Chapter 1: A Certain Change
The destruction that lay before him, all the death, the pain and emotion that the village was exuding at this very moment was oppressing. He could feel the dwindling levels of the ninja around him were using, the intense heat of the burning flames, the smoke rising from the ashen houses.
He looked to the horizon of the village, watching as the beast rampaged within his village, his home. Destroying what so many believed to be the heart of what they believed in, what so many had worked so hard to build.
One swing of its mighty tail and over a dozen ninja gone in an instant, to be remembered as heroes of this fateful day.
Before he realize, he felt the slow trail of tears running down past his cheeks. The beast released a large stream of fire into the fray of ninja, decimating most of what little ninja they had left to spare.
"Sandaime-sama!" He heard the sudden shout from one of the masked operatives he was responsible for, returning from one of his reconnaissance. "Report."
"Most of the villagers have been evacuated from the danger zone and are looking to be moved further into the village. The Chunin and Genin have been rounded up and are travelling with the villagers as reinforcements and are ready to be deployed if need be." The man with a mask resembling a bear said.
"What of Minato?" Sarutobi asked, slight desperation within his voice. "There has been no sign of Hokage-sama."
The aged man sighed and thought on the situation before making his decision. "Alright, I want both Alpha and Omega teams down there. I want Alpha as the vanguard, have Omega in support. Have them both execute procedure 'insurance', tell them to stall until Minato arrives. I want Beta teams 1-3 to fall back and have them split their work between crowd control and controlling these fires. Go." The vanishing of the ANBU happened instantly and not 30 seconds later, his ANBU teams sprang into action. But this plan was only to try and contain the situation, even if for a little bit. It would only work for a short time and hopefully in that short time Minato would return.
"Please hurry Minato.
OoO
(Running through Konoha – Minutes after arrival of Minato)
The war was won, but the battle was lost. The fires still raged around them, ANBU and Jonin alike trying to put them out. The medical teams working on healing the injured and doing body counts all around the village.
Hiruzen didn't even look around him to look around him to look upon the absolute destruction that was brought upon their village. He ran through the village moving his legs as fast as his elderly bones could carry, his operatives following their aged and weary leader to their location.
The sudden appearance of Minato and the sudden disappearance of the Kyuubi all happened so fast that he honestly couldn't think straight. For so long his fellow ninja had fought a losing battle against the Kyuubi and within seconds it was over, the deafening silence was haunting as the only noise that was heard was the crackling of fire on wood.
And now that the beast was gone, and Minato nowhere to be seen, Hiruzen had no other choice but to think the worst and assume that Minato was dead, along with the beast.
The only way for him to prove this was to see for himself.
OoO
(On the outskirts of Konoha – After searching for Minato)
Sarutobi Hiruzen watched on from his place behind the barrier that had been erected around Minato and the Kyuubi, watching as Minato drew up the seals for what Hiruzen believed, should have been him.
He screamed and yelled, bashing his fist against the barrier as the claw of the Kyuubi ripped right through both Minato and his wife, Kushina. All for the sake of protecting the barely hour old child.
It was ironic in a way… His belief of protecting the younger generation was always something he stuck by and watching those two reminded him of that belief.
It made him proud but also disappointed with himself…
OoO
(Hokage office – A day after the death of Minato & Kushina)
He watched the child within his crib, sleeping peacefully, his use to be Hokage robes now draped over his shoulder. He turned and sighed, reaching for his pipe, he hesitated for a second, a brief flash of Konoha burning. He swallowed thickly and latched onto the pipe, preparing to light the tobacco within, but was stopped by the slight cough from behind.
"It's not right to smoke in front of kids' dad, let alone a new born."
"I was planning on going outside…" Hiruzen smiled and turned to face his eldest son. A tall stubble covered man, dressed in the Konoha Jonin vest, black pants and Konoha headband worn around his forehead, his black hair flat but spiky on the tips, smirked at his father. "Takeshi, what brings you here?"
"Originally, I was supposed to come and get you, the council is ready to decide on the current situation with the big seat and little Naruto here." Takeshi said, looking into the crib and staring down at the small sleeping face. "Ah, shall we be on our way then?" Hiruzen asked walking toward the door. "Wouldn't want to keep them waiting, their running out of time as it is." Takeshi chuckled following behind his father out the door and began a leisurely walk beside the man who he had, for a part of his life, admired greatly. He watched as the man lit the tobacco within his pipe, clouds of smoke forming every time he exhaled.
Considering what was happening, Takeshi assumed it would be fine to smoke himself and pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his back pocket. Their walk, an everlasting silence as they both respectively smoked, the silence was broken however as Hiruzen spoke.
"Takeshi…" He started. "What… do you think should happen to Naruto?" He finished, looking toward his son as they neared the council room. "I'm… Not sure, adoption maybe?" Takeshi answered stopping and turning to his father as they reached the room.
The third Hokage hm'ed in response, turning to his son and thanking him before opening the door into the room, where he closed it behind him. Leaving Takeshi standing there, thinking as to what his father thanked him for.
OoO
(Atop the Hokage tower – Two days after council meeting)
Hiruzen stood atop the podium, garbed in his Hokage robes, looking down on the people of Konoha, hand behind his back. As he looked down, he saw his youngest son, Asuma amongst the crowd, with his team mates readying for the speech he was to give. The boy looked so much like his elder brother at that age, even if he did deny it. Spiky black hair, subtle growth of a beard…
"Good afternoon denizens of Konohagakure, I, Hiruzen Sarutobi came before you all to speak in light of recent events." The talking of the crowd began to quiet down as Hiruzen began talking of what happened not three nights before. "As you all know already Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki are no longer with us, and so many others have left us as well. We hope to commemorate their memories with honour and love." Many in the crowd bowed their heads in respect for the deceased. "Although, as grim as these events maybe, there has been some light through the darkness, as I have been re-elected to be your Hokage." Clapping and some cheers were heard from the crowd as the re-election of their previous Hokage was a much more positive result from this situation. Hiruzen raised his hand in a silent order for quiet, then speaking once more. "I would also like to present the hero of Konohagakure, my grandson…"
"Naruto Uzumaki Sarutobi!"
OoO
(Hokage office – A few hours after the speech)
"And just who will be the boys care-taker Hiruzen!" An elderly man bandages wrapped around the left side of his face, yelled. "This is not what the council agreed upon!"
"I know what the council 'suggested' Danzo, this was my decision. As for the caretaker of the child, my son has and his wife has volunteered."
"Your son!" Danzo yelled in disbelief. "Your son can barely take care of himself!"
"The decision has been made Danzo-"
"No! This decision will backfire, and the lives of everyone in Konoha will be at risk. Your boy is as incompetent as a fucking tree stump-"
"Danzo you'd do well to remember your place!" Hiruzen reprimanded, staring down the scowling Danzo. "My decision is final. The boy will be known as Sarutobi."
"And what of the children of the families that were wiped out during the attack? What will you do with them; surely this sudden adoption will not just result in a breeze passing by, just another happening. No this will only cause more frustration that the village does not need!"
The Hokage sat himself back down and breathed in large quantities of air, relaxing his body. "It seems to me that most of those children that were left orphaned by this event seem to have gone missing. You wouldn't have anything to do with that Danzo."
The bandaged man sat there seething before he stood and left the room.
OoO
(Hokage office – A day after the speech)
Takeshi, Rekka… Are you sure you wish to adopt Naruto? I can arrange for one of our other members to raise him."
"Dad, weren't we the ones to offer to adopt him? Of course we want to raise him. Besides, I don't think our other members would appreciate it much of we shoved a child their way…" Takeshi said, the bearded man looked over to his wife and the child she held in her arms, the child that she was only introduced to a day ago, the child that she was going to become a parent for. His new son.
"I know I wouldn't want that." A voice intruded into the conversation.
"Asuma… How you been? You know, with everything?" Takeshi wondered turning around to face the teenaged boy leaning against the frame of the door. "Eh, I'm okay… Losing mum isn't as bad as what other people go through, but it's no less painful. I miss her… So, this is my new nephew huh?" Asuma said walking over Rekka to look down at the small sleeping face. "Yeah, that's your nephew…" Hiruzen smiled watching the interactions between his family wishing the scene could last forever. He knew then that Naruto was in caring hands.
END. Yes, I finally released my own story after like, 2 years of just reading just to up my writing game, and hopefully it payed off?
I actually posted before but I deleted it because I didn't know what I was doing and it didn't end up as I had planned, so I reposted. Anyway, I'll try to update the next chapter in a week or 2 because I've got exams coming up, and some assignments that they decided to throw at me. So hopefully I'll be able to keep up the content through to next week and so on. Hope you enjoyed.
Gimmaced – Signing out.