathways to the world's mysteries opened as the Sage constructed the immense array of seals on the ground, destined for two tasks united as one only: to separate the beast's physical and spiritual component, sealing the body elsewhere as its spirit and power lived on within him, forever bound to his mortal body. Yet the massive being held strong, struggling and thrashing as the Sage completed the massive array. The Sage placed his palm on the furrows before silvery power flowed from the Sage into the lines on the earth, the glow of the sealing process seen from miles away as it lighted the sky. The beast screamed its terrible rage the words of man as the sealing proceeded, feeling its spirit and body separate.

"Cruse you, Rikudo! Curse you and all your descendants! May they all know rage, anger and fury! May they know vengeance! They shall never know peace, not while they still live! When I come back, I will crush them and feast upon their souls!" the Juubi roared in rage towards the Sage.

"Such a thing will not happen, Juubi. I will seal your essence within myself and seal your body in an unreachable place, forever stuck in limbo." the Sage said while continuing the sealing calmly despite his weary and tired body. Nearly every worn-out piece of him was feeling the pain of trying to hold such a powerful force within his battered body, yet he endured with a will stronger than the toughest iron, wanting to end this abomination's existence.

"Curse you! You will not be able to hold my power for long, mortal! You are but human, and all humans die with time! When you do, I shall be free once more!" The Juubi continued spouting his demoralizing words, every sentence lined with unbridled hatred and rage.

"It's true that I will die. That is an undeniable fact, for I am mortal. But I will do everything I can to make sure you will no longer be able to harm this world!" The Sage shouted back in absolute defiance towards the still-thrashing Juubi as he watched and monitored the essence of the Juubi being absorbed into his chakra core.

"Curse you! Curse you to the pits of hell!"

With an ear-splitting roar, the Juubi's life ended as its spirit and power were sealed within the Sage's body, its physical form lying on the ground in a heap, losing every presence of life from it. Yet the Great Sage knew that he was still not done with it, for the being continued its rage and fury within him. Using the last dregs of his power the Sage lifted the husk, surrounding it and creating a massive rock in the sky, one that would later become known as the moon.

For a week the Sage was comatose, having used every last piece of his godly powers to subdue and seal the terrible beast. Yet no one saw his moment of weakness, having pulled the Juubi to a desolate area. Only stories of his battle were known. No one but the Sage knew how the end of the immense creature came by. He woke up with pain in his entire body as he limped away from the site, a smile on his face as he successfully stopped the creature.

The Sage travelled the world in his years afterwards, teaching his ninshu to the people in the hopes that it would bring peace and prosperity. A 'God in human form' he was called as he spread his knowledge and teachings, his power awed and horrified people all the same as he walked the world with his purple ringed eyes, the nine tomoes on each of the three rings spinning slowly with every second he lived, enchanting and terrifying every person he met with its hypnotic look.

Despite this he rejected it vehemently. Godlike he may be, but a god he was not. Again and again he rejected the people's presents and prayers. He answered their prayers all the time: healing the critically sick and restoring the lands, dead from the Juubi's rampage into something useable once more. The people kneeled and revered him, yet without fail he stopped them, saying that there were gods in heaven and that they should pray to them instead of him, a mortal being filled with weakness and imperfections.

Amongst his travels of the villages, the Great Sage fell in love with a woman, her name long since lost in the folds of the Sage's history, to be clouded by myths and legends in the future even as he himself were forgotten after his death. Yet at that moment, the Sage had nothing in his mind but the woman that he loved with all his heart, one that had the greatest honour of becoming his wife. Together they walked the world with the Sage passing his teachings down to his wife and the two children that were born from their union.

Yet unknown to his family, the Juubi's word were true. Not a single day passed by without the Sage feeling his body breaking up from within as his mind worked itself to its limits, trying to hold back the terrible whispers of death and destruction and infinite power the Juubi's essence within him promised as its vile power coursed through his body despite his best efforts at sealing it within him. All he needed to do, said the voice, was to let it go. Yet the Sage held it back with everything he had to his detriment. The only thing that assisted him in holding the power back would be his family, his love to them and their love to him the only fuel that helped him hold the influence back.

One day, the Sage felt his power waning, the effort of holding the Juubi's foul spirit within him too much for even his body to endure. He revealed the terrifying fact to his family, finally removing the veil over his weakening body, much to their fears and sadness. Despite everything, the Great Sage smiled calmly, telling them it would be alright and that he can recover in the future.

It was the only lie he told his family.

With the power his mysterious bloodline gave him, he split the Juubi's spirit into parts using his Ninpou: Creation of All Things. Each of the parts were imbued with a piece of his own soul, overpowering the defeated and fragmented soul of the Juubi, giving the parts their own personality and their own soul, something that would help in eradicating the vile Juubi completely in the future. The parts morphed from their original form as blobs of chakra before changing shapes into animals, some looking out of this world yet alive all the same.

The eldest sister Kurumi with nine tails, the Kyuubi. A kitsune demon, she was a fox with clawed humanoid forearms and rabbit-like ears.

The next was a male, Gyuuki, an ox demon that had the combination of eight octopus tentacles, being the eight-tailed or Hachibi, as legs on a humanoid body with an ox's head.

The third was a rhinoceros beetle with six wings and a tail, the seven-tailed Nanabi, male Choumei.

The fourth, the female six-tailed Rokubi, Saiken was a large bipedal slug with six tails and short stubby arms.

Five-tailed Gobi Kokuo was a dolphin-horse, a horse with a dolphin's head with five horns, two longer ones at the back of his head with three shorter ones at the front, all of them swept backwards.

A massive fanged red monkey with the body of a horned gorilla became the form of Son Goku, the male four-tailed Yonbi.

Isobu, meanwhile, was a female turtle with a crab-like shell littered with spikes and three shrimp-like spiked tails, being the three-tailed Sanbi.

The two-tailed female Nibi was a beastly cat made of bluish flames named Matatabi.

The youngest, a raccoon dog made of blue-veined sand was the female one-tailed Shukaku.

Altogether, they were collectively called the bijuu, the tailed beasts.

Together with his family, the collection of strange animals travelled the world, though the bijuus had to hide themselves when they encountered humans, in order to hide their existence and to prevent the people from freaking out when they met them. Like sons and daughters they were treated by the family, the teachings of the Great Sage taught to them as well. They loved and were loved, something that kept the foul influence of their powers from influencing them. The soul of the Juubi may have been crushed, but its powers were still corruptive, the terrible spirit of the Juubi having seeped into every ounce of its power as well.

Yet, despite everything they did, it was too late. The Rikudou Sennin's body was too corrupted and damaged to heal, no matter what ninshu techniques or what medicinal herbs. Within just months after he created the bijuus, his body was too worn out to survive any longer, even with his godly powers, a proof that a god he was not. On his deathbed, he gave his last words to his two sons, wanting them to achieve peace in the world.

In the future, their different philosophy separated them, the older Indra who inherited their father's eyes becoming the ancestor of the Uchiha Clan with the younger, Ashura who inherited their father's powerful chakra, became the ancestor of the Senju Clan.

Before he breathed his last, he wished to speak with the rest of his family, the still young and small bijuus, aged barely months old. Surrounded by the beings he himself created, he spoke, his voice wheezing as his body began failing him.

"All of you: Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Son Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Choumei, Gyuuki and Kurumi, hear me. Each of you were a part of the Juubi that I split and gave life to. There is however, something that I haven't told any of you. During the split, I also separated parts of my soul to create all of you, giving you sentience and a thinking mind. Also, the part of my soul within you has a part of my Creation of All Things jutsu that will activate itself when the conditions are fulfilled. This part of me will change you into a half demon, one whose powers still remain, but in a human form." He said to the Bijuus around him, both his and their tears falling in his final moments.

"But father, why would you do that to us? A human cannot live forever. We might even release the power of the Juubi back to him upon our deaths!" asked Gyuuki in shock and anger.

"That is true," the Sage said, nodding his agreement. "However, the condition for the activation of the jutsu is if, and only if, you manage to gain a mate worthy of the love of a Bijuu. Remember my children; that even though all of you were once a part of an evil being, love will be able to cleanse the powers of the Juubi that you all contain. The jutsu will only activate once you've found a worthy mate, and have given yourself fully to him or her, thus making you powerless. Your power will recover to its original level in time. This will cause the Juubi's vile power to be neutralized, and destroy him entirely. It will also turn your chosen mates into half demons as well. As long as you are not beheaded, you will be immortal with your children inheriting the traits of the half demon that you and your mate will become."

"But father, why a human? Can we not choose what creature is to be our mate?" asked Kurumi next.

"A human is special. Only a human is capable of loving another creature apart from themselves. However, it is also true that only humans can hate as much as they do, for our capacity to love is intertwined with our capacity to hate. As you move through life, you will find the journey hard and rough. Always remember though, that you will find your Destined One, and he or she will be with you no matter how hard the road may be. The Creation of All Things will also produce a seal that marks your chosen mate and binds their soul with yours. So that if one of you were to die, the other would follow. Due to this binding you and your mate will never be affected by any genjutsu, for one soul will immediately recover the other, aSoul Bond unlike any other."

Coughing on his last few breaths, the Sage continued his words of advice. "Remember my children, only love, pure love, can neutralize the power of the Juubi that you all contain, just like your mother's love did to me. Remember this, and you shall not be consumed by the evil of the Juubi's power within you."

He coughed again, ignoring his sons and daughters' sad eyes. "Each of you has parts of the Juubi's power. Shukaku: the ability to control sand and earth. Matatabi: the power to summon cleansing flames and move the dead at your command. Isobu: control over water and an extremely hard shell as a defense. Son Goku: the ability to create and manipulate lava. Kokuo: the power of scalding steam. Saiken: the skill to use offensive and defensive acids, poisons and even healing fluids. Choumei: the hard skin of the Juubi which manifests as a shell and the ability to fly. Lastly, Gyuuki: the brute strength and the multiple arms of the Juubi. When you and your chosen mate become a half demon, all these abilities and powers will be shared by you, your mate and any descendants that you may have." Except for Kurumi, the bijuus nodded in both sadness and understanding. They understood that they had mysterious powers unlike the animal that they were supposed to look like, but they never knew that it actually came from the Juubi itself.

"Father, what about me? You haven't mentioned the power that my part of the Juubi has," asked Kurumi. She never felt any special powers, nor was she capable of doing anything that her siblings could.

"Yours is the most special, my daughter. You contain not just the extreme healing abilities that the Juubi had, but also the power to change and modify your body. This ability is what made the Juubi so hard to defeat, since he could adapt to any attacks or jutsus that I used. However, I managed to overpower him and later defeat him, so it is definitely not infallible. Always remember that." the Sage said his last words of advice to Kurumi.

His breathing and words both slowed massively, and with his last breath he spoke, his last tears rolling down on his old cheeks. "Now my children, remember to love, and remember me. Remember my story of the Juubi. Now, it appears it's time for me to take my leave, and return to the Pure World to be with my ancestors. Goodbye, and always remember that I love all of you." The Sage then closed his eyes, and passed on to the next world.

"Father? Father?! Don't leave yet! FATHER!" Screamed Shukaku while shaking the lifeless body of the Sage. The other Bijuu looked downwards, tears in their eyes as they watched their Father die a peaceful death.

And thus ended the life of the 'Saviour of The World', the Sage of the Six Paths. For a short while the entire family kept themselves close, yet grief took their mother's life away from them mere days after the Sage's death. Losing the unifying factor, the two boys separated from each other despite the bijuu's pleading and crying. And as they left, even the bijuus, previously unified as one, began leaving, making their way through life on their own.

The legend of the Sage became clouded in myth and mystery, lost within the merciless folds of time. Some ancient records said that they actually parted ways for thousands of years. Though the legends were varied and many, one thing remained the same. They all reappeared once more during the rise of The Shinobi Era.

The two sons, parted and separated married and established clans of their own within the war-torn lands. The teachings of their father changed and warped through the years, making it a pale shadow of its previous glory as they perverted the knowledge of ninshu, using it to wage war for the side that paid the most. From this rose The Shinobi Era and the mutation of ninshu into its more modern equivalent, the ninjutsu.

Slowly but surely, the evil whispers of the Juubi tormented and corrupted the bijuus. They remained hidden at first, hiding themselves from humanity. Yet their young, fragile minds were unable to stop the vile whispers of the Juubi within them, corrupting them and turning them from the guardian beasts they were supposed to be into massive abominations. Their titanic size, having grown immensely during their years of hiding, revealed them to the world. Humanity had long since feared anything more powerful than they were, attacked them in their misguided fear, becoming the final straw on the camel's back as their frail mind shattered, turning them into mindless beasts of terror hell bent on death and destruction as they rampaged across the land.

And once more, the Juubi showed the Sage that his words were true.

Only Kurumi, the eldest of the bijuu managed to hold on to her sanity. Even from the beginning she feared her power, constantly needing her Father's gentle touch to silence the voices in her mind. Not wanting to lose her mind like her siblings, she ran and hid within a mountain, sleeping for aeons, not wanting to harm anyone with her powers. In her hibernation, her mental state held true, unchanging as the voices in her mind were silenced with her effort.

The mountains she hid in would later become what would be called the Iron Country, famed for its mines and high quality steel.

Tired of the years upon years of non-stop war, a group of Shinobi decided to create peace within their own ranks by creating the first Ninja Village. Groups of Shinobi could work together in harmony, taking on tasks that they would usually ignore due to lack of manpower or skill. Senju Hashirama, descendant of the second child of the Sage, decided to make peace with Uchiha Madara, descendant of the first child. They decided to unite their clans under the banner of the Hidden Leaf Village or Konoha, the first Hidden Village. The symbol being a leaf with a swirl centre, in honour of their Uzumaki allies that helped forge the alliance. The success of the system quickly urged others to copy it, creating the rise of the Hidden Villages Era.

During the early creation phase, Hashirama, was unanimously chosen by everyone to be the first Hokage or Fire Shadow, the leader of the village. Yet Madara, who previously supported this alliance, was not satisfied with this decision. Madara still hadn't completely eradicated the thoughts that were buried within him from the years of fighting between the Uchiha and Senju clans, whose reasons had long since been lost. He believed that the Senju would eradicate them from the earth, suppressing them in the guise of 'proper leadership'.

Towards his clan's council of elders he proposed his plans, a massive coup d'état led by the Uchihas to overthrow the Senju from their high position before instating an Uchiha as the Kage, an action to prevent their future submission under the Senju's rule. Yet they unanimously voted against his proposal. Furthermore, they banished him from their clan, disowning him for his foolish idea. They were as tired of the years of fighting like the Senjus were, and his idea was the height of folly against their uneasy and recent peace.

Madara left Konoha in anger. In his mind, he could foresee the terrible future their clan would suffer under the Senju's rule. He had been thrown away for showing them the absolute truth! Hashirama may have been his old friend, yet he knew, more than anything else, he was a Senju, and they were enemies from the beginning. His brilliant mind, fuelled with his rage, began hatching a plan to take back the leadership of Konoha to Uchiha hands by force.

And it would first involve the strongest bijuu: the Kyuubi, long since hidden from the world.

After some time spent searching, Madara finally found the immense bijuu within the cavernous space within the mountains of Iron Country, its blood red figure radiating immense power unlike any other within the dark cavern. His much-vaunted Mangekyo Sharingan, said to be the ultimate form of the Uchiha's bloodline, the Sharingan met eye-to-eye with the bijuu's forcefully awakened self. And with but a mental command, the beast was under his control, ready to be unleashed on the world.

At a place that would later be called The Valley of the End, three people stood. The Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama, his wife Uzumaki-Senju Mito who came out from the safety of their village's walls from a powerful chakra reaction Hashirama detected from afar and Uchiha Madara. Hashirama realized the challenge he forced upon them with his chakra reaction. And so, he decided to question his rival – once a friend – on his actions.

"Madara! Why are you doing this?! The alliance between the Senju and the Uchiha was meant to make peace between our clans, not further antagonize each other!" Hashirama shouted to his best friend. "We were friends! We wanted peace together! Don't you remember our promise?!"

"Shut up fool! Did you think I didn't know of your plans? You would subvert my clan under your will, turning us into nothing but sacrificial lambs while yours will grow, unstopped and unchecked! The Uchiha would then fall under the sheer weight of the Senju's strength, and be forgotten! I will stop you before that happens even though my clan banished me! And they will learn not to trust a Senju!" Madara screamed his reply, bitterness and rage clouding his every word.

"No Madara, you are the fool! I did not choose to be the leader! It is by majority vote that I was picked as the leader. A vote which included the members of your clan!" Hashirama shouted back, trying to turn Madara's thoughts back to the right path.

"Shut up! I will hear no more of this! I will end you and your wife, and make Konoha mine!"

Hashirama sighed as he replied in sadness and failure. "Then fight we shall, Madara. I will not hold back just because you are my friend! Prepare yourself!"

And a battle of a grand scale erupted between the three, its intensity nearly matching the fight their ancient ancestor, the Great Sage, had against the Juubi. The Shodaime's Wood Release bloodline and Madara's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan which he gained by taking the eyes of his brother, Izuna clashed in an epic battle as living trees burst from the ground with a single command, meeting against unquenchable black flames of the vaunted Amaterasu. The surrounding areas were destroyed and rebuilt so many times the map changed entirely from the fight. Yet Madara never relented, continuing his unrelenting assault on Hashirama despite its futility.

"You are a great fighter and warrior as always Hashirama!" Madara shouted within their combat. "But this is the end! This is my trump card to defeat you! Summoning Jutsu : Kyuubi!"

A massive cloud of smoke erupted as Madara summoned his absolute weapon, the mind controlled form of the bijuu Kyuubi. Protected by Madara's ultimate defensive technique, the Susanoo, the Kyuubi roared forward, its entire being forced to fight against its will from Madara's powerful illusionary technique.

Yet Hashirama never faltered. He unveiled his own trump card, activating his Sage Mode as he absorbed chakra from nature's own, something he was very attuned with. With the immense power his Sage Mode afforded him, he subdued the Kyuubi in a prison of Wood Dragon, its massive form struggling all the while even as its powers were absorbed within the hallowed wood of his jutsu.

"My love! Concentrate on fighting Madara! I will seal the Kyuubi within myself!" Mito shouted out. She knew that the bijuus couldn't be killed, for they were chakra entities, corporeal beings that were without physical form. Even if they were somehow defeated, they would only reform again in a couple years. And the only way to completely stop the rampage of such a being was to seal it within someone, for no mere object can be strong enough to hold the immense power a bijuu, especially of the Kyuubi's calibre, held.

"But the Kyuubi is a very powerful creature! You will not last!"

"Have you forgotten that we of the Uzumaki Clan are masters of sealing? I will be fine! Just go!"

"Thank you my love. Madara! I shall defeat you today!" Hashirama screamed, power filling his every being with his Sage Mode.

"Do your worst, Senju scum!" Madara screamed back in reply.

With the immense power afforded to him from his Sage Mode he soundly trumped Madara and his immense arrogance despite his terrifying power. Yet Hashirama did not deal the final blow to him, still believing – naively – of the good within his old friend's heart as he left the area, leaving Madara's battered and broken body lying where he was, only a hair's breadth from death's door.

Hailed as the hero of Konoha for saving them from nearly assured destruction, Hashirama began planning for a peaceful coexistence between Konoha and the other Hidden Villages. To achieve that, he captured the rest of the nine bijuus with his Wood Release that had a strangely calming effect on them and distributed them between other villages as a symbol of peace and power balance, with Iwa getting the Gobi and the Yonbi, Kiri getting the Sanbi and the Rokubi, Taki getting the Nanabi, Suna getting the Ichibi, and Kumo getting the Hachibi and the Nibi.

A decision that was met with scorn by the Great Sage in heaven.

But this was not the end, for a new story began for Kurumi. A couple months after the Shodaime gave the bijuus away to other, newly established villages, she finally awoke.

"...What? What just happened? Where am I?"

Kurumi woke up and saw – much to her surprise – that she was chained within a pure white space. Her snout was muzzled, her arms, legs and tails stabbed with huge iron spikes. She tried to wriggle out of the muzzle and spikes, but it seemed impossible.

"What is this?! I am trapped! How am I trapped here? The last thing I saw was a red eye with spinning tomoes, then I knew no more..."

"This is your seal Kyuubi, and I am your jailor. Your Jinchuuriki: Uzumaki Mito." A lithe figure wearing a kimono, her crimson hair tied in buns with talismans hanging from them appeared in front of Kurumi.

"What?! I am sealed?! How can that be?! I lived away from humans in secret! How can I be sealed?!" She screamed out. She never expected to be sealed. It was just like what happened to the Juubi! What had the world turned into during her eons of sleep?

"You were summoned by an enemy of my husband, Senju Hashirama, during a battle. You immediately attacked my husband and tried to kill him. So he subdued you using his Mokuton or Wood Release and I sealed you within myself." Mito calmly replied. Even from her reply, Mito could sense that there's something more to this than what she knew of the Bijuus.

"What? I don't remember taking part in any battle nor war, and I still remember father's teachings. There is no way I would be involved in a battle between humans." Kurumi replied, calming herself as she stopped struggling against the spikes. She slumbered to avoid involving herself within the troubles and the wars of humans while also preventing the fate that befell her brethren from falling on her; to become nothing but a corrupted, deadly beast intent on crushing everything in front of her.

"If you do not believe me, I will show you the proof. I will show you my memories of the battle, and you will see the actions which caused you to be sealed." Mito replied towards Kurumi's confusion.

A jumble of memories from Mito assaulted the mind of Kurumi, and she saw her rage, her anger, and her power being used against Hashirama.

"...What? But I don't understand. I have no recollection of these events, and as a Bijuu, I remember everything that happens. I do not remember being summoned, attacking you and your husband, nor anything that happened in that memory." Such a turn of events was strange to say the least. She hadn't left her hideout for years, yet she found out that she was summoned for a battle? Why had it happened? And how?

"What is the last memory that you remember then? Maybe we can make some sense of it." Mito asked, trying to get to the bottom of the issue.

"My last memory is of peacefully sleeping in my den in the mountains, before an explosion interrupted my sleep. I went outside to see what happened and looked into a strange eye, a red eye with three spinning tomoes around a pupil. The next thing I remember is waking up with these spikes and muzzle on me." Kurumi replied. For some reason, that man's chakra felt like her father's. Albeit at a much lower concentration, as if it was diluted.

"That sounds like the Sharingan, a doujutsu that can cast powerful illusions onto a target. From what I can understand, it seems like Madara controlled you with the Sharingan and forced you to attack us." Mito said, giving her best explanation for the events that had taken place.

"From what I can see in your memories, that would be the most logical answer. But controlled? If being controlled like that makes me become lost to rage, I'd rather not be controlled anymore." His father, being their creator had a presence that could calm and pacify a bijuu, even the more unruly ones. His eyes, a powerful bloodline helped him in their creation, yet she did not knew whether he could control them like that.

"This father you kept talking about, who is he? From the way you speak of him, you respected him a lot. Care to share the story with me?" Mito enquired. She never expected the bijuus to have a father. Not that anyone knew most of their history anyway. They suddenly appeared, destroying everything in their path. Or at least that's how their history goes, as far as anyone knew.

"Of course! Father is also known as the Sage of Six Paths..."

And so Kurumi told Lady Mito about her existence, the Sage, the Juubi, and the history of the Sage. However, she hid the fact about the mates, not wanting to reveal it as of yet. It's not something to be shared lightly. Keeping it a secret would be much better for now.

"...And now we end up here. Can you at least remove the muzzle? I have no problem being sealed into you. I promise I won't bother you much, so can you at least give me a better living area?" She asked. It was very uncomfortable while also preventing her from speaking with any sort of ease.

Mito took a while to digest everything that Kurumi had told her. The bijuus all had a single origin, a man of godlike powers who had lived for hundreds of years and created the Bijuus to divide the essence of a terrible being, sacrificing his life for world peace. It was not something that you do if you didn't love the world. Mind made up, she spoke her reply. "You are truly a great and honourable creature, Kurumi-san. I will do more than loosen the chains on you. I will remove them completely."

With but a thought, the muzzle and bars around Kurumi disappeared. She then massaged her hurting tails, arms and snout.

"You know, you didn't have to use a seal that stabs me like that. It really hurt." She whined towards Mito, rubbing her sore snout with her paws.

"Though she acts childish sometimes…" Mito thought with a sweat drop before continuing. "I apologize, but the nature of the seal makes the restraints appear as such. Anyway, why are you fine with being sealed within me?" Mito asked, though she might already have an idea of why.

"As I said earlier, my powers all came from the Juubi, whose destructive rage can destroy anything though I can still stop myself from succumbing to the same rage by remembering father's teachings. I managed to escape such a fate by isolating myself from the rest of the world and hiding myself in the mountains when I felt the whispers grew stronger. I guess that it is not enough, seeing as I still got sealed within you. In order to prevent myself from being used as a tool again, I would rather be sealed within you, seeing that I cannot be affected by any jutsu in here," she said. It is not a good feeling watching how she lost herself to her rage in Mito's memories. She needed to learn to control herself better.

"Oh. I guess that is a rather interesting thought. You are welcome to make your home in my mind, Kurumi-san," Mito said, welcoming the idea. Having such a powerful being living within you would help much in a lot of aspects. Happy at being able to gain a powerful new friend and ally, she turned around to leave the mindscape.

"Just one thing though, Mito-san," Kurumi said as she saw Mito's back towards her. "Can I meet your husband?"

"Why?" Mito asked.

"His chakra… it felt almost like Father's for some reason. I want to get a better feel," Kurumi replied. It's strange, how in what she felt was just a few days, she had already felt at least two people with chakra similar to her father's. It would be nice if she could meet at least one of them in a much more peaceful way.

"Of course, Kurumi-san. I will bring him here into my mindscape."

After a couple of minutes of Mito leaving, a second figure appeared in front of Kurumi. The figure of Senju Hashirama.

"Oh. So this is where the Kyuubi is sealed in. And you are Kurumi-san. Mito has explained to me... What are you doing?"

While Hashirama was speaking, the Bijuu had come closer to him and started sniffing him for no apparent reason.

"You have Father's scent on you. Though it's weak, extremely so. That probably means that you are related to him somehow."

"Well, that's new." Being the person he was, Hashirama pondered for some time before snapping his fingers. "Oh yeah! There were legends that said that our ancestors were the Sage's son himself, though no one has ever proved it. I guess this means that we really are the descendants of the Sage himself, together with the Uchiha."

"It probably is true," she said, nodding her gigantic snout in agreement. "Only father's chakra could make me feel calm like that."

Clearing his throat, Hashirama continued speaking. "So, as I said earlier, Mito has explained to me about you and the bijuus. We would be honoured to help protect you. Also, considering what you said just now, it seems that we are extremely distant family members in a way. Considering that you thought of the Sage as your father."

"And for that, I thank you. However, there's one thing…"

"Yes? What is it?" Hashirama asked.

"It seems that time has long since passed from when I started my long sleep. And from what I could tell, Father's teachings on chakra and its use have changed greatly. I would be happy if you could show them to me, if possible, each and every one of them." She asked. From the memories that she was shown and the way the two carried themselves, she understood something. The world had changed. So far away had time marched since she slept, that the teachings of her father had morphed. Learning these changes would help her understand the status of the world more. "He showed us Bijuuhis skills, allowing us to learn a little of what he knew. Who knows, I might even help you improve your own skills with my knowledge," she added.

Hashirama looked at Mito and back to Kurumi for a while before he sighed. "I guess there's no harm in that," he said as Mito nodded her agreement. "Alright. We'll start tomorrow, if you want."

"No problem!" she replied cheerfully, her snout turning up into a smile, though it looked quite weird on her foxy face. "I have nothing but time!"

Thus began the life of Kurumi as she was sealed within Mito, who was taught in all that they knew about the ninja arts. Due to a Bijuu's photographic memory, even though she herself couldn't use it, she remembered the teachings of Mito and Hashirama, merging them with the Sage's teachings. However, she had questions of her own towards Hashirama after a while of him teaching her his skills.

Within the pure, untarnished infinite whiteness that was Mito's mindscape, Hashirama had just finished demonstrating another of his jutsu towards Kurumi as she looked towards him. Suddenly she asked him. "All of your techniques, those ninjutsu of yours… I think that they're all skills to kill and to destroy. Why was that? Father taught the people his techniques so that they could help in building and improving lives. Not to kill and destroy. Why?"

Her question shocked both Mito and Hashirama. Hashirama was about to answer when Mito said first. "Kurumi-san, it's been a long time since you've seen the world in its entirety. It is not easy for me to say this, but I suppose that it's because the teachings of the Sage have long since been forgotten through the annals of time. What one made for good could easily be twisted into something evil. The same thing could be said of a power that protects. That it could also be used by someone to destroy. It's just a matter of perspective," said Mito.

She took a deep breath as Hashirama looked at her with amazement and Kurumi with sadness. "Your father, the Sage… When he taught the people his powers, he must've had nothing but good intentions in mind, didn't he?" Seeing Kurumi's tearful nod, she continued. "It only takes one person to change the way his teachings work before another will follow, and another, and another, and another. Creating a chain of change in perception on the uses of jutsu. Over the hundreds of years, this change has created the opinion that jutsu were meant to do nothing but kill. An opinion that has been melded into the mind of every human living."

Kurumi remained silent after a while, before sighing. "I guess what Father said at his deathbed was correct that men will kill, and war will continue to be waged for even the smallest reason. War, it never changes," she said, the last part added with a sigh. Placing her snout down on the pure white floor, she drew a deep breath before letting it all out in a giant whoosh as powerful as a storm towards Mito and Hashirama.

She then stood to her full height before staring at both Mito and Hashirama. "I believe that humans could be at peace, one day in the future. It may be hard, andthe path may be difficult, but I will not lose hope. I just need to find the right person that could change the world," she said to both of them.

Hashirama quickly said, "And hopefully we'll be there for you when you find the person."

She nodded in agreement at this. "Right," she said before she added. "Well, let's continue for now. There's still a lot of jutsu for you to show me, isn't there?"

And so, another day of demonstration continued for them, though her words weighed heavily in both Mito's and Hashirama's mind.

Mito's marriage with Hashirama gave birth to a baby girl, their only child. The child lived in a period of a relative, uneasy peace before she married and gave birth to another girl, one who will be known to the world in the future as Senju Tsunade. Not many years after the joyous event, war broke out as greed and hunger drove men to take from others. Hashirama did his best to prevent the flames of war from touching his beloved village, yet it was only a matter of time before it knocked on their door, bringing with it immense disaster.

Despite his truly immense power, Hashirama died defending his beloved village and granddaughter from the horrors of war as he faced down a massive army alone with no backup. After days upon days of battle he succeeded in eradicating the encroaching army, yet his battered body can no longer hold on as he died standing on the battlefield, the wide ground littered with bodies of the dead and massive trees, a sign that he fought to his last there.

And so ended Senju Hashirama's life, failing to see the man who would change the world.

Lady Mito grieved the death of her love ,her children's father and grandfather for a long time, her love to Hashirama as pure and as unflinching as nothing else in the world. Hashirama's death, just like the Great Sage's death to Kurumi's mother, sapped her entirely of the will to live, her only reason to live being the safe guarding of Kurumi.

From Mito Kurumi learned the love of a lover, something that her Father spoke of, but cannot teach her.

Senju Tobirama, Hashirama's brother, renowned for his skill in Suiton or Water Release was elected as the Nidaime Hokage, a vote once more undertaken by every major clan heads in Konoha. Years passed, and Tobirama died as well, leaving Mito alone once more, with only her granddaughter as company, her daughter long since died in the fields of war.

And upon the selection of the third Hokage, his husband's old student Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mito felt her spirit wane, just as the old Sage did. Feeling her end coming, Mito requested for a member of the Uzumaki clan from her homeland, the island of Uzu or Whirlpool to become the next guardian of Kurumi. The person sent was her own niece, barely five years old to act as the new host for the bijuu.

The Whirlpool Princess, named such from her relation with Uzu's daimyo, Uzumaki Kushina was told by Mito what she would put herself into. She bravely accepted the duty, though fear undoubtedly filled her as she did. The transfer process took a long time, yet she held herself steady through the entire process, reaffirming her homeland's decision to send her as the new host. Kurumi quickly took a shine to the little bundle of energy, bonding immediately with her. And just like Kurumi all those years before, Mito told Kushina of the secret to keep the bijuu's terrible whispers to a minimum on her deathbed: love.

A coalition of Kumo-Kiri-Iwa, the Hidden Village of Cloud, Mist and Rock respectively launched an attack on Uzu not long after Mito's death in fear of the tiny Uzu, fearing their specialty in one of the most difficult art of ninjutsu: sealing, which was their specialty. No one could best the Uzumakis in sealing arts, something that can turn the tides of war easily.

Yet, the Uzumakis never gave any quarter in their defence against the coalition, fighting them with everything they had. They fought with traps and barriers at first. Having expended those, they went into a head-on fight, using their mastery of Uzu's combat sealing arts and their skill in ninjutsu to utterly destroy their enemies. Yet their enemies pushed on, ignoring the truly immense casualty already on the ground. Out of weapons and chakra, the Uzumaki came in with their hand to hand battle, fighting the massive army to their last breath and the last man.

Nearly eighty percent of the massive army were destroyed before they managed to defeat the guardians of Uzu. They immediately marched into their capital, the city of Uzushio as the last man died defending it, having evacuated its non-combatants early on. The army went to work, pillaging everything they could get their bloody, tired hands on and destroying the rest.

As they came back from the tiny island, the forces of the coalition met with the counterattack from Uzu's oldest and strongest ally, Konoha as they struck with deadly strength upon the weakened army, destroying them entirely without giving them a chance to retaliate. They were slow to come, only having the war's news days after the war broke out. The hurried counterattack managed to defeat them, yet they came too late, for the rest of Uzu were in ruins.

As the war broke out, Kushina was utterly shocked and nearly tripped over herself to rush back towards her homeland to protect them, or at the very least avenge them. Yet Kurumi stopped her, persuading her that she would be of no use in her current condition, too young and too unskilled to be of any worth in the battle. The news of Uzu's defeat hit her hard, nearly tearing her young psyche to pieces. Thankfully Kurumi was present within her, giving her a permanent friend and a place to cry out her tears of sadness.

The Uzumaki clan were wiped out to a handful of survivors, all of them non-combatants who ran away from the village early on, Kushina being one of them.

Years later, Kushina graduated from Konoha's ninja academy before being in a genin team, a squad of young and fresh ninjas from the academy led by a senior jounin. With her skill and ferocity, combined with her fast healing and special chakra chains from the bloodline skill of the Uzumaki clan, she quickly rose up the ranks. Yet at one time, she was kidnapped by the bloodline-crazy Kumo, wanting to use her as a breeding machine to give birth to Uzumakis loyal to Kumo.

The gods answered her prayers of safety and cries for help as she was saved by the very person she once called a wimp in the academy, the future Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato. In that very moment, she fell in love with him and immediately began approaching him actively, believing him to be her true love. Together they bonded, and together they loved each other, just before the Third Great Shinobi World War erupted.

Namikaze Minato, a recently promoted jounin, swept through the ranks of attacking ninjas with his most powerful jutsu combination, the high-speed instant teleportation technique the Hiraishin, allowed him to sweep across the battlefield at light speed before coming close to his enemy, delivering them a killing blow with his close-combat technique, the A-ranked Rasengan which created a spiralling chakra ball of devastating effect, both techniques he created himself.

Upon the war's end, Minato was chosen by the aged Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen as his successor, becoming the Fourth Hokage, the Yondaime with an SS-rank in the bingo book of the other villages, his bounty so high that his life was threatened with every move he took outside the village. And because of this, he married his love, Uzumaki Kushina in secret, not wanting anyone to learn of it.

Not long after, Kushina became pregnant with a son, something that those in the know didn't expect from the completely tomboyish Kushina. No one dared say this to her though, afraid of her legendary rage within Konoha. Yet they all knew, if there were someone who would become a good mother, she would be the one, having been taught of the Uzumaki's familial value ever since she was young.

"Kurumi! I'm having a boy! Maybe this boy can be the person you're waiting for?" she said in excitement to Kurumi who was watching her container dance a random dance of happiness in front of her, a smile on her face as well from her container's infectious happiness.

"I don't see why not. I can feel the power that the boy contains, and I'd have to say that this boy is going to be a strong child. With you as his mother and Minato as his father, I'm sure that the child will be tough, both physically and mentally." Kurumi said, her container's happiness infecting her like a disease of the heart.

"That's true Kurumi. Now all we have to do is wait until I gave birth to him. To my little Naruto," Kushina added as she twirled around on her foot, her bliss truly shining together with a huge smile on her face.

"You still decided to use that old pervert's book's main character's name as his name?" she didn't have any right calling him old considering how old she was. But living with humans for years while also seeing how they loved and procreated, she understood a whole lot more about the concept of love and its taboos. And what Jiraiya, Minato's teacher as well as a self-proclaimed super pervert were constantly doing was definitely a massive taboo to all women.

"What? I don't think it's a bad name." Kushina said in reply as she puffed her cheeks towards Kurumi. "Besides, he's Naruto's godfather. He had the right to give a name to him-ttebane!" she replied childishly towards Kurumi who just chuckled at this, having heard her verbal tick so many times before it no longer registered with her.

"Well, it's your choice I guess. I will not bother you with this petty argument anymore." She said as she went back to sleep in her cage. However, Kushina didn't miss the smile that was on her good friend's face as she retreated back into her cage. Before she left, she gave a bow towards Kurumi, the same blinding smile on her face at all times before her mental figure dispersed in thousands of shiny particles, her feeling lingering within the wide expanse that was her mindscape.

And so, months later, Kushina was ready to give birth to her first, and unknowingly, her only child...

"AAAAAARGH! MINATO! I WILL KILL YOU AFTER THIS! THIS IS YOUR FAULT FOR GETTING ME PREGNANT! AAARGH!"

"Don't worry Kushina! The baby's almost out! Keep pushing!" Minato yelled out to his wife. His hand was probably broken in five different places, such was the strength of Kushina's grip. Yet, he didn't even wince. His excitement to be a father was the ultimate painkiller as his face shone with both joy and worry. In a cave outside of Konoha, a platoon of the best of Konoha's ANBU was guarding where Kushina was giving birth for they feared that people would sense the demonic chakra flaring out of her because the seal weakened the most during the process of giving birth. Within her, Kurumi was doing her best to not damage the seal even more while reining in her demonic chakra and help dull the pain that Kushina was going through, with Minato doing his best to strengthen the seal with one hand on the seal glyphs on her navel.

The cry of a baby then broke through Kushina's screams of pain, a sign that the baby was safely delivered. A boy, with small tufts of blonde hair and with the deepest sky blue eyes was handed over to Kushina with Minato watching close by. Watching Minato's excited eye, she weakly handed the baby over to Minato. But just as Minato was about to hold the baby, an arm appeared out of nowhere, grabbing the child and killing Biwako Sarutobi, the medic that handled Kushina's delivery and also the Sandaime's wife and Tsunade's teacher in a single move, something that surprised everyone within the room. Minato immediately took out one of his Hiraishin kunais and held it in a defensive position in front of the sprawling Kushina, ready to counterattack if anything happened.

"Who are you?! What do you want with my son?!"

The man, a person with a spiral mask on his face, laughed, his hand holding the blanket covered baby.

"Your son? I have no need for him! You can have him!"

He then tossed little Naruto away while laughing at Minato who immediately Hiraishined to Naruto's position before realizing that the blanket covering Naruto was filled with exploding tags. He teleported Naruto to a small shack outside Konoha, prepared just in case of something like this before throwing the tags elsewhere. The tags exploded without harm, allowing Minato to disappear in a yellow flash once more, leaving his child within the small shack alone. Meanwhile, the man reached out to Kushina's seal, laughing all the way.

"What do you want with me?!"

"Oh no, Kushina. I want nothing to do with you. The thing that I want is within you."

Realization immediately hit Kushina like a fist to the face. "You want the Kyuubi! But why?" she said, still too weak from the delivery to resist.

"It's because I want to see my ultimate ambition! I want to see Konoha burn to the ground!"

Blood red chakra began bleeding out of Kushina's seal on her navel as the man's arm reached to it, the carefully constructed seal unravelling with the man's chakra. The chakra coalesced into the form a fox's head with rabbit ears on Kushina's navel. Immediately it began struggling, not wanting its forced freedom. Yet she accidentally stared into the man's lone eye, meeting a swirling Sharingan eye. A glimpse was all it took for the man's control to fall on her, immediately silencing her down.

"Kurumi! Remember the teachings! Remember what your father said to you! Remember what you said to me!" Kushina shouted, trying to snap Kurumi, her best friend back to her senses.

The mysterious stranger chuckled as he replied, "It's too late. She is now under my control. And my first order to you is to destroy Konoha!"

Kurumi roared in approval before her every chakra swirled out of Kurumi and was absorbed into the man's Sharingan eye in a whirl before the man disappeared, leaving Kushina to die. Sadly, he underestimated an Uzumaki's vitality, since even though severely weakened, Kushina was still very much alive. In a bright yellow flash Minato flashed to her location and could only apply first aid to her, before she yelled at him to stop the man and ignore her. He then flashed to the man's location, locating him from the chakra sensing ability the Hiraishin seals he had around the village provided him.

Yet the only thing meeting him was the sight of the massive bijuu form of Kurumi as she rampaged across his beloved village, destroying everything in sight.

It was a peaceful day in Konoha, when all at once a man appeared above Konoha and summoned the Kyuubi. She started rampaging across Konoha, destroying homes, shops and killing people. The sheer vileness of her chakra froze many a man. Some outright had heart attacks due to sheer overwhelming fear. Ninjas fought valiantly to stop her, jutsu were thrown, weapons were launched, yet nothing stopped her. Both ninjas and civilians died by the dozens, killed by a swipe of a tail or stomped to oblivion.

Black and white chakra began gathering in front of the bijuu's open mouth as it charged up its most powerful attack, an immense ball of pure chakra capable of obliterating everything in its path, the Bijuudama, a bijuu or its jinchuuriki, the human sacrifice that carried a bijuu could perform. With a loud gulp the bijuu swallowed the massive ball of chakra, compressing and charging it further within herself. Its expanded stomach suddenly shrunk, the tiny ball of utter annihilation shooting from its mouth towards Konoha's town.

In a bright flash of yellow came the longcoat-covered figure of the great Yondaime Hokage, a tri-pronged Hiraishin kunai in his hand. Quickly he held the kunai in one hand, his other hand in the half-Tiger handsign , his pointer and middle finger held straight with the other fingers folded back before he met the ball of destruction with the tip of his kunai.

The ball immediately disappeared as it touched his kunai before reappearing a massive distance away, his jutsu transporting the massive ball of power to a different location. With a powerful eruption the ball exploded, so massive it was visible even from Konoha.

Despite the chaos, Minato calmly bit his thumb, bleeding it for the blood sacrifice required for his next jutsu before he ran his fingers through handsigns before placing his bleeding hand on the ground. A massive cloud of smoke erupted underneath his foot, revealing the massive form of the Chief Toad Gamabunta, a bijuu-sized toad wearing a happi with the circular crest with the kanji for 'toad' at its back, an oversized tanto behind him, a massive smoking pipe in his mouth.

"Minato! What is the meaning of this? I am not strong enough to fight against a Bijuu, especially the Kyuubi! She's called the strongest Bijuu for a reason you know!" Gamabunta screamed out angrily as the huge puff of smoke that heralded his arrival cleared. No summon can go toe-to-toe with a Bijuu, especially the Kyuubi!

"I know that boss. I just wanted you to stall her for a couple of minutes while I deal with the person who summoned her here and to prepare a method to seal her into Naruto!" Minato countered back.

"I can't buy you much time! She's too powerful for me!"

"Don't worry Bunta! Just do your best!"

Gamabunta then drew his tanto out of its sheathe and jumped closer to the Kyuubi, preparing to distract her. Meanwhile, Minato quickly fought against the masked man that attacked Kushina and managed to rout his attacks and force him to flee. He grabbed Kushina and Naruto then started to draw massive symbols on Naruto's stomach before they started arguing.

"We must seal her into Naruto! We have no other choice!" Minato yelled out towards the distraught Kushina as she saw the symbols on Naruto's stomach and what it meant.

"No Minato! There is always another choice! You can re-seal her into me!" She retaliated, the Uzumaki hot-headedness and legendary stubbornness still strong even in her bloody, damaged condition.

"But you are weak right now! There is no way for you to handle the stress of the resealing! If you die, then she will be vulnerable again!"

The mind-controlled Kurumi, still rampaging across the area quickly took note of the baby and the seals on it. Instinctively it attacked, thrusting its massive claw towards the baby, intending to kill it and stop whatever the tiny people were planning to it. Immediately Minato and Kurumi leapt in front of the massive claw, taking the hit meant for their son, the massive claw piercing through their torso easily. Despite the massive pain they were in, Kushina could still push herself, her legendary chakra chains erupted from her tailbone before wrapping around the mad bijuu, immediately restraining it with its unnatural strength and resilience granted from her powerful chakra.

"I guess... there is... no other choice... we must seal her... into Naruto..." Minato said, his words cut off by each painful breath he took.

"Yes... I'm sorry Minato... for fighting with you... let me say my last words to Naruto before you seal her within him with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal..." Kushina said, the last of her powerful life force leaving her.

"Naruto... there is so much I want to say to you... but our time here is short... Always remember... to eat your veggies... and to listen to Kurumi... and train often... be a strong person... and do not fall into hatred... you are the savior of the world... be strong... find a nice girl... Kurumi is a very nice girl... I'm sure she will like you as well..."

"Naruto... this is your father... I second everything your mom said... forgive me for placing this burden on you, but... we have no choice... May you forgive us in the afterlife... now I'll end this! Fuuinjutsu: Dead Demon Consuming Seal!"

The spectre of the Shinigami appeared behind Minato, a massive spectral demonic figure with a terrifying mask on its face with two long fangs jutting down its upper lips, tattoos covering its arm. The beads on its neck wrapped around its terrifying tattooed arm before it slowly pushed the arm through the silhouette of a man hanging in front of it wrapped in chains.

From Minato's torso a massive ghostly arm shot forward, grabbing the figure of the struggling Kyuubi before it began pulling. In immense pain the being roared as the hand expanded and covered it entirely. Slowly but surely the arm dragged and shrank the massive figure of Kyuubi into a ball no larger than a tennis ball. The arm of the shinigami continued on, pulling the soul before it quickly turned and switched direction, heading towards the seal-covered belly of little Naruto. With a loud hissing noise the arm pushed the tiny ball into the crying baby's stomach before the seals on his stomach burned, Kurumi having completely sealed within Naruto. The Eight Trigrams Seal on his stomach consisted of a spiral surrounded by many wavy lines in an incomplete circle around it. Some more wavy lines stood straight, perpendicular to the tips of the lines, pointing outside the spiral.

The Shinigami's tongue extended before wrapping around the ghastly human figure in front of it as its arm pulled out of Minato's torso before it grabbed the tanto within its mouth. With a quick slash, the figure of the person was sliced in half before the Shinigami inhaled and swallowed it. Minato and Kushina's body dropped on the ground as the Shinigami disappeared, the only thing holding them up having disappeared as six whisker marks appeared on Naruto's little face as he cried.

With his last breath, Minato commanded to the reinstated Hokage. "Hiruzen... this is my last order as the Yondaime Hokage... Make sure Naruto is safe, and make sure he is hailed as a hero... for saving Konoha."

"I will Minato, I will." he spoke, tears falling down his eyes as he watched the life fade out of the couple, their child crying right beside their dead bodies.

A great tragedy befell Konoha that day as their heroes died, leaving behind their son, the greatest hero Konoha ever had, one that had saved them from utter destruction.

And this was where everything began, for the story had just started for little Naruto...

-CHAPTER ENDS-

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