Chapter Text
The crisp autumn air whistled past Minato’s face as he watched his future slowly fall apart in front of him. His newborn son was crying in his arms, asking for a kind of comfort Minato couldn’t give him right now. His wife, Kushina, was hanging onto life by a thin thread, through sheer stubbornness and force of will. Some feet away, after rampaging through his village, the great Nine-Tailed Fox was plotting its escape.
Months in advance he and Kushina had been carefully planning Naruto’s birth. It had all gone accordingly at first, their son born healthy and strong. Minato had been ecstatic. They were finally forming the family they had always wanted, they were parents. Everything had been working out, until Madara Uchiha showed up.
Now, Minato was left dealing with a barrage of bad choices he would have to inevitably make. For the sake of his nation, his village, for the sake of his son, he’d have to sacrifice plenty. He would do it gladly, if it were only him. But now Kushina was dying and that was the one thing he couldn’t give away. He wouldn’t live without her. He couldn’t.
She had been so excited to meet her child, to care for him and watch him grow. Minato knew she’d become a great mother, but to think that that was going to be taken from her…
“Kushina, there’s no need for you to die tonight. You can meet Naruto again,” he spoke firmly. The soft breaths of their son the only sound left, Konoha’s destruction drowned out by the barrier they were currently in.
“Minato…” Kushina knew her husband. She knew how he functioned, how he viewed the world, the things he’d sacrifice for its wellbeing—and for hers.
“With the Reaper Death Seal I’ll split the Kyuubi’s chakra in half. I will seal half of it inside of me, and the other half-“
“No,” Kushina whispered, looking up at her husband with unbridled fear in her eyes. She knew what he was going to say. She couldn’t do this to her son, the burden it was.
Minato stood silently for a second, before crouching down to Kushina’s eye level. “This way I will seal a sliver of your chakra inside him, and you’ll be able to see him once again…” He could give her this.
She stared at the bundle in Minato’s arms, now quiet after exhausting himself with his own crying. “We can’t do this to him, he’s—“
“It’s the only way.” Minato had tried to find other solutions, but they were too risky… Naruto was too young to hold all of the Kyuubi himself, Kushina was too weak and he couldn’t hold the beast either. The Uzumaki were special, he wasn’t.
The only way was to split the Kyuubi’s chakra, and Minato could only think of one way to make that happen. They couldn’t let the Kyuubi reform elsewhere, not with Madara plotting against them.
At least this way Minato could honor Kushina’s dream. He’d be stuck for eternity in the Reaper’s stomach after giving up his soul to it, he’d leave his son behind, but he’d give this and more for her to be able to see her child...
Minato sobered up and looked back down at Naruto. “He’s strong, he’s our son. It will be hard but… he’ll find a way.”
“I said no,” she choked out, tears streaming down her face. “You… You don’t know what it’s like. This is the… last thing I want for him,” she spoke slowly, her chest heavy as the bijuu extraction finally started weighing in on her, apart from everything else she had gone through tonight.
Kushina knew her husband. She knew the one thing he wouldn’t sacrifice were her dreams. But he was in the wrong—her dreams had changed. What mother would give up her child’s happiness for just a few minutes with him? She wanted to, so badly… But she couldn’t force this burden on her son, and then leave him alone to deal with it.
“I’m… dying tonight, Minato.” The man’s face slightly fell down at that statement. “But you have to live… Please, find a way. You can’t leave Naruto alone. We jinchuuriki… we need a family. I had you, and I want Naruto to have you as well.”
Kushina’s eyes gleamed with a bright determination that made Minato sick to his stomach. She was asking for so much… He knew he’d comply, even if it was the most painful thing he’d ever have to do.
Minato Namikaze was a selfish man, and he didn’t want to spend a single living breath without his wife by his side, maybe even at his son’s expense. But for her, and for Naruto too, he’d have to live.
He got rid of the sweat on his forehead and spoke, “I had one idea, but I don’t know if it will work…” He hadn’t entertained it much. It was extremely risky—not just for him, but for Naruto as well. And if it somehow did work… Minato didn’t even know what would happen next. Yet as he saw Kushina looking up at him with that spark in her eye, he knew he’d have to go through with this.
“Naruto can’t hold all of the Kyuubi by himself. He’s too young. But…” Said Kyuubi let out an angered roar, its chakra reserves almost renewed and ready to strike again. Fuck. “I’ll make it quick. I can theoretically modify the Eight Trigrams Seal I was going to use on Naruto to hold more than one soul… One would be the Kyuubi’s, the other one would be mine. If my theory is correct, I can help Naruto hold the entirety of the fox, all from the inside.”
Kushina stared at him as a few drops of blood trickled down to the ground from her chin. “That’s… That may work. How will you get back out?”
The Yondaime let out a dry chuckle. “I’m not sure. I’d have to wait until Naruto’s old enough to hold the Kyuubi on his own. I would say about a year. Then I’d need someone to get me out from the outside… you know how seals are.”
His wife gave him a small smile, knowing that getting out of a seal from the inside was borderline impossible without outside help. “I do. I taught you after all, y’know!” She grabbed her side as she let out a pained wheeze. “…Jiraiya can get you out… This has to—will—work, Minato. Thank you.”
Minato’s gaze softened as he placed a hand on her shoulder, “I hope it does, I don’t want to let you down. And don’t thank me, I should be the one thanking you. For-“ His voice broke as he spoke. “For letting me love you, for helping me become Hokage, for making me a father…” He was actually going to lose her. “Kushina, I—“
“Don’t be a crybaby, Minato.” She held out her hand to his face and wiped at his tears with a blinding smile. “I love you too.”
The Kyuubi apparently had had enough, its tails swishing restlessly as it let out another ear-splitting scream. “We can’t let it get to Naruto while I make the seal.”
“I’ll handle it,” said the Hot Red Habanero as her Adamantine Chains enveloped the raging fox. “…Do it quick, I don’t know how long I can hold it down.”
Minato nodded, his hands slightly trembling as he summoned the sealing altar and placed the squirming infant on it. With some blood from his still bleeding leg wound, Minato started drawing the seal on Naruto’s stomach. His hand involuntarily flexed as he noticed it was bigger than his son’s torso. He was so small…
Once the seal was done, he let out a shuddering sigh. What was he doing? What kind of father did this to their child?
He summoned Gerotora, giving him the key to the seal. “You need to keep that safe,” he spoke quickly as Kushina’s chains started slowly faltering. “Tell Jiraiya to come see the seal in a year’s time, I-“ The Kyuubi broke out, its claws b-lining straight for Naruto. No!
Gerotora disappeared in a puff of smoke as Minato quickly jumped in, ready to get impaled if it meant saving his child. But his traitorous mind was following another set of rules—you can’t die yet. In a rush, he grabbed Naruto and shun-shined a couple feet away. “Shh, you’re okay. We’re fine.” He soothed the now crying child, only to falter as he looked up.
The fox had impaled Kushina. She was grimacing as even more blood streamed down her mouth. “Kushina!”
“M-minato, just fucking seal this thing. Now!” She choked out, along with some blood.
He hastily placed Naruto on the altar again, and squeezing his eyes shut he poured most of his chakra into the seal, the Kyuubi roaring in distress as it realized what was about to happen. “Hakke Fuuin.”
The Kyuubi was gone.
Minato was next. He didn’t have time to say goodbye. “Kushina.” He could only look up at her, a pained look in his eyes.
She smiled at him, “You take care of our boy now… You’ve got this.”
I don’t. He wanted to scream out, but the seal had already taken him in too. Now he was face to face with a very pissed off demon fox.
*
Kushina silently stared at the bare spot where her husband had just been standing. Gone. She stumbled over to the altar, falling to the ground in an ungracious heap.
So far, Naruto seemed alright. He was crying, but there was no demon fox trying to crawl out of him, y’know?
She shushed him, holding him as best she could in her state. He was so tiny.
Even though the barrier was still up, a few crickets started chirping, a juxtaposing tranquillity after the chaos. Kushina breathed heavily as adrenaline left her and her body slowly started shutting down.
“Naruto…” Unbidden tears came to her eyes, but she still whispered whatever she could come up with to him. She will never see him again.
“I have so… so much I want to say to you, Naruto.” She felt herself getting out of breath, but she forced herself to speak. “You will have your father… He’s a bit crazy, y’know, but you will be fine...” Kushina spoke for a while, committing her son’s face to memory.
Her voice carried a myriad of feelings, speaking words she knew he would never remember, but doing so anyway.
After a while, the barrier finally came down, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the Third Hokage hurriedly making his way to her. Good—it had been a good five minutes since she had been able to get any word out.
She gingerly pressed a kiss on Naruto’s forehead. “I…” She rasped out, “I love you, Naruto… Be strong.”
She was really dying... Her body had long since gone numb, the agony that had ravaged it fading into distant memory. Her heart was a contradiction. She was terrified—more terrified than she had ever been—of the inevitable end awaiting her. Yet at the same time, a strange peace had settled over her, deeper than any she had ever known.
With some effort, she looked up at the Sandaime. He was… speaking to her, but she couldn’t hear him well, it was all distorted…
Kushina wanted to thrash and scream when Sarutobi took Naruto from her arms, but not a single muscle moved. It suddenly wasn’t as cold as it had just been, and her eyes were struggling to stay open. “…Naruto,” she whispered.
“That’s his name?” Hiruzen Sarutobi worriedly asked. This was a catastrophe. “Where’s Minato?” The child—Naruto—had begun wailing in his arms. Sarutobi made sure to cover him properly with the blanket he had on.
The Yondaime’s wife still hadn’t replied. “Kushina?” Hiruzen looked up.
Kushina Uzumaki was dead.