Unsealing Legacy

Chapter 1: The Fourth Hokage's Legacy

Naruto was well aware he was disliked by a majority of the Konoha population, hated even. However, even though they hated him, he was never harmed. He received no more than an icy glare, insults behind his back, and shunning. His safety was ensured by the ANBU guards the Sandaime ordered to protect him, but it still hurt emotionally. The old man would have prevented his people from hurting the boy's heart if he could, but to enforce a law like that was impossible. Not to mention until now, those who held a grudge against the Kyuubi never tried anything against its container in fear the demon itself would run amok.                                                     

The people of Konoha weren't crazy, but even the Hokage couldn't keep an eye on every shinobi. And even if he could, there was always that one individual that would spell trouble over Konoha's jinchuuriki. Danzo was a prime example. Nevertheless, Sarutobi Hiruzen counted his blessings. he didn't yet need his ANBU to get rid of those stupid enough to harm Naruto. 

However, that night changed everything.

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Hiragi Youma was a survivor of the third Shinobi war; one of the first fuuinjutsu users in Iwa. He retired from his profession shortly after the war ended, because he wasn't just a regular seal master who worked in the village, researching and producing seals for a living was not for him. He was a front line seal master who worked as backup on the battlefield. His forte was fast execution of a seal rather than the complexity of it, allowing him to support his comrades. However, no one was fast enough to deal with Konoha's Yellow Flash.

He was thoroughly humiliated when Namikaze Minato slaughtered the Iwa force before he could even pick a brush. The only reason he survived the encounter was because he was hiding under his comrade's corpse, suppressing his chakra. He would never forget the eyes that appeared to glow a brilliant shade of Delphinium when they gazed in his direction. His breath had hitched, and he'd wondered if the sense of inevitable death was a shared feeling among his comrades in face of the swift and deadly Yellow Flash.

But Youma did not hold a grudge against Namikaze Minato like the rest of his village; he found it to be pointless since people on both sides were dying. Instead, he chose to admire him as a seal master. The man was a genius, and Youma was envious. He was talented in sealing having spent his whole life mastering it, but he would never come close to Namikaze's level.

The saying, 'Talent hits a target no one else can hit, while a genius hits a target that no one else can see, couldn't be truer.

Namikaze Minato set his own unreachable target, creating seals no one previously thought to be possible. Youma retired knowing it was time to give up chasing NamiKaze. The gap between was too large to be closed and chasing the dream was pointless. However, in his fifth year of retirement, news spread like wildfire that Namikaze Minato died when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. Rumors started floating -most were nonsense - but one caught his interest. Namikaze Minato had given up his life using a seal against the Kyuubi, and there was a possibility Konoha created another jinchuuriki. It was obvious to say Youma was curious. A high level seal master wouldn't die sealing a bijuu so long as it was performed right. Namikaze dying from a mistake was a farfetched idea considering many masters before him had succeeded. That meant only one thing. Namikaze Minato had used a special kind of seal that 'required' such a sacrifice.

Konoha was probably the only village that would never flaunt their jinchuuriki. In fact, all that anyone knew was that Konoha possessed the Kyuubi and that there were two jinchuuriki before the most recent one. The first fact was common knowledge. The second fact could be known if one calculated a person's life span.