Forever a Sacrifice

Building a Funeral Pyre

Authors Notes:

This is my first fic and I have decided to make it a one-shot. I have read many fics that give us different view on being a Hokage and it made me think so I have decided (for once) to actually act on my thoughts and here u are reading some authors note. Don't go easy on me there are enough stories that suck on to begin with however flames do have to have a point not just "wtf this crap sucks" and if I feel that your not a credible source of aid (as in you have done nothing to prove your any good) then I am gonna just ignore you.

I do not hate Sarutobi and I hope I did not make it seem that way. I just realized that in some fics the Hokage is an amazing job that is fun and full of happiness. I am fine with this though I do not think so. When you have to lead a country through war and be responsible for thousands of things and people you do not have the time for a perfect or normal life, hell you barely will have time for a life at all. I just believe that after being hokage for so long, please not that I am also unsure how long Sarutobi was hokage, that he would begin to dislike if not hate his job. But his love for the leaf and its people keep him going.

Key:

"If you can't get this by now" Speaking

'Then honestly stop reading' Thinking

Disclaimer: Don't own it….after all who would be typing fan fictions if they owned the show?

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Once again he has been forced to make a decision that would cost a life. He had hoped that he would finally be able to stop destroying lives. Hell he didn't think it was possible for him to destroy anymore. After all he had been sending people either to kill or die for….was it his forty-fourth year, forty-fifth? Bah, the years he has served mean nothing now, for once again he is going to force another into this accursed job. These were the thoughts that had been running through the head of the Legendary Professor for a long time now.

He let out a bitter sweet laugh at that. The Professor what a foolish nickname. He didn't invent a thousand jutsu for people to learn and live through; he made no breakthrough to be recognized. All he did was come up with a thousand ways to kill someone. And now he was going to ruin the life of another, but not through a jutsu oh no that would be an easy way to die, what the Professor was going to do was create another that would take this job from him.

Perhaps though this one is the perfect choice. After all the life of a Jinchuuriki is just what the name implies sacrificial. The sound a baby crying breaks him from his reverie. He walks over to the cradle the young boy resides in and lets a small sad smile adorn his aged face.

"Not even four days old and your life have already been condemned twice, Naruto-kun" whispered Sarutobi Sasuke. 'Although was it any different for me' the ancient man ponders. It was true though while he was still a small child Sarutobi was chosen to be the Sandaime Hokage by none other then both the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokage. He didn't realize it at the time but that was when he truly lost everything he would gain.

His job demanded full attention; nothing else could come above it; not even his or his families' happiness. This is what cost him to lose his wife Sarutobi Misora who died on a mission he himself assigned her. It is also what caused him to lose what little relationship he had with his son Sarutobi Asuma. All this made him realize one thing though the Hokage isn't a person that is chose merely by power, they are chosen because they are the ones who will be able to handle the sacrifice. This is what led Sarutobi to choose Minato Namikaze as the Yondaime Hokage. After all if they were chosen simply by power or the amount of jutsu known then there is a possibility that Orochimaru's face would be the one carved into the Hokage monument not Minato's.

Ouch now that brought up old wounds. After all Sarutobi had saved Orochimaru from the curse that is being Hokage and what did he do, he behaved like a child who didn't get desert and stormed off.

'Did Tsunade and Jiraiya act so differently though. I mean I didn't have to revisit this accursed desk and its accursed never ending paper work. Either one of them could have taken over' thought Sarutobi. 'No! I mustn't think that way. If I did that then I would just be being favoritable towards one of my stu- ex students' he corrected with a sneer.

Letting out a large sigh Sarutobi looked down at the baby before him. "You are going to become the one thing that keeps all of us strong Naruto. You shall be the embodiment of the Will of Fire. Unfortunately like the fire you are going to burn up your fuel, you are going to burn away…your life."

He was doing it again. He was gathering up large amount of tinder. He was raising the fire from a small spark into a great flame. Unfortunately that flame was going to turn itself into a funeral pyre…though at least the paper work would burn too.

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Please Review and let me know if I did an ok job for my first fic and thanks for reading.