Misplaced Princess

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing from the Naruto universe but I do have an imagination of my own.

Thinking

Emphasis

Biju, etc. speaking

Biju, etc. thinking

October 10th, the day of the festival.

This is bad.

How in the world had she ended up on the streets of the damn thing she couldn't remember! The little blonde knew better than to go out on her birthday - especially after what had happened last year, and a couple of years before that… Plus when she first came off the streets and was in her apartment - and maybe there was another time? My birthday sucks.

Things always ended badly if she went out on this day, which was why this year she had prepared and had cup ramen and everything else she needed to stay inside her little apartment. She knew that if she were to go out, she'd either be chased, (which was nothing new,) or worse: beaten to within an inch of her life. For some reason, she always lived, and honestly, there were times that she wished she hadn't. Why did nearly everyone hate her? It didn't make sense! She had tried and tried to be nice… to smile all the time… She had even pretended to be a complete idiot so that maybe they'd leave her alone. Nothing ever worked, especially on her birthday. Like today.

"Demon?" "Monster?" Yeah, she'd probably heard those names hurled at her more times than she could remember. But she was just a kid! JiJi even told her that there was no way she was a monster. He was the only one who said she was just a girl. Still, she wondered if he was telling the truth. For some reason, she could feel not only the sadness of her JiJi when he said that, but there was something more that she tried to ignore. Maybe it was her imagination, but underneath JiJi's niceness, she felt what was maybe resentment? She wasn't sure. It wasn't like she was good with emotions, other than recognizing hate - plus she sure knew fear.

Yet here I am, apparently having done something even more stupid than the role I play at the Academy - standing in the middle of the streets in the festival I'm not allowed to attend. Normally she recognized more animal-faced ANBU around her on her birthday, but there were none here at all, which was not good.

She remembered feeling funny… Why the hell did she leave her place tonight? She didn't remember going outside at all! Believe it or not, she was too smart for that - after all, pretty soon she'd be a real ninja! Academy graduation's coming up, and as long as they didn't force her to do a clone jutsu again, she'd pass this time for sure! And from there it wouldn't take her long to be Hokage! One of the things she'd do in her first year on the job would be to make a law so that she could go to the festival, too! It celebrated her hero, after all.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, sat in his office finishing paperwork when he suddenly felt a deep sense of foreboding. It was a mix of the fear he felt for Naru-chan on this day every year but mixed with the horrible demonic chakra he'd felt 13 years prior to this very night. He stood up from his desk, yelling for his guard, and jumped out the window.

Genjutsu, she suddenly realized too late. As she turned around in the street to face the incredible hatred from the villagers she felt, she knew no more.

Everything had gone wrong.

It was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, and for maybe a minute or so, it actually had been.

A masked Uchiha - and it had to be a real one - came and tried to take away and kill his wife and daughter! His daughter for Kami's sake: he thought they'd be having a son! How was a little girl supposed to live with the name "Naruto"? And the way things were going tonight, he would have no chance to correct her name, because he knew the death god was coming for him. He needed the Shinigami soon. He managed to rescue his baby girl, but not Kushina. Only minutes before Kushina had the demon ripped out of her, and now the Nine-tails was destroying the village. He was the Hokage: this couldn't stand.

Minato Namikaze had placed his daughter with his wife, whom he could only pray wouldn't die after what had happened to her tonight. He summoned the Toad Boss and went to further battle the fox. Before he reached him, the fox lunged to the side. The giant Kyuubi went for the orange-masked man that he'd been fighting earlier, and bit him into pieces, throwing aside the body parts. Minato hadn't even realized the orange-masked man who had called himself Madara Uchiha was still there! What was the fox doing? Were they next to be ripped apart?!

The only thing Minato could do to stop the attack was to seal the Kyuubi into his newborn daughter. Aside from his wife, Kushina, she was the last Uzumaki, but if the demon was returned to his wife, she would die. Only an Uzumaki could hold the greatest of the bijuu, after all. Minato was her father, though, so his baby girl wouldn't be able to hold the full nine-tails. Being just a newborn babe had also figured into his equations. At the very most, his tiny baby girl would only live if she held at most half of the beast.

Kushina has to make it. The seal he'd devised in the event of what had taken place tonight, meant that his soul would be taken by the Shinigami. He couldn't leave his newborn daughter alone as a jinchuuriki! Please, Kami-sama: let Kushi-chan be okay.

The great fox looked at the Yondaime Hokage with scorn. No matter how much he hated him and this situation, at least he had a chance again. Stupid humans! Stupid Yondaime! Stupid girl!

As the newborn girl had the seal placed upon her, Minato began to summon the Shinigami, only to find himself batted out of the way violently by the fox's paw. The fox grinned menacingly, before suddenly being pulled into the girl. The battleground was suddenly quiet.

What the hell happened? 

Kushina was sure they were all going to die! She knew of Minato's plans in case the Kyuubi was taken from her since the seal was weakest during childbirth. Her entire labor had gone fine, relatively speaking - then that murderer came in and took out so many people… Kushina looked up to her daughter on the altar again, but gasped when she didn't find a baby. No, there was a blonde and bloody pre-teen or teenage girl laying on the ground next to the tipped-over altar. She saw black dots in front of her eyes as she released the chains she'd created and fell into unconsciousness.

"Medics!" the Sandaime screamed. He needed to get someone to look after Kushina and Minato. Plus, who was this girl on the battlefield, beaten and bloody? She needed to see a medic, too - although he would certainly put her under guard, as he had never before seen the girl in the Village. Still, looking at her unconscious form, he noticed her resemblance to his successor underneath all of the blood. Was she a spy or worse? Has she done something to influence the Kyuubi's attack? Did some village try to enhance her appearance to look like Minato-kun? Hiruzen shook his head in frustration. He understood that even someone young could be trained to be incredibly dangerous, yet here's this unknown female, unconscious and in, at the very best serious condition. Can it be a plot to make them feel sorry for her so that she can infiltrate the Leaf? And where is the babe?!

The Yondaime regained consciousness just upon arriving at the hospital. "Kushina!"

"Right behind us, Minato-kun," the Sandaime assured him as he ran beside the trio who had been placed on stretchers. They were surrounded by ninja.

Minato tried to get up but couldn't move well; he was positive that he had broken bones and definitely felt chakra exhaustion. "My child…" Minato began, looking around wildly. He tried again to look behind him, but his head was spinning worse than when he first tried out his signature jutsu. He groaned and grabbed his head. "Hiruzen!" Suddenly he saw green, the signature color of medical ninjutsu directly in front of his eyes. He was ordered by a female voice to stop moving so that he could be healed.

The next time the Yondaime Hokage woke up, he realized he was in the most high-security area of the hospital. His wife was in the bed across from him, red hair splayed out all over her pillow and bed. Her eyes had dark circles all the way around them; she looked paler than he'd ever seen. His precious Kushina was being tended to by… Is that Tsunade-hime? Minato hadn't seen her in years! Thank the gods!

"Tsunade-hime?" he croaked out. Just how long had he been out? He looked down upon himself and realized he was no longer a bloody, filthy mess. He also had been changed out of his uniform and robe. Embarrassing.

"Hold on brat. Let me finish with Kushi-chan and then I'll get sensei."

"Is she alright? And how's our baby?"

The tensing of the Slug Princess's shoulders immediately worried him. "What's happened?" he asked, or more like ordered darkly.

Tsunade took a deep breath. Finally looking at Jiraiya's brat student: her leader (she internally scoffed,) and shook her head. "Kushina-chan will live, but she may never be a ninja again," she said. "Sensei will have to explain to you the rest." Raising her voice slightly over the blonde Hokage's she continued hurriedly, "What the hell happened out there?" She didn't want to get into the whole mess about the baby. If the village was upset about the damage done by the Kyuubi, the upper-level and in-the-know ninja community was nearly as panicked over the missing babe who was also the new jinchuuriki. Thankfully her sensei, the Sandaime Hokage, chose that moment to enter the room and greeted the Yondaime.

"Hiruzen-sama. What is going on? Where's our child? Is she alright? Did she make it?" Minato began. The Sandaime held up his hand to stop his questions and sighed.

"Tsunade-chan, stay here." He gave the woman a look which she immediately understood. In case Minato freaked out, she was to remain in order to keep him from hurting himself or anyone else. "Minato-kun, we have much to discuss," the elder began, sitting down on the side of his successor's bed. He took a moment to look at the current leader's concerned blue eyes as the man adjusted himself into a more comfortable position. Tsunade walked over to the other side of Minato's bed. "Where to begin…"

"The beginning's usually a good place," the Yondaime replied logically.

Hiruzen frowned. "I cannot say that I know exactly how the night's events began, Minato-kun. However, I will start with what I know by witness accounts, and when I arrived." He paused, glad that Minato was not interrupting, though even a child could tell that he desperately wanted to. "I left home once I felt the demonic chakra." He very nearly shivered, "I tried to get to you when I saw you flying through the air. Kushina-chan was using her chains as a barrier, so I could not assist. Everything else happened very quickly… Minato-kun, when the barrier fell, we found Kushina-chan unconscious next to a young girl on the ground."

"What? Do you mean my daughter? Naru-chan was on the altar…" Minato interrupted.

Aa. Here's the hard part. Wait! "She?"

"Hai. A little surprising, ne?" Minato rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Straightening up, he quickly bowed his head. "Hiruzen, Biwako-sama… Did she make it?" he looked up, hoping with all his being that his predecessor's wife hadn't been killed when she fell at the hands of that masked bastard.

Hiruzen shook his head sadly but silenced Minato with his hand when he began to offer sympathies. "Minato-kun… The babe was nowhere to be found." Minato's eyes widened in horror. "I have all available ANBU looking for her." He put his hand on the blonde's shoulder as the man teared up. "Unfortunately, there have been problems. For instance, Kakashi-kun returned with his pack and found no scent to track…"

"No. Kami-sama; no. Please." Minato muttered, shaking his head back and forth in misery. He looked at his wife in desperation. How will Kushina be able to handle this? If she'll even live once she finds out, after everything that she's been through.

"She'll make it, Minato-kun. I'll make sure of it," Tsunade said quietly. "Stop thinking negatively: it's against your nature and it never helps a patient - I can guarantee that." She crossed her arms.

"As I was saying," the Sandaime continued, "Kakashi-kun's pack continues to go back to T&I, no matter how often he's tried or argued with them. I'm worried that the boy is about to lose it, really," he sighed.

"T&I? Why would they be going there? And bring Kakashi-kun to me. You know how he is, Hiruzen-sama." Minato requested.

Hiruzen let out a deep sigh - something he'd been doing repeatedly over the last 12 hours. "The girl found at the scene is there. As of," he looked at the clock, "approximately 30 minutes ago, she was still unconscious. Perhaps she had the babe's scent on her," he added exhaustedly.

Minato became furious. "Who is this girl? Do you suspect her in the attack? You've tried to awaken her, correct?"

Hiruzen nodded in affirmation. "Indeed. Her eyes opened for a moment, according to Ibiki-kun, but she appeared to be in terrible pain before passing out. You know Ibiki-kun well, Minato-kun. He won't give up on getting answers from her, no matter what," he finished darkly.

"Hai. I need to get out of here and see for myself," Minato said before being pushed back down by Tsunade.

"You won't even make it there, brat. I'm surprised you're even awake - and after taking in all this information?" Tsunade pushed the man back down again and continued. "I'll give you this: normally I'd say that you needed to remain in bed for at least the next 12 hours, but considering everything, I'll compromise." Looking at the Yondaime's insolent face, she really wanted to punch him. "I'm giving you a break here, brat! I'll give you a chakra infusion and allow you to be accompanied by sensei to wherever the hell you need to go. Don't give me that look! You refuse and you're here for the next 12 hours without the gift of my precious chakra. Deal with it!"

Minato began to argue but was interrupted by the Sandaime. "I think that's fair. Don't make my student punch or do Kami-only-knows what else what to knock you out," he said with just a hint of humor: it was certainly all that he could spare. "Perhaps Kushina-chan will awaken soon?" he asked the Slug Sannin, who gave the man an annoyed look.

"Sure, maybe," she lied badly. "Two hours, damnit! That's all I'm asking, and even then, it goes totally against my ethics."

Minato looked at the other blonde in the room in disbelief. "Ethics:" as if Tsunade-hime has any… She's worse than Jiraiya-sensei. With that thought, he began to summon a toad but was blocked by the woman, who grabbed his hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tsunade growled, being somewhat careful not to break the brat's hand. "You can't summon! Your chakra level is pathetically low."

Minato knew he wasn't that bad off, and how dare she stop his summoning! "I want to summon Jiraiya-sensei so that he knows our status."

"He's already on his way, my boy," Hiruzen answered. "I summoned Enma earlier and received word back that he found Jiraiya-kun. He'll be here within the next couple of hours, only taking that long because I can imagine him looking for your child."

"My child…" Minato replied bitterly. "All right: two hours and no more. And let's find Kakashi-kun."