Prologue.
High above the realm of mortals and that of the demons there is yet another world. It belongs to the higher beings, the Gods, or so the people inhabiting the planet call them. The biju and youkai know better. They know, that that realm belongs to the souls of the dead. It is known as Soul Society. There, in the very heart of that world, the Seiretei is located, home to the Shinigami, or Gods of Death of Gotei 13.

Yet there is an instance above the shinigami, the Palace of Candles. It is home to milliards of candles that represent human lives, but also there live the guardians of fate and destiny so to say. They answer for reincarnation of the souls and make sure that the souls that are being reincarnated don’t have memories of their past lives or their time at Soul Society. Although they have another job that is mainly kept a secret. These guardians also make sure that the champions of good and light don’t die before their time.

The most important factor for a shinigami or a guardian is indifference to everything. After all one can’t successfully fulfill one’s job if feelings get in the way. But there was one shinigami and one guardian that were unlike the rest. They were Kurosaki Ichigo and Inoue Orihime. They did what they thought was right. Instead of doing their job, they allowed two souls walk through the Gates of Chronos. They knew they would be executed for it, but that didn’t stop them. The two of them knew that it was their duty to help the strange pair – a human boy and a demon lord.

***

Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto and his prisoner-lover, Hagishimaru, the Kyubii, taiki-youkai of the East. Strange, isn’t it? Being lovers with someone trapped inside your mind … it would be, but on his 12th birthday Naruto opened his father’s kekei-genkai, the Fuiingan, the ability to read seals and make counters for them, create seals, recognizing and remembering hand seals. When he found out about it, he started practicing and 2,5 years later during his trip with Jiraya he changed his father’s seal. As a side effect of that, the Kyubii got out. At first both Jiraya and Naruto were quite scared about what it meant for Konoha, but it soon became obvious that the youkai’s soul was still tied to Naruto’s and would remain like that forever, even after Naruto died. Also the two of them had to stay close to each other, or it would become very painful for both of them.
They were lovers for only a short time, because Akatsuki and Orochimaru didn’t like losing the Kyubii’s power, so they decided to gang up and kill him, so that there would be a new Kyubii. And they actually succeeded. Well, at least partially. Orochimaru killed Naruto and as soon as he did Kyubii died as well, but they had no idea, that for a new demon lord to come forth at least a thousand years would have to pass, thus the Akatsuki lost.

Naruto & Hagishimaru enjoyed their time in Soul Society. There they had no need to hide from everyone, so they just lived happily together, until one day they met Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Inuzuka Kiba & Hyuga Hinata. When they were killed, they focused on themselves and forgot to worry about those who were left behind, so for Naruto it was a nasty awakening. What they told them about what took place after their death was horrible. Not the sort of future anyone would be glad to have. From that day on both Naruto and his lover were constantly depressed. It was then that they were approached by Kurosaki Ichigo & Inoue Orihime. With their help Naruto learnt the way of kido and hado, after which the two shinigami led them to the gates of Chronos.

- Now, this is very important, so listen carefully, Naruto-san.
- What is it, Inoue-san?
- Both of you will go to just before Naruto was born. As you know at that time Uzumaki Haruka was on her 7th month of pregnancy.
- Yes, so why that moment?
- Easy. You Kyubii don’t necessary have to attack. What would happen if you didn’t attack?
- Sesshoumaru would probably do it instead of me.
- Exactly what we need. That way Naruto stays a jinchuuriki and the two of you can be together.
- Not exactly. The taiki-youkai of the Western lands is very different from me…
- And that’s a bad thing?
- I don’t know… oh… I see…
- Good. Now go ahead. And remember, there probably won’t be a next chance.
Kyubii and Naruto shared one last deep kiss before going through the Gates. Both hoped that they would soon see each other.

Chapter One.

Hagishimaru looked around as soon as the dizziness left and he saw that he was a day away from Konoha. He glanced behind and saw Sesshoumaru at once. He shrunk down into his original form and the other lord came up to him.
- Is something wrong, Hagishimaru?
- Ah, Sesshoumaru. I thought I smelt you. Why are you tailing me?
- No reason.
- So really? And not for the reason that you’ve noticed that scent that is so much like InuYasha’s?
- I don’t care for that half-breed!
- Keep saying that, maybe someday you’ll even manage to convince someone with that statement.
- You want to say that I’m lying?
- I already did, didn’t I?
- Let’s leave it for later.
- Of course. You know, I’ve changed my mind, you can attack Konoha without me.
- What? Who are you and what have you done with Hagishimaru?
- I just lost my interest in it.
- Fine, then I’ll do it myself.
- Go ahead.

And so the inu-youkai sped forwards to the village hidden in leaf. Kyubii felt bad about it, but he knew that Naruto would need a jinchuuriki’s power to handle Orochimaru. And he knew that Sesshoumaru wouldn’t try and kill the child, seeing as how he was his father.

***

Namikaze Minato stared at the enormous demon. His intelligence said that it was a fox. And that meant that the sealing would have to be different. He stared at the silver haired infant with tiny dog ears on top of his head. He hoped that Naruto would manage and that the villagers would treat his son as the hero he’s to become. Something was very familiar about the dog demon ahead of him, but Minato swatted the unwanted thought away. He couldn’t afford to loose concentration. Finally the last string of seals was finished and after what seemed like a lifetime the demon began to glow and it was sucked into the seal on his own child. With a satisfied smile he died.

***

Sarutobi Arashi, the third Hokage was the one to pick up the boy. It wasn’t the first time he held little Naruto, but it was then that he noticed that the boy’s puppy ears are gone. Instead he had very pale markings on his forehead and cheeks and somewhat sharper fangs and his nails were harder.
He smiled at the infant, the legacy of the fourth hokage and the heir of the Namikaze clan. He would do everything in his power to make sure that his life was a good one.
- Well the, Namikaze Naruto, let’s turn you into Uzumaki Naruto. I hope that one day it would be safe enough to tell you the truth. It’s good that your father sealed the youkai before it reached Konoha, this way people won’t be bitter towards you. I hope you make you parents proud.

***

Naruto was very happy to have at least one memory of his father. He listened closely to what Sarutobi said. He was glad that the old man hokage cared about him that much. He couldn’t help but think how would his life change not that he wasn’t going to be hated by each and everyone. He also missed his lover a lot, though it sounded really gross seeing as how he was only a day old. He decided that since he had nothing to do he could go and say hello to his newly acquired tenant.
His inner world was just the sewer he was used to, but then he remembered everything that took place in that sewer and decided that it was time for a change. He concentrated hard and watched in awe as the sewer became a palace. Yes, that was more worthy of a taiki-youkai. He then proceeded to where he thought the cage would be. Of course it was very slow, since he was just an infant, but he figured that the sooner he got to know his tenant the better.

***

Sesshoumaru no Inu had no idea how he got caged in a human child’s mind. He couldn’t think of what the fourth hokage did to be able to trap a demon lord like that. Yet he couldn’t come to any conclusion, as his musings were interrupted by a drastic change of his surroundings. Instead of the sewer, the child’s inner words was now a palace, which strongly resembled his own. And he was now trapped in a spacious room instead of a cage. Soon his vessel crawled up to the room entrance and sat in front of the invisible barrier, staring at Sesshoumaru with his impossibly blue eyes. The youkai walked up to sit down in front of the child. Something tugged on his chest as he studied the infant. He gasped when he noticed that the small boy had silver hair and very faint youkai markings on his face. Even his blue eyes had a bit of golden hue in them. it was then that Sesshoumaru remembered his brother hanging out with the forth hokage of Konoha. He had no idea how human male managed to give birth to a hanyu child, but the irony of the situation was undeniable, he was sealed in his own nephew and there was nothing he could do, since if he tried to break the seal, his brother’s only pup would die. So he vowed to do all in his power to stop the boy’s youkai side from taking over. He would make sure the pup has a nice life, even if the boy decides to spend it in Konoha as a human.

***

Hagishimaru smiled. His plan worked and Sesshoumaru got sealed into his own nephew without ruining Konoha. Now all he had to do was find Sesshoumaru’s brother and bring him back to the Western lands, after all he was now the Lord of the Western Lands.

Chapter Two.

Naruto was pleasantly surprised when he noticed that his life turned out much better than before, the only thing he worried about was his lover. Hagishimaru was still  nowhere to be found. Of course the boy understood that as the taiki-youkai of the Eastern lands had a lot of responsibilities, but he missed him a lot. Still he decided to concentrate training, so that he wouldn’t shame his father’s memory with being the dead last. Sesshoumaru was of great help there. Naruto was surprised that he was actually related to his tenant and yet this brought them closer together and when he turned nine he would rarely remember the kitsune. It seemed that his new tenant was gradually replacing Kyubii, not that Naruto had anything against it.

***

Naruto found his life changing a lot. He was living at the Namikaze compound, no one glared at him, he had a lot of friends and he found his grades being the best. He of course never strived to be the rookie of the year, but now that he wasn’t kicked out of all the important classes, studies came really easy.
Sesshoumaru was proud of his nephew. The boy was only nine, but his chakra and youki control was better than anyone he knew. He also showed great talent in nin-jutsu and tai-jutsu. Casting illusions, or gen-jutsu, came harder, but when it was about sensing and lifting one, there he was the best. The inu-youkai made sure that his youki didn’t fight with Naruto’s so that his control didn’t get worse. After one particularly hard and successful training session Sesshoumaru decided that it was time to give Naruto a reward.
- Pup, I’ve watched your progress and now it’s time for another step towards your dream.
- Really? What is that?
- We will sign a binding contract, which will create a kekei genkai for you and your descendants.
- Cool. What will it do?
- Well, we’ll see.
- What? You can’t pick?
- No, I can’t. It depends on your body, you genetic signs and so on.
- Genetic signs? What are those?
- You truly are an idiot, pup.
- Hey, I resent that.
- Resent it all you want, but it won’t change a thing. It’s just how you are.
- Ok, doesn’t matter as long as it’s something cool.
- Of that I have no doubts. After all you are still Konoha’s most surprising ninja.

tbc.....