God's Mercy
We've all heard the story of the giant fox that could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis with a mere swish of any of its giant tails, a being manipulated on a dark night by a dark man with a dark purpose. But there is another version of this story, a version where the fox with the power to cause such great catastrophes was the dark man on a dark night with a dark purpose.
Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Houshukage of Mt. Oinari, had finally given in to an insanity that had plagued him throughout his reign of terror, throughout his life, and attacked the very village he was supposed to protect. And so powerful was Minato that even the involvement of powerful clans from the Aburame to the Yamanaka wasn't enough.
Eventually, it took the divine intervention of Sarutobi Hiruzen, the God of Shinobi, and the lives of all eight of his saintly friends to enclose the fallen one in a previously forbidden seal. But like his Miltonian predecessor, Minato just wouldn't give up.
Hiruzen followed the glowing orb that carried Minato's soul to a cave where he saw it absorb into a moving shape snuffling around in the darkness. Once his vision adjusted to the darkness, the wizened Sarutobi saw that it was a fox kit, newly whelped judging from its closed eyes and the moisture present in the creature's fur and the bed of straw it lay upon.
"Sensei!"
Hiruzen turned to see his former student, Namikaze Jiraiya, silhouetted in the cave entrance.
"I came as soon as I could. But I guess it wasn't soon enough."
The Toad Sage had been at the hot springs near Mt. Myōboku, conducting his "research," when a shudder ran through him. He'd immediately turned in the direction of his former village and raced there in his demon form, only to find his old home decimated and his sensei following a glowing orb that had to be his nephew's soul.
Jiraiya cursed himself. He'd trained Minato one-on-one for years after the boy had finally had enough of his father Inari's white supremacist abuse. During that time, the Sannin swore he saw a certain glint in his nephew's eyes every time they trained. An insane, murderous glint that he'd always written off as his imagination.
Dammit all. If it weren't for his wishful thinking, he could've done something, however infinitesimal, to change the course of his nephew, to prevent such destruction, for once in his life to actually save someone from themselves—
Shaking off these thoughts, he saw his sensei still standing over the kyuubi no kogitsune, deep in thought.
The God of Shinobi sneered at the once-glowing seal that had since darkened into a crimson swirl on the fox whelp's belly. Minato really was a methodical bastard, sealing himself inside a living thing instead of submitting to a fate set in stone. And not just any living thing either; he chose his own kit. His own unwanted kit.
He could hear the bakemono taunting him now. Go on, old man. Kill me, along with this worthless little whelp. Prove to me that you are like me. Prove to me that you had what it takes to be Houshukage. Go on! Accept this sacrifice! Show me that you are a true God of Shinobi!
Hiruzen backed away, disgusted, then turned from the kit whose cries for its mother's milk still echoed throughout the cave.
Brushing off Jiraiya's attempt to calm him, the former Sandaime paced, forcing back the bile that had arisen at his successor's words. This was the perfect opportunity to bring an ultimate end; to give some meaning to the deaths of his friends, of his beloved Biwako, their daughter Taji; to accomplish his divine mission of vanquishing the evil that had plagued and almost destroyed the land he once ruled. Yes, this was the perfect opportunity to achieve that end…
Then it hit him. Minato wanted him to kill this kit. To prove that in the end, he was willing to spill innocent blood, for whatever reason.
Like the cold-blooded false idol who'd succeeded him.
No. He wouldn't do it. He wouldn't sink to that monster's level. Not even to avenge his fallen friends, villagers, and family.
He turned to the straw bed where the kit lay, passing his concerned student, before gathering the creature in his arms like a newborn babe. Jiraiya cautiously approached his old teacher.
"What'll you do, sensei?"
"He will live, and I will make sure he doesn't become like his father." From the corner of his eye, he could see his student smiling with relief. "I wonder where Kushina is…"
Jiraiya's smile dissipated. "I saw her on my way here. She didn't notice me, but from what I saw, she was running away and never looking back."
Silence passed once more between the two men. "I'll have to raise him myself, then." He and Biwako had raised three children, and one of them, Asuma, was now a renowned Jounin. Surely, this wouldn't be any more difficult.
"I'll have to give him a name…"
A thought came to Jiraiya. "How 'bout 'Naruto'?"
"'Naruto'?"
"A character from this novel I wrote that never got published. It wasn't anything like Icha Icha. It was simply a story about this boy who grows up to be a great hero. Maybe with you raising him, this little guy could be like that Naruto."
"Naruto…I like it. Has a good ring to it. Uzumaki Naruto…"
"Uzumaki? But that's—"
"—his mother's name. Yes, I'm aware of that. But I also know that Minato's name will be taboo to the villagers. Besides, even if she abandoned her son, she's far less at fault than Minato was."
He waited for an argument from Jiraiya, but received none.
The rest, as they say, was history. On the morn following the darkest night in Mt. Oinari's history, Sarutobi Hiruzen resumed his position as Sandaime Houshukage, starting a new era from the ashes of his successor's. And with him was someone whom he'd spared because he was a God of Mercy and not the False Idol of Bloodshed and Sacrifice, who with the right guidance could become a hero that everyone would look up to and tell tales of for centuries to come.
Hiruzen turned to the furry nine-tailed bundle who now lay fast asleep in the bed of blankets his new guardian arranged for him.
"Welcome home…Uzumaki Naruto."
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Pilot chapter, Mt. Oinari, Uzumaki Kushina and Naruto, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Biwako, Taji, Asuma, Namikaze Minato/Naruto's pilot!father, Jiraiya © Masashi Kishimoto
Pilot!Kyuubi = Namikaze Minato, Inari (demon), Jiraiya = Minato's uncle, Taji = Hiruzen and Biwako's daughter, the title Houshukage, story © me
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Story notes: This takes place shortly before the pilot chapter of the manga, which you can read at Mangafox.