Naruto Namikaze: Konoha's Legacy

Chapter 1: Graduation - 1

Enter Naruto: Exit Minato

A twelve year old Minato stood on a water tower looking upon the Hokage Monument. The three faces there eah represented the will of fire perfectly in their own way. The Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju. He was the co-founder of the entire hidden village system along with his best friend -yet worst enemy- Madara Uchiha. The Nidaime Hokage Tobirama Senju, Hashirama's younger brother. Tobirama was the one who made the rules and founded the chunin exams, while Hashirama founded the village Tobirama is the one who ensured that the village could run day-to-day operations. Then there was Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime-sama the current Hokage. He was the one who had the hat the longest, serving since the middle of the Second Shinobi World War and keeping it to this day. Minato smiled, one day his face would be up there, with the greatest shinobi his village had ever known.

Twelve Years Later

Minato Namikaze stood above his wife, a gleaming claw the size of a man touching the woman's back. Under her was a small child with cerulean blue eyes, though there was a strange six ring pattern in them.

The baby looked at his mother and smiled a toothless grin, his whisker marks -three on each cheek- looked like extra smiles. The woman smiled as she felt the claw slowly imbed itself in her back. Tears fell onto the baby's blanket as she smiled at him.

"Naruto, my son, I love you." She said as the claw finally tore through her body, there was a flash of white just as the claw tore into the ground.

A young man with spiky white hair wearing a black uniform and mask that covered his entire body and half his face was holding Naruto a few feet away.

The man turned and saw Minato, his teacher and father figure, standing there with a large claw through his stomach and his wife -Kushina Uzumaki- under him, pinned to the floor by the very same claw.

"Sen... sensei..." Kakashi muttered.

"Kakashi, bring Naruto here." Minato said, a smile on his face as he saw his student holding his son, "Listen, I'm going to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto, it'll cost my life but he'll be the hero of the village." Minato spun a few hand seals and shouted, "Sealing Jutsu: Reaper Death Seal!" A large, spectral entity appeared behind Minato from a complex seal matrix.

"State my duty." The creature said, it's voice carried a deep echo, but each voice was different.

"Reaper, I will give you my soul if you seal the Kyuubi within my son, Naruto Namikaze-Uzumaki." Minato said.

The reaper looked Minato over a few times, "Your soul alone does not suffice."

"T... Take mine too." Kushina said weakly from her spot on the ground. The reaper looked at her once and nodded.

"It will be done. I will place the beast within Naruto, but it is up to you to ensure he stays there." The reaper put a hand on the talon and the entire mountain sized fox became an orange orb the size of a softball. Minato began spinning hand signs at a rapid pace, an insanely complex seal matrix -one that made the reaper's seal seem like a child's doodle- formed in front of him as he did so.

As the reaper brought his hand to touch Naruto Minato winced, hoping it wasn't a bad idea. The orange orb entered Naruto's stomach.

"SEAL!" Minato shouted with everything he had left, placing a hand on his son's stomach and leaving a spiral design with two four pronged sealing matrixes.

"Naruto... don't be picky. Eat lots and grow strong... Make sure that you bathe every day and stay warm... Also... Don't stay up late... You need lot's of sleep... And make friends, you don't need a lot, just a few. Ones you can really, really trust... No alcohol until you're an adult... Too much can ruin your health, so drink in moderation. Remember that everyone has strengths and weaknesses... So don't get too depressed if you can't do something well... I'm a woman so I don't know too much about this but... But just don't get hooked on bad woman... Find someone just like me. Be true to yourself, have a dream and have the confidence to make that dream come true." Kushina cried, "There's so much... Oh there's so much more that I want to pass on to you... I wish I could stay longer... I... I love you." The woman said as the reaper began to take her soul away.