Birth of a Hero's Son

The Light Screen in the sky changed once again.

The title of this broadcast was

"Birth of a Hero's Son"

The video in the sky began to play...

This broadcast was a trailer, a short video lasting five minutes.

A sorrowful song began to play.

"Obviously," the tearful version.

Kushina Uzumaki's voice came through, raw with grief and trembling with tears. "I want you to stay by Naruto's side."

"Watch over him until he grows up."

"Why?"

The video slowly revealed a weakened Kushina, using every ounce of strength she had to cry out to Minato Namikaze, "For the village?"

"Does our Naruto have to become a sacrifice for this village?"

Minato looked at Kushina, his face full of anguish, and said nothing.

Kushina pressed on through her grief. "For this village, do you have to sacrifice yourself for me too?"

"Why..."

Minato's voice came slowly. "Abandoning your country or your village is no different from abandoning your child."

"You, of all people, know what it means to lose your homeland."

"You know how cruel a life the people of a fallen country are forced to endure."

Minato looked at Kushina, weak and bleeding from the mouth. Fighting back his heartache, he continued, "Besides, everyone in our family is a ninja."

"And there's something else. As long as I'm alive, I can't win against you, even if we have only a little time."

"As his mother, you can teach our child far more than I can as his father."

Minato slowly crouched before Kushina, determination filling his eyes. "That's a mother's duty. And I'm not doing this for you."

"I'm doing it for our Naruto too. That's my duty as his father."

"We're both willing to die for our child. That's our duty as parents."

Minato carefully picked up Naruto and looked at Kushina with resolve.

Kushina stared blankly at Minato, unable to speak.

The scene changed.

Outside the barrier, Hiruzen Sarutobi struck it again and again with his Adamantine Staff.

No matter how desperately Hiruzen tried to break the barrier before him,

he failed...

As Hiruzen considered how to destroy it,

two Anbu Ninja rushed up behind him and asked anxiously, "Third Hokage, how are things?"

Hiruzen answered gravely, "It's no use. Minato put up several barriers ahead of us to keep the Nine-Tails from getting out."

"There's no way in. They intend to deal with the Nine-Tails themselves."

Hiruzen gazed uneasily at Kushina and Minato inside the barrier.

The scene changed again.

Minato Namikaze had already used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal half of the Nine-Tails' Chakra inside himself.

The moment that half of the Nine-Tails' Chakra entered Minato Namikaze,

Minato Namikaze gritted his teeth against the agony and struggled to speak. "It hurts. It hurts. My whole body's gone numb."

"I never imagined his Chakra would be so heavy."

Minato Namikaze gasped for breath as memories flashed through his mind.

The Mysterious Man in the Tiger-Stripe Mask had held the newborn Naruto

and covered him with explosive tags.

He had abducted Minato's wife, then forcibly summoned the Nine-Tails to kill her. Each moment came rushing back.

Minato Namikaze gritted his teeth and endured.

Behind Minato Namikaze, the Nine-Tails had lost half its Chakra.

Its massive body shrank at once.

The golden chains binding it began to fall away, one by one.

Minato Namikaze struggled to pick up Naruto, then raised his right hand and slammed it against the ground.

Bang!

The smoke cleared.

A small altar had appeared on the ground. Minato Namikaze carefully laid Naruto on it.

Minato Namikaze said to Kushina beside him, "All right, Kushina. All that's left is the Eight Trigrams Seal."

"Now I'm going to seal the Nine-Tails inside Naruto."

The Nine-Tails heard that Minato Namikaze meant to seal it again.

He intends to seal me again.

And inside that little brat right in front of me.

The Nine-Tails roared in fury, "Unforgivable! Unforgivable!"

At that moment, Kushina's body finally gave out.

She no longer had the strength even to stand.

She tried to crawl toward Naruto, but pain racked her body and she kept coughing up blood.

Ahead of Kushina, Minato Namikaze heard Kushina's voice behind him.

Minato Namikaze rushed to her and asked anxiously, "How are you, Kushina?"

That instant of distraction gave the hate-filled Nine-Tails its chance.

"Now!"

The Nine-Tails swiftly raised a claw and drove it down toward Naruto on the altar.

Kushina and Minato Namikaze seemed to sense something and sprang up...

Squelch...

Blood spilled out. Strands of Kushina's red hair lay scattered on the ground.

The blurred image slowly came into focus.

The Nine-Tails' claw pierced straight through Minato Namikaze's stomach.

But the Nine-Tails' claw kept pushing forward toward Naruto.

Kushina stepped in front of Naruto, and the Nine-Tails' claw pierced her stomach too.

Kushina endured the terrible pain as blood poured from her mouth.

Still, Kushina gripped the Nine-Tails' claw with both hands, using all her strength to keep it from moving forward.

Minato Namikaze and Kushina fought with their lives to protect Naruto.

At last, the Nine-Tails' claw stopped, only a hair's breadth from Naruto.

The Nine-Tails had no strength left. It had yet to recover from losing half its Chakra.

Now Minato Namikaze and Kushina were holding it back with their lives, leaving its claw unable to advance.

The Nine-Tails roared bitterly, "I was so close! No! I won't accept this!"

The Nine-Tails remained where it was, roaring in fury.

The Nine-Tails' cries rang with a beast's hatred for humanity.

"Remember this, Minato Namikaze!"

Minato struggled to speak. "I told you. This is what I can do as his father."

Kushina answered with difficulty, "Then I ought to do my duty as his mother too."

"This is the first time I've ever lost an argument with you, Minato."

"Only now do I finally understand how serious you are."

Minato forced himself to smile through the pain and replied gently, "Thank you, Kushina."

Minato Namikaze raised his right hand and wiped the blood from his mouth.

Then his hands flew through a series of signs. "Summoning Technique!"

Bang...

The white smoke cleared, revealing a scrawny little green frog with an unusually long body.

The moment the Green Frog opened its eyes and saw the Nine-Tails in the distance, it screamed in fright.

"Waaah..."

"The N-N-Nine-Tails!"

Note: There have been too few gifts, and the income from reads has been too low. I really need the money.

I've looked for a lot of jobs these past few days. I think that's all settled now.

So I'm resuming updates.

If you could send some free gifts, I'd be truly grateful.