"The most beautiful people we hear known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depths. Those people have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and deep, loving, concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

<>

Minato and Kushina had expected some things to go wrong on the day of their son's birth. Hell, a lot of things could go wrong. It was kind of a given, considering he was the son of the Fourth Hokage and the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails. Still, they wished it was a little bit more domestic than what they got. It was too late to be wishing for anything different, though, because they had an emergency situation.

Minato and Kushina were standing in the middle of a very advanced sealing jutsu that was just barely keeping the Nine Tailed Fox at bay. It had come out when Kushina was giving birth to Naruto. It was almost okay- everything was almost okay- when suddenly, the Nine Tails came out like it was aggravated, and started destroying the village. They'd almost successfully had a child with no problems. Kushina had golden chains sticking out of her back, and Minato was placing their child in a shrine bed, readying his chakra to perform one last jutsu. If he was going down, he was at least going to give Kushina a chance to live.

It was impossible to re-seal the Nine Tails inside of his wife, so he had to make do with what was happening here. Naruto was the only option. Though it pained him to no end, to have to put Naruto through this, he hoped Kushina would be able to help him, to always be at his side.

"Minato! Kushina!" The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted, running to them. He was just finishing letting the sealing corps create a barrier behind him. Now, he was also inside the sealing jutsu with everyone, right where the action was. "What's the plan?" He exclaimed, coming to a stop next to them. He placed a hand on the weakened Kushina's shoulder. She smiled up at him gratefully, wincing moments later as the chains protruding from her back tightened at the movement from the Nine Tails.

"Hiruzen-sama, I'm going to seal him. Do you recognize the Death Reaper Jutsu?" Minato asked gravely, getting ready to make the handsigns. Hiruzen showing up wasn't going to stop anything. If anything, his arrival was insurance that he will take up the role of Hokage after him.

"Nidaime's jutsu?" Hiruzen asked, shocked.

"Yes, sir." Minato said, nodding. The young man looked down at his wife one last time. She looked so tired... "I'll seal half of the monster inside me, and half in Naruto, since I believe he will eventually learn to control it's power."

"Minato, stop!" Hiruzen interrupted, stepping closer to the blonde. Minato turned his head to look at him, eyes widening. The man had never raised his voice at Minato, no matter the situation. "I'm old. You're young. I'm of no use to the village in my age. Let me perform the jutsu, Minato, you must survive."

"Sandaime-sama--"

"Minato, you and Kushina have a child now. And someone has to take care of the village. Biwako died earlier. Let me go be with her." Hiruzen nodded, cementing his determination. No matter what Minato said, he would be the one to perform the jutsu, and Minato knew it. He may be an old man, but he was stubborn.

"Old man!" Nine Tails bellowed, yanking more on his chains. He lunged forward, trying to reach them, but the Uzumaki clan chains held fast. Kushina moaned in discomfort, and Minato winced at his wife's pain. "I'll rip you to shreds!!"

"Be still, beast." Hiruzen courageously looked into the monster's eyes. The Kyūbi looked down at the old man, hatred welling up in his cage. Hatred, hatred, hatred. "You will be sealed." Sarutobi began to do the jutsu, forming the hand signs that would seal his fate. Kushina, who was exhausted, was watching him, tearing up. But she couldn't do anything, she was barely staying awake. It was out of sheer willpower that she didn't just lay down and die.

Nine Tails watched, then began to aim one of his claws at the baby boy. He would spear the boy with his claw, and then they couldn't seal him. He'd finish them off later.

(In reality, Kurama was just making sure things happened almost exactly the way they were supposed to, but it wasn't like the Third Hokage, or Minato and Kushina knew that. He wasn't going to actually spear the kid, that was his favorite Junchuriki, right there)

Hiruzen responded quickly, closing his eyes, and his monkey summon hit the claw out of the way with his staff, and another chain from Kushina's back closed over the claw, rendering it immobile. The Uzumaki woman shut her eyes, panting from the effort, but it was effective. King Enma took one look at the Kyubi, then at his summoner, and he saw in Sarutobi's eyes that he wanted Enma to leave. He nodded quietly, seeing what the Third Hokage was planning, and went back to his home. He'd done his job, and bought Hiruzen some time. Now, what Hiruzen wanted him to do was go home, so he wouldn't have to see this happen. Enma sighed. He'd miss the crazy old professor.

The jutsu was complete. Half of the fox went into Naruto, the other half, into the old man. A symbol on his stomach burned through his clothes, and he gasped in pain. Then his soul was taken by the Reaper.

Kushina's eyes closed in absolute relief, and she sobbed hard. With what strength she had, she opened her mouth. "Thank you, Sandaime." She whispered over and over again. She soon passed out, the Uzumaki clan chains disappearing from her back, and the seal keeping everyone out also dissipated. Her heartbeat slowed. She was going to die.

"Help Lord Hokage and his wife! They're injured!" One of the medics shouted to the others. They all entered the vicinity of the circle, and they rushed to the injured people. A few medics gasped and some teared up when they saw the body of the Third Hokage laying beside them, but didn't stop the healing. They couldn't afford to stop.

Minato closed his eyes, breathing heavily. "Bring my son with me..." He murmured to the other medic. He didn't want to be separated from Naruto for one second. Naruto was his son, and no way was he leaving the baby alone. Kushina would obviously be incapacitated, and Minato was all Naruto had right now.

"As you wish, Yondaime-sama!" The other medic nodded, turning to his colleagues. "Hey! Someone get that boy! He's the son of the Hokage!"

"His- his name is Naruto..." Minato coughed, suffering from the massive chakra depletion. "Save my... wife..." Minato passed out moments later. He hadn't realized earlier just how tired he was.

Kushina was rushed to the hospital, where the majority of her injuries were healed by the medical ninja. She was in a deep coma, however. Having something as big as the Kyūbi escape right after giving birth to a child was almost too much for Kushina's body, and she needed her rest. They almost lost her many, many times, but the red haired woman kept fighting.

Minato was also asleep for a few hours, but soon he woke up and got back to work. The majority of his 'wounds' were caused by chakra exhaustion, which was easily fixable.

(Kurama didn't want to face his favorite little Jinchuriki if he killed his parents again.)

A week or so after his recovery, Minato didn't have time to do much physical labor, but he began overseeing the reconstruction of the village, and prepared a memorial for all those lost in the battle. The Sandaime would be considered a hero, Minato would make sure of that. What he had done had saved everyone in the village, and the Fourth Hokage would make sure that the whole village knew of his sacrifice.

Later, the council of elders met with Minato. In this council, Lord Danzo brought up the fact that the Uchiha could control the Nine Tails with their Sharingan, but Minato shut him down right away. He was good friends with the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku, and was positive that if it was an Uchiha, it wasn't anyone under his command. Therefore, there was no reason to ostracize an entire clan for the sins of one person. Fugaku would never do something so twisted to a village in which he and his family live. Minato argued that the Uchiha were innocent, but Danzo was still unconvinced.

The Yondaime became determined to prove him wrong. Despite his grievous injuries, his moral compass remained untouched, and there was no way he was going to let Danzo dictate what happened after this.

In fact, to prove his point, Minato and the council called for a meeting with clan leader Fugaku himself, right after that conversation. Danzo interrogated Fugaku about whether or not he was aware of any traitors within his ranks, and asked why of all places in the village their sector was the only one relatively untouched.

"No. Neither I, nor anyone under my command would set such a monster free. The reason why our compound is not decimated is Hokage-sama. He managed to get the monster away from the village before it got to us." Fugaku said, shaking his head at the group. "However, if one of us was responsible for this tragedy, I swear, I will find the one who did this."

Minato looked at the elders, raising an eyebrow. Homura and Koharu, the old bats, nnodded at him, letting the man know that they believed Fugaku. Danzo, however, glared. There was no way he bought it. He was suspicious, and Minato had the idea that this meant more trouble for him.

"How can we be certain that it wasn't orchestrated by the Uchiha clan as a whole?" Danzo asked suspiciously, looking at the Uchiha. To his credit, Fugaku's shoulders only stiffened slightly. Even that was barely noticeable, only someone who'd known him and his habits for years would see it.

"How can we be certain it wasn't orchestrated by you?" Minato cut in coldly. "I've heard the rumors, Councilman." Fugaku and the other elders were absolutely shocked at the fact that Minato would question Danzo openly like that. Minato, however, was angry.

The elders obviously had too much power over the Hokage, power they did not legally have. The elders were advisors, they were councilors. However, their power was limited to those things. They weren't to be making their own decisions branching off from those of the Hokage. There was no way their opinion matter more than that of their leader. Shodai Hokage Hashirama-sama had set the system up so the Hokage was the leader, and only the Hokage. Who were these elders to argue otherwise? In Hiruzen-sama's case, it made sense that he would listen to them, because they were his old friends.

However, Minato had no such connection with these people. "Learn your place, Danzo-sama." The Hokage's word was law. Even back in the Shodai's time, this was true.

Danzo's face contorted into an angry scowl, but he said nothing to contradict this.

Fugaku bowed his head, in faux respect, trying to hide a smirk at his friend's nerve. "I assure you, Danzo-sama, if the Uchiha had something to do with this, I will find the perpetrator and effectively remove them." He took their silence as permission to stand up straight and did so, glancing at his friend.

Minato gave him a wan smile. Fugaku took one look at him, and nodded. I'll defend you and your clan when you can't. It said. Don't worry.

Fugaku exited the room, doing a half-bow in respect for the Hokage. He still had to find his sons, who were probably still in the shelter. Mikoto was probably somewhere helping someone else. Minato had this covered. He trusted his friend. Now he would have to break the news to his wife that her closest friend is in the hospital.

As soon as he left, the elders decided it was time to go home as well. That left Danzo and Minato.

Danzo looked at the younger man. Minato looked back. There was a mini staring contest between the two of them.

"I can't figure you out, Danzo-sama." Minato finally said, sighing at the older man. He didn't want to have to publicly shame him in front of his comrades, but Danzo was demanding too much power- power he didn't legally have. "Why would you pin this on the Uchiha?"

"They are not to be trusted." Danzo insisted, stomping his staff on the floor impatiently. "One day, they will be the downfall of this village. Mark my words, Hokage-sama."

"Danzo-sama, please listen as I say this. I understand that you were trained by the Nidaime, and he held that belief, however, the Uchiha have done nothing to deserve your suspicion. The days of Uchiha Madara are long gone. With all due respect, you're living in the past." Minato said, trying to remain as passive as he could, even though he was quickly losing his patience with the older man.

Danzo grunted. "That may be so, but the past is what paves the future."

"Danzo-sama, I'm not saying it doesn't." Minato replied, a patient tone taking over. "All I'm saying is those people are Leaf ninja as well. They have done nothing wrong. They will not do anything wrong while Fugaku is in control. This I swear to you. Please, just leave the Uchiha to me, I'll start an investigation into the matter of the masked person who let out the Kyūbi. Does that satisfy you?"

Danzo looked at the young Hokage, dipped his head, and left the room.

Minato sat back in his chair, sighing in relief. That got Danzo off his friend's back for a little while. Minato knew that Danzo wasn't satisfied, and he knew that Danzo wasn't going to drop it. He wondered if he would need to have a meeting with the Uchiha clan themselves to diffuse the tension Danzo would undoubtedly start to make.

Minato was no prophet. He didn't have any miraculous power to see into the future. But one thing he did have was common sense. The Uchiha clan were not only a large asset to the village, but they were also underappreciated and feared by people who had lived during the Nidaime's reign and their children. That needed to change.

The Uchiha weren't the type of people to just be pushed around, and Minato knew that if Danzo started pushing things, the clan would also lose their patience. Minato had to act quickly to diffuse any sparks of rebellion among the Uchiha clan so that there wasn't any future tragedies. Minato respected the clan very much, not only because he was friends with the clan leader, and didn't want anything to happen to them. But he knew that he had to do his part as well.

Now, to check on his wife.

<>

"How is she?" The Yondaime asked the nurse. He sat in a chair next to his wife, holding her pale hand. Kushina was passed out in a bed, wearing the standard hospital garb. They'd just gotten done injecting necessary nutrients into her system. She wasn't looking well. Minato had never seen his wife looking so drained and weak, not even when she had been giving birth to Naruto.

"She's getting better, however she still has a long way to go." The nurse said sheepishly.

"How long do you think she'll be asleep?" Minato asked, his eyes not leaving his wife's motionless form.

"Hopefully not long. She'll most likely be back to normal in a few weeks." The doctor nodded, drumming her fingers on her clipboard, looking down at Kushina. "I'll leave you two alone now." She said, gesturing for the nurse to follow her out of the room. Minato exhaled. In medical terms, a few weeks was still a ridiculously short time. He chalked it up to the Uzumaki clan's incredible unconscious regenerative healing that they all somehow had, and his wife's own personal strength.

"Thank you." Minato told her, letting her leave. After she was gone, he sat there for a few minutes in silence, desperately missing Kushina's voice. He looked at Kushina longingly. "I wish you were awake right now. I miss talking to you."

He began talking to her and telling her about how things were now. "Sandaime's dead. I still haven't completely processed that. Now that Lord Third isn't here to keep Danzo in line, he's riling up the council. You won't believe it," he said. "Danzo suspected Fugaku and the Uchiha of treason."

Kushina said nothing, just lay there, sleeping. He didn't expect her to reply. She didn't. He just wished she could provide him with some sort of comfort, because right now, he felt totally alone. He didn't have anyone.

"Can you imagine Fugaku Uchiha- a traitor?" Minato laughed bitterly, shivering at the idea. "No no, he couldn't betray the village if he tried."

(The irony of this statement was lost on Minato.)

The clock ticked, and for a few more hours, Minato stayed at Kushina's side. Eventually, he knew he had to get up, and the blonde sighed. "Please wake up soon, Kushina. I miss you, and Naruto will need his mother."

Speaking of Naruto, he should take the boy home.

<>

Minato picked his son up from the hospital the minute they made sure he was okay. He would take care of the boy until his mother was back to normal. Minato had absolutely no idea how to take care of a baby, but he heard from his friend Shikaku that there was really no way to prepare for parenthood. At least Minato wasn't alone in this, because Shikaku had just had his son a couple weeks ago.

Shikaku was the smartest man... well, probably ever. If he didn't know how to take care of a baby, no one else did.

The two of them went home, and Minato hung up his robe, sighing at the mess the house was in. He began to pick everything up and organize it so Kushina wouldn't freak out. She always had the house clean, which was strange. One would assume Kushina was a slob, and Minato was the neat freak, but actually it was the other way around. Kushina had picked up the habit while she was pregnant because she was home alone and bored. Sometimes there really was nothing else to do but keep the house clean.

Then Naruto began to cry, and Minato picked him up. He stared at the baby for a moment, and the boy's blue eyes opened to stare at him. The blue eyes clashed as the two had a mini staring contest.

Naruto's eyes began to drift shut, and Minato held the baby close to his chest, running his hands over Naruto's back to help him relax more. Naruto slept easily. Minato couldn't help but grin at that small victory. Maybe the poor boy was exhausted. Minato could relate.

Minato decided to keep the boy close to him in case the masked person came back for him, cuddled the baby in his arms, and fell asleep after placing Naruto in a bassinet beside the couch. The moment his head rested on the couch pillow, Minato was gone to the world. He trusted in his light sleeping skills to wake the moment Naruto started fussing.

When he woke up, he fed his son using the bottles the nurses had given him, then went back to his duties as Hokage.

Minato even helped with the manual labor that day. Well, as much as he could while carrying Naruto around with him. He felt refreshed after his sleep, so he had the energy. Slowly but surely, the village was coming back. The children were playing outside again, cheerful, completely unworried about the giant chakra monster that destroyed their home only two nights ago. Their home felt alive again.

That day was the day of the memorial, held in the honor of the dead.

Minato closed his eyes, mentally rehearing his speech. Sandaime was his friend and mentor, and he didn't feel prepared to be Hokage without his help. The Fourth Hokage put on the robes, and wandered the halls of the Namikaze compound. His head hurt from the stress of the day. He'd worked with the villagers, assigned missions for the ninja, signed papers, prepared the memorial and waited for Fugaku to come with a report all day (He had, later. He apologized, because he got caught up in helping a family fix their house). Meanwhile, Minato did all of these things while caring for their baby son. He was so tired.

Minato sighed. He picked up Naruto and teleported to Kushina's hospital room, baby in hand. He startled a nurse, who left quickly, even after his apologies. That's weird... Minato thought, but let the brown haired woman leave.

Minato sat on the chair, holding Naruto in his lap. The blue eyed boy looked up at Minato curiously, then his eyes turned to the sleeping Kushina. They widened, taking in the features of the beautiful, sleeping woman.

Minato tilted his head to examine his son as he watched Kushina. Naruto's eyes were widening more and more. Minato smiled at Naruto's absolutely starstruck look.

"This is your mommy, Naruto," Minato whispered to the boy. "Kaa-chan." He pointed at Kushina. Naruto gurgled happily, clapping his chubby hands together. "Kaa-chan is sleeping right now, but she'll be back to take care of us soon." The tired man told Naruto, turning the boy to face him.

He bounced Naruto around in his lap, making exaggerated faces that made the boy laugh.

Then there was a knock on the window. Kakashi stood there, wearing an ANBU mask. Minato's student tilted his mask-clad head, pointing at the locked window. Minato chuckled, and opened it, placing Naruto on the bed.

Kakashi sighed in relief, coming in and plopping down on the couch next to the window. "I see you're learning how to take care of the kid without Kushina."

"Aa." Minato looked at him, an amused expression in his face. He wondered how Kakashi thought he was doing. "He hasn't exploded yet, so I must be doing something right."

Kakashi graced him with a small laugh, which sounded muffled under the ANBU mask. "Aaahh." He sighed, leaning back. He looked at Naruto, who was playing with his toes innocently. "He's a cute one. Definitely got his looks from her."

Minato gasped, feigning shock, and placed his free hand on his heart. "I'm hurt!" He said, choking back laughter.

Naruto's gurgles once again caught the attention of both men. His big blue eyes were also scanning Kakashi, and they stopped at the intimidating ANBU mask Kakashi wore. The boy looked almost scared of it, eyes widening, and filling with tears.

Kakashi noticed, and hurriedly removed it, flinging it to the side. He extended his gloved hands in a, 'see? It's all okay!' gesture.

Naruto ceased his crying, and once again began to examine Kakashi. He was taking everything about the world in, in complete awe. It made Minato's smile seem never-ending. Naruto was so adorable. "Would you like to hold him?" He asked Kakashi, holding the baby out to him.

Kakashi stared at the child for a few seconds, then picked him up. Minato thought he would've put up more of a fight, but he didn't. "What's his name?" He asked stoically, not breaking eye contact with the boy. Kakashi and Naruto seemed to be trying to communicate with their eyes. If Kushina was awake, she'd be squealing with happiness at how natural their surrogate son was with Naruto.

Kushina had basically adopted Kakashi over time, so now after hard missions, when Kakashi was too tired to make it home, he crashed at their place in a guest bedroom. Kushina always insisted on looking after the boy for at least two days after, because she knew that Kakashi wouldn't take care of himself.

"Naruto," Minato said, crossing his arms, beaming happily. Obito owed him 30 ryo now; Kakashi had picked up Naruto right away. "He was named after the main character in one of Jiraiya-sensei's books."

Kakashi was silent for a minute, and Naruto giggled at Kakashi for no real reason. The ANBU frowned at the boy. "Babies are weird, Minato-sensei." He told Minato. Minato burst into chuckles from the irony of it all. He'd thought Kakashi was weird, and Kakashi wasn't even a baby when Minato met him.

"You never know, Kakashi," He said when he could control his laughter, hovering his fingers over his baby's face, smiling when Naruto caught his index finger with his tiny fists, holding it and squeezing tightly. "You'll grow to love them."

Kakashi sent Minato a small smile, then glanced at the baby again. Naruto was chewing on his fingers, grinning stupidly at the older boy. Kakashi barked a laugh at Naruto's dumb look. "I don't hate them," he said to Minato. "This one is cute."

Minato laughed again at those words. He never imagined Kakashi would be so open to this. "You know what, Kakashi... I'm going to have him call you big brother." He nodded.

Kakashi's eyes grew sad, and his shoulders tensed. "Minato-sensei, Obito is more 'big brother' material than I am."

"No, Kakashi," Minato said, putting his hands on Kakashi's shoulders. "You'll be an excellent big brother. Obito will be too. You're an amazing shinobi. You have the most selfless personality. You're so smart and strong, and sure of yourself. I know for a fact that Naruto will be in good hands with you." He said, gripping Kakashi's shoulders. "Don't try to convince me otherwise, it is a fight you will not win."

Kakashi was speechless.

Minato chuckled quietly. Kakashi heard the bitterness behind it. "I've been meaning to ask you how you here holding up.

"Kakashi... I know you miss Rin, and you feel bad about Obito's eye. I know you're suffering from guilt. I know you love them as if they were your family.  They love you too. Very much. But Rin would want us to move on, and Obito has forgiven you." Minato whispered to his student. "I also want to dwell on it. But I also have a village to run, and I need my shinobi with me at all times. Your opinion is very, very valuable to me, and I'm going to need all the advice you have, with the village in shambles." Minato took the baby, and lay him down on the couch. Naruto watched innocently, babbling nonsense. Blissfully unaware of the important conversation going on around him.

Kakashi turned around, and Minato thought he could see tears in the boy's eyes. Then he looked back at Minato, and the older man smiled sadly. Kakashi was holding the tears in. "Yes... yes sir."

"That doesn't mean don't mourn, Kakashi." Minato corrected himself. "That means please allow yourself to begin to mourn. What happened was not your fault, and Rin wouldn't want you to keep beating yourself up like this. She would want you to be happy."

Minato didn't say anything else. He didn't want to. He didn't need to. Instead, he put his arms around Kakashi, bringing him into a hug. At first, Kakashi didn't respond, simply let Minato hug him, but then his arms slowly wrapped around Minato as well. Minato inwardly sighed in relief, and rubbed Kakashi's white hair. "It's going to be okay, Kakashi," he murmured. "It's all going to be okay. I promise."

Kakashi nodded, pulling away. He wiped his eyes, and smiled hesitantly. "Do you still want me to keep an eye on Kushina?" He asked, referencing the mission Minato had tasked him with during Kushina's pregnancy.

"Well, now I want you to keep an eye on Naruto for me." Minato winked at his student. "I can handle Kushina. Naruto is going to need a big brother to keep him busy. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly. He sat up, eyebrow's raising. He had no idea what that meant, but Minato was grinning scarily. Whenever he did this, he used to always make the team do something absolutely ridiculous. Kakashi knew then that he was in for a surprise he was sure not to like.

<>

*If you're from the future where chapters 3 and 4 are already out, you can skip this...*

Chapters 2 and 3 aren't going to be in any of Team 7's POV, just to tell the story, how it is now, and get the changes across...

Hiya, Silverwolf735 here. Unlike my last time travel fanfic, this probably won't have as many author's notes so as not to interrupt your reading... I'm posting this the day the first chapter came out so I don't leave you hanging, and I'll post the one after this after I'm finished with Chapter 7. I want to get ahead so I have something to post whenever I have writers' block... you know how that gets... anyway, so that is the plan!

This should also be a million times less cringey than the last one, so I can actually be proud of my work. I'm going to take my time and not rush so I can get quality chapters out for you guys, but I also want to keep a decent publishing schedule. Buuuut we all know how school can be, so I can't promise a chapter every day, but I will at least try to get one out every two days or so.

Thanks for reading thiisssssss~ I love you guys sm for clicking on this weird looking book.... XD

Okeh bye!

a u t h o r - c h a n