NaruHina: Duty

Chapter 1: The Night of Naruto's Birth

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DUTY

"Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."

Abraham Lincoln

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Part 1: Orphan

Chapter 1: The Night of Naruto's Birth

"Sir! Danzo's escaped our watch!"

The ANBU with the panda mask suddenly appeared at the window to Hiruzen Sarutobi's office with his ominous warning.

The retired Hokage looked up, not with surprise, but with foreboding.

It can't be a coincidence, he thought. There was a knot in the pit of his stomach.

"Where's Minato?" he asked even as he quickly stood up and slid on his battle gear. They had no time to waste.

"We can't find him."

"Kushina?" Hiruzen asked while he grabbed his helmet and slammed it onto his head.

"We can't get a hold of any of the men sent to guard her!"

Hiruzen felt it in his bones. This was not a coincidence. But why now? Why did Danzo feel the need to move tonight, of all nights? Had he been planning an attack all this time? Had he known Kushina's seal was going to break during childbirth? But that fact was known to only a few, nobody knew of it—Hiruzen abruptly shook his head to clear it. He had to focus.

A feeling of panic filled the air.

Suddenly, screams rent the night as the sky filled with the terrifying mass of hateful chakra. The Kyuubi had been released, its fearsome claws scratching at the roofs of buildings, sending debris splintering through the air. More screams of panic echoed as the villagers realized what was attacking them.

"Evacuate all the people quickly and summon all available shinobi," Hiruzen barked his orders as they flew out of his home and ran down the streets of Konoha. "Get the sensory types to feel out where Kushina is, now! We need to find her! She's our priority. Minato can handle himself."

Hiruzen felt a pang of guilt as he realized that something must have happened to Kushina while she'd been giving birth. A shout of pain distracted him from his thoughts and he turned his gaze upon the town. All around him, the desperate attempts to restrain the Fox Spirit by the Konoha shinobi were faltering.

As Hiruzen ran towards the chaos, he summoned his most powerful ally. "Enma!" he cried as the monkey king appeared before him. "Help me, old friend!"

"The Kyuubi!" Enma replied with shock, but it was only momentary as he soon transformed into Sarutobi's weapon, a massive staff whose size and weight could be easily manipulated for attack.

Hiruzen ran, trusting the rest of the shinobi would do their jobs to protect the citizens, but he kept his eye out on the rampaging Kyuubi who was still, thankfully, just at the outskirts of the city. The damage it was causing was still negligible. But once it got within the main part of town, the chaos would be terrible.

However, before he could reach it, the Kyuubi disappeared just as suddenly as it had appeared. Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief that Minato had teleported it somewhere away from the village.

But it put him in a quandary. Minato or Kushina, who to help?

He quickly made his decision and hoped Kushina was as far away from Minato as possible.