Updated: 12/31/13 – Grammar and flow changes

Prologue: Carry On My Wayward Son

Two men stood in a field looking at each other with heated glares as the sounds of chaos reached them over the distance. The man in a black cloak had a yellow mask with black splotches streaked horizontally across its porcelain surface. There was a single hole over the spot where his right eye was, revealing a red eye with three tomoe circling lazily around the pupil. The other man who stood some distance away had unruly blond hair and cerulean blue eyes that glared daggers into the other man. Across his forehead, holding back his hair, was a headband with a metal plate engraved with an open spiral with an almost triangular point.

He was tall and sported a white trench coat with red flames at the bottom and along its spine were the kanji for 'Fourth Hokage'. Under that was a green flak jacket with many pouches and beneath that was a navy-blue turtleneck shirt. He wore blue pants with a kunai holster on his right thigh and black Shinobi sandals with bandages wrapping up his ankles to lower calf. The full moon cast an eerie glow on the green field as the man in the black cloak hunched over with what appeared to be a very injured back and left arm, his voice carrying a foreboding edge as he spoke.

"You managed to injure me and separate me from the Kyuubi, however, the Nine Tails will be mine again!" The man started to be sucked into his eye however as he disappeared he left a few words for the blond to echo through the field "I'm going to take over the world…. And there are so many ways to go about doing that, Minato."

By the end of his monologue he had vanished but Minato knew this would not be the last time the masked man would try to harm Konoha. 'With a tone like that he's not kidding around.'

Before his thoughts could go any further another explosion sounded miles away, bringing the situation in the village back to the forefront of his mind. In a flash of yellow light he transported himself to the middle of the battle field known as the wreckage of the village. Before the man was a giant reddish orange fox with nine flailing tails. Its fur stood on end as it looked down to see the blond man in front of him, its demonic red slitted eyes glaring death at the Leaf Shinobi.

The moment he appeared he went through many hand signs and with a loud voice called out "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

With that a large billow of smoke appeared over the area as Minato Namikaze stood upon the great toad boss Gamabunta. He was a giant rusty red toad with a blue happi vest over his back with the kanji for 'gama' or toad on his back. In his mouth was a long brown kiseru pipe as well as a scar over his left eye from some past battle. The frog puffed out a large breath of smoke before growling out.

"And I thought I was gonna have a nice night with me and my pipe all by myself and no worries, but here we are, in the worst of all situations dealing with an enraged Kyuubi."

"I'm sorry Gamabunta but as you can see this is an emergency. I need your help to push him out of the village so we can seal him once again." Apologized Minato with no hint of emotion in his voice as he realized already what a horrible thing he must do.

"Well then what are we waiting for." With that the frog boss leaped forward into the fray and tackled the fox out of the village.

"Hold him down Gamabunta! I'm gonna Hiraishin us away from the village!" Yelled Minato as he held up one of the three pronged kunai he was known for.

"Whatever you have planned you better hurry up! It's hard to hold down the most powerful being in the world for any amount of time"

The fox yowled in anger as he already worked to push off the giant toad from his back. Then in a massive flash of yellow the toad, fox, and man vanished only to reappear in a clearing a few miles away. Again Minato flashed away but this time returned a distance away from the fox with a woman and newborn child.

The woman had long red hair that fell to the middle of her back and violet eyes that showed exhaustion and pain. She wore a white high collared sleeveless blouse with a loose fitting green dress that almost looked like an apron on her. She also sported a dark blue bracelet on her left wrist and lavender shinobi sandals on her feet. In her arms swaddled in an orange blanket was a newborn child with spiky blond hair, tightly closed eyes, a set of three whisker like birthmarks on each cheek.

The woman was Kushina Uzumaki and her son Naruto Uzumaki was the baby wrapped in his mother's arms. She looked around and realized they were in a clearing away from the village with the Kyuubi being restrained by a struggling Gamabunta.

"Minato, what is this? What are you doing?" asked an emotionally distraught Kushina.

"I'm going to seal the Nine Tailed Fox…into Naruto" he replied in a somber tone that spoke of despair.

"No! You can't do that! Not to our son!" Kushina yelled desperate to save her son from that horrible fate.

"Then who?! How can I ask someone to give up their child to seal the beast when I am not willing to do it to my own son?!" Minato yelled back equally distraught.

"Minato! Hurry up and do what you're planning to do because I don't know how much longer I can hold him down!" called out Gamabunta as he slashed down with his tanto to fight off the thrashing tails of the fox.

"Minato I have a better idea," as she said this glowing spiked chakra chains bust forth from Kushina's back and tied down the fox while it was distracted with Gamabunta. The chains took care of the giant chakra construct just in time as the Kyuubi bashed the giant toad off of him causing Gamabunta to be forcibly returned to Mount Myōboku. "I am already dying; I will reseal the Kyuubi back into my body and pull him with me to the afterlife. That will give you time to prepare so you can seal him when he reforms…. If I have one regret it would only be that I would not get to see Naruto grow up." She coughed her strength already leaving her body as she looked down at the sleeping baby boy in her arms.

"Kushina there is no need for you to die to kill the Nine Tails, save your chakra for your reunion with Naruto," Minato said looking down at the ground, "I'm going to use the Reaper Death Seal to seal half of the Kyuubi's chakra in me and the other half I will seal in Naruto the rest of Kyuubi's chakra as, well as yours and mine. The Kyuubi is just too powerful to be completely sealed away and strategically it is unwise."

"That doesn't make sense! Why must you sacrifice yourself when I am already going to die! Why should Naruto be forced to grow up with no parents when you can live and be there for him! You can't just sacrifice yourself just for my happiness! We-"

"Because the masked man will be back to cause more chaos again and try to destroy the world! Because it's the father's duty to sacrifice his life for his children and it's our duty to believe in Naruto, that he can stop him!" Kushina's words hitched in her throat as she heard this and Minato continued even as tears fell down each parent's faces, "I'm not just doing this for your happiness but also for Naruto's, because there are some things that I can't teach or tell him that only you can as his mother!"

It was upon this scene that an older man by the name of Hiruzen Sarutobi ran to after seeing the toad boss Gamabunta disappear, followed by a few other Leaf Shinobi. Sarutobi tried to run up and assist Minato but Kushina's chakra chains had formed a barrier to keep Kyuubi in and consequently keep everyone else out.

Minato came close to Naruto and Kushina as he summoned a ritual alter to the area and then placed Naruto on top of the stand. Then Minato began to go through a long series of hand signs; seeing this the Kyuubi lashed out with its claws trying to kill the future Jinchuuriki before he could be sealed again. Minato, still going through hand signs, jumped in front of the incoming claw as did Kushina to prevent their son from being impaled. This was when the key mistake happened.

When Minato jumped in front of the incoming claw he messed up the final two hand signs without realizing it, but in his last ditch effort to save everyone he did the final hand seal and said one word, "Fuin!"

A blast of blinding white light burst forth from the middle of the family as Minato and Kushina were stabbed through on the now mostly bloodied claw of the Kyuubi no Yoko. The mother and father pulled with all of their strength and with the remaining power of the chakra chains they stopped the imminent threat of death just inches away from the boy as a drop of crimson landed on the boy's chest. Then the world froze in place.

Minato blinked and looked down to see his wife's face stopped in a moment of excruciating pain and realized she was not moving. Growing worried that Kushina had passed he tried to shake her but the realized that no matter how hard he tried to shake her, she would not budge from her position. What started to worry Minato even more was that he felt no pain, not that he was complaining, but did that mean he was dead? That was when Minato looked down the length of the claw and noticed a drop of blood simply hanging in midair right above his son's chest. 'Just what is going on here? I didn't know that the Reaper Death Seal stopped time to make the contract, but then again I guess no one has lived long enough to give details on this sort of thing but-'

"The contract has been made." Said a surprisingly gentle female voice, as Minato whipped his head around looking for the source of the voice.

"What trick is this Shinigami? Why have you frozen everyone in time except me?" Asked a very bewildered Yondaime Hokage.

"Now what would my brother have anything to with what's going on right now? Tut, tut, tut, I thought your sensei Jiraiya would have taught you to know better than to experiment with jutsu in the middle of a battle." At that moment another flash of light blinded Minato; even when he opened his eyes he winced from the intense white rays emanating from apparently all around him. When it finally died down Minato was shocked to see quite possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, not that he would ever allow Kushina to know that. However he immediately noticed that she was not human, as evidenced by the fact she was mostly translucent.

She had long flowing white hair that reached all the way down her body, yet stopped millimeters from the floor. The plain white robe that covered her torso was simple but incredibly elegant, further enhanced by the silver chain hanging around her neck. It was her eyes that most captivated the impaled blonde though; they shone with ethereal silver light that enraptured him, forcing him not to look away as she walked towards him, bare feet brushing against the grass. Despite how crazy it seemed Minato knew there was only one entity this being could be.

"Well this is quiet the predicament you got yourself into now isn't Minato?" she lightly joked despite the dire situation.

"Ka-Kami-sama?!" said Minato in disbelief.

"The one and only." She said with a nod.

"But why are you here? I did the Reaper Death Seal so I thought the Shinigami would be here, not you."

"Wrong. You thought you did the Reaper Death Seal; what you actually did was mess up two hand signs earlier and did the Divine Displacement Seal which I'm afraid you are not going to like very much." Sighed Kami in a sad tone.

"What am I not going to like?" asked Minato in a voice fearing the worst for his family and village.

"Before we get to that, let's get your beloved in on the conversation shall we?" said the lord over all. Kami proceeded to walk over and touch Kushina and Naruto, both instantly began to stir. Kushina groaned out the pain she had felt earlier, but like Minato, the pain was now gone. She blinked, looked around and saw the Goddess standing before her, giving her a comforting smile.

"Kami-sama? What is-"

"Kushina, don't worry we aren't dead, at least not yet." Interrupted Minato as he looked at her.

"But what is going on Minato? Why is everything frozen and why on earth is Kami-sama herself here?" asked the red head frantically.

"Allow me to explain Kushina," Kami said as she sat down on the grass, "In simple terms, your husband here messed up the Reaper Death Seal hand signs and instead did an entirely different jutsu called the Divine Displacement Seal which, as I already said to Minato, I don't think you are going to like it very much."

"What aren't we going to like very much about the jutsu?" asked Minato again with worry.

"Well, let me explain what this jutsu does first." Answered the goddess, "The moment the Jutsu was activated all that you wanted to have happen was put into a contract with me, and let me say what you are asking for is a lot." She paused as she considered all that was being asked and how to best explain what was to come, "From sealing the Kyuubi into Naruto, to even sealing your chakras into him so that you may speak to your son again in the future but in exchange I take the amount of your life force that I deem necessary for what you've asked, and then your soul is judged. If you are deemed unworthy of what the contract entails, then you and those involved are sent straight to Hell, but if you are worthy then you get what you wish and when you die in this world you will be put through purgatory first then sent to your proper place in the afterlife. It's a huge gamble to begin with but that's not the part you're not going to like. This only explains the 'divine' part of the jutsu." She paused as she heard the couple take a breath, "Now since you are talking to me right now it seems that your soul passed Minato, so congratulations on that part. Now for the bad news, once the seal is finished the person or object is sent into another dimension for a time. For how long I am not sure, but I can at least guarantee Naruto will return here in Konoha one day, after all, I can't have the child of prophecy disappear forever now can I?"

Minato once again looked down at Naruto this time lost in thought, 'So I was right he is the child of prophecy.'

"But who will take care of him? Who will teach him? How will he know of us if this happens?" cried Kushina as fresh tears began to streak down her face.

Kami could only look at them in sadness and say "These are the terms of the contract, this may sound harsh but if you ask me this is a better alternative than the Shiki Fuin. I will allow you some time to speak with your son, for it shall be your last for a very long time."

The parents looked at each other and despite the situation Kushina laughed a hollow laugh, "This is the first time I have ever lost an argument with you, that's how I know you must be serious."

"Thank you Kushina." Said the blonde with a small smile. Rubbing the blood off of his mouth Minato summoned the frog Gamatora. The frog looked around in shock and fear before yelling, "Yondaime what are you doing?! Why is the Kyuubi out?!"

"Gamatora, I don't have much time, I'm giving you the seal key to the Kyuubi. When this is done I want you to store yourself in Jiraiya right away, okay?" the frog nodded as Minato made the necessary markings for the key on the living frog scroll.

"Alright I have the key; I will go to Jiraiya now." After those words the summon disappeared.

Minato looked back at Naruto from behind Kushina and said, "I don't know how much longer this jutsu is going to last so we better say what we have to now."

Kushina gave a look of love and longing to Naruto, "Naruto, don't be a picky eater, so grow big and strong. Take a bath every day and keep warm. Don't stay up late…get…enough sleep…and make friends…you don't need a lot…but…just a few friends…you can really trust. And though I was never good at it myself…study hard and practice your ninjutsu…but everyone has things they're good at and things they're not…so if you have a hard time…don't let it get you down…respect your senseis and senpais at the academy…"

Kushina closed her eyes and paused before continuing, " Oh, and one more thing…about the three ninja vices…be especially careful with lending and borrowing money…and save the money you earn…don't drink till you are old enough to…and drinking too much is bad for you so…take it easy…and as for women…I'm a woman so I don't really understand but…you will find yourself interested in women…but just don't fall for a strange one…find a woman like your mom…and speaking of vices…one more thing…watch out for Jiraiya-sensei…"

Minato couldn't help but painfully laugh at that last statement as Kushina continued, "Naruto…you will face many painful times, hard times…but just be yourself…and have your dreams…and the confidence to make those dreams come true..!"

The tears began to fall faster as Kushina cried, "I really, really, really, really, wish I could be there…to teach you so many things…I really wish I could be with you longer…I love you…"

The area went silent. Everyone had tears coming down their faces, even Kami. Then Kushina spoke again, "Minato, I'm sorry for talking so much."

"No…It's all right…Naruto…as your father…I'll just second…everything your talkative mother said..." Minato turned his head towards Kami, "Can I ask one more thing of you Kami-sama? Would you please take one of my kunai…and engrave it with Naruto's name…so that no matter where he…ends up…he will always know his name?"

Kami stood up from the ground and walked over to Minato. She slowly reached for his kunai holster and pulled out one of the legendary tri-pronged weapons with a Hiraishin seal on it. She held it in between her hands and the kunai glowed momentarily while on the side opposite of the seal the kanji for Naruto Uzumaki appeared.

Kami looked at the engraving and thought to herself, 'He will be a spiraling maelstrom no matter where he goes.' She then walked towards the infant and placed the kunai amidst the bundle making sure it would not stab him. She watched for a few seconds as the baby blonde's chest rose and fell. She turned her head to the tiring lovers and said the final words, "Minato, it is time."

Minato nodded his head in understanding; he started the seal now it was time for him to finish it. "Divine Displacement Jutsu: Hakke Fuin!"

Hiruzen removed his arm now that the blinding light was gone as quick as it came. The chakra chain barrier had come down and that was all the Sandaime needed to dash forward to the scene. Upon the blood soaked earth were Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, their bodies next to each other in a final loving embrace, looking to the spot where Naruto lay now crying into the night time air. The Kyuubi had vanished into the now noticeable seal on the baby's stomach, but upon closer inspection of the child the former Hokage noticed on the boy's hand was another seal in the appearance of the Uzumaki swirl. Soon both seals faded as the desired effects finally took place in hiding the designs on the baby's body.

The old man made a move to pick up the bundle but was stopped by a blue barrier surrounding the boy. Hiruzen was shocked even further when Naruto began to float into the air on his own and a dark purple vortex opened up a few feet away from the boy and he glided towards it.

Doing the only thing he could think of, Hiruzen ran at the swirling energy and smashed Enma, the bo-staff, into the vortex. However, before it could make contact the barrier once again sprang up as Naruto continued to move towards the rift in dimensions. The old man could only watch in horror as the legacy of two of his greatest shinobi disappeared into the purple void, leaving the elder in a barren and blood soaked field wondering what had just happened.

AIR

The night was clear and the full moon shone in the spirit influenced world. In a quiet town ten miles from the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se, or the "Impenetrable City", an elderly lady was on a late night stroll. She was plagued with restlessness this night and thought a midnight walk would help her rest more peacefully. She had a bit of a hunch in her back as she slowly made her way through the dormant town with her candle-lit lamp. The fire light illuminated her wrinkled face to reveal gray hair wrapped up in a tight bun with two bangs hanging down the sides of her face. She had sun spots scattered on her face and brown eyes that shone despite her age. She wore a simple light brown cloak and a green ribbon to help hold her bun in place.

Her name was Chiyo but everyone called her Lady Chiyo by the way she carried herself with an air of command, and the fact that she ran one of the few orphanages in the Earth Kingdom made her a respectable woman in the community's eyes. This was a no nonsense woman with little belief in the supernatural or as the people of this world called them 'spirits'. Little did she know that she was gonna get a little does of faith tonight underneath the full moon.

She had just made it to the outskirts of town and was about to turn back around when a flash of white light sparked into existence in front of the elderly woman. When she was done blinking the spots out of her eyes she saw a purple portal open up before her. She gasped as out of the spiraling vortex came an orange bundle of cloth with the distinct wail of a baby crying.

Then as fast as it had come the portal vanished and all that was left was the baby crying into the cool night air. Lady Chiyo stared, her mouth agape, as she stood stock still. She had never believed in the 'ludicrous' stories of spirits seeing them as simply fairy tales to get kids to behave, which some stories she had used to do just that. But now something that she simply could not explain just happened, and there was only one thought she could think now- 'Spirits!'

Then she had another thought, what if she just left and pretended this had never happened. She could go back to her home and just do as she always would instead of having to look after what she could only be described as a spirit baby. A chill suddenly came over the widow as she turned her head about thinking something was watching her in the dark. It felt as if a spirit was right next to her and if she didn't take the baby her life might end right then and there.

Invisible to the older woman, Kami stood behind her and gazed at her and made sure she took in the boy…or she would pay the price. The goddess watched as the orphanage owner walked up and looked at the baby and a frown spread across her wrinkled face.

There was no doubt to her anymore now that there were spirits in this world. Chiyo could only assume now that this child was touched by spirits or born of them, for the boy had whisker marks on the sides of his cheeks and... yellow hair? What was going on? She looked a little more closely at the bundle and noticed a malformation in the blanket. She unwrapped it a little to find the strangest dagger she had ever seen. It was a short three pronged blade with a uniform, bandage-wrapped handle imprinted with kanji. On the side was a weird marking that looked like a mess of long forgotten writing and on the other side was a beautifully carved name that read-

'Naruto Uzumaki, what a strange name' she thought as she looked from the dagger to the blond boy.

She slowly made her way back to the orphanage and once inside laid down Naruto in one of the cribs. She looked back at the crib before leaving and made a vow in her head that only she and the spirits would know. 'This is too ill an omen for me. The moment I see trouble with him or any other strange thing, he is gone. I will not harbor a child that may be possessed by spirits in my household. If he becomes a threat to the other children I will not hesitate to extradite him from the orphanage.' She turned her back and walked up stairs to her bed and finally fell into a slumber.

The Child of Prophecy had appeared in the land guarded by the Avatar.

A/N 7/18/2013: Sorry if you were expecting a new chapter from this update but don't worry the new chapter will be up in a few days. It's just this brain child happened and I had to add it to my story. Please read and review and give me your thoughts on the prologue as I am always hoping to improve from your reviews. Flames will be used to power up my fire jutsu to new levels as I have been hoping to learn how to master my secondary chakra affinity. Also on another note I have a Beta now and have got to say I feel honored that a writer of his caliber would be willing to help me out. His name is Digitize27 and if you haven't heard of him I highly recommend reading his stories for they are quite original in my eyes and if you are in for a good long read he has your fix, (I recommend his Naruto/Tayuya: Red and Yellow Makes story as well as his Anko/Naruto fic: Small Changes). And before you shake your head at a Naruto/Tayuya fic let me just say you haven't seen a fic like this before. Anyways stay interesting and weird because normal is boring, respect your elders for you never know when you may lose them, and always know that nothing is set in stone in this world.

Stay Frosty my readers.

*End Transmission*