I'M BETTER

Chapter 1

"No!" Kushina screamed as Minato moved towards her to try and take the newborn in her arms away.

He didn't want to do this. Neither of them did... But they didn't have much of a choice. It was clear to the both of them that they weren't going to last long. It already took a lot out of Kushina, who had just given birth to twins, had the Kyuubi extracted from her, and for trying to put down the Kyuubi with her Chakra Chains.

Minato wasn't fairing too well, either. He had lost a lot of chakra from fighting that masked shinobi and using his Hiraishin no Jutsu multiple times tonight. One of which was transporting his newborn daughter to one of his trusted Anbu who carried one of his three-pronged kunais. He didn't know where he had taken her but he hoped it was somewhere safe, unlike the place his wife and other child were in. Both new parents were exhausted. They were slipping away, they both knew it.

"Kushina… please…"

Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, stood before his wife as she slowly turned herself away from him. She was holding a small white bundle to her chest tightly. She didn't look like she would give the baby up easily.

"Kushina... please, just give him to me." Minato tried again. The Chakra Chains weren't going to hold up much longer and the Kyuubi would be free again and that would just make everything more difficult.

"Why?!" Kushina cried as she looked into his startling blue eyes.

Minato forced himself not to look away. He didn't want to see his wife like this. But right now, he had to do something to stop the beast from going back to Konoha.

"Why?!" Kushina asked again. "Why does it have to be our son?! Why does he have to be the Kyuubi's container?! Why can't you just seal it back inside me?!"

Minato closed his eyes and told himself to get it together. He didn't want to do it either. Sealing the Kyuubi back inside Kushina wouldn't do them any good. It was taking everything out of them just to keep from collapsing and... probably dying... If they were going to die, which was certainly going to happen. The Kyuubi would die with them but it would just be revived in a few years. The best option was to seal it inside of their own son, however hideous that might sound.

"Kushina, I-"

"Don't! Just don't, Minato!" Kushina interrupted. She was crying now.

A roar sounded off behind them. The fox was getting angrier by the minute. Minato fought back a cringe as he thought about the horrific things the bijuu had done. He didn't want to think about his comrades and his home being destroyed right now. What was important was that he had to do everything he could to stop the beast from destroying everything. Even if it meant sacrificing one of his children.

He looked at his wife with a pleading expression and raised his hand to try and take the newborn in her arms. Kushina didn't even raise a her head to look at him. If anything, her hold on the baby tightened.

"Kushina…please. I know you, of all people would understand. Please…give him to me." Minato pleaded, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. To his surprise, Kushina shrugged it off angrily.

"Why?" Kushina said. "Why does it have to be our son? Why does he have to be the Kyuubi's container? You should know! You should know the pain of being a jinchuuriki! You of all people! I don't want my son to suffer the way I did!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face. "To maintain the balance of the beasts? Why must you sacrifice yourself? Why must Naruto be sacrificed?"

The look on her face broke Minato's heart.

"To sacrifice one's son is the same as sacrificing one's nation. You know I don't have a choice. The village expects me to save them, not as a father, but as the Yondaime Hokage." he said, steeling himself. It wouldn't do him any good if he broke down now.

Kushina eyes widened at Minato's statement. She couldn't believe what her husband was saying.

Minato continued, "It's never easy when you're Hokage, Kushina. You know I'm against this too. Do you think I don't know what I'm doing? I'm cursing my own son to a lifetime of pain and suffering, and what's worse is that I won't be there for him! I won't be able to help him! He wouldn't be able to lead a normal life like his sister and I don't want that... This is the single most difficult decision I've ever done and don't you think for one second that it's easy to leave your children behind, to never see them grow up, and die knowing that you've cursed your son!"

Kushina gasped. Die? "D-Don't…don't tell me that you…are y-you…?"

Minato nodded. "I'm gonna use the Shiki Fujin. I'm going to use it to seal half of the Kyuubi into me and use the Eight-Signed Seal to seal the other half to Naruto. It's the best I can do since I'm not a jinchuuriki."

At this, Kushina completely broke down. She pounded Minato's chest angrily as tears fell from her eyes. Minato made no attempt to stop her. Instead, he watched her sadly, he felt his heart finally shattering.

"Kushina… promise me… Please… tell Naruto… Tell him that…that I never meant any of this. Tell him I'm so sorry... and tell Keiko... tell her everything she needs to know. Protect her from anything because she won't have me there... Kushina, tell our kids that I love them." At this point, tears poured from Minato's eyes. He couldn't stop his tears from falling. It broke his heart to see his own family fall apart in a flash. It felt like an eternity ago when he was swelling with pride as he watched his beautiful wife resting on the bed with their newborn children, Naruto and Keiko.

"Idiot!" Kushina cried. "Tell them y-yourself! Don't you d-dare let m-me do this a-alone, Minato! They need their f-father!"

Minato closed his eyes as if it would block everything that hurt him. The peaceful morning that he had turned into a night as dark and as bleak as a suicide mission. Here he was, persuading Kushina to give Naruto to him and possibly make the worst mistake in his entire life. The only thing that comforted him right now is that his little girl, Keiko, was brought to a safe place. Kushina and Naruto were supposed to be there too but the masked shinobi got Kushina while he distracted him with Naruto.

He only managed to put Naruto in a temporary safehouse because one, it was the only place with a near enough distance so that his chakra won't be diminished by a lot. Two, because the place where Keiko is didn't have his seal on it. And he was currently cursing himself for it.

By the time he got to Kushina, the shinobi had already extracted the Kyuubi from her. Seeing as Kushina's welfare was his top priority for now, he teleported to the house with Naruto. After he placed Kushina beside Naruto, he set off and fought with the masked shinobi. He managed to break the contract between him and the Kyuubi, but it still continued it's rampage.

Now, he was forced to resort to sealing it inside his own son, who was the only available vessel.

Getting into position, he did the seals for the Shiki Fujin and let his dread wash over him. This was it. He knew his wife hated him right now for doing what he had to do. He managed to seal half of the Kyuubi inside himself and he prepared the ceremonial altar right afterwards, despite the numbness he felt at the huge density of the fox's chakra.

He laid Naruto down on the altar. Grunting with effort, he knelt in front of the altar, flashed the briefest of smiles to his wife, mouthed the words 'I love you' and then, with a soft "Fuuin..." he finished the sealing process. He fell backwards and Kushina immediately ran to him. Screw her aching and sore body which had just gone through childbirth and bijuu extraction. She had to get to Minato's side.

Once she arrived next to him, however, she almost screamed. Minato was...BREATHING!

"Minato?" Kushina whispered uneasily. How was something like this even possible? The Shiki Fujin required the soul of its user. It was part of the contract between the Shinigami and the user. Why would it leave Minato alive? Not that she was complaining but the entire thing was strange. The Uzumakis developed that jutsu. There wasn't a case like her husband's.

Still, she was happy. Contemplating the events that had transpired could come later. Her andrenaline was wearing off and she could feel the first of the pangs of pain she was about to experience. It didn't stop her from wrapping her arms around her husband though.

Minato mumbled something incoherent and rolled over. Tears of joy fell from her eyes and she hugged Minato tightly, never wanting to let him go.

A soft cry broke her contact with Minato and she spotted her baby. She picked him up and cuddled him until he went back to sleep. "Look, Naruto. Daddy's alive. He's here with us."

Little did they know, that the half of the Kyuubi that Minato had sealed within himself, had somehow, transported itself to his daughter, Keiko. The villagers saw the child glow brightly in white as the transfer became complete and they rejoiced, seeing this as a sign that the Yondaime had defeated the Kyuubi and had even extracted it's power to give it to his child. The villagers praised Keiko as a hero.

By the time Minato and Kushina limped back to the village, everyone was celebrating. Some were doing it half-heartedly, since there had been some losses during the attack too.

Everyone roared when they saw the Yondaime and his wife arrive and ran over to congratulate and thank them. That was when they saw Naruto. They noticed three whisker marks on either side of his face. The traumatized shinobi and civilians backed away in fear. Minato and Kushina didn't see what the problem was. Naruto looked the same. He had those whisker marks since he was born not ten hours ago. It wasn't until someone took a closer look at him, that they realized what was wrong.

Naruto suddenly glowed orange and every shinobi in the village recognized the chakra signature at once.

The Kyuubi's chakra.

When Naruto opened his eyes, everyone was shocked to see that his pupils had become slits. The villagers, especially those who had lost family members to the fox, growled and became angry.

The fox was inside the Yondaime's son!

They roared in anger and attempted to take the child away so that they could rip him, limb from limb. Hundreds of Anbu immediately came to protect the Yondaime and his family.

Kushina and Minato looked at each other and then at their son. They stared at Naruto and for a split second, fear shone in their eyes...

A/N: Rewrite of the I'm Better fix because I have nothing better to do. I'm still fangirling over the last chapter of the manga and it will take me years to completely get over it because my SHIPS ARE CANON!

Oh, and pertaining to the questions you might ask in the future,

-No,this won't COMPLETELY follow the plot of the original fanfiction. I was twelve, god knows I was just squealing at every naruhina and sasusaku and every little shikatema moment.

-I'm not sure about making Naruto as strong as he was because

-Minato and Kushina are not gonna be bad parents ... sorta

-Yaaas, Naruto and his sister are friends

-The bad guys are basically the ones who hate on Naruto

-Yes, they will still worship Keiko but she doesn't like it, nor do the members of her family. The people of Konoha love to do it though.

-I am giving away too much here