The barrier dissolved, and the Sandaime Hokage rushed forward, dreading what he might find.

Great fox tracks in the ground and lingering wisps of fiery red chakra were all that remained of what had wreaked devastation on Konoha. The Kyūbi no Yōko was probably not dead, though; merely neutralised.

Confirmation lay in the eight-point spiral of black symbols that marked the belly of a crying baby boy, who lay naked on a ceremonial pedestal. He was from this day forth gifted and cursed with the life of a jinchūriki – the Kyūbi's power had been sealed into him, and he would contain it as long as he lived.

A woman with long vivid red hair lay where she had fallen, blood drying on the ground around her. Her body was interposed between a giant paw print and her son. Uzumaki Kushina had done her best to protect the people she loved.

He lay flat on his back beside his wife's body, the white cloak he wore marred by dirt and blood, as was his spiky blond hair. Unlike her, his chest rose and fell gently, the movement barely perceptible at first glance. His dull green flak jacket was unzipped, and the blue shirt underneath had been pulled up to expose his belly. A seal marked his skin – identical in every way to the seal on the baby boy.