CH.1 Adoption (Prologue)

Destruction. Pure destruction. The Hidden Leaf Village was on the verge of burning down. There were ninjas evacuating citizens to safety, ninjas trying to mitigate the damage caused to the village, and ninjas attempting to defeat the enemy. A giant red fox that was the cause of all this destruction: the Nine-Tailed Fox.

The Nine-Tailed Fox was one of the most fearsome of the Tailed Beasts. Just one of its tails was able to rumble mountains, summon tsunamis—destroy a village. It all happened so fast. The village was enjoying a peaceful autumn night when it appeared, baring its fangs and releasing a horrid roar. The fox then started to charge up a massive ball of chakra. When it released it, a trail of devastation followed its path as it wiped out the main section of the village. It was aimed at the Hokage Rock when, suddenly, a huge seal covered the monument of the village.

An explosion the size of a mountain appeared miles away from the village. Upon the top of the mountain was none other than the leader of the village; the strongest ninja in the village: the Fourth Hokage. He surveyed the area, quickly taking in the amount of damage and how to deal with the threat at hand, and formulated a plan of action.

He teleported to his second-in-command: the previous Hokage.

"Minato, what the hell is going on here?" The Third Hokage asked urgently.

"A masked man came while Kushina was giving birth and took her. I tagged him and I need to go and defeat him. He's the one who released the Nine-Tails while Kushina's seal was weakened," Minato answered. "Lord Third, I need you to command the ninja force to evacuate everyone away while fighting the Nine-Tails."

The Third Hokage nodded and flickered away to rally the ninjas. Minato took a moment to pause and collect his thoughts. He needed a plan. He knew the fox wasn't easy to defeat, and the man that took Kushina was not any ordinary ninja. This task could be fatal and he needed to make sure everything would be in order if it came to the worse.

First, he summoned Gamabunta to the battlefield to make sure the fox was in check. Then, he teleported to his best friend.

"Minato, this is crazy! How did the Nine-Tailed Fox get in the village?!" Inoichi exclaimed as he was escorting the citizens to the safety bunkers.

"A ninja invaded the village and unleashed the Fox when he took Kushina. I'm about to defeat him but I need you to promise something to me."

"What?" Inoichi asked soberly.

Minato had this stern, solemn look to his face. "I might not make it back. If that happens, please, look after Naruto for me?"

"Of course," Inoichi nodded. "But don't worry, I've seen you in battle and know what you can do. You'll survive like always," he chuckled.

Minato smiled back. He turned away to prepare to end this chaos.

…

The fight was over. The village was in shambles but it was still standing. Once the battle was determined to be over, everyone was searching for the Fourth Hokage for what to do now.

The Third Hokage was the first one to arrive at the scene. The Fourth Hokage laid dead on the ground on top of his dead wife. Gruesome. That's all he could think as he stood there, morose and solemn, as he took in the image of one of his pupil's students. It was as if time was nonexistent; no, it was his time that was still. He wasn't breathing, but just holding his breath; not looking, but just seeing for ages. He was stone-like at the moment—that eternity. The next ninja to come was Inoichi.

He gasped and shuddered. The Third Hokage was shaken out of his state of a daze when he heard sobbing behind him. Inoichi Yamanaka was crying with a stertorous breath. The Third laid his hand on his shoulder as he let the captain of the interrogation let out all his emotions. Then they heard crying from somewhere else. It was high-pitched and whiny. After taking their eyes off the tragic deaths of their friends, they noticed a baby on a stone slab.

He had dark-blonde hair and whisker marks on his cheeks. He was wailing his limbs naked under a piece of cloth; however, the most distinct feature was a black, intricate seal on his belly.

"Minato, you didn't," the third said shocked after looking at the seal.

"What. What wrong?" Inoichi questioned while he tried to soothe the baby in his arms.

"That's a tetragram seal," The Third explained, "that kind of seal is very powerful. Powerful enough to seal a Tailed-Beast."

Inoichi's eyes widened. "Wait, so that means Minato didn't kill the Nine-Tails? He just sealed it away?"

The Hokage nodded his head. "But that seals comes at a cost for sealing something as mighty as a Tailed-Beast. He must have used the jutsu I taught him: the Reaper Death Seal," he expounded. "It calls upon a Shinigami to seal almost anything for a cost of a life."

"So that's why he made that promise."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"He knew he couldn't kill it so he chose to seal it away. He made me promise to take care of Naruto if he didn't make it."

Sarutobi peered at the sleeping child. "He made him a Jinchuriki."

"A what?'

"A person who has one of the nine Tailed-Beasts within them. They are usually made to be human weapons for the village they serve. The power of even the one Tailed-Beast is enough to cause widespread devastation," Sarutobi explained. "Taking care of a Jinchuriki is a lot of work and potentially very dangerous."

"I don't care," Inoichi smiled as he rocked the child in his arm. " I'll do whatever I can."