Naruto: The Architect

"He's not breathing," Minato said.

"He's breathing fine," nurse said, patting the baby's back. "Do you want to hold him?"

Minato had held baby Naruto for a few seconds earlier in the day, before masked man appear, now, he quickly handed Naruto to a nurse insisting that someone more qualified than he do some finger and toe counting. He'd done it twice and kept coming up with twenty-one.

"They act like that's all there is to it. Like if the kid has the mini- mum ten fingers and ten toes it's all going to be fine. What if there are extras? Huh? Extra-credit fingers? What if the kid has a tail?" Minato was sure he'd spotted a tail in the six-month old Naruto when he used his chakra to examine Kushina. Yep, it was Umbilical cord! But even that day he was too exhausted.

"He doesn't have a tail, Hokage," the nurse explained. "And it's ten and ten, we've all checked. Perhaps you should go home and get some rest."

"I'll still love him, even with his extra finger."

"He's perfectly normal."

"Or toe."

"We really do know what we're doing, 'Hokage-sama'. He's a beautiful, healthy baby boy."

"Or a tail."

The nurse sighed.

"There's no goddamn tail, you doofus! Look!" She pulled down the blanket and aimed baby Naruto's bottom at him like she might unleash a S rank Ninjutsu,

Minato jumped back—once he realized that the baby wasn't loaded. "You could have removed his tail in the delivery room and we'd never know." He didn't know.

He'd been asked to leave the delivery room, first by the Kakashi and finally by nurse.

"Him or me," nurse said. "One of us has to go."

After running around in circle Minato found himself In Kushina's room, he sat on the edge of a bed in his home, cradling a crying infant Naruto in his arms. his little fists flailing in protest as Minato tried to calm him.

"Shh, Naruto," Minato said softly, brushing a hand through Naruto's golden hair. "I know you miss her already… your mother isn't with us anymore." His voice cracked slightly, his expression a mix of sorrow and guilt.

The cries of Naruto grew louder as Minato's words sank in. He looked down at his son with a melancholic smile. "But don't worry, my boy. I'll make sure you never feel alone. I'll—"

"THWACK!!"

Suddenly A fist came down on Minato's head.

"What the hell are you talking about, you idiot?" Kushina, stood behind him, very much alive, her fiery red hair practically glowing with fury.

Minato winced, rubbing the sore spot on his head as he turned to look at her sheepishly. "Kushina! You're back!" he exclaimed,

Kushina huffed and folded her arms, glaring at him.

She reached out and gently took Naruto from Minato's arms, her expression immediately turning soft as she look at the baby. "There, there, Naruto. Mommy's here. Don't listen to your crazy father."

"Naruto, your Papa isn't really insane. He just hasn't slept for a couple of days, and having chakra fatigue."

"He's looking at me," Minato said. "He's looking at me like I blew his pocket money at gambling."

Kushina took his hand. "Honey, I don't think his eyes can even focus this early, and besides, he's a little young to start worrying about money."

"You need to go home and get some sleep."

Minato mumbled something into the covers. When he looked up there were tears in his eyes. "He feels warm."

"He is warm. He's supposed to be. It's a mammal thing. Goes with the breastfeeding. Why are you crying?"

"You guys are so beautiful." He began arranging Kushina's red hair across the pillow, brought a long lock down over Naruto's head, and started styling it into a baby hairpiece.

"It will be okay if he can't grow hair. Even Raikage didn't have any. And If we had his tail we could transplant that."

"Minato, Go home!" Kushina shouted! Ready for another punch.

Minato leaned back, watching the scene with a contented smile. "You know, you're scary when you're mad, Kushina. I think Naruto's going to grow up more afraid of you than the Nine-Tails."

Kushina smirked. "Good. He'll behave, then."

Naruto's cries quieted as Kushina cradled him, but the peaceful moment didn't last long. A deep, grumbling voice echoed through the room, breaking the silence.

"You two are ridiculous," Nine-Tailed Fox, said dryly.

Minato and Kushina both turned to the seal glowing faintly on Kushina's stomach. The voice of the Nine-Tails was filled with the same familiar exasperation it had developed after spending years with the Uzumaki-Namikaze family.

"Seriously," Kurama continued, "this is the kind of parenting this kid is going to grow up with? You're both lucky I don't have hands, or I'd knock some sense into you myself."

"Hey!" Minato said, crossing his arms defensively. "Don't start with me, Kurama. I just saved the village from you, remember?"

Kurama snorted. "Save it, Hokage. The only reason you even managed to seal me was because I'd already broken free from that Genjutsu. If I hadn't fallen on my face because of that Hyuga brat, you'd still be running in circles trying to keep up with me."

Minato raised an eyebrow. "The Hyuga kid?" Minato remember that kid he saved.

Kurama huffed, his voice gruff but tinged with something almost like respect. "There was a Hyuga brat who punched me with some weird Gentle Fist technique….

…

Five hour ago,

"Whoa! …It's like watching—Naruto live action movie!" Hiroshi mumured,

The night sky of Konoha was burning with orange flames, debris filled the streets. In the distance, a monstrous roar shook the ground—Nine-Tailed Fox was rampaging through the village, its claws tearing through buildings, its tails swiping at anything that dared to stand in its path.

From a tall tree on the edge of the Hyuga compound, Hiroshi continue to watch.

"The Nine-Tails is radiating enormous chakra sir," Nova said in his mind.

"Fu*king monster!" Hiroshi can't help but curse; in the past few days, only he knows how much effort he put into making a skill out of scratch, and that fox is radiating the same amount of energy without even knowing!

As he continued to watch the chaos below him; Hyuga shinobi were working tirelessly, trying to divert the beast's attention.

"What the!?" Hiroshi saw Jōnin from the Shimura clan jumping in front of the Nine-Tails, his expression filled with overconfidence.

"I've fought plenty of chakra beasts!" he shouted, throwing a bottle of half-drunk sake at Nine Tail. "None of them were a match for me!"

For Nine-tail it was another ant—that he can crush whenever he want. The Jōnin began launching jutsu after jutsu—fire, wind, earth—hurling them at the massive fox as if he were trying to impress someone.

For a brief moment, it seemed like the Nine-Tails didn't care, but then with a single swipe of its claw, the Nine-Tails turned the shinobi into meat paste!

"uww" Hiroshi jumped doging blood and chunk of meat, "…R rated action! Is this realy world of anime? I don't fucking buy it!"

however before he can think anything he heard voice in his mind,

'At 8 o'clock of you!'

He saw a group of Hyuga shinobi moved across the rooftops; there were a few faces that Hiroshi knew, drawing the Nine-Tails' attention to give civilians a chance to escape.

But the beast's eyes locked onto them, and with a feral snarl, it raised a claw, swiping down at them with intent to kill.

'They're not going to make it!' he thought.

Just then, he saw a figure move below—a familiar one.

His father, Hiashi Hyuga, clan hade of Hyuga clan, stood with determination etched into his features, his Byakugan activated, veins bulging around his eyes as he prepared to save his clan member at any cost.

'In the original timeline, Hiashi, never encountered the Nine-Tails directly.' Hiroshi thought.

Yet, here he was, Hiashi activated his Gentle Fist, he want to deflect Nine Tails claw with it.

"damn it!" Hiroshi knew the Gentle Fist wouldn't be enough to counter an attack from the Nine-Tails. He clenched his fists, calculating the odds,

'Nova,'

'There is a 100% chance that Hiashi will die!' Nova's voice broke through his thoughts with chilling precision.

'God damn butterfly effect,' His father was now facing a threat that should never have been his to bear.

'Fuck it,' He'd been waiting, hoping to avoid any direct action, now he had no choice. He couldn't stand by and watch his father sacrifice himself.

Without a second thought, Hiroshi leaped from the tree branch, his body a become blur as he activated the Body Flicker technique. In an instant, he appeared beside his father, who looked at him with wide eyes.

"Hiroshi…?!" Hiashi's voice held a mix of shock and confusion, but there was no time to explain.

"Father—move back!" Hiroshi shouted, his eyes locked on the descending claw.

With a deep breath, Hiroshi channeled nearly all of his chakra into his hands, activating his version of the Gentle Fist.

Dark chakra start covering his fists, forming twin dragon heads around his arms, their eyes glowing with an ominous black light. Rings of the same chakra appeared around him, enhancing his power.

Hiroshi thrust his fists forward, meeting the Nine-Tails claw head-on. The impact sent shockwaves through the ground,

Hiroshi felt the weight of the fox's raw strength bearing down on him.

'Change it's direction—don't took it hade on–damn it!'

Hiroshi did as nova said, he change direction of gentle fist and used black chakra rings around him and sent a pulse of chakra in demon fox's body, disrupting chakra flaw in his body and pushing him off balance.

The massive beast stumbled and crashed into the ground, sending debris flying in all directions.

All present in scene, Civilians and shinobi watched in silence, unable to believe what they'd just seen!

"ROAAARR!?" The Nine-Tails let out an enraged roar, its eyes locking onto Hiroshi with a newfound fury.

Hiroshi barely had a moment to recover before he saw the beast gathering energy, chakra pooling in its mouth, condensing into a sphere.

'A Tailed Beast Bomb,' Hiroshi thought, as smile formed on his face, This was the moment he'd been waiting for, but it was going to take everything he had to stop it.

"The energy buildup is massive. If it's unleashed, the damage will be catastrophic!" Nova said in his mind.

Hiroshi nodded, taking a deep breath as he summoned his dagger—a weapon bound to him, He raised it in his hand, 'This has to work! …I haven't even lost my Virginity yet!'

'You know your 5 now right?' Nova said.

The Tailed Beast Bomb grew brighter as the Nine-Tails prepared to fire it on the village. At the last possible second, Hiroshi threw his dagger with all his might, sending it spiraling toward the Tailed Beast Bomb.

As the dagger made contact, Hiroshi activated its energy absorption function of system core, In an instant, the energy of the Tailed Beast Bomb was sucked into the dagger, disappearing in a flash of light. The Nine-Tails snapped its jaws shut, stunned as the chakra sphere vanished from existence.

"Huh? …What just happened?"

"Did Nine-tail forget how to make beast bomb?"

Confused murmurs spread among the shinobi and civilians who had braced for the explosion. They looked around in shock, unsure of what had just happened.

No one had seen Hiroshi throwing a dagger or the dagger itself—only the miraculous disappearance of the Tailed Beast Bomb.

Hiroshi felt a rush of energy flood into him as the dagger absorbed the enormous amount of chakra, converting it directly into EP. He glanced at the display in his mind, astonished.

'100,000 EP…' he thought, a satisfied smile playing on his lips.

However the strain of channeling so much chakra, combined with the effort of deflecting the Nine-Tails' attack, had taken a toll. His vision began to blur, and he felt his strength slipping away. He managed to take one last look at his father, who was staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Stay… safe," Hiroshi murmured, barely able to form the words before darkness overtook him,