I DO NOT OWN NARUTO

On October 10th, tragedy struck the Village Hidden in the Leaves. A day that should've been filled with joy was filled instead with grief and sorrow.

That day, their beloved Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was about to become a father. But there was a minor setback to his joy. His wife, Kushina Uzumaki, was the village's jinchuuriki.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage set up a precautionary barrier to protect the village and sent ANBU to stand on guard along with his wife, Biwako, who was to assist with childbirth. However, someone had received information and decided to take advantage of the fact that a jinchuuriki's seal weakened during childbirth and released the Kyuubi.

Minato took his newborn daughter to safety and went to find his wife. Taking her before she could be killed by the Masked Man after the extraction, he laid her to rest with their child. Minato put on his Hokage cloak and went out to battle the Kyuubi, but was held back by a minor battle with the Masked Man who extracted the Kyuubi.

After defeating the man with a Rasengan to the back, Minato went to face the Kyuubi himself. Kushina, however, went to help him, bringing along their newborn daughter. The two argued for a few minutes, the mother not wanting to place a burden upon her child as the father, while also not willing to place such a burden upon his only daughter, knew it was the only way to save the village he loved so much.

With the Reaper Death Seal, Minato sealed the Yang half within his daughter and the Yin half within himself.

And that brings us to this very moment, where Kushina and Minato are lying on the ground and waiting for death to take them, listening to their baby's cries.

"Kushina... I am truly sorry for placing this burden upon her," Minato said softly as his vision grew darker.

"It's alright, Minato-kun," Kushina murmured, staring up at the starry sky for the last time. The redhead was about to close her eyes for sweet relief from her pain when she felt footsteps land softly on the ground and run over to her almost soundlessly.

Kushina opened her eyes to see onyx ones filled with worry staring back into her violet eyes. She smiled, knowing exactly who it was.

The person above her whipped around at the baby's cry, and swiftly moved over to lift the child and quieten her.

"Take her..."

The figure's head snapped to Kushina and she knelt by the dying woman. "Are you sure?" she whispered in a soft, elegant voice.

Kushina barely managed a nod. "Even if I'm an Uzumaki, I cannot survive these wounds. I know Konoha will not treat her kindly for being the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, no matter what Minato says. I know they will be too blinded by anger and hatred to understand. I want you to take her, and let her be raised by people... by people like her."

The figure nodded slowly. "Do you want me to leave a clone?"

"That would be good." Kushina fought for breath, fighting to stay awake longer so she could say something important she had forgotten.

"Her name is Naruko..."

The figure holding the baby lowered her head for a minute in respect of the woman's passing, and when she rose, she elongated her nails and made a light scratch on the baby's palm. Not enough to scar, but enough to bleed. With that blood, the figure made a single sign and an exact duplicate of the baby she was holding poofed into existence.

The figure nodded their head with satisfaction and placed the baby duplicate upon the altar the two deceased adults had made upon the sealing, and without a single sound, jumped away into the night.

(1) OMAKE:

"You're late," a low voice said in reproach as a yellow flash touched down beside him.

"Sorry, I ran into a bit of trouble," the Yellow Flash — Minato Namikaze and the Fourth Hokage — said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"You alright? Kushina?" the first voice — Fugaku Uchiha, head of the Uchiha Clan and Konoha's Military Force, as well as Minato's best friend — asked in veiled concern.

"I'm fine. Naruko and Kushina are safe for now," Minato answered, his mind idly flashing back to when he had left his newly-formed family with a few ANBU — including his remaining student, Kakashi Hatake — and Fugaku's wife, Mikoto. "Go — we will protect them," the Uchiha matriarch and his former teammate had told him, her Sharingan activated.

"The boys?"

"Itachi has Sasuke, so they will be alright."

"Hn." Fugaku returned his gaze to the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that was currently wreaking havoc on their home, Konohagakure. "So you have a plan, correct?" he assumed, activating his fully-matured Sharingan. "How do you want me?"

A small snort of amusement answered him, and Fugaku turned to see Minato's mouth twisted in amusement and barely-suppressed laughter.

"That wasn't—" Fugaku furrowed his brow as a sudden realization crashed down on him. "Did you just laugh at innuendo? You understand innuendo?"

"Of course I do," Minato said with a smirk, a hand flying to his chest as if affronted. "How do you think Kushina and I made a kid?"

"With you kicking and screaming?" Fugaku deadpanned.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the one kicking and screaming, Fugaku," Minato answered with a slight smirk, his eyes narrowing a little as the unnaturally-bright blue orbs darkened to a navy-blue with smoldering intensity.

Fugaku stared blankly at his best friend, unimpressed. "...did you know you make the exact same face just before you kill someone?" he asked off-handedly.

Minato grinned, placing his hands on his hips as he and his best friend turned back to face the Kyuubi. "Well, Kushina says it's hot."

(1) This scene does not belong to me; it is originally a fanart/comic that belongs to scurfaçage. I found it on Pinterest and thought it was funny, so I included it as an omake. Most no-canon scenes and omakes will be my own (obviously) unless explicitly stated otherwise.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who is supporting my new project, as well as the old ones.