Truth Well Hidden

Naruto's Earlier Years

In an isolated cottage hidden in the forests of Hi no Kuni, a scarlet haired woman was giving birth.

This lady was Uzumaki Kushina.

Her midwife, Sarutobi Biwako, the wife of the Sandaime Hokage was encouraging her to push as she yelled frustrated curses to her husband, Namikaze Minato. This man is known as the Kiiroi no Senkō, the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha.

Soon after, a baby's cries filled the room.

This infant was Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto, later known as Uzumaki Naruto.

Both parents cooed at the child that had stopped crying as abruptly as he began, instead choosing to just open his eyes and eyeing his parents with violet eyes tinged with curiosity. Faint whisker marks marred the small child's soft features and a blond tuft of hair crowned the child's head.

Interrupting this moment was a man with an orange-swirled mask that only showed one eye, this eye blazing with the famed Sharingan of the Uchiha clan. He scooped up the small bundle and stepped away from the parents.

"Step away from the jinchūriki or this child dies!" the said man threatened as he held a kunai to the infant's throat.

"Hey, let's all calm down and-" Minato said shakily as he began to panic.

"Me? Calm down? I believe that you are the one who needs to calm down here!" the orange masked man sneered before scoffing.

The blond looked between his son and his wife desperately, weighing the options but unable to decide.

"Go save our son, Minato-kun. I'll be fine," Kushina whispered in her husband's ear softly in a placating manner.

Minato looked at his wife, wide-eyed as she nodded. This was the only signal he needed to go to their son.

He used Hiraishin to flash to his son, grabbing the child and flashing again to a safe-house where he left his child with a shadow clone. He ordered said clone to protect his son as he flashed to the Hiraishin marker he left on his wife, only to be greeted by a horrific sight.

His wife was laying on the floor in pain as the masked Uchiha extracted the Kyūbi from the seal on Kushina's stomach. As she was still weak from having just given birth, her efforts to stop the man were fruitless.

He dashed forward to stop the process prematurely but was too late.

The mass of red chakra had already morphed into the form of the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

The fox looked around in confusion before growling at the Uchiha. However, before the nine-tailed fox could attack, the man locked eyes with the fox, causing its eyes to morph into the Sharingan as it tried to fight back to no avail. The fox glared at the man one last time before fully succumbing to the Uchiha's control.

During this fiasco, Minato had used this distraction to flash his wife to the safe-house where he left their son before flashing back to where the man was ordering the Kyūbi to attack the village.

Minato could only look on in horror as the fox bounded toward the village, flattening trees in its path.

Minato glared at the orange-masked man with hate-filled eyes as he growled out, "Who are you? What is your goal?"

The man blinked as though contemplating whether or not to answer his questions.

"I'm Uchiha Madara. I wish to destroy Konoha," that man now named Madara stated after thinking for a while.

Minato gaped at Madara.

"Impossible! He died at the Valley of the End years ago! You cannot be him!" Minato rebuffed.