Disclaimer-I don't own 'Naruto' or any 'Naruto' characters

The chapter edited by Kitty Puff

"Speech"

"God speech, demon speech"

A note, emphasis on the word, or flashback

Signs

Prologue: Punishment

The Pain he experienced as the spiritual hand passed through his body was unbearable and the dreadful cold the hand left in its wake was unparalleled. He could not suppress the shudder that forced its way up his spine and he watched in trepidation as the hand moved on to target the body of the child whom he held cradled in his arms. He could only imagine what the owner of that terrible hand was doing to the child's infant soul.

The boy began to cry.

It brought tears to his own eyes. It wasn't the first time he himself had cried that day. It wasn't second time either.

What for? He asked himself. For what did he risk losing everything today? Tonight? Right now…

He supplied the answers to his own questions quickly enough. First there were his subordinates – the people that believed in him and depended on him – , then there was his wife, his beautiful and radiant wife and finally…his son: the newborn.

It would not be long before he lost everything and burdened his son with a curse no child – no human – should ever have to carry. He wanted nothing more than to flee the battlefield and preserve his son from the cruel fate he was going to burden him with…but he wouldn't. Couldn't

For Konoha…

The roar of pain that the demon uttered and the almost celebratory shouts of the people below him brought him back from his moment of self loathing. He held his little boy tighter, closer, more tenderly. His mother would never hold him in her hands and, after what was to come, neither would his father. The boy would never know the loving touch of a parent, or how they would look or what they wanted to say to him. He was going to condemn his own son to a life of loneliness.

It hurt.

He gasped, feeling as though his soul was being squeezed and stretched by the owner of the spiritual hand and he wondered, was his son experiencing the same thing? He hoped not.

Angry, vicious torrents of red chakra spiralled and compressed as the last of the jutsu signs wound around the evil chakra before finally settling within the boy's abdomen. The seal shone brightly for a moment, before fading into nothing.

Up here, with the village at his feet, the man made ready to speak his last words, make his last wish.

"Naruto…" he whispered as more tears crept from his eyes. He paused carefully forming the wisest, kindest and most loving words he could, to deliver his last message. "I am so very sorry…I hope you will forgive me for dying and not being able to be there for you as you grow up… Know that I love you and never planned to leave you alone in this world…You are the most precious thing in this world to me…"

Another shudder passed through him, but this time, it was caused by the icy breath of the death God that lingered behind him. The breath was followed by an otherworldly and cruel laugh.

"Human, you think that your life is the highest price you can pay for summoning me, a God of Death?"

He gathered all his will power and forced his head to move, to see better over his shoulder at the speaker. His eyes widened at the sight of the being, as frightening as the demon he had just fought, but with an aura of unreachable, and unimaginable power. Pale, ghostlike skin, wicked teeth, and two horns protruding from the white hair, a skeletal frame beneath the strange floating fabric it wore. With beads held in one hand and a knife in the other…here was an entity to be feared.

"It isn't so." The God continued, evoking an ancient and fundamental terror in the man.

What could possibly be any other price? Had he used the seal incorrectly? Performed it wrong? Questions filled the man's mind as he awaited the God's response. Instinctively he pressed the little baby to his chest.

"You dared to summon a Death God to the realm of the living, and dared to use me to seal a demon into a human child! For that, you will pay with suffering. But rest assured, human, you will not be the only one to suffer. The man behind this attack will not be excused either."

He slowly turned to face the God fully and he felt his body begin to tremble at the thought of what kind of suffering he could have possibly brought upon himself. He stopped breathing abruptly when sharp, all knowing yellow eyes looked down at the child in his arms. A moment later the hand holding the beads reached for the newborn and took it from the man. He couldn't move and no matter how hard he fought it, his body remained motionless. He wept, knowing that his hold on the baby was nothing against that of the death God.

The baby made a curious noise and raised its tiny hands to deity, neither knowing nor understanding what it was. The man wanted to speak, to argue with the God but no words passed his lips and he realized, that even if he could speak, he would only anger the death God even more.

"Namikaze Minato," the deity began. "I hereby strip you of your right to parentage. This shall be your punishment for having the audacity to summon one such as myself." Slowly, its form became transparent, and within a few moments the Death God, along with the child, disappeared.

In silence, and in shock, the Yondaime Hokage stared at the space where they had been.

Feeling that the strange aura above him vanished, Gamabunta hummed and looked up. He had suffered a hefty wound that stretched across his left eye, but in spite of that, having a bit of chakra left, he wanted to stay to make sure that Minato was all right. The small figure of his summoner was hunched and shaken, and his silence worried the toad boss.

"Hey kid, what's up?"

The Shinobi of Konoha shouted joyfully and praised their leader – their hero – glad that the fight was finally over. Their hero had defeated the enemy once again, and that meant that their village would continue to live and thrive. From so far down below they couldn't see the Yondaime's face, so they couldn't see the anguish he expressed.

"Minato…?" asked the toad again.

He received no reply.

The Death God reappeared above an entirely different village, where a scene, similar to the one in Konoha, was playing itself out. Fires consumed the buildings (or what was left of them) and ninjas who had survived the battle were making it their business to escape the dangerous heat leaving the ruined village behind them. Burnt, maimed, and mutilated corpses littered the street and the vile odour of charred flesh hung heavy in the air.

The God looked down at the newborn in its one hand and with its other touched the baby's stomach. Intricate symbols glowed and answered to the God's calling as his hand guided the seals higher, shifting them to the child's face, and then, along with whisker marks upon his cheeks, the symbols shrank, fixing themselves into the eyes of the child. The large pale hand covered those eyes for a moment, before the God removed his hand. He looked down at his handiwork.

The boy cried in discomfort: first from the sensations the God's meddling evoked and second from the impure air the boy was forced, by necessity, to breathe. The boy continued to cry when the death God vanished after setting him on the ground.

His pitiful cries were impossibly loud in the abandoned village, who's only inhabitants were now the flames of war.

Nothing had gone according to plan.

Konoha was supposed to be have been considerably weaker without the Sandaime, two anbu squads and a number of jounin who had been visiting a small village on the borders of the Fire and Wind countries.

The entire village had been a trap. His trap.

Officially the people of the Waft village wanted to form an alliance with the Fire country and collaborate with Leaf.

Unofficially, Uchiha Madara made sure that there were intrigues and traitors among the ranks of the ninja of the waft village. Just enough to ensure that the Sandaime had his work cut out for him for at least five days before the assault began. In addition to that he had prepared the assault on the Leaf village as well, in order to cripple Konoha just a little bit more.

But his plan had gone utterly pear shaped.

Konoha had fought with everything it had and had come out victorious against the beast. Moreover. The Yondaime had evidently discovered a way to seal or destroy the Kyuubi and lived to speak of it.

The outcome frustrated Madara to no end. He found it hard to believe that once again his plans had failed. Especially because of the fact that he was considerably older and more experienced than the fresh-faced brat Namikaze.

And now he was forced to consider what he would do if the fox really had been destroyed. He would have to investigate and find out how Kyuubi was defeated as soon as possible. But before he did that, he required rest. Summoning and controlling the beast had required an extortionate amount of chakra. And when he saw from afar how the fox had, apparently, dwindled into nothing, he'd had to retreat.

And now he was left drained and aggravated. But he wasn't finished yet. He still had to find out if the Sandaime had been successfully killed. He decided to use the last of his chakra reserves to travel through space to meet with his aide.

He appeared in the assigned area on the outskirts of the Waft village and waited. The man was meant to have lead a group of jounin and retired anbu who'd agreed to join in the assault. They believed that without the Sandaime and some of Konoha's better known shinobi, their small village would gain greater political ground and would become more successful. Everyone knew that Leaf was the probably the most powerful village at the moment, but it also meant that smaller villages, like Waft, were up against some tough competition.

He observed the village and noted that a great deal of damage had been done, probably almost as much as in Konoha.

He checked his watch and huffed in annoyance at his aide's tardiness as a frown made its way onto his face.

He gazed dispassionately at the bodies that greeted his sight and discovered that the bloody scene lifted his mood a little. But he was still annoyed at his failure in Leaf. Bored of waiting he decided to travel to the area where the main fight was meant to have taken place and was livid to see that only a few Konoha shinobi could be found dead. His outrage grew when he spotted the corpse of his supporter, pierced with knives. The dead man's eyes were still open, his mouth agape in frozen shock and half of his body was burnt by a fire jutsu.

It appeared that this part of his plan had been a failure too. He didn't know if he should just brush it off or throw a temper tantrum. It was evident that the Sandaime had survived, maybe not unscathed, but had survived nonetheless.

The attack should have worked for the best of this village: given its shinobi fame, feasibility and a future. But it had utterly backfired and Madara wouldn't have been surprised if this fiasco were to escalate into a civil war.

And the thought was beautiful.

He might not have had his revenge on Leaf yet, but he would continue trying. And what better way to unsettle the superpower nation than to surround it with the threat of war itself? He examined the battlefield and it brought a smile back onto his face. The ruins of a once progressing village and the blood of its people surrounded him and he walked through the centre of it all, revelling in the solitude, certain that he wouldn't encounter a single soul. But he was mistaken.

A distant crying piqued his curiosity. Who could have survived and stayed behind in this place? Following the sound to find the source, he came upon a relatively intact house. The flames had mostly died down here and only one wall had been smashed down. Amongst the ash and debris by the road was a small, white bundle.

It was a baby.

Madara tilted his head to one side, surprised that an infant would have been so carelessly left behind. Or maybe, in the panic of the attack it had simply been overlooked. Or more likely still, the family was dead.

The child gradually stopped crying, having sensed, by primal instinct, that another person was nearby. It was a man clad entirely in black. His long hair matched the dark tone of his clothes but the most noticeable feature about him were his eyes - deep, crimson and intimidating.

The man picked the child up and inspected it closely. It was male and uninjured but Madara was puzzled. The child didn't look native to this region. His bright blonde hair and almost purple eyes were testament to that fact. And there was something odd about the little one's eyes. Upon closer inspection, he could see that there was something within them. He couldn't make out what it was exactly but he knew there was an array of dots, or symbols in a spiral shape that intrigued him. The newborn blinked and observed the man without a single trace of alarm, which was amusing.

"You're an interesting one." he mused. The boy blinked again.-"What shall I do with you, I wonder? I find you here alone amid the ashes, like a sign that where there is an end, there will always be a new beginning…"-The child smiled at him in that adorable way that only babies can, and he couldn't help but smile himself. He might have said that he felt blessed if he were the type of person to believe in blessings. He could bet that this boy possessed a bloodline, one he himself has never seen before, so it would be a waste to leave him here. And Madara never wasted anything but time.

"I guess I'll have to take you with me for now, ne, Shirushi?"

Shirushi: Sign, omen, seal, symbol or mark.

Chapter 1: Parentage

When they reached Konoha it was already late afternoon. They were glad that their journey was finally over, but their relief was short-lived. The sight they were greeted by was of a wrecked village..

When the Sandaime laid his eyes upon the sight, he couldn't help but think that someone had spent an extraordinary amount of time and effort to plan out the attacks.

It was clear enough that the scuffle in the Waft village and the fight that had taken place here were connected. He had been suspicious of all the S-rank missions that the Konoha shinobi had been commissioned to complete over the last two months: never before had he witnessed so many high level requests coming in. But then he'd thought to himself that Leaf was widely considered to be the strongest village, so it was only logical that people trusted the shinobi of Konoha more. He became worried when eight of the best anbu in Konoha's ranks died. Still, he had brushed it off thinking that it wasn't first time that talented ninja died while on a dangerous mission.

And then a missive came, from the Waft village on the border of the Fire country, and no one had considered it suspicious that Waft had suddenly wanted to start working with Leaf. No, they had thought that it would be a good opportunity to strengthen Konoha's ranks with the naturally wind affiliated people of Waft. After all, the village was very close to the Wind country, and many of its ninja used wind techniques.

But who would have known that behind the civil and pacifist façade lay the imminent threat of battle, civil war and betrayal?

When the Waft shinobi had started quarrelling amongst themselves, the Leaf ninja hadn't wanted to interfere but that mindset had changed entirely when Hiruzen Sarutobi was assaulted. They had, of course, attempted to settle the matter diplomatically but their efforts were in vain. The spat continued and some of the Waft shinobi declared that they were even prepared to engage the former Hokage in battle. And when they did it became evident that they had received tip offs on his preferred techniques and battle strategies. In the end the controlled battle escalated into a wild and vicious slaughter fest, which razed the village to the ground…

Seeing the state Konoha was in, Sarutobi feared the worst. The first shinobi they encountered was a chuunin who was guarding the, now, nonexistent gates. He looked immensely comforted to see the former leader of the village and his fellow ninja again but his relief was short-lived when he told the latecomers of what had happened

Konoha had come under attack two days ago but not by enemy ninja though. Rather it was the doing of the strongest of the tailed beasts. The Yondaime Hokage had successfully subjugated the beast but hadn't been himself since then.

Having heard this Sarutobi wasted no time in running to the tower that had, miraculously, remained untouched. He wondered what could possibly have happened to change the Yondaime so much after defeating the monster. Quite simply, he didn't know.

And he didn't find out even after he hastily entered the Hokage's office.

All he knew was that Minato looked like he carried the weight of the world upon his shoulders. And it was a weight he could not lift, therefore, he broke beneath it.

The Yondaime Hokage had been the most promising chuunin before the war with Iwa started, and he was a prodigy even among all the other promising shinobi. As a jounin, he was reliable and unstoppable and his beliefs and ninja ways were an inspiration to many. Even at his young age, he deserved the title of the strongest, and Sarutobi had never once regretted bestowing that title onto him. Not once. Not until today.

The young blonde man looked like he had aged ten years. Looking around Sarutobi saw that the office was a royal mess. The floor and desk had been conquered by a multitude of scrolls, books and seals and one shelf by the wall was broken and its contents scattered across the office. The young man himself was sitting at the table; his upper body slumped on it as his lifeless eyes stared ahead. It seemed as if he did not perceive the world around him. The dark shadows beneath his eyes suggested he hadn't slept in quite a while and it looked as though he hadn't changed out of his clothes since the fight – if the rumpled and dirty standard jounin uniform and white cloak were any indication.

But it appeared he didn't care.

His head was on the desk, on top of an unrolled scroll with seals written all over it as he stared at the opposite wall. The Sandaime had been warned that the Hokage was unwilling to let anyone see him, not even the medics worried about his wellbeing.

It was the first time Hiruzen had ever seen his successor like this and it begged the question: What on earth had really happened to make such a mess of a man as competent as Minato?

Obviously, he had fought and destroyed the demon – or sealed it for that matter – so why did he look as if he'd suffered a crippling defeat?

A frown marred his already lined forehead as he wondered about the situation. The old man took gentle steps further into the office and stopped opposite from Minato by the desk.

Willing his voice to sound as soft as possible, he spoke.

"Minato-kun, what happened?"

The man did not react and Sarutobi couldn't help but think that he was like a dead man. Unmoving and unaware.

Sarutobi's frown deepened. He glanced down at the notes, papers and scrolls strewn around; trying to find a hint at what might have taken place during the battle. He did not recognize most of what he saw, and had a sneaking suspicion that Minato had probably made most of them up himself. Some of the one's that he did recognize though could have been derived – he realised with a chill – from an assortment of different Fuuinjutsu and kinjutstu. These jutsus looked highly similar to what was used for the creation of jinchuuriki. He didn't like where this development was leading…

"Minato you need to get your act together…" he continued in a gentle tone. "If not for Konoha, then at least for your family. If you don't show that you're able to lead the village during this difficult period, what will people begin to think?"

"…They may think whatever they want…" The man whispered. Sarutobi glanced at him still not understanding. He still couldn't fathom the reason why Minato acted as though the world had ended. He desperately wanted to ask him what happened, but that would be tactless in this situation, he thought and anyway he heard the door open, so he stayed quiet.

Soundlessly, the student of Minato walked in. Kakashi looked at his sensei with a pain filled gaze, before sighing and motioning for Sarutobi to come with him. The old man nodded with a frown and complied.

They walked out of the office and stopped in the corridor, where a few people lingered, unsure of what to do; Sarutobi could guess that order in the tower had not yet been restored.

"Sandaime-sama, I am afraid there isn't much we can do to help Minato-sensei get through this…"

Hatake Kakashi sounded hopeless and Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at his statement. He didn't wear his mantle any more, but he was still sharp enough to spot the telltale signs of a great but hidden pain in Kakashi's tone.

"Get through what?" he prompted, impatient to find out what on earth had happened.

The single black eye of the jounin narrowed in desolation and he gulped and then looked down to the floor.

"So you haven't heard…"He took a deep breath and spoke quietly. "K-Kushina-san…is dead."

The former Hokage almost felt his heart stop at this revelation. Suddenly the dead look on Minato's face made perfect sense. It no longer seemed surprising that the young man was listless and just about ready to die himself.

"She went into early labour shortly after the Kyuubi attacked. I don't know the specific details…but something went wrong and the doctors couldn't save her." The jounin informed him. The old man sighed solemnly.

"What about the child?" He queried an ominous feeling settling in his stomach. Kakashi looked away, in shame or in sorrow; Hiruzen couldn't tell.

"We don't know." Sarutobi stared at him, the question clear on his face. Kakashi elaborated with reluctance. "Truth is we simply don't know where the child is. As far as we're concerned it's vanished into thin air. But I'm willing to bet that Minato-sensei knows more about the child's disappearance than he's letting on..."

Sarutobi sighed and looked back in the direction of the office.

This was going to be tough. Wrenching young men out of grief-stricken stupors could easily be classified as an A-rank mission, Sarutobi thought to himself. He was certainly going to have his work cut out for him…

Kiri

The work in the civilian hospital in Kirigakure was quiet. Ninja did not seek healers in this place, knowing that the best medics they could find would be working in a specialised shinobi hospital, where the medics offered first rate healing jutsus and special techniques that guaranteed fast and reliable results. Consequently the medics in the public hospital saw few gravely wounded patients. The doctor's here were unspecialised for the most part since they rarely required the skills necessary to remove poisons or replenish those who suffered from chakra exhaustion or perform transplants or heal severe injuries caused by whatever mess these shinobi got themselves into.

The nurses at this establishment were usually always smiling and very infrequently had to hurry to aid dying patients. In this peaceful little hospital there was no such thing as a war victim or tough training drills and they lived in an illusion of relative peace.

None of the staff at this pleasant place of healing were capable of detecting a genjutsu – let alone break it – and that was why no one noticed the minor genjutsu that kept Madara hidden from their sight as he walked through the corridors scouting out for a suitable candidate.

Madara had spent a good deal of time considering who to employ to look after the infant, having come to the conclusion that he was entirely unsuited for the job – he possessed neither the time, the skills nor the patience to raise and look after a baby. He was a battle hardened man, a lethal shinobi, and ruthless manipulator. He was not, however, a childminder. Raising children was not something he was trained to do, and it surely wasn't something he ever planned on doing.

The logical answer to this dilemma was simply to find someone who would do the job for him. But his name and status, as well as various other factors complicated this idea.

To the world he was officially dead. He was a man hated and feared by many and he couldn't simply hire any old babysitter for the boy, because the child was unique, and anyone working with him might begin asking too many questions. Additionally, if anyone knew that it was 'his' baby, it would immediately end up drawing unnecessary attention not to mention put it in unnecessary danger. So the person he was going to pick would have to conform to a certain criteria. It couldn't just be anyone.

It had to be a lonely individual, without any family that would search for them if he or she disappeared. It couldn't be a shinobi, because he wanted to direct the child down a particular shinobi way and it couldn't be someone too cowardly who would want to run away and tell the whole world what he or she had seen. This someone had to be weak both physically and psychologically, so that they couldn't harm the child or themselves and so that he could keep them under his thumbs easily enough. Nor could it be anyone too old, experienced, or clever for the job. But it shouldn't be someone too young, too unqualified or stupid either. It had to be someone with a kind heart and could go about his or her daily life with plenty of common sense and didn't have much to lose by raising a child.

With all this in mind, he walked, unnoticed, to the paediatric wing.

...

"Say aaah."

The woman peered at the tongue and walls of the girl's mouth and nodded with a smile. The child laughed with sparkling eyes when the woman started touching and pressing her neck, stomach and then the girl's spine before pulling out a stethoscope. The girl's mother was standing nearby, waiting to hear the paediatrician's verdict

"Does it hurt if I press here, like this?" she asked kindly.

The girl shook her head.

"How about here?" the girl shook her head again. The woman smiled. "Ok, then you can put your dress back on."

The doctor flicked through the files on her desk while the mother of the girl helped her pull the dress straight. "I always wished that I'd had children of my own, you know. Your girl is so sweet! And also you have nothing to worry about, she's perfectly healthy. But I recommend that you cut down on the dairy products, especially in the mornings; a single glass should suffice and that would solve the problem I think.. Make sure she drinks plenty of water as well."

"Ah, thank you, Aiko-san."

"Come see me in another month or so, and we'll monitor the progress." The woman finished with a smile.

"Of course. Thank you again!" The mother said as her daughter waved back at the paediatrician before stepping out of sight, leaving the woman alone.

The nurse outside the office directed the clients to the exit and silence descended in the woman's office. She looked out the window and considered the state of her life.

She had been in the business of diagnosing and treating children for fifteen years now, but had never successfully started her own family. She was so busy with her job that when it came to her own life, she thought gloomily that she was alone. It didn't help that she had never met a man to fall in love with.

She leaned her head on her hand and observed the street below. Her brown eyes expressed her longing for a family as they tracked the progress of the mother and daughter she had just seen. She knew there were many other women around in the same situation as her. With the last shinobi war and the civil war that currently reigned in Mist, you could consider yourself extremely lucky if you had the opportunity to settle down. And time wasn't waiting for her to get her act together. She was in her thirties, she reminded herself, pushing a lock of black hair behind her ear.

Sometimes she thought about travelling far away from here. The thought wasn't such a surprising one since many people saw that other countries possessed a far greater degree of stability and peace than the Water country did. When the rumours about an upcoming coming revolution reached civilian populace she didn't believe in it, especially when it she heard others say that it was a 'bloodline purge'.

In her mind, from a medical point of view, there was minimal difference between normal men, shinobi and bloodline wielders. So what if the latter possessed some special ability other shinobi did not? Surely it didn't make them any stronger, weaker, better or worse than other people. It was shocking how some people treated those that were in any way different.

Was it fear? Were they alarmed that those gifted people would in some way hurt them or their families? Or perhaps it was envy.

After witnessing these changes in Mist she had promised herself that she would someday run away and settle down somewhere where the shinobi world could not reach her and leave this place in her past and her memories.

Only she didn't. Couldn't.

If she left, who would help these innocent children? Who would listen to their suffering parents and ease their minds ? If she left, whom would they turn to when their children fell ill? Shinobi medics? No. They did not treat civilians, and if they did it was only for an astronomical price. If she left, she would feel as though she had betrayed them. Because she had promised to help.

It hurt her that she denied herself her own peace and happiness, but she would never forgive herself if her absence were the cause for someone else's pain.

A young probationer walked in after knocking softly on the office door and placed the short list of patients the paediatrician would see tomorrow on her desk. She stood up to prepare their files and remind herself about their state.

She couldn't understand why, but as she crossed the room to the cabinet, the world around her turned black...

Konohagakure

Hiruzen spoke with Kakashi about the details of the night of the attack. Besides the fact that the fox had nearly destroyed half of the village, the Yondaime had summoned Gamabunta and used some special technique. Kakashi couldn't tell Hiruzen any more than that. It meant that he was going to have to speak with the boss toad himself, and for that he needed Jiraiya who could summon him. Either that or Minato could come back to his senses and explain everything that had happened himself; but Hiruzen didn't see that happening anytime soon.

He was absolutely sure that the fox attack and the happenings in the Waft village were connected. The Sandaime was old and had witnessed all three shinobi wars, but he was still in his right mind and his instincts told him that there is no such thing as coincidence.

When he visited the half destroyed hospital, he found out that Kushina had died giving birth to a boy, and her last moments had been filled with grief at the knowledge that her husband planned on sealing the monster in their child. She had no time to give her child any last words before she died, and this knowledge only added to the pain that Minato was in.

The doctors and midwives, who had been there with her that fateful night, claimed that Minato took the child himself. He left to join his shinobi in the fight with the newborn in his arms, but not once did he mention how he planned to fight the beast.

Though, the fact that he took Naruto with him was an answer in and of itself.

Still, there remained the question of where the boy was and none of the witnesses on the battlefield could provide an answer to it. One member of the Hyuuga clan, a branch member, mentioned that he saw their leader with the child when he summoned Gamabunta, but after that all traces of the boy vanished.

Could it be that the sealing process had gone wrong? Or that Minato had created a new technique that required a sacrifice even greater than the one for creating a living prison? No, Minato would never do something like that. He could – and would – create a jinchuuriki if he had to, but he would never kill the boy especially not his son just to defeat the beast.

But, if he had indeed imprisoned the demon in the body of the infant, then where was the child? And why didn't Minato have it with him after the battle ended? He behaved as if... as if he had lost his child...

Hiruzen squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled tiredly.

He gathered strength in his old bones and walked to find the shinobi working in the message department. He needed to inform Jiraiya of what had happened and ask him to return to Konoha as quickly as possible. Minato needed him, after all Jiraiya was his father figure, and maybe, just maybe the young man would finally get his act together…

Somewhere in Water Country

When she awoke, she found herself in a room. A room she had never seen before.

She touched her forehead as the slight headache reminded her that she had lost consciousness in the middle of the day. It remained a mystery as to why…

The room she was in contained a simple bed, shelves for clothes and a few other items, a nightstand and a large window. She was still in her own clothes, so it meant she hadn't been touched but she found strange marks on her wrists.

It troubled her and she began to get scared as she wondered where she was and who had brought her here. She certainly wasn't in the hospital anymore; If she had merely fainted she would still be there, but it seemed fairly clear to her now that she had been kidnapped.

The question was, Why?

As she deliberated all the possible reasons, the door to the room opened and a tall, lean man entered. He had the look of a shinobi about him.

He was dressed like one too and she was sure that he had hidden weapons on him. His face was serious and did not betray what he might have been thinking. She noticed that his skin was pale, and his features sharp and that he had spiky black hair, but the most prominent thing about him were his eyes. The moment she saw them she knew that he possessed a bloodline.

"I've brought you here because I have a job for you." He said. She almost flinched but controlled herself. She sensed that beneath his mild tone, lay a dangerous force not to be trifled with. He did not look like a maniac, but she could feel that, without a doubt, if he had wanted to kill her, she'd be dead in no time. What could he possibly want from a weak and lonely woman like her? She wasn't shinobi medic so she didn't even know of their healing arts. She didn't have any information that would be useful to shinobi, nor did she have any connections with anyone important. She herself did not have anything he could possibly be interested in.

"Who are you?" she asked, daring to pose the first question.

"I am the one who has your life in his hands. You will do as I ask you to do. You will not disobey me or try to act rashly. As long as you remain obedient, you will remain alive."

The first sentence the mysterious said almost broke her heart. That man had just taken away her life. He had robbed her of her freedom and free will. Choices were no longer hers to make according to this man. And worst of all, she thought with a hint of hysteria, he would probably kill her when she was done with what he'd wanted from her.

She didn't look like a prisoner but she already felt like one. And the worst thing was she knew that she had no say in the matter. If she went against his wishes, he would simply kill her and find someone else to do what he wanted to be done (at least she assumed that that was what he would do). And then some other person would be burdened with this terrible situation. She couldn't let him use someone else. What if he kidnapped some unlucky girl to do…actually she didn't even know what he wanted her to do. She was simply jumping to conclusions in her panic.

Seeing that she was lost in thought he spoke to get her attention.

"Aiko-san, my name is Madara. I need your services so please stop looking so devastated before you've even heard what I want you to do. Come with me."

He walked out and after a slight hesitation she followed him. She saw a flight of stairs leading downwards which meant that they were in a house at least two storeys high. Looking around she noticed that it looked empty and clean, meaning that whomever it belonged to rarely lived here.

He lead her into a room that could have been a living room.

He gestured to a corner or the room. She followed the direction of the indication and saw, to her immense astonishment, a crib. Her eyes widened upon seeing it. The man, Madara he had said his name was, stopped by it and she saw his hand reach down. She walked closer and saw him stroke a baby's soft fuzz hair.

The tiny child was sleeping peacefully and she wondered if it was his. The baby had bright yellow hair and unblemished skin and it was covered by a blue blanket.

"I neither have time nor the skill to look after a baby. So I want you to take care of the boy to the best of your abilities."

She was more than a little surprised. Here she thought that he was going to kill her after using her in some humiliating way, when in reality he wanted her to do what she did the best – looking after children. But why go so far to get her here? Or why her for that matter? Was the child ill? Or maybe this man was too well known to be seen with a baby or seen in the hospital?

"We're in a secluded region, considerably far away from Mist. You can't leave this place. You will have noticed the seals I placed on your wrists, I trust? They will prevent you from going any farther than two hundred meters from this house. Everything you might need you will find here. I will visit once in a month to see the boy and bring fresh supplies. Do you understand, Aiko-san?"

She swallowed. He didn't just mean taking care of the child as in healing him, but he meant that she was to raise the boy: teach him to walk, to speak, to write. She was going to be staying here for months, years even.

It was as if it was some twisted version of her dreams and desires had become a reality.. She had been taken far, far away from the prospect of war, and brought to a secluded house with an infant that couldn't have been any older than few days…and she was going to rear that child. How could she say no?

She didn't have a choice of course but thinking over it…the situation wasn't nearly as bad as it seemed. It looked like this man was lonely, or didn't really have anyone he could trust with this child. So much so that he had to kidnap a woman and force her to take care of his child in his stead. Was it his? It had to be – even if the child didn't remotely resemble him. Perhaps he took after his mother – if he went so far as to give into the care of another woman.

She felt sad for him.

She looked up Madara and suppressed a gasp at the emotions she saw in his eyes. She almost felt that he could force her heart to stop with the intensity of his gaze; full of superiority, knowledge and power. She was closer now so she could see how unique and frightening his eyes were. He was so silent and calm that she felt humbled and insignificant in his presence.

"Y-yes, M-Madara-sama." she whispered in response to his instructions.

"Good." he nodded. "Do you have any questions?"

She blinked and quickly thought of anything important she had yet to learn. She looked down at the child and realised that there was indeed one important detail she did not know yet.

"Um…What is the boy's name?"

"Shirushi." He answered.

She smiled at the meaningful name.

When he saw the look in the woman's eyes at the sight of the baby, he knew that he made the right choice. She had love for children, had the heart for it and the patience. Her small frame and warm appearance made her the perfect person for this job. And just as he thought, even though she was scared, she was not stupid enough to refuse or think of running away. He checked her files in the hospital and to his pleasure she had no family, no relatives. She had younger sister, but fortunately, she died in the last war.

She used to work in a different civilian hospital in Mist three years ago, but had received a promotion and been transferred. It was perfect; her colleagues could not get close enough with her in that short time to be too worried about her disappearance. He had nothing to worry about.

The house he placed them in was his own private property. The whole island was, to be precise. But she didn't need to know about that.

He relaxed and landed on the other side of his space travelling technique before entering an office with lights on. Walking over to the window, he saw that it was raining heavily and a grey-blue light filtered in through the glass. Turning around he saw the documents and scrolls he had asked for, on his desk and now had to look at. Madara picked the top one up and began to read in silence, standing with his back to the window.

The door opened and in walked a woman clad in black shinobi clothing. The only other colour on her were from the white arm bracers and white bandages around her calves. Her black hair was coiled in a tight bun pierced with needles. In her hands she held another stack of papers. When she saw him she paused in the doorframe and studied his appearance. The young leader was dry, meaning he hadn't been outside yet he was wearing a black travelling cloak. Her gaze quickly flicked to the white cloak draped over the back of the chair and the hat on the desk.

She looked up and spoke.

"You're back Mizukage-sama."

Aiko: means benevolence

End of chapter 1