What a long day, was the first thought that went through the old hokage's mind as he stood there, his eyes looking around for his prized pipe before filling it with tobacco and smoking from it as he walked to the window. Being the Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves was never easy, and had not been easy when he was a younger man. He had retired cause of this fact and thought his days as hokage were long gone a few years before. This sadly was not to be something that would last for him for long at all. He was destined to become hokage again it would seem. He felt horrible about the events that had happened, the return of the nine tailed demon, and the death of Minato and Kushina, and the fact their newborn child happened to be an orphan already in life.
Hiruzen Sarotobi looked out over the streets of his town, the town he grew up in when it was new, back in the day of the first and second hokage, the god of hokages. A role that some mistakenly gave him now of days due to his experience and knowledge, that or the one her preferred the most, the professor. Anyway that you cut it, this was his home, he would protect it and help it in any way possible. He wished that he could help Naruto more, but all he could do was keep the hate that seemed to be focused towards him from spreading to the next generation by banning them from telling him his true nature. He knew this was a failure one of his many in life, as he could see that even the looks that people gave to him were communicated indirectly towards children as a precedent to not like the young child.
It wasn't his fault that he was the holder of the nine tails, and in many ways he protected the villagers by that very act. He knew his parents would not want this to happen, and would be extremely disappointed in him for not finding a way to find a place in the world that would be good for Naruto, who was still a a little boy and to young to understand what was going on. When he got older, when he started school, he would have things hard. It was sad, but there was nothing that he could do to change the course of events it seemed to the elderly hokage.
As he stood there thinking about Naruto, he heard movement, fast movement as he turned towards his window to see someone use it as the way to get into the room. The man who was standing there was one of the best, an member of the Anbu, and one of the best of the Anbu in the whole of the village. A young man who had a great connection with Naruto's family as anyone else in the whole of the village. Hiruzen looked at Kakashi and knew that this was a man who took things way too seriously, and was very focused on his job at that moment. He was sure it was a effect of the death of his sensei, and both members of his gennin team during the war.
The assessment of Kakashi was correct as he looked at the hokage, a man who he had a great deal of respect for. He had found some troublesome news, that he had to report, and he had already gotten a team together to deal with the problem that happened to be at hand in that moment. There was a more serious and determined look in the young spiky haired ninja's eyes at that moment the normal. A certain edge to him that said that he was ready to go something. He knew that this was easily readable by a man like the great hokage as he looked at him, and that was one of those things he wanted to make clear.
"Lord Hokage, I have a report, Uzumaki Naruto has gone missing from the village," Kakashi announced boldly and to the point. "We had men scan the village searching for Naruto. None were able to find him, and these are good men who were searching including Miato Gai and your own son. I am sure that if they were unable to find them then he will not be found. I request a mission to recon out of the village to find Naruto and deal with any threat that might of popped up."
Hiruzen knew this was a real threat, Naruto was the holder of a demon, any village would kill to have the nine tails demon in their village, and they let him go to unguarded and he knew it now. Damn, he had been a idiot to let him run free without any real supervision other than the orphanage. "Go now, and good luck," he said knowing that Kakashi would do what would be needed to get the job done. He was like his father in some ways like that, but in many other ways, he was so different, still in time he was sure he would find the right path in life.
Kakashi didn't need to be told twice, and was gone, his makeshift team gathered with im near the gate as they moved out. Kakashi had already sent his ninja dogs out to search for any sign of Naruto.. The ninja dogs were great trackers, and the found a shirt that the young kid had on him, and would enable to dogs to track him with. Kakashi was not going to let anyone get away with his sensei's son, not a chance, he was going to find Naruto and return him to the village. Kakashi knew that both Gai and Asuma were going to support any way they could, and that they were going to find the person who had perhaps kidnapped Naruto. The only downside to their group was that none of them sere sensor type ninja able to find the attacks from far off. It was why the ninja dogs were so important for him and his teammates to use.
Asuma was more focused than normal as well knowing that the possibilities of the problems that this could pose, another village getting a demon beast. Also the problems it would cause for Konoha when they were not able to protect the son of the former hokage, that would look really bad for them as well. He knew this was important to Kakashi and then he also knew that Gai felt the same, but for Gai this was as much about supporting Kakashi and protecting Minato's legacy as anything else.
Catching up wasn't actually that hard, it seemed the group thought they were free and in the clear, Kakashi used hand signs to direct the other two into the right direction and putting them in spots to attack with their close range attacks, they could attack fast hopefully catching whoever this team was off guard. The element of surprise was one that was one of the most important things that a ninja could have on his side in a fight, and if he could use it , he or she should everytime.
Gai cleared the first tree and looked down upon the group who had the young child most likely on them. He looked at the group to find them with a young boy resting using no campfire to hide their location. This group most of thought they were in the clear, free, but they underestimated Konohagakure. Gai felt his blood heat up in that moment, he was not one for sneaking around, and the idea that some one would steal the hokage's child away pissed him off to no end
The sublime green beast of prey attacked, the unknown ninja moved fast under him shocked at the attack which was loud and drew the attention of all four cloud ninja who were gathered. The cloud ninja were sent to kidnap the child, the second time they had targeted the nine tails holder, having targeted Kushina before. They were unprepared for the taijutsu genius as well as the others who were coming in for an attack.
Kakashi used this to his own advantage as Gai drew the attention as he was sure he would, and he slipped in and grabbed the sleeping child, Naruto no more than four at the moment was sleeping peacefully. Most likely he had no clue he had even been kidnapped as he was most likely taken while he was asleep. He moved back leaving the fight to the other two to handle, knowing both could handle this with little problem. These were not top level ninja they were fighting it seemed or at least not on their level.
Asuma used the attention that Gai was gathering to attack from the kumo ninja's blind side, the young man able to surprise the group again, him and Gai were able to subdue and knock out all of the ninja within a short period of time. Killing the ninja was not the target, it would be a waste, as they could give them a great deal of information on the cloud as well as the details of the kidnapping plan. The information could be key in finding weak points in the defense of Konoha, and the cloud ninja could be returned as a gesture of good will too, making the cloud eat crow for the failed kidnap attempt.
It was not long later that HIruzen got the report, that Narutp had been saved from the cloud ninja. He was given the report indirectly by Kakashi. Hiruzen looked at the report and let out a deep breath clearing his mind. He knew what this meant, that Naruto was going to need someone to watch out after him, he was going to need someone to take him in and actually raise him. The question was who would take Naruto in, who would raise the blonde. The choice was as important as any other that he would ever make. He would need someone loyal, someone who would be around to protect him, and give him a sense of family. Things that would help Naruto becomd a member of the village and find a place in the village as well. There were many possibilities of people and clans who he could have look out after the young man. He was the son of the former hokage, and a member of the powerful Uzumaki clan. Picking the right group or person to send him to was very important, and he would need to put some serious thought into the prospect.
Author's note: Honestly, I have no clue where I am going to put Naruto, but the idea of the story or the intro seemed fun to write so I did. Hope you enjoyed this.