Absolution

Prologue

13 Years Ago…

Minato Namikaze looked down into the beautiful blue eyes of his son where Kushina cradled him. Tears sprang unbidden to his eyes, and he couldn't help but smile as a small hand tugged gently on a strand of red hair.

The peaceful instant disappeared with the sound of footsteps. He whirled around, bringing a kunai up to defend his family, but the cloaked figure sailed right through, only materializing long enough to scoop the baby boy into his arms, and vanish in a sudden warp of air.

Minato stood still for a moment, staring at the empty space where a boy, his boy, had rested only a moment before.

Then, he roared.

"Minato, wait!" Kushina tried to call out, but it came a moment too late, and the man was gone with a blinding flash of yellow. All across Konoha, he spun and tore through time on the lookout for the cloaked man.

The voice of reason roared in his ears, and Minato ached to ignore it, his heart plunging to his gut at the thought that maybe this man wasn't even in Konoha anymore. After all, surely a reverse summoning would make perfect sense.

Most likely, his son was-

Minato's tormented thoughts were sent skidding to a halt as he stared up at the Hokage monument from the roof of his office.

With Naruto tucked in his arms, Obito stood still upon the carved face of Minato Namikaze, and underneath his mask, the man grinned.

Then, a rasengan came through his chest.

Naruto fell as the masked man suddenly went incorporeal. Minato surged forward, snatching the small bundle in his arms before teleporting to a rooftop below.

Within his arms, the bundle disappeared in a gush of smoke.

"You didn't really think I'd let you get him back so easily, did you?" The masked man asked, taunting. "He is in my possession, and that is where he will remain until I get what I want."

"Konoha doesn't deal with terrorists." Minato spat out, shaking with barely suppressed anger. The masked man tilted his head childishly, adjusting the small bundle tucked in his arm.

"Ah, ah. Is that any way to talk to me right now, given your position?"

A sickness unknown to Minato before this day settled in his gut. He had never so close to grovelling at a man's feet before. His son lay in this man's arms, frail and tiny. His shrieks pierced the air and shuddered his heart.

Minato glared with all the passion and fury of a thousand suns.

"What do you want then?"

The man above him brought a finger to trace the side of Naruto's face, stroking his cheek with an affectionless caress.

"You could save me the inconvenience of destroying Konoha with the Kyuubi I pull out of your wife," he began, "and give me her - quietly - for the safe return of your son."

Minato was speechless for one cold blooded-moment, before his veins were fire and anger alive.

"I'll never give you Kushina for-!"

The man laughed mirthlessly. "Well then," he said, chuckling still, "That's a shame."

As the man made to turn away, Minato trembled, and called out.

"Wait."

The man stopped in his tracks, and though Minato didn't know his face, he could feel the exact sly grin on this man's lips. Naruto's fearful cries rang in the silence.

"You've come around then?" the man chuckled, a note of satisfaction in his voice.

Minato moved closer.

"Give me Naruto first," he demanded, eyes flashing with a promise of pain. How he hated this man's laugh; mirthless, cold, and undeniably pleased.

The man moved closer, shifting Naruto in his arms as he jumped down to the opposite end of the roof.

"I know the game you are trying to play, Yondaime," the man taunted, his cloak concealing Naruto from Minato for a single desperate moment. "And I've no interest in playing it."

Minato felt his eyes stinging with tears from the cold and the fright.

"Please," he said, his voice brimming with desperation. "Please, just give me my son. I'll give you Kushina, I- he's not even had a chance...!"

The suspicion was obvious in his tight hold on the child, and in his wary movement,but the man stepped forward.

Opportunity. Bait in disguise, perhaps, but most certainly opportunity.

Minato tore through space-time like the devil was on his tail, and lunged.

Obito saw through it instantly, diving straight to his left with Naruto in arms. It was a mistake; Minato threw his kunai straight towards him until in the blur of movement he realised Obito was clutching Naruto as a human shield..

Minato moved jarringly out of the way, and narrowly dodged a hit to the back by warping back to his kunai.

This man knew Minato wouldn't dare lay a hand on his own son. A liability like no other. But on the other hand, he seemed to be relying on him dodging.

Minato gritted his teeth, and with a split-second's thought, sent a kunai forward in a dead-on trajectory. He warped to the man's front, a kunai at the ready to bury handle-deep in his gut when he was winded and sent skidding across the roof with a well-placed kick.

The knife continued its flight towards the man's face, revealed only when Minato disappeared, and out of instinct Obito allowed himself to become incorporeal, a moment's mistake that let Naruto slip from his arms and the kunai sail through him -

It cost him. A shadow clone, created just a few seconds earlier, flashed into existence behind the masked man, swiping Naruto back into his arms. The man whipped around with a growl, his body quickly reforming and reaching out for the baby swathed in blankets -

Minato let the blissful rush of victory flood his veins, the moment's delay a moment too much, and with a flash, a buzz of air and the whirring of a contained hurricane he cried out:

"Rasengan!"

There was contact, and then a crack.

The mask broke, shards of porcelain pulled into the attack or pushed out from it to slice through the tissue of the man's face. It carved and stung at his flesh, digging grooves into the already scarred and damaged skin, and he closed his eyes at the impact.

The chaos ended, as though the moment of movement came to rest as still life.

He opened his eyes. The two remaining halves of the man's mask fell to the ground and shattered with a coarse smash, and a single thread of blood dripped, overflowing into a thick stream of blood from the top of his forehead.

Minato stopped, left without words, a sensei staring into the hateful blood-red eyes of his former student.

"Obito?" he breathed.

'Sensei?'

Obito said nothing at all.

Minato's hand shook, empty of force. He lowered it.

"Obito," he said again, expression contorted with confusion. Minato stuttered, unable to even speak. "Obito, why?"

When Obito looked up into his teacher's eyes, he felt so -

'-guilty?'

For one long moment, Obito didn't move, unable to say anything that would warrant the look of betrayal in Minato-sensei's eyes.

But for only one. Obito's hand shook as he reached for his blade, turning it face down in his palm.

"It's no use," he whispered, his voice cracking.

He pulled back the blade, and with a tremble in his wrist, thrust it forward.

"It's no use asking things like that now!"

The blade embedded itself in the left side of Minato's chest with little resistance, sliding through his flesh and muscle and straight into the left ventricle of his heart. The walls convulsed, pushing against the sudden obstruction. Blood spurted out of the heart, seeping into the lungs and out of the body altogether.

Minato coughed up, blood wet and slimy as he choked it out of his lungs onto Obito's face.

He croaked for a moment, eyes wide with wonder. "How could this… why would you…?"

"You let Rin die," Obito hissed. "You let her become some sacrifice for the so-called greater good!"

Minato looked like he was about to cry, wide-eyed and confused without a trace of anger.

"So you did this?" said Minato, looking frantically for answers. "You did all of this in Rin's name? Like that's what she would have wanted for you?"

Obito quaked with emotions and doubts that had come too late. He scowled.

"I've already told you," he said, gripping the blade embedded in Minato's heart. "It's too late to ask something like that!"

He yanked the blade out with a squelch. Minato fell to his knees, heaving and coughing and clutching his chest with hands slippery with blood.

Obito looked down on him with a look akin to pity, blade dripping blots of crimson, and Minato reached for his belt with one trembling hand. He unfurled the paper quickly, and fed his chakra into the seal. The air hummed.

"What are you doing?" said Obito, tone exhausted and worried.

Minato looked at him with determined blue eyes.

"Sending the dead back to death."

Obito's eyes widened with realisation, and the summons took place with a roar and almighty crack.

"Shinigami," he whispered, jerking away in fear only to be caught by the unexpected, warm contact of Minato's hand on his wrist. It was firm, like a parent or teacher, and reminded Obito faintly of brighter days.

Obito had heard this tone a thousand times.

'Kakashi's won this spar, Obito. Reconcile, you two.'

It hurt him to hear it again.

"It's over, Obito," Minato said at last.

Obito might have said he struggled until his very last moments, but it was a freedom too tempting because now, it was his turn, death finally coming for him. His shoulders slumped, and he submitted to a final, empty peace.

The burden of hatred slipped from his back, and Obito smiled, his hand folding gently into the crook of Minato's.

And teacher and student, reunited, passed together into the sweet embrace of death.

"Hakke Fuuin."

Hand, in hand.

The shadow clone, in those final, bleeding minutes of Minato's life, leapt across time with Naruto in arms to where Kushina was.

She lay, breathing heavily, and smiled when he came in.

"Minato," she breathed, smiling even through her exhaustion. "You're alright. Naruto's alright…"

He knelt by the bed, placing Naruto in the crook of her arms and holding her hand. Even pained and sweaty, her smile still sent Minato weak at the knees, as though he were twelve and not a Hokage.

"Kushina," he whispered, fearful and guilty, "This is just a clone."

Kushina frowned. "A clone…?"

Minato held her hand, voice passionate and strong. "I fought for him, Kushina. I fought for you. I fought to protect this family," he said, tears welling in his eyes as his lifted his fingers from where they were entwined with hers to touch her fingertips. "And I won."

He brought a thumb to Naruto's chubby cheeks, tracing the soft skin and feeling a tear trail down. "And I have never felt so much love as when I look at you, and my… our little Naruto… in my whole life…!"

Kushina grasped for his hand, pulling at his sleeve with worry painted on her face. "Minato, what's happened?"

He looked away from her, as though ashamed.

"My original body is dying," he said, voice shaking. "I won't be here much longer."

Kushina shook, eyes wide, and grabbed onto him, reaching painfully to hold him. Minato clutched her tightly, both of them wound around that tiny child with a tuft of blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Minato half-expected her to press him with questions and orders to desperately try and ensure he survived, but the moment was quiet and filled with her tears. It hurt more than he could have ever imagined.

He leaned back, catching his breath amongst sobs he choked back, and stroked Naruto's face.

"I wanted so badly," he said, "to see you sleeping in the cot I set up."

His voice quivered.

"I'm not very good at DIY. Kushina was laughing at me, and I had to retry at least three times before I managed to get it all properly. But each time I built it up again I thought about how happy I would be to see our baby Naruto in there," he said. "How happy I would be to see you, at long last, Naruto. You look just like me."

He took in a deep breath.

"But don't give her too much trouble," he whispered. Naruto reached up, gripping his finger and blinking innocently. "Make sure you always eat what she gives you, and that you study when she tells you. If she's ever sad, please cheer her up for me."

"And don't tease her about her hair," he added, smiling despite it all. Kushina's grip on him tightened. "Don't pull on it, either."

"Your mother is the most amazing person I ever got the blessed chance to meet, Naruto," Minato said, voice cracking into a sob. "And I'm so glad I got to see you, even if we could only be a family for these few moments... I'm sorry I never got to meet you, Naruto. I'm sorry I never got to take you to the academy on your first day - I'm sorry I never got to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend."

The brief rendezvous between life and death - the only moment of true, honest family that they'd have - was broken. Minato began to dissolve into smoke.

"Minato," Kushina whispered, overflowing with tears and grabbing onto him desperately. "Minato, I-!"

Minato clenched his eyes shut, tears dripping down as his body was drawn away with the movement of air - into death, where he belonged.

"I'm sorry I denied you the chance to have a father. I'm so-"

His hand, gently cupping Naruto's face, disappeared last.

Kushina, wide-eyed, shaking, pulled her newborn child into her chest, and wailed.

She awoke at daybreak, body lethargic with the exhaustion of childbirth. The grief hit her as she woke up, and she gasped, reality trickling back to her and rending her head with emotion.

"Kushina-san," someone said sharply. She jerked up to meet their gaze. There were ANBU at her sides, one with a hand on her shoulder.

"There was an attack, and we're afraid that ...The Lord Hokage has passed away," the man said grimly, and her heart suddenly weighted with the lead of death and she rocked forward into her hands and broke into tears. "Miss."

She didn't look up. Minato was dead.

"Miss, we need to ask you something," he said again. She did not rise from her palms."It is of the utmost importance in regards to village security, Kushina-san."

"What?" she said, looking up at them with red rimmed eyes. Her throat was clogged with her efforts not to cry, and her chest was tight with inexpressible grief.

The man looked at her with a face she could not read, and her heart filled with dread.

"Where is Naruto?"

Her heart skipped a beat and she stopped.

"W-What?"

The man looked at her, taking her by the shoulders. "Kushina-san. Your child, Naruto, correct?"

She didn't dare take a breath, looking down to her arms and feeling them cold and bare.

"Where is he?"

"There was an attempt to capture you, Kushina-san, for the Kyuubi. We almost suffered a terrorist attack. We fear that-"

Kushina shook her head, cupping her hands over her ears and pulling her knees to her chest.

"Kushina-"

"Is this a joke?" she whispered, her voice wavering with hysteria. "Naruto was here - in my did you let this happen? Minato and… and now- where is he? Where's my baby?!"

Her voice rose into a scream.

"Where is Naruto?!"

The eternal night of the cave was lit only by a couple of flickering candles. The air was thick with dust and the walls danced with shadows.

Zetsu's laugh sounded like the scraping of coarse cloth on rough stone.

"Oh, isn't it interesting?" he chuckled, his voice echoing softly. "The curse of hatred claims yet another Uchiha."

There was a silence, and a rough-sounding sigh, followed by a withering voice.

"A shame," said Madara. "He could have been an excellent tool."

Zetsu let an unsettling smirk crawl onto one side of his features.

"So cold. You'll have to be a little more compassionate than that from now on."

He sidled up to Madara's side, grinning with anticipation at the bundle in his arms.

"That is, if you do intend upon raising that child," Zetsu continued, eyeing the small, whiskered baby. "What a lengthy project. Are you sure it's worth it?"

Madara smiled, decrepit wrinkles contorting.

"I have waited a long time," he said. "The best plans require patience."

And in the depths of that cave, the young boy's blue eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness...

A/N: This is my first story so be nice. Reviews are appreciated, flames are ignored. Thanks.