Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 1: All according to plan

'I have to get there in time,' he thought as he leapt through the trees. 'I have to save them.'

It had been nearly an hour since Zetsu had told him that Rin and Kakashi were on the run from a squad of Kiri Hunter-nin. 'I won't lose you again... Rin...' Obito increased his speed once again flying through the trees at impossible speed. The cells of the Shodaime Hokage had done wonders for his stamina and physical strength, and now that he was finally getting used to his new body, courtesy of Madara, Obito felt stronger than ever.

Obito charged out of the treeline into a barren valley, heavy rainfall obscuring the landscape and saw Kakashi, Chidori in hand, charging the Kiri ANBU. Obito's eyes widened in terror as he saw Rin leap in front of Kakashi's outstretched hand in position for the lightning blade to pierce her heart. His Sharingan began to spin wildly as he felt a searing pain in his right eye then seemingly disappeared into a vortex centered around his Sharingan.

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(Seconds earlier, with Kakashi.)

'What?' Why did Rin jump in front of him? They had to get back to Konoha. He had to keep his promise to Obito. He had to protect Rin, even if it cost him his own life. Because he would never abandon his comrades. He had already lost one friend and he couldn't bare to lose another.

It was too late for him to stop, he was already charging at full speed towards their pursuers and Rin had leaped only several feet in front of him. Kakashi felt a blinding stab of pain in his left Sharingan eye and the three tomoe began to spin wildly and morph into something else.

Suddenly a black vortex appeared between the two Konoha shinobi revealing the back of a hooded figure with his back turned to Kakashi. Kakashi's chidori plunged straight through the man's back and out through his chest stopping his lightning covered hand mere inches from Rin.

Rin looked up at the white spiral looking mask in disbelief. She was going to die. She had to die. She couldn't return to Konoha. If she returned Kiri would unleash the Sanbi they'd sealed inside of her and unleash havoc upon her beloved village.

The spiral mask, inches in front of her face, slowly opened outward form the eye hole, revealing a face she'd never expected to see again. "Obito..." Rin whispered in shock. The chidori must have hit her, she must actually be dead and her closest friend was there to escort her spirit to the afterlife.

"Rin..." Obito replied with a weak smile, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth.

Kakashi pulled his no longer lightning covered hand out of Obito's back remaining conscious and standing long enough for the two former teammates to lock eyes. The pain in his eye was unbearable and his vision was slowly fading to black. 'Obito...' thought Kakashi before he finally lost consciousness and collapsed into the cold mud.

'What was that Sharingan? I've never seen one like that.' Thought the Uchiha as he scanned his surroundings to find he was surrounded by no less than 40 Kiri ANBU. Even with Hashirama's cells, with the internal damage he had received from Kakashi's chidori there was no way he could win this fight. Obito collapsed to his knees laboring to breathe, blood pouring from the open wound in his back and chest. The lightning infused chakra had clearly done its job, as Obito felt his heart palpitate. It had not even hit his heart directly but the electricity of the attack was enough to damage other internal organs. 'If it wasn't for the Shodiame's cells I'd already be dead. At least Rin is still alive.' speaking of which, "Rin... run." Obito said before he too lost consciousness and collapsed in a heap next to his old friend.

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(Somewhere in Iwa, with Minato.)

For some reason the spiky blonde haired Jounin, Namikaze Minato, felt a gut wrenching feeling in the pit of his stomach as he looked across the field of dead Iwa shinobi. The feeling wouldn't be unwarranted, considering the sight before him and what he had done mere moments earlier, but some instinct told him that his former Genin team was in trouble.

"Shikaku, I believe you can handle it from here." Said Minato before disappearing in his signature yellow flash.

"What was that about Shikaku?" asked another Jounin with light blonde hair and pupilles blue eyes.

"I have no idea Inoichi." Replied the young Jounin sporting new two deep gashes above and below his right eye.

"What do you think Yoshino is going to say about those?" Inoichi, his long term friend and teammate.

"... Troublesome." Shikaku muttered as he wiped the blood dripping down his face.

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(With Rin.)

Rin was out of options, her death was her last hope of protecting Konoha. She couldn't kill herself, that damn seal prevented it, and she couldn't hope to defeat all the Kiri ANBU. She couldn't run, that's what they wanted, they would just heard her towards Konoha like they have been. Even if she did get away that would mean abandoning her two closest friends, and she had already lost Obito once. There was no way out of this.

Without any weapons, the Kiri shinobi had disarmed her before her 'escape', she got into her taijutsu stance and prepared to fight the 40 plus ANBU surrounding her and her former teammates. 'They'll probably just carry my unconscious body to the village and release the Sanbi anyways, so I might as well try to take as many of them down before that happens.'

If it wasn't for the masks covering their faces Rin would have seen the cold smiles on the faces of the shinobi of the village of the bloody mist. That is until they saw a yellow flash that was known to mean almost certain death.

The yellow flash appeared next to Kakashi's unconscious form taking stock of the situation at hand. 'Obito?' Minato thought in surprise, but that was a question for later. "Rin, start healing those two." He said motioning towards Obito and Kakashi, "leave the rest to me."

Minato let loose a barrage of three pronged kunai before vanishing in a hirashin.

All around the battlefield there were flashes that would be followed by a Kiri ANBU dropping dead. Within two minutes the Kiri shinobi were no more than lifeless bodies drowning in an ocean of their own blood.

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(Several days later, in the Hokage's office.)

"It appears that she was branded with the kinkoju no fuda (forbidden individual curse seal) on her heart and had the Sanbi sealed inside of her. I was able to suppress the seal for the time being but Kushina is working on a way to permanently remove it. I was also able to strengthen the seal keeping the Sanbi sealed inside of her." Minato reported to the Sandaime Hokage, "as for Obito... He says he was found by Uchiha Madara after his alleged death. He says Madara repaired his body with the cells of the Shodaime Hokage himself. Tsunade-sama has taken a look at him and has confirmed that he does posses Senju Hashirama's cells. On top of that both he and Kakashi have awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan."

"Hm..." Sarutobi Hiruzen thought out loud. "This is troubling news indeed," the aging Hokage contemplated as he puffed on his pipe. "What do you make of all this, Minato?"

"I... I don't know. Obito said Madara never told him about his plans, only that he had one, but he needed an apprentice to help him. That could mean that he's too weak to complete whatever his plan is on his own. With Obito gone that could leave him vulnerable." Said Minato, even though he was just as confused about the situation at hand as everyone else who knew about it. "I get the feeling that this is all related. It seems too good to be true for Obito to arrive just in time to save Rin."

"If that is the case, and Madara did orchestrate this, for whatever reason, I doubt it went according to his plan." Said Hiruzen more to himself than Minato.

"You think that Madara intended for Rin and Kakashi to die?" asked Minato, really more of a statement than a question.

"More like he intended for Obito to see his two closest friends die." Clarified the middle aged Hokage. "The question is why..." Hiruzen steepled his fingers under his chin for a moment before turning his attention back to the yellow haired Jounin."You have done well Minato, now go home and spend time with your family. I'm sure young Naruto will be very pleased to see you after such a long time away," Hiruzen said mustering up a small smile at the thought of the Yellow Flash's little clone.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," and with that Minato vanished in a yellow flash.

"I'll never get used to that," Hiruzen muttered, "send Orochimaru here." He said to his hidden ANBU guard.

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(At the Namikaze residence.)

Kushina and Naruto had just finished lunch, and she and the two year old were about to head to the park to meet with Kushina's old friend and teammate Uchiha Mikoto and her son Itachi.

Naruto's head shot up suddenly, surprising Kushina, "Tou-chan is home!" he cheered waving his arms running into the living room. "Tou-chan,Tou-chan! We're going to the park! Can you come and play ninja with Itachi and me?"

'I'll never know how Naruto always seems to know when his dad is around.' Thought Kushina, a little jealous of the current adoration her son was showing her husband.

A laughing Minato appeared in the doorway with Naruto sitting up on his shoulders. "Of course I'll come play ninja with you and Itachi." He said as he walked over to Kushina and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"Yuck!" Naruto said miming vomiting.

"Oh yeah, you think that's gross, c'mere you little brat," Kushina mused as she showered the little 2 year old with kisses. It was uncanny how much Naruto looked like his father; they had the same bright blue eyes, and golden blonde hair, not a single thing on young Naruto's face to make him look anything different than his father did at his age.

"Kaa-chan, stop it!" Naruto was able to get out between laughing fits. "We're going to be late to play with Itachi!"

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(The Hokage's office.)

"You summoned me Hokage-sama." Said a thin ghostly pale man with waist length black hair and yellow eyes with slits for pupils.

"Yes, Orochimaru, please come in." Greeted Hiruzen, "I have a mission for you. I believe only you or Jiraiya are fit to handle it, but seeing as how he is currently at Mount Myoboku and we are unable to contact him, you are the only suitable choice."

"Kukuku, I'm all ears Sensei, what is it that requires a Sannin to accomplish?" Orochimaru asked, his lips curling up into a smile at the prospect of a mission requiring one of his caliber.

"We have received information that Uchiha Madara is still alive." Hiruzen stated with a puff from his pipe, "Not much is known about his whereabouts, however. As far as we know he is hiding somewhere around Ta no Kuni and Takigakure no Sato. Needless to say, this is a long term S-rank mission."

"This does sound like something worthy of my talents. Yes Sensei, I accept the mission." Orochimaru could barely hide his joy. 'Uchiha Madara... Just imagine what I could accomplish with the information I can gather from such a man.'

"I want you to assemble a four man squad for this mission. And bring at least one Uchiha, I believe they would want a hand in avenging their reputation after the actions of that man." Said Sarutobi; 'it would be a slap in the face to kill the most powerful Uchiha in history without their knowledge. And I am sure they would want a hand in such a mission."

'Kukuku, this just keeps getting better and better."

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(Mountains' Graveyard.)

"I see." Stated Madara in a deceptively calm tone. "No matter, he was a weak one anyways. Really more of a last resort than anything. But that still poses the problem of finding one to complete the plan until my return."

"What do you want me to do now, Madara-sama?" asked the white half of the strange plant like creature known as Zetsu. "You should have just allowed me to eat him. It's doubtful that we will be able to find another suitable replacement so easily." The black half continued.

"Yes that may pose a problem. Additionally, with young Obito in hand and his curse seal destroyed Konoha no doubt knows about my existence by now. We may be able to use that to our advantage." Madara thought aloud with a sickening smile.

XXX END CHAPTER 1 XXX

So as you can see, Naruto was born before the Kyuubi attack, Obito and Rin survive, and Orochimaru is going after Madara with another Uchiha and two others.

All characters introduced so far will play a big role in this fic, and I kind of like the idea of Rin and Obito being involved with how things play out, however this will remain a Naruto centric fic.

This is my first fanfiction and I have big plans for it, so hopefully my inexperience won't ruin my idea. I'm won't claim to be the best writer by any means but I'll do my best to keep things grammatically correct and without spelling errors.

Anyways, as you can see, Naruto does not have Kyubi chakra or anything of the sort but I promise you he will be powerful (not god-like, that takes away from the fun of the story in my opinion). Naruto will be smart and less impulsive, so don't expect the same copy and pasted character from the original, but he will maintain some of his more endearing qualities.

If you have constructive criticism let me know, I'm a big boy I can take it.