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Disclaimer: Yeah, I don?t own Naruto, and yeah, no way in hell this could happen, but, heh, a lot of things in print would never really happen? so yeah.
/ So, not much of Naruto Sakura interaction this chapter, just showing an unlikely bond between them.Prologue: The Hospital
The two families stared at their newly born children from behind the glass pane. Little baby fingers, little baby toes--one dressed in a cap of baby blue, the other wearing a hair-matching cap of pink.
The mother?s of both babies quietly rocked them back and forth, both holding back their tears. For in one more minute, the clock will strike 11:55, leaving only a precious five minutes. Because at twelve o?clock, when the Yondaime steps through the hospital doors, the life of one family will have changed forever.
Five minutes until midnight.
Both families gathered peaceably, yet the undercurrent of tension running between them was thick and oppressing.
They were both ninja families. Both families knew what tonight would entail-- if the Hokage entrusts their family with the task, they would take up the burden and follow through. Not one person in the family was cowardly enough to run away from the task given to the.
However, deep down inside the hearts of each and every single person in the room-- they were desperately hoping that when the fourth hokage stepped through those hospital doors, he would choose the other family.
No one wanted to see their whole family die.
Midnight
The Fourth stepped through the door flanked on his side by the Third. Any youthful expressions the fourth had before becoming Hokage were long gone, and in it?s place were the hard lines and tired eyes of a ninja who had seen too much and lost too much.
He looked at the families and observed them. From face to face he looked, and no matter what family, no matter sex, no matter what age, he saw the same stark expression-- fear.
Although tonight was the promised time of freedom and deliverance; the night the evil demon fox is finally stopped, one of the families will not bear the fruits of their sacrifice.
For the he had finally found a way to stop the demon fox: to seal the demon within the body of a newly born infant. However, in order to surely seal such enormous power, the fourth required not only his own life... but also the lives of the entire infant?s living lineage.
Each person knew if their family was picked, only one of their kin would remain. It would not be their parents, or their siblings, or the grandparents, or anyone else currently within the family-- the only one who would remain would be their newest born.
Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura.
And unlike other babies, this newborn will hold a terrible burden. A burden that would never go away.
Although babies-- the very epitome of the vast potential and possibility of a human being; only one path would remain for this chosen child. For when the demon fox is sealed away, the child will forever be condemned to walk a path of loneliness and despair.
The Fourth glanced from the family to the newly born babies, and felt as if a thick blade had sliced into his heart.
Who was he to condemn the life a family like this?
But the fourth buried his conscience deep within his heart. Right now the demon fox was heading for Konoha, and if it ever reached the village, many more people would die. More families, more children? The demon fox needed to be stopped, and this was the only way...
With a heavy heart, he made his decision.
He stepped into the room behind the glass pane. Each mother was draped in hospital-gown white, both cradling their precious babies in the crook of their arms. They eyes lifted toward him sadly, both knowing the time had come.
The fourth felt his leg unable to move, as if his ankles were cemented to the ground. This was hardest decision he ever had to make-- but he was Hokage, and this was his responsibility.
One step forward, and then another, until he was standing in front of a woman with blond hair.
He held out his arms to her.
He had chosen... Uzumaki Naruto.
