As soon as the barrier went down, Hiruzen ran over to the parents. After seeing that the mother had already passed, he knelt down and helped Minato – the father – lie down comfortably. He knew there was nothing he could do to save him, so he held his head up and tried to listen as best he could. When he passed, and his final words had been spoken, Hiruzen closed his eyes and his body visibly slumped. For a moment, he sat there, and the cold air brushed up against his face, but he did not wince or react in any way. His face was like stone, an impenetrable wall; no emotion showed upon it. Until, a single tear rolled down his face, and then another. Slowly, tears steadily streamed from both eyes, and his now tense face slooped, joining the rest of his body.

A scream pierced the silence, or, maybe he only just recognized it. Hiruzen's eyes snapped open, and he looked around. His tears stopped immediately. There, in front of Hiruzen, was a newborn baby. It was lying next to the corpses of the mother and father. Clenching his jaw, Hiruzen stood up. His face was a wall again, and he walked over to the child. It was still crying, relentlessly wailing. On its' stomach was an Eight Trigrams Seal. He was about to pick it up when he stopped and looked over to the dead parents. He whispered, mostly to himself. "I'll do my best... to keep my promise to you."

Then, Hiruzen picked up the newborn, and rushed back to the village.

Four Years Later

"Lord Third"

Hiruzen looked up from his desk. Three people were standing in front of him. On the right was an older man with a large white scarf and a light brown kimono. In the middle of them was an older woman with a kimono, and on the left was a man wrapped in bandages, holding a cane. The Hokage let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"I guess it is about that time." He said.

No one responded. Hiruzen stroked his beard and swiveled his chair to the side so he could glance out the window. From his seat, he could see the entire village. The sky was dark and the moon was out. Lights were slowly flickering off across the village. Hiruzen thought of all the parent's in the village, putting their children to bed with a kiss and a smile on their face. The end of one more day of innocence. Until, slowly, there would be none left.

"What have you come up with?" Hiruzen said, not looking at his trio of advisors.

"He will train with me." The man on the left said.

Hiruzen didn't move for a moment. Then, he swiveled his chair so he was once more facing them.

"I hope you know how terrible I feel about this." He said. "I made a promise. A promise to the Fourth Hokage. I failed to keep it, and I'm sure if he saw this… he'd be turning over in his grave right now."

"We've already discussed this, Lord Third." The bandaged man said. "But with us, he will become strong, and he will be able to help this village more so than if you were to place him anywhere else."

"Yeah…" Hiruzen paused. "I don't like it. Root, that is. Why Root?"

"Because Root will give him control over his emotions, and, as such, will help him come to terms with his loneliness and solitude." The woman said.

Hiruzen took a deep breath; he had a pensive look on his face. He stood up from his chair and walked around his desk so that he was in front of it. Sitting down on it, he looked at the three before responding.

"No, not Root. I won't allow it."

"But you said –" The man on the right said.

"I said I wanted to know what you thought was best. I never said I would agree to it" he said. "Now, you're right that he needs training. He clearly won't have a regular childhood, and he will obviously need to defend himself – for a variety of reasons. However, Minato made me promise that he would be accepted by the village. While I might not have fulfilled that promise so far, I know it will never be fulfilled if he is a part of Root. He needs emotions… So, who else could take him in? What was your next best choice?"

The three persons did not respond immediately.

"What about Kakashi?" The woman responded.

Hiruzen thought about it for a moment. "I'll think about it. Give me some more names, and I'll make up my mind."

The man on the right listed off some names: "Jiraiya, Itachi, Fugaku, Shisui, or anyone from the Uchiha clan. Anyone that can control the Nine-Tails should they need to."

"Alright" Hiruzen responded. "Alright" he said again in a much quieter voice. "Unfortunately, Jiraiya will say no, so he's out. I can tell the other people what to do, though. I'll let you know what I decide in time."

"Don't take too long, Hiruzen," the woman said.

"I won't."

In the blink of an eye, only Hiruzen remained in his office.

"I'm getting too old for this." He said. "Too old."

Authors Note: That's it! My first chapter! Let me know what you guys all think. Construcive criticism is always appreciated. I hope this one tickled your fancy. Thanks for the read, and I hope to see you as soon as I get the next chapter done. I got this guy done in like three hours, and I'm sure it needs lots of revising. I've got a whole summer tho, so I'll be good.