Description: The Kyuubi was never resealed after Mito Uzumaki died and had not been seen in decades. The Third Shinobi War never ended and the Third Hokage sacrificed his life for it, resulting in Minato becoming the Hokage in the middle of war. In the midst of it all, Naruto and his peers grow up and enemies are at the doorstep. AU.

Genre: Adventure/Drama

Pairings?: General fic.

Characters: Naruto, Minato, Sasuke

Reasoning: I conceived this idea while I was brainstorming for my other multi-chapter story, "Upside-Down Hourglass". I really don't know how, but once it came upon me I could not shake it off. I wanted to make it a oneshot in hopes that I wouldn't have to deal with another multi-chapter fic, but it was too good for me to pass up. And hence here we are.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. However, I do own the idea of this story.

NOTE: The prologue is shorter than what my average chapters will be like. Action begins in chapter one.

The Eye of the Storm
There is always calm before a tempest consumes…

Prologue:
Changing of the Guard

"Here it is! The big day! Too bad I'm not one for the celebration of mission days. Can we have some alcohol yet? I'd like me some alcohol. And noodles. I like noodles too." —Ryu Goto (Team Jiraya)

A long time ago a Demon Fox appeared near the Leaf Village. Its power was so incredible that it could create a tsunami with just one swish of its nine tails. It was gigantic, much more enormous than a mountain.

They say its eyes were red with malice and that its fur was a murderous orange; that it attacked with but a command from its master: Madara Uchiha.

The monster fox came with this man, ready and being controlled. It gnawed at their supposed enemy who was the very first Hokage of Konoha. They fought and fought for days. Some even say that the battle lasted for an entire week, clashing and usurping whole landscapes to the point of no return. And these powerful men were no more than humans themselves.

They say that the fox was summoned by this Madara who used to be a good friend with the First, but their ways soon changed when it was clear just what kind of power the man truly desired.

Hashirama Senju who was the First Hokage wanted peace through community and Madara Uchiha wanted peace though power. This idea was only reinforced when the demon came about in a cloud of smoke, vicious and snarling, until there was naught but fire and turmoil in their midst.

They even say that Madara was so misguided that the fox itself fought against its will. They say it never wanted to be controlled, that it never wanted to destroy without reason, but there was never any proof.

According to legend, the Nine-Tailed Fox was a powerful chakra construct made of the hatred of the world and those who summoned and were able to control it were legendary themselves and should never be tampered with.

But, like any other tailed beast of seemingly immortal being, there is always a way to defeat it.

After Hashirama was able to decimate his old friend, his wife came to his aid in order to put away the monster that had been summoned. They say she was beautiful and noble, and that there was never any Uzumaki woman quite like her. She lived up to her husband and the two were great just by themselves. Her hair was fiery and red, tied up into dual buns with paper seals that hung from each one.

But these paper seals were used to keep her power in check, for Mito Uzumaki had resilient chakra that could generate chains and prolong her very lifespan. Because she was so strong, she kept her power over it sealed until she needed to use her innate chakra to make chains or weapons in battle.

They say that when she arrived to the battlefield, the land had been wholly reshaped, but their problem was the Nine Tails.

It still wanted to ravage the earth and all its inhabitants, but they could not have that especially when the Warring Clans Era had just ended. So she unleashed her power, releasing her chakra chains, and dragged the beast within her, sealing it into her own body.

From that day on, the Village Hidden in the Leaves had the very first jinchuuriki in all of known existence since the time of the Sage of Six Paths.

And from then on the village was known as the most powerful hidden village thus far and no one dared to trample on it…until the beginning of the First Shinobi World War.

Fear escaped the villagers who had just begun to know peace. The Uchiha Clan that had disowned their previous leader, Madara, were especially fearful. They did not want their new home to be obliterated when they had just achieved a friendship with many clans and many other shinobi. For a time it seemed as if all of their hard work would have to be wasted, and for a short while many believed that and were dejected.

But the First Hokage and his wife were adamant in keeping the village alive and soon the Leaf was winning the conflict.

News spread throughout the continent. The war would have ended right then and there.

But the other nations were terrified of them. The Leaf could not be touched and the Leaf's allies were even so strong that it was practically impossible to overthrow any of them.

The Whirlpool Village in the Land of Whirlpools was a very well-known ally that used their prowess in sealing to completely destroy their enemies, and the fear and trepidation only grew from there, like a bomb about to explode outward into a million pieces.

The Uzumaki Clan and the Whirlpool were virtually indestructible, but many ninja villages gathered together to try and wipe them off the face of the map. When the Leaf heard of this, they sent as many to help their friends in the Whirlpool as possible, including the First Hokage himself and his wife.

No one really knows how the First was defeated, just that his dead body was found in his wife's home village weeks after and that his wife's lifeless one was nearest to him.

They say that Mito Uzumaki released her powers and the powers of the Kyuubi in an almost blind rage when she saw what was happening to her childhood home, and that her husband made every effort to assist her. They say that both of them went down fighting for each other, for the Leaf, and for the Whirlpool.

Both left their two children and grandchildren behind. But, their legend would remain both a mystery and a tremendous tale of both truth and lies that no one could quite distinguish any longer. Because of them, there were at least some survivors from the Uzumaki Clan left, but their homes and their families were virtually destroyed.

Nevertheless, the debt and the guilt settled onto these survivors' shoulders, and the only thing that was sure was that with the death of Mito Uzumaki, the Kyuubi had also vanished, never to be seen again until it reappeared in a flash of red and crimson and consumed with humanity's hatred…

ooo

"Hey Namikaze! Aren't you excited?"

A seven-year-old blond haired child raised an eyebrow as the sprinting form of one of his classmates skidded next to him as both children walked to Konoha's Shinobi Academy on a typical school day. Though apparently, the day was not so typical after all and Naruto being who he was, noticed. Everyone was acting strangely around him lately.

"Kiba?" Naruto questioned with a confused expression resting on his facial features. He observed the brunette boy near him and saw the red triangular markings on his cheeks that revealed the kid to be a member of the Inuzuka Clan. "Why should I be excited?"

Kiba's head bobbed up and down in enthusiasm. "Well haven't you heard? They've been looking for a new Hokage to replace the Third for weeks and everyone's sayin' it's gonna be your dad!"

Naruto looked incredulous and his blue eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't been expecting that one. If that was true, it was no wonder that everyone was acting weird every time he made an appearance. "That's gotta be some kind of joke!" the blond retorted.

"Nuh-uh! I heard it myself! Everyone's talkin' about it!" said Kiba with a wide grin. They continued to walk together till they reached the entrance of classroom 202 for second years. "I promise that I'm not lying to you! All the Clan Heads were sayin' all kinds of stuff and I'm pretty sure this one's true! Just you watch, in a few days, the Fourth is gonna be the Yellow Flash!"

For the rest of the school day things went about in a similar vein. There were whispers and murmurs about him. Many were animated and others were speaking more cautiously, but the boy heard them nonetheless. It did not help that his teachers were just as talkative that day as everyone else in the village was. He almost had a head rush with all the astonishing information that came at him with full force.

For a brief moment Naruto wondered why he had not heard tell of such things before. He knew his father was strong and undoubtedly loyal to the village and he even knew that the Third had been keeping a close eye on him before he sacrificed his life to save an entire platoon of Konoha jounin and chuunin from the Cloud Village's raging jinchuuriki, the Raikage's own son, a whole bunch of jounin, and all while being outnumbered by at least three hundred more shinobi than his own forces…for five days straight. Plus in the midst of that battle, the Third had decided to save the strongest Konoha platoon consisting not only of Naruto's own father, but Kakashi of the Lightning Blade, a handful of Uchiha and Hyuuga, and even the medic, Tsunade of the Sannin.

They had been fighting for days on end and being outnumbered did not help, especially with a jinchuuriki on the other side. There were so many casualties and provisions were low. The Kumo shinobi had caught them by surprise right in the middle of what was thought to be a secret mountain passage as they made their way to the Cloud camps that were behind a certain range because of an informant.

It turned out that they were all duped and that the informant was a double agent, definitely not to be trusted.

No one was ready for an early fight even though they were prepared for a long and difficult one, if the shinobi that Konoha brought were enough to speak of. By all means they should have won even without the Third's help. That is, until the Eight Tails went on a rampage.

It was said that the Konoha platoon had already fought for three days with no back up or ceasefires by the time Kumo decided to bring out their trump card. When that happened, the Leaf had neither the resources nor the energy to be fighting such a resilient chakra construct. Not to mention that Konoha had been missing a jinchuuriki for decades ever since Mito Uzumaki died with her bijuu and they all waited for the day it would reform somewhere. Ever since then, the Uzumaki Clan and the Leaf had even stronger ties than before and small groups of Uzumaki that survived the Great Uzushio Massacre had moved into the village with loyalty practically written on their foreheads to the point where many offered to be the new jinchuuriki if and when the beast showed up again. (1)

However, the Kyuubi would be no help and they were virtually dead in the water with no foreseeable escape, trapped in a ravine surrounded by enemy forces and on foreign territory no less.

According to the whispers that Naruto heard floating throughout the classrooms, people were saying that there was only one person other than the Third Hokage that offered to give up his life to save the survivors in the platoon: Minato Namikaze.

They said that it was very similar to when the Third took the mantle from the Second and that Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was a chuunin at the time, offered to sacrifice himself when no one else would, but at the behest of the Second Hokage, he stayed behind and instead they lost a great man and earned an even greater one.

They whispered that Minato, despite being so young with a wife and child and all his students alive and well, requested that he be the one to die for his soldiers before anyone could say anything. But Hiruzen simply shook his head and commanded the man to stand down and instead told him to lead the men and women out of there so that they may live to fight another day.

Naruto heard that apparently Sarutobi smiled at the Yellow Flash and said that if he were to die that day, Minato should be the one to replace him. And everyone there had heard it.

Naruto himself did not hear anything like that weeks ago when his dad came home from that legendary battle. All that he remembered was the extreme tiredness he and Kakashi-nii displayed when they arrived home and the worry his mother exuded when she came back the following day from her short B-rank mission.

No one had said a word and his father simply patted his head and said, "It's going to be alright little guy," and turned to leave before disappearing to the Council Rooms and promptly to the hospital for checkups afterwards. It was soon after that that the Third Hokage was pronounced K.I.A.

Naruto felt that many of things were rumors, but from what he had gathered, it did not seem like it. The shinobi that talked about it were very careful with their words and most of them were well informed. He knew that very well. It would not do for a huge rumor such as this one to circulate around a village that had just lost their leader in a tragic affair. If all of it proved to be false, the plummet in morale would be devastating. At least now the people had something to look forward to, something to hope for.

So he knew that it had to be the truth.

"Naruto!" His friend Sasuke waved at him from across the grassy practice field. "You've heard, haven't you?"

The blond lowered his eyes slightly at the question. He could not bring himself to accept the rumors. The problem was that the truth scared him.

"Yeah I heard it," the child replied with a huff, covering up his fear with annoyance. "People have been coming up to me all day. How could I not?" He crossed his arms and stared at the raven-haired boy with a simmering ire and a pout. Sasuke only grinned back which only served to cause Naruto's lip to stick out further.

The Uchiha boy skidded up to him, digging his sandal clad heels into the earth. "You thought it was a joke before, huh?"

"How'd you know that?" Naruto yelped in confusion as soon as it was asked.

"Because I know you," smirked Sasuke. But as soon as the Uchiha really took a look at his friend, his smirk dropped. "You're doing it again."

Naruto lifted his gaze, smile still in place. "What?"

Sasuke frowned. "That thing you do when you're trying to pretend everything's okay," the child intoned. "You've been doing it since Old Man Third died. You've been sad about it."

It was true that Naruto had not been particularly happy for the past few weeks. To be honest, most people weren't. Everyone loved the Third and to Naruto he was just like a long lost grandfather. They had been pretty close, especially because of his father's sensei, Jiraya who was the student of the late Hokage.

"I know," the boy said dejectedly. Still he kept his tears in. He had plenty of time to cry already. They were in a war for over a decade. People died all the time.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not convinced. "But that's not why you're sad."

Naruto blinked.

"Something else is going on," the Uchiha continued suspiciously. "What is it? C'mon. I won't tell."

The problem was, he did not care if his friend knew. He could trust Sasuke with anything. He had known that since he was very small, since even before they started their first year training at the Academy. The real problem was that he did not know how to voice his concerns, how to say exactly what he was feeling because he was feelings all kinds of things at once. So, the Namikaze attempted to put it in the closest word as possible.

"...I'm...scared," was the quiet reply.

"Scared? Why?" asked the friend quickly and concernedly. He had a crinkle in between his black eyebrows.

Scared. Afraid. Terrified? That sounded right. That's what Naruto was.

The blond rubbed his smooth cheeks with the palms of his hands. He wished that he was born with facial birthmarks so that he would be less noticeable and look less like a copy of his dad. (2) The shape of his face and eyes at least gave him away as his mother's son.

But the more he rubbed at his cheeks, the more he realized the tears started to come. Apparently, he could not hold them in after all, and he felt Sasuke drag him by the elbow to hide behind a copse of trees for privacy.

He did not notice he was crying until then. Sasuke appeared at a loss. He rubbed his companion's back.

Scared.

That was right. That word sounded right. Sasuke was even right. He was not sad about the Third quite as much anymore. It still ached a bit in his chest, but he had a lot of people that supported him. Plus, he was not the only one.

The truth was, he wanted someone else to take the seat of Hokage. He wanted someone else to take that burden. Not his own father; never his father.

His dad was unbelievably strong and fierce and Naruto knew that he could handle leading a powerful village. He knew it, and yet he could not bring himself to support the idea.

His dad was not just a legendary shinobi, he was also a kind person who loved him and his mom. He was...his dad.

"I don't want dad to be Hokage, Sasuke," Naruto cried sadly. "Not after what happened to jiji..."

His friend now truly understood the situation and a cloud of gray seemed to hover over the two.

"What if he has to die like jiji?" questioned the blond. "Don't all Hokages die like that...alone and for the village?"

"If it's what's good for Konoha, it's gonna happen," informed the raven sadly.

"I know...I know dad will be good...but doesn't mean I have to like it," and there was a somewhat resigned silence. Maybe it would take a while for him to accept, but it had to happen. It needed to happen. His home needed his dad.

The two boys were only met with a miserable silence. And they both thought for a moment about how the measure of how a shinobi is not how they lived, but how they died. In a war-torn world like they lived in, maybe that was true. Maybe even as children they should have already learned to accept a fate like that, especially when they were training to be shinobi themselves.

But weren't they only children?

With that question in mind, the two children headed back to their compounds, walking side-by-side even just moments later.

When Naruto returned home, it was late afternoon. He and Sasuke split up at their normal spot on the road. One went to the Uchiha Clan grounds and the other to the noticeably smaller and more modest Uzumaki Clan grounds.

Despite the groups of Uzumaki that moved into the Leaf Village after their original home was obliterated during the First Great War, their clan was actually a lot smaller than the other Konoha clans. This was because not all survivors came to the Leaf in the first place. Only some of them did. Others opted to spread out in secret or otherwise to the rest of the continent, blending into society and joining other villages throughout the years.

The Uzumaki Clan was no longer one large, united force. They were broken up into different groups, different affiliations, but the ones that ended up in Konoha were recognized clan members because technically, the Uzumaki helped found the Leaf along with the Senju and the First Hokage.

Sometimes other Uzumaki refugees would show up in the village in hopes of refuge from their previous homes and according to the village laws and the regulations of the clan head, Lady Rina, they were usually allowed in. In fact the clan was so small that there were only about forty members in total that lived on the grounds. No one really knew where possible other decedents were. Though there were rumors that one of the leaders of the Rain was an Uzumaki.

War refugees like Karin and the fraternal twins named Rei and Kei from the Land of Grass stumbled in two years previously. To get away from the Land of Water's infamous Blood Purges, a husband and wife called Shiro and Kasumi managed to become part of Konoha's formal Uzumaki Clan based on their origins as well. A few others still had come to Konoha at least a generation previously and their families were fully assimilated into the village.

Everyone, everyone in the clan had bright red hair, except a few exceptions like Naruto who inherited his father's.

Because Naruto's mother was an Uzumaki woman, Minato had moved onto the clan grounds when he married her years ago. As a result, Naruto was teasingly nicknamed the "halfer," with a smile and a ruffle of his hair. Most people would find this kind of nickname absolutely insulting, but to the boy, his family, and the other Uzumaki, it was taken as a joke because he looked so much like his mother but had the exact same coloring as his father.

"Hey you little runt!" a voice shouted out to the blond as he walked by one of the houses on the grounds. It turned out to be Old Man Jang. He was the father of a woman named Mao and the grandfather of his daughter's son, Shun, who was a two-year-old toddler at the moment. He was one of the few that raised his family in Konoha instead of outright coming with them from somewhere else. But as a result, he thought himself a bit more prideful than the rest, and if anyone had to say anything about it, the old guy was downright senile.

The wrinkly and slouched man was sitting on a rocking chair outside his home and one hand was gripping his walking stick while the other was scratching at his gray-dark-red beard. A pair of half-moon glasses rested on his crooked nose and he was grinning even as he knees wobbled as if a testament to his age.

"Headed home, huh?" Old Man Jang asked again and to that end Naruto glanced at him briefly and hastily nodded with a somber look on his face. To this, the man frowned and muttered, "Did a puppy die on your carpet or somethin'?"

Naruto ignored him and instead looked straight ahead, eyes following only his footsteps and some of his surroundings. He did not notice the other calls that came in his direction as he walked with purpose back to his own home where he knew his mother was waiting with an early dinner full of his favorite ramen and what she called a "balanced diet," that basically consisted of vegetables in said ramen and maybe watermelon for the summer.

He had a feeling that his father would not be home. If all the rumors circulating were anything to go by, the Council plus fifty-million other people probably wanted to see him.

His mood dropped even more considerably and he clenched his fists to keep his cool as he slipped off his sandals and stepped above the threshold at the front of his home barefoot.

"I'm home!" Naruto yelled mechanically. He could hear his mother tinkering around in the kitchen and the smell of the predictable food wafted the air like a lingering perfume.

Luckily, Kushina was on a short reprieve from missions because the temporarily reigning ANBU captain and the collaborative Council had not called her on any and there was a somewhat startled lull in the war since the Third died. He had dealt a decisive blow on Kumo and the Raikage was recovering from the tremendous losses. Iwa and the Sand were too busy fighting each other and the Mist was too engrossed in its own civil war.

But Naruto had a feeling that she was not called for jounin missions for more than that reason. It was probably because her husband was about to become a kage himself and they probably wanted to guarantee that a Hokage's wife would be present at the ceremony.

He groaned inwardly. Why was it that his thoughts always seemed to come back to that?

Making minimal amounts of noise, the boy dragged one of the wooden chairs around their square table and sat on it. He hardly heard an enthusiastic greeting that came from his mother as he did so and a plunk indicated that the pot of soup had been placed on the table and that it was soon time for them to eat.

There was silence and he stared at his empty porcelain bowl and chopsticks as if they looked foreign to him. He realized that he should have said something back to his mother by then and that she would most likely yell at him for ignoring her, but he was silently startled to note that she had not said anything to him at all.

He heard another chair pull up across from him and he mother sat down across from where he did. More clinking sounds rattled the room for another minute before they finally settled on quiet.

Naruto fingered the edge of his chopsticks. He made one of them move left to right on top of the table apart from the other one, like a clock would tick. The scraping was the only thing that resounded for another moment. He did not bother to feel uncomfortable. He should have known really. His mother could always read his mind. It was her thing.

"Something's wrong," the gentle voice of Kushina permeated the air. He did not bother with looking her in the eyes. He did not have the heart to because he thought that his heart would be on his sleeve more than it already was.

Instead of hesitating, he said something right away, remembering what he had told his best friend. "Hokage," he whispered. He finally looked up and saw his mother's eyes boring into his own. "They're going to make dad Hokage."

He received a nod in return.

"I know you're not happy about it and I think I know why," Kushina pointed out knowingly, but with a comforting tone, "but the truth is, it has always been one of your dad's dreams," and she smirked to herself which confused her son, "and believe it or not I wanted to be Hokage too, ya know."

"You?" Naruto smiled. It barely reached his eyes.

"I'm happy for him and for our village," she added. "So you should try to be too. You know your dad is strong and he's the best person for the job. He can lead us and if the Third believed in him, why shouldn't his family?"

He took her words in and tried to take Sasuke's words in to. But it was then that he realized that he was going to become the son of a kage. Though there was a trembling feeling that was deep, deep in his heart that told him that he would never be a kage himself. He did not want to be because he felt that he should be protecting whoever was on the job so that he and the village would never lose someone so precious ever again.

He vowed that this time he would grow stronger. He would be there to protect his Hokage—no matter who it was—instead of letting them die just like the Third had. He wanted to make sure that there were as little casualties as possible and being a shinobi and getting through the Academy would get him there.

Never again.

Never again would he let someone precious be lost to him, and especially not someone so close to him that they were family that he loved with all his heart.

But Naruto knew that his dad was strong enough and powerful enough to someday put a stop to the war. And as his shinobi, he would make sure that it happened at all costs.

Resolve filled his being and by the time his bowl was filled to the brim in ramen noodles and fish cakes with vegetable sides, he had made his shinobi way even before he graduated: to protect without fail; to not let something like the Third's death happen ever again. And he ate with a determined silence even as his dad appeared at the dining table with a soft grin and an official announcement that in three days' time they would be moving to the Hokage Tower and the ceremony would happen and the Village Hidden in the Leaves would have a new Hokage to replace the old one.

His hair was ruffled. He and his mother were pulled into a tight embrace, and Naruto did not let his emotions show. He was not quite sure if his dad ever figured out at that time that he was upset, but he had a feeling that he did.

ooo

The short span of days passed without much trouble other than the whole village beaming at the prospect of a new leader. An official sign had been posted just outside the Hokage Tower that Minato Namikaze would be the Fourth Hokage as the Thrid had requested and decreed before his passing. Based on his exemplary skills and genius, the man would take the hat. As signed by the Council and the Fire Daimyo himself.

It turned out that the selection had taken so much time because Danzo was vying for Orochimaru to take the seat instead of Minato, but he was ultimately overruled. The Third had explicitly stated that he was interested in Minato and that Orochimaru was no longer of interest as a candidate any longer.

Dispute had overrun the Council chambers for a while, but the people were overwhelmingly in favor of Minato to be their new leader. They trusted him with their lives and it definitely helped that the generation that grew up with him were so behind him in almost every single order he had given during any mission that it was practically impractical to deny that position. A Hokage needed to command loyalty after all.

Surprisingly, Orochimaru did not put up much of a fight. He did not argue with the Council's decision, and unsurprisingly neither did Minato.

To many this was such a different result in the outcome, that they wondered why the Snake Sannin had not said anything. Then, others reasoned, "Who would want to be a kage in the middle of a bloody war anyway?" At that statement, most people shut their mouths so tightly that it was as if no one had said anything in the first place. After all, even Danzo who was known for coveting the seat for so long made no mention of wanting it either.

The ANBU commander who was momentarily in charge of shinobi affairs was already pulling his hairs out of his skull.

And so the day came in that small and short lull in the war that everyone knew was soon to end. The day arrived when Naruto and his peers were standing in their best clothes beneath the imposing balcony of Hokage Tower. People were shoving around, trying to get closer to the base, but Naruto did not budge. He was already at the closest spot he could get.

Even with the fear the welled up inside him just days previously, he felt a sort of pride in his chest bubble up and rise.

His mother was among the other jounin, standing in line on the balcony with such a radiant smile that for a moment Naruto wondered how he could have been so scared and upset in the first place. Beside her stood others of her group and his dad's teammates and his dad's students. The Sannin were there too and Jiraya, the white-haired and tallest one, was grinning like a mad man despite the sadness that the man exuded recently about his teacher's demise. Sasuke's father, Fugaku Uchiha stood seriously near them to represent the Uchiha Clan and others from other clans stood by.

The three elders including the old bandaged man called Danzo and two old teammates of the Sandaime opened the doors and behind them came Naruto's dad.

He was wearing a robe the boy had never seen before donned over the usual jounin vest and outfit. It was white and billowing with red flames flapping and sewn onto the bottom of it. When the man turned to his side, the kanji for the Fourth Hokage stood out starkly against the white.

When all the movement stopped, the crowd was attentive and silent.

Danzo held a triangular white hat with the kanji for fire written on it within his palms and Naruto watched as his dad and the elder stood across from each other, each extremely serious.

For a moment, the boy felt a pang in his heart. Normally the tradition would be that the previous Hokage who had chosen to give up his seat in acknowledgement for a brand new one would symbolically give his hat to the next. But, the Third was obviously nowhere to be found.

Nevertheless, the hat was handed over reverently, even for a man like Danzo. It was a known fact that the man had the ability to show respect for those he could acknowledge as powerful when he wanted to. Apparently, Minato was one of those people.

The crowd clapped and roared when the Fourth Hokage placed the symbolic ceremonial garb on his head, a testament to his newfound reign. The man's eyes flashed with blue and the sun shone on them like a spotlight.

For a moment, it was as if the world was not at war, as if the Leaf Village was in a complete time of peace instead of just a lull in the battle, and for the first time in a while, Naruto's face genuinely broke out into a smile.

And so the festivities went on but only just for that night.

No one wanted to worry about anything else. The early summer cherry blossom petals floated down on them like confetti would, pink and lovely. Naruto ran to the group that had gathered around Minato after he had given a short and concise speech and he had walked downstairs from the top of the Tower. An aura of respect and confidence radiated off of the man that Naruto had not noticed before. It was almost calming and healthy, like even if he did not know who the Fourth was, he could put all his trust in him.

So the boy wondered if that was why the Third had chosen him, because just based on that, this was a very good choice.

'Hey, dad!" Naruto shouted happily from the back of the crowd that pushed and shoved around him. He jumped up and down to try and get his attention. "Dad, I—oof!" A particularly eager civilian had thrust him aside roughly and the child stumbled over his feet and right into the middle of the gigantic forming circle until he had ruined his good clothes that his mother had cleaned for him and dirt was covering his face and white shirt. He felt his nose throbbing. It was probably red by then.

Involuntarily, his eyes started to tear, if only because any hit to the nose created that kind of reflex regardless of who it was. "Ow," the boy whined and he was on his hands and knees. More people kept commenting on how annoying it was to have to step around an obviously foolish kid and others outright ignored him or didn't bother to help.

It did not matter though. Naruto knew he could help himself, so he started to slowly get up and brush himself off.

Then there was a sudden breeze and Naruto felt someone gently grip his forearm. When he looked behind him, his eyes met his dad's blue orbs and he grinned.

"Your mother would kill me if I didn't at least try to help you, huh?" Minato said jokingly and the two laughed as if the crowd around them was not either gaping or profusely apologizing.

The newly minted Hokage smoothly wiped the dirt of his young son's nose and they chuckled together yet again, basking in the joy of that singular day during the war, and Minato dragged him up with him and they walked together as a pair, meeting and greeting people. It was as if Naruto did not have to worry about his dad taking the seat of a kage after all.

And when they met Kushina at their new home with Sasuke and some other clan members who were ready for a private dinner and for celebrations, Naruto truly felt that things might still be alright, if only for a moment.

"With the brave and collected way you acted back there," Minato's voice informed Naruto proudly as they stepped into their home, "I know you will be one of the best shinobi I will command in the future."

Naruto beamed up at him and almost skipped to the table without taking his shoes off if not for Sasuke's snarky reminder as soon as he was about to do so.

The evening was one of the few good ones in a long time. Their friends and family surrounded them and Minato did not seem to worry about all the work he would have to start doing the following day, nor of the death and combat that still wasted the horizon at that very moment. But Naruto did think that he wanted his father to be wrong for once. The boy did not want to be "one of the best shinobi," he wanted to be "the best," even better than Kakashi, or Obito, or Rin, or any of the Sannin.

He wanted to be great because he wanted to be able to protect.

But still, even as they talked and laughed, the Third Shinobi War raged on.

AN: To those of you reading my other multi-chapter fic, "Upside-Down Hourglass," this story and that one will be updated interchangeably and every other week unless something big happens and I have to postpone it for a bit. I have a regular updating schedule now and there will be no X-amount of months waits if I can help it. However, I will warn you now that I will be gone for 3 weeks from the middle of May to the middle of June on a study abroad trip and it is not guaranteed that I will have internet connection. If I do not, I will still be writing out chapters even if it has to be by hand and I will post them after I return.

"Eye of the Storm" will be updated on the weeks that "Upside-Down Hourglass" is not updated and vice versa UNLESS you somehow get lucky and I update them both in the same week.

Other than that, please read and review and welcome to this new AU world!

Coming up next…

Chapter One: Kanabi Bridge

Four years later, Naruto and most of his generation are chunin at eleven in the still ongoing Third Shinobi War. He and a team are sent on a mission to Kanabi Bridge in hopes of crippling the Rock Village. Too bad things always seem to go wrong in a war…

Answers to questions that you might have been wanting to ask…

(1) I know people will ask, so I will answer this now. Yes, the Kyuubi (or Kurama) will play a huge part in this story. Just wait until a little bit later.

(2) "He wished that he was born with facial birthmarks so that he would be less noticeable and look less like a copy of his dad." In this universe, the Kyuubi died with Mito Uzumaki because she never had a chance to reseal it into Kushina. Because Kushina did not have the Kyuubi within her as she was pregnant with Naruto, its chakra never affected him and he therefore was never born with the whisker birthmarks.