This story may be a little complicated though I hope not, so I'll try by best to explain it now.
Minato replaces Naruto as the main character in the storyline. Naruto will not exist in this telling, at least I don't plan on him existing. He was born in the Hidden Light Village located far to the north in the Land of Aurora's (borrowed from my fan-fic story Precious Bonds). At age 6, he is found by Kakashi and taken to live in Hidden Leaf Village. Unlike Naruto who was never very bright (I blame his lack of a good upbringing), Minato is rather smart for his age, his problem is he's way to nice and forgiving for his own good. That's not a bad thing, but living as a ninja, that sort of thing will cause trouble.
In canon, Kushina is Minato's wife. But in this version, When Kushina is introduced after Kakashi brings Minato to the village, she is 30 years old (I'm assuming that would be her age when Naruto was 6) and is the Fourth Hokage of the village. Though she was born in the Hidden Whirlpool Village, in this story her mother was a sister to the Third Hokage, Sarutobi. Because of this, she was welcomed as a full member of the village and when she was old enough, her strength and popularity made her rise as the 4th easy. She adopts Minato and raises him like a son.
I'm also going to switch Sasuke and Itachi around. Sasuke will be the older brother who is filled with hate. He believes that the Uchiha clan is waisting away under the current order in the village. He wants to stage a coup de ta and bring the clan into full power and control. When his father refuses, he takes a mission to get away and cool off. It is on this mission that he meets Madara and learns of the Mangekyou Sharigan. Once he has obtained it, he attacks and wipes out his clan, believing that it has become tainted and it will be up to him to revive a pure clan. He leaves the village and later joins Akatsuki.
Itachi is spared for one simple reason, Sasuke wants him to become stronger and fight one day to see which side of the ideals they both have are the true ideals. Sasuke's need for absolute power and control or Itachi's cooperation and peacful beliefs. Itachi dosen't become as bad as Sasuke was in canon, though he does keep his distance from people, choosing not to make friends for fear Sasuke will return before he is ready to fight him and take those friends away to further hurt Itachi.
All hidden villages have a dislike for outsiders. They have no problem with people coming to request help but anyone who comes to live there for reasons other than them having family members in the village or marrage will be shunned and will be made an outsider. The reason for this is out of fear that the person, no matter the age or gender, could be an enemy sent to bring harm to the village and its people. So Minato, despite being adopted by the Hokage, is in for a hard life.
As far as the Nine Tailed Fox, it is not sealed within Minato. At the moment, it is still out there somewhere and roaming around freely. Will it ever be sealed into someone, I'm not sure. I'll decide that when the time comes.
That's enough for now. I'll explain more things later if I feel its needed or if I'm asked any questions. Now, lets begin.
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Chpt.1: Outsider
Kushina Uzumaki, the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, was currently in her office inside the Kage Tower doing the most tedious thing a Kage of any village would have to do, paperwork. She groaned as she saw how much she had left to do. It was bad enough that she had to give each her stamp of approval, but she had to read each one too in order to make sure she wasn't giving the ok for something that would come back to bite her on the ass later. She was bored too. When she had excepted the job of Hokage from uncle Sarutobi, she had been honored to take the job and the cheers and approval of the villager's had made it all the better.
The fact she had been born in another village didn't bother anyone at all. Everyone had wanted her to be Hokage and who was she to say no. Though the fact she was related to the third might have helped as well as the fact she had made a name for herself during the last great war under her code name Red Spiral. Her power and skill had made her feared amoung the other village's as well as earning her great respect as well. But the phrase "How the mighty have fallen" crossed her mind. She almost wished another war would break out as it would give her something better to do each day. The key word there being "almost".
She was drawn from her musing's by a knock at the door. "Enter" she said as the door opened revealing one of the few people she could truly call her friend, Kakashi Hatake: the Copy Ninja. "Kakashi, where have you been? I was expecting you back here three hours ago." she asked as she let her frustration she was feeling out with her words.
He scratched the back of his head as he said "Sorry Lady Kushina, I got lost on the road of life." She snorted at that, he was always making up excuses for his lateness but at least he got the job done. "Nice try Kakashi, but you used that one last month, remember? So tell me your REAL reason for your delay." Kakashi thought on this for a moment before speaking. "I was on my way back when I encountered a man and a six year old child being attacked. I stepped in to help and managed to save the kid, but not the man. He asked me to bring him here for protection."
Kushina looked around confused. "So where is this refugee you speak of?" Kakashi realized he had left the boy waiting out in the hall. He went over and opened the door and ushered the kid in. Kushina looked at the boy before her. He had spikey golden blonde hair that reached out a little, bangs that reached down to his chin, he had intense sapphire blue eyes, and tanned color skin. He was dressed in white pants and shirt, gray colored vest and scarf, and he wore green googles on his head. "This is the boy I was talking about, Lady Hokage." says Kakashi.
The boy, upon realizing who he was standing before, immediately bowed and said "My apalogies Lady Hokage, I didn't know who it was I stood before." Kushina laughed and said "Don't worry about it kid, no harm done. So tell me your name and where you are from." He looks her in the eyes and says "My name is Minato Namikaze, the son of Ryoma Namikaze the Hikarikage of the Hidden Light Village." Kushina gasped upon hearing this. This boy was a surrvivor of the Light village. This made things interesting and unexpected.
"I see, you're from the Light Village. Well, it's nice to meet you Minato. I'm sorry to here about your home."
Minato sighs and says "Thanks, but I never knew anything or anyone from there since it was destroyed the same day I was born. What little I do know came from my uncle Taki." Kushina looks at him and ask "And where is this Taki person?"
"I'll answer that question Kushina." says Kakashi. "After I completed my mission, I was on may way back when I spotted Minato and his uncle Takikeru Shudo being attacked by men dressed in black. Each man had a black jacket with a red cloud insignia printed on the back. I decided to help them out. When it was over, I talked with Takikeru who was mortally wounded during the fight. He told me he was captain of the Anbuu of the Light village and brother to the wife of the Hikarikage. The village was attacked by the Nine-tailed Fox the day Minato was born. Appearently, Ryoma had Takikeru take the new born Minato away to protect him, raise him, and train him."
Kushina nodded her understanding so far. "He said an organization called Akatsuki has been chasing them for years. You can tell a person is a member by the black cloaks with red cloud patern's on it that they all wear. He asked me to bring him here for both sanctuary and he hoped we would train him to be a ninja. He didn't say why they were being hunted, only that they were. And Minato here dosen't know anything. I figured it would be wrong to just leave him there so I brought Minato here and see what you wanted to do." Kakashi finished.
"I see, thank you Kakashi. So Minato, do you remember anything he might have said to you at any time about why these ninja are after you?" Minato thought for a moment before saying "Well, he did believe that the fox might have been sent by the Akatsuki to destroy our village and that the Akatsuki leadership is made up of S-ranked crminals. He never said why they may have been after me, but he did say I was destined to do something one day and the information for that was placed in a scroll that has a time seal on it. Once I turn 16, the seal will be released and I'll learn whatever truth is waiting for me."
"May I see the scroll?" Kushina asked. Minato nodds as he reaches into his pouch and rumages thru the scrolls in there. Kushina thinks 'I guess those scrolls must contain all the Light villages jutsu.' Minato finally finds the scroll and hands it to here. Kushina takes it and examines it. Sure enough, the seal is time based and nothing will release it except for the seal to release on its own. She hands it back to him.
"Well Minato, you're free to stay in the village as long as possible. You will stay with me until we can find a more permanent living arrangment for you. And you'll start going to the academy after you turn seven. Is this alright with you"
Minato nodds at Kushina as he breathes a sigh of relief. He was afraid he'd be kicked out of the village and be left alone. "Ok Minato, why don't you go look around the village for awhile and get to know your new home better. Once you return, I'll take you to your new home. And if you want, you can leave the scrolls here."
Minato nodds as he places the bag on the ground and leaves. As soon as he has left, Kakashi ask "Are you sure it will be ok. You know how the village feels about outsider's. I doubt things will be easy for him as long as he lives here."
Kushina looks out the window and watches Minato head out into the village. "I'll tell the people to treat him well. I doubt that will help, but it should make things a little easier for him. And it's not like we have a choice. He needs a place to call home and who knows, maybe he will be the one to change how this village treats outsider's."
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As Minato walked around the village, he was amazed at the sites he was seeing. The Hidden Leaf village was bigger than any other village he had ever been in before. Of course, this was the first Hidden village he could remember being in, so him being impressed wasen't saying much. As he walked around, he noticed an old man having trouble walking around so he went to help him. He helped the old man get to where he was going and when the old man asked Minato about himself and Minato said he was born in the Hidden Light village. At hearing this, the old man scowled at him and told him to get lost.
As he continued to look around, he couldn't help but notice how the villager's looked at him. They must have realized he was not from around there and were giving ominus glares that told him to watch his back. Not wanting to be around them at the moment, he made a bee-line torwards a nearbye park in the hopes of getting some relief from all of that glaring. As he walked around, a small sound caught his ear. He followed that sound to it's source only to find a young girl no older than him sitting under a tree doing her best to not cry and mostly failing at it.
He noticed she was covered in brusise's and had a black eye and a swollen lower lip. Conserned, he ran over and asked "Hey there, are you ok?" He realized that his question was rather stupid. It was obvious that she was NOT ok. Her head popped up from is resting place against her arms, atop her knee's and looked at Minato. For a moment, the pain and sorrow melted away as she looked at the boy before her. His spikey blonde hair and his deep blue eyes were like nothing she had ever seen before. She couldn't help but wonder where he had come from.
"Umm,w-who are y-you?" she asked with a quivering voice.
"I'm Minato Namekaze of the Hidden Light village, or at least I would have been if it hadn't been destroyed long ago."
"I-I'm Hinata Hyuga." she said. She noticed her cheeks felt warmer and realized she was blushing.
"Ok, it's nice to meet you Hinata. So, can you tell me why your crying?" Minato asked as he went to sit beside her. She tensed at first, but then relaxed as she realized he meant no harm. "I-I'm not crying. C-Crying is a f-form of w-weakness. Hyuga's d-don't let themseleves b-be weak." she said as she tried to hold back her tears. It was bad enough she was failing to control her emotion's when she was alone, but now there was some one here with her and she couldn't risk bringing mere shame to her family. As her father so often told her, her existance alone brought unending shame and she hated herself for that.
"That's a load of bull. Crying is NOT a weakness. Crying is a way to let all the pain we feel escape our bodies so we can return to being filled with happiness again. Well anyways, mind telling me why your all beat up?" he asked hoping he could help her. She sniffled as she wiped her nose with a tissue she had and said "I was sparring with my cousin Neji and he is never easy with me. He blames me for the death of his father and uses our sparring session's to vent his anger torwards me and the main house of my clan over that loss." "Main house? Clan?" Minato asked confused.
"I-I come from t-the Hyuga Clan. Our's i-is one of the strongest and o-oldest clans in the w-world. The clan is devided u-up into a main house for all important clan m-member's and the branch house for t-the clan slaves. Neji belongs to the branch while I-I belong to the main house. The main house it sappose t-to br stronger, but I always loose to Neji as w-well as everyone else. I-I'm considered an outcast by my family and I-I could even be exiled f-from my clan if I-I don't improve soon. I came out here to think on how I-I can be better so...hic...I...sniffle....don't...sob...embaress..sniffle..my family anymore." Minato saw she was trying again to keep herself from crying and the attempted was taking it's toll on her. She finally started to cry and he heard her mumble about just how pathetic she was to not be able to control herself.
Minato couldn't take it anymore. He broke away from the young girl crying next to him and stood up. He turned to look at her and made her stand up as well. When the were both standing, he placed his arms around her, drawing her into a hug. She gasped at his action as her body tensed up. What was he doing? Why was he doing this for her? Why comfort her? He didn't know her and she certantly didn't know him, so why?
"Hinata, it's ok to cry. Just cry your heart out right now and wash away your pain, release your pain. If you don't, if you instead choose to keep that pain bottled up inside, then one day it will start to eat away at you from within. Your pain will consume your heart and soul and when that happens, the kind and loving person I can see that you are will be lost forever, replaced by someone who will be unrecognizable to those you know the real you. So please cry Hinata and cast out the pain so you can remain the kind hearted girl you are."
And so she cried. She cried long and hard into his shoulder as she hugged him as tightly as she could. She was able to let her tears wash away the pain with Minato's help. It didn't matter if they had just met and didn't know each other. She knew she could trust him and he would always be there for her, protecting her. In Minato, she had found her first true friend and she knew that he, inturn, had found one in her!
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Next time: Academy and the spiral jutsu.