Chapter 7

Time seemed to slow down as the picture of a Beast, a Man, a Woman and a Child was slowly being drawn by a godly hand.

Kushina still had her wide smile plastered on her face. Even with the blood trickling down from the edges of her lips, the smile still looked beautiful. She looked at her newborn son with an endless love but also with a hint of sadness.

"If there's only one thing I regret: It's that I won't be able to see Naruto grow up." With those words, tears finally fell from her eyes.

Minato suddenly shuddered hearing her. He raised his his head and looked at Kushina in the eye and said calmly, "Kushina, there's no reason for you to die together with the Kyuubi. Use what little chakra you have left to ensure a reunion with Naruto." He straightened his back and wiped his tears.

...

"How the hell did it get there?!" Ken watched as the beast just disappear from his sight. He panted as sweat wet his clothes. Just a moment ago, he saw the Kyuubi pinned down by a huge toad, and the next moment it suddenly disappeared and an explosion occurred 2 mountains away!

Suddenly, Ken felt the throbbing coming from his stomach get stronger. The intense hunger that he did not want to experience again suddenly appeared. He opened his mouth and drool dripped from his mouth.

His expression twisted into a vicious one. His appearance as a little kid added intensity to his horrifying expression. His vision was slowly getting darker and darker, until to the point that he could not see anything anymore.

If anyone saw him, it would probably send shivers down their spines. That evil expression, that wicked smile, those eyes that turned black, and that evil aura it radiated! Only one word could describe Ken's appearance right now... Demon!

'What are you doing!?' Ken thought furiously as felt his strongest desire to eat quickly overcoming his instincts. He could hear a loud voice in his head, "Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Hungry! Hungry! Eat! Eat!"

Before he knew it, Ken lost consciousness.

But what Ken did not know was, without his command, his limbs suddenly moved on its own. That's right, his body was being controlled.

'Ken' suddenly twitched and he stared at the direction where the explosion occurred. An evil smirk formed in his lips and drool dripped down, as if he saw a delicious prey beyond the mountain.

Shockingly, his small body slowly levitated. 'Ken' hovered two meters above the ground for a moment and slowly floated towards the direction of the place that Minato teleported with the Kyuubi. The speed was slow, it was just like Ken walking, but it was still faster as Ken would have needed to walk around the walls and dodge the debris blocking the way.

And fortunately, 'Ken' did not float beyond 2 meters, otherwise, he would have been easily discovered by the patrolling shinobi's who were going around rescuing and recovering the bodies of dead people.

With a steady pace, 'Ken' floated towards the direction of the Kyuubi.

...

"Grrrrr!" The Kyuubi grunted as it tried to breakthrough the golden chains tying him to the ground. But no matter how it struggled, it could not breakthrough it. This was the famed Adamantine Sealing Chains of the Uzumaki Clan. A clan full of experts in Fūinjutsu, and Kushina is one of them!

After Minato conversed with Kushina, he stood up ignoring Kushina who had an opposing expression.

Minato then performed a series of hand seals that ended with a clap of his palms.

"Shiki Fuujin (Dead Demon Sealing)!"

A part of Minato's soul was extracted and was suspended behind him. A transparent smoke suddenly appeared behind Minato's soul and formed into a transparent demon, the Shinigami. It's long hair tied the soul of Minato, as if binding it.

With his hand still clasped together, Minato spoke, "After I've used the Shiki Fuujin, I'll seal your chakra into Naruto. I want you to be there to help him out when he attempts to control the Kyuubi's power as a Jinchuuriki."

Kushina grimaced after hearing Minato.

"But he's... he's our son!" Kushina looked unwilling as she shouted. "Id never want him to live while carrying such a burden!" Kushina said angrily.

"Why are you using Shiki Fuujin?! Is it just so I can see him when he's grown up? It'll only be for a short time anyway! There is no reason for you to die! I want you to stay by Naruto's side and watch him grow up!" Desperation, grieve, unwillingness, sadness, and more importantly, anger was in her voice as she shouted at Minato! Her voice switched to being loud and soft.

"Why then?" As if coming to realization, her eyes widened, "To maintain the balance between the Bijuu(Tailed Beast)? For the sake of the country? The village? There is no reason for you to sacrifice Naruto for that! There is no reason for you to sacrifice yourself for me!" Blood spewed out from her mouth as she could not control her emotions any longer. Her voice was slowly getting stronger and stronger as anger dominated.

She knew... She knew the burden a Jinchuuriki would carry. She knew that if the Kyuubi would be sealed into Naruto, the child's fate would change. She knew her child would grow up with the villagers hating him to the bone. As a mother, how can she possibly allow that!

She could imagine her son being unable to find a single friend. She could imagine her son being bullied and scorned by the people. She could imagine her son living an unhappy life. If Minato really died, who would take care of her son?!

Hearing her, Minato also felt like his heart was being crushed by a huge boulder and grinding it to dust. But still, as a Hokage, he had a responsibility, and one of them was to protect and ensure the villages future. He knew that if the village really lost the Kyuubi, then their deterrent force would be gone and other enemy nations would probably attack Konoha.

It was not just a probability, it would happen for sure. With Konohagakure's current standing as the number one village in the world, as well as the best location with abundant resources, other villages with harsh living conditions like the Sunagakure (Village Hidden by the Sand) would probably attack.

And since the war was just over, the manpower of the village was short. As a Hokage, he would not allow that to happen. It may sound harsh, but to him, saving the entire village and its people was the better option.

"Abandoning one's nation, and abandoning one's village... It's the same as abandoning one's child. You should understand, since your nation was destroyed. You know how harsh life could for someone without a nation. Besides, were a family... of shinobi!"

"Even if I were to live, I can't compete with you." Kushina's eyes widened hearing him. And she trembled.

Minato smiled and lowered his body closer to Kushina who was on the ground.

"Even if it's only for a short amount of time, there are things you, can tell him, I cannot. That's a mother's duty. I'm not doing this just for you, I'm doing this for Naruto, too." With that he picked up the baby Naruto and

"I'm willing to die for my son. That's a father's duty." They mother and father looked at the child for a short time and smiled to each other. They knew that they would die. Kushina is already at death's door having the Kyuubi extracted from her. In fact, if it wasn't for her being an Umumaki with strong vitality and chakra reserves, she would have died the moment the black robed man extracted the Kyuubi from her.

And Minato would also die the moment he pays the price of using the Shiki Fuujin. The Shinigami would consume his soul and be swallowed in its belly. With no soul, then no life, such was the rule of the world!

With a thought, Minato commanded the Shinigami to go with what he wanted to do.

The Shinigami then raised its left hand and drove it through Minato's body.

"Urgh!" Minato grunted as the hand of the Shinigami passed through his body, making atear through his shirt and revealing his chest. The transparent hand of the reaper then extended like an elastic hand and made it's way to the locked down Kyuubi.

The Shinigami is only visible to the user, but the moment its hand made contact with the Kyuubi, the Kyuubi was also able to see it. The Kyuubi instantly recognized the Shinigami and he cursed.

"Damn you, Fourth Hokage!" It looked viciously at Minato as it radiated killing intent.

"SEAL!" With that, the Kyuubi could only scream as the hand of the Shininagima forcefully extracted half of its chakra, more importantly, its Yin chakra! The moment the chakra was extracted, the Kyuubi's size also shrunk to almost half of its original size making the sealing chains a little loose.

The hand then pulled the Yin chakra of the Kyuubi and pulled it back to Minato, but just as the chakra was about to make contact with Minato, the Shinigami suddenly screamed. It raised his head towards the sky with a terror stricken expression. It's arm froze and the Yin chakra it extracted also froze.

It wasn't just the Shinigami, the Kyuubi also screamed in terror as its prideful attitude disappeared all of a sudden.

"Fourth Hokage! Hurry up and seal me!" The Kyuubi screamed hysterically in terror as if it saw a devil.

"What's going on?!" Minato and Kushina said at the same time. It was even more so with Minato as he saw the hand of the Shinigami stop. When he looked back to see the Shinigami, he only saw its horrified and begging expression as it looked at the sky.

The moment Minato looked up, he froze and terror his expression changed to that of terror! After all, he saw a thing that he would not forget even in death!

A huge black sphere of light was descending from the sky. As it descended, the size grew larger and larger that if it kept this pace of growth, it would probably outsize the Kyuubi! It did not end just like that, the sphere of black light suddenly parted in a zigzag pattern.

It opened opened wide, you would expect to find inside of it to be black, but instead, it was filled with white light. But oddly, the light did not escape from inside the sphere of black light!

"What... is.. that?" Minato opened his mouth wide as he watched the sphere of black light slowly make it's way towards them. Despair evident in his eyes as if he he knew that they were doomed!

"Minato! What's wrong! Cough! Cough!" Kushina screamed as she coughed up a mouthful of blood. She could not see what was going on, the same could be said to the other people outside the barrier formation that she setup with her Adamantine Sealing Chains in order for the Kyuubi to be looked down.

She only saw Minato freeze when he looked with a terror stricken expression. Although she did not know what was going on, Kushina knew that something must have went wrong. She also heard and saw the Kyuubi with the same expression, even an idiot would know that she could not see what they were seeing!

"Cough! Cough!" Kushina spat another mouthful of blood and forcefully dragged her body, not towards Minato, but towards Naruto. She could not see, but her instincts told her to protect her child!

But moments passed as she waited for something to happen, but nothing happened. She raised her head and saw Minato with a scared expression.

"What happened, Minato?!" Kushina asked immediately. She also looked back and saw the Kyuubi curb its body as if it was a tame beast... like a dog.

"Nothing... Now let's continue." Minato's reply shocked Kushina. How can he possibly say that nothing happened? But if she can see the Shinigami behind Minato, she would be shocked!

The Shinigami that had a long arm a moment ago lost it's left arm that carried the Yin chakra of the Kyuubi, and even the Yin chakra was nowhere to be found. Still, it did not change the fact that it still had that terrorized expression.

Minato ignored Kushina's question and just said with a smile, "I am relieved, Kushina. Looks like Naruto won't be sharing the burden alone... Now, let's continue. I don't have much time left."

"If that's the case, then I am relieved as well." Seeing her husbands reaction, Kushina also felt relieved. She did not know why or how, but her heart just felt relieved.

"Thank you, Kushina." Minato smiled and bit down his finger. He then wiped the the blood on his palm and performed a series of hand seals.

He carried the sleeping Naruto and bent down to touch the ground.

Puff! A small ritual pedestal appeared from thin air. Minato then went and lay Naruto on the small bed-like ritual pedestal that had eight lit candle surrounding it.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsto (Summoning Technique)!" With a puff, a toad with a spring-like stomach appeared, levitating just a little above the ground. But the moment it appeared, it suddenly sensed an ominous aura not far from them.

"Kuhhaa! The Kyuubi?!" It tilted his head and, "And you, Fourth, what the hell is going on?! So this is what the Grand Elder Geezer is talking about!"

Minato smile and answered, "Gerotora, I'm giving you the key to the seal. Take it to Jiraiya-sensei immediately and store it with him!" Minato then performed a seal and a Scroll puffed out..

With that, the toad with a spring like belly really extended and it rolled the scroll that Minato handed him into its spring-like belly.

"I've got the key. I'll leave now!" With a clasp of its hand, the toad called Gerotora disappeared with a puff.

"Kushina, it's time for the Eight Trigram Seal. I want to put some of my chakra into Naruto as well. It'll be a while before we see him, so say what you want to say." Minato said to Kushina.