It was the dead of night as a figure was running along the rooftops of the village. In front of them a giant cliff could be seen with four faces carved onto the side overlooking the sleeping village. Tucked under their arm was the figure of an unconscious toddler. The figure stopped on a rooftop after reaching their destination. The figure dropped the toddler on the ground, grabbing a scroll out of their clothes they left it next to the toddler. The figure took one more glance at the cliffside a slight smile could be seen at the edge of their mouth. A moment later the figure jumped off the roof and began running again.
The toddler was sleeping soundly as a few masked men had found their way to the rooftop. A man with a mask that resembled a pig's face approached the sleeping child. Crouching down he examined what was before him and slowly extended a hand in caution towards the scroll left on the ground. He unrolled the scroll to see what was inside. A moment passed before he rolled the scroll back up and turned to the others around him. "Get the Hokage to come here immediately. He's going to want to see this for himself." The pig masked man told his subordinates in a quiet but firm tone. Two men had flickered off of the roof while the rest set up a perimeter around the sleeping toddler.
In a nearby house a yellow haired man was sitting down after a long day of work. He could finally spend some time to himself and maybe if he was lucky a little time with his wife. A red headed woman had just sat down next to him as a masked man had appeared outside the house. Soon a loud knocking could be heard throughout the house. The red headed woman with an obvious look of annoyance got up from the couch and answered the door. "What could it possibly be at this time" she said.
"Ma'am its urgent I need to see the Hokage as soon as possible" the masked man had asked.
"Fine. Minato it's a cute girl for you. Hurry up and get your ass over here to take care of this." The red headed woman was beyond angry with people showing up at all times of the night. In front of this woman the masked man choose to stay silent being in his position he knew how strong the kunoichi in front of him was. It would be better to not say anything than get on her bad side. The blonde haired man, Minato, slowly got up from where he was sitting and went to the front door. "What is it now?" He asked the masked man in front of him.
"Sir, I think you're going to want to see this yourself."
"What's so urgent that you need me to be there?"
"About a quarter of an hour ago someone had left you a note and a child on top of the Hokage's office."
"You can bet your ass we're going to the office right now." Interrupted the red headed woman next to Minato. She was already starting to get an idea of whose kid this might be.
"Let's go. Kushina I'm sure you're coming as well?" He asked hoping that she'd hold off on making any assumptions.
"There is no way I'm missing this." She said with a grin
"It's not what you think it is at all. I'm just as curious about this as you are." Minato quickly interrupted Kushina before she could say anymore. The three then quickly left for the Hokage's office. On the roof the three appeared before the perimeter the masked men had set up. Minato looked for the leader of the group before asking what was going on. The pig masked man told The Hokage about what has transpired so far. After coming to the conclusion that they wouldn't be able to find out who the ninja was that dropped off the child. Minato turned his attention to the scroll that the pig masked man held. He read a few lines and his carefree attitude has already disappeared. Seeing her husband like this Kushina asked what's going on.
"According to this letter the boy on the ground there is a Senju." Minato looked around at the rest of the group on the roof before continuing "Everything about this child is to be an S-Class secret as of this moment. I need one of you to send for The Third and I want him here as soon as possible. I don't care if you have to drag the old man out of bed by force."
"What's going on?" There was a hint of worry in Kushina's voice as each line Minato read his expression worsened. Soon he rolled up the scroll and turned to his wife and motioned for her to follow him to his office. Once inside Minato sat on his chair and let out a long sigh. He hadn't read the whole scroll yet but the very little he did read so far caused him to be in serious dread. After calming himself he once again opened the scroll to continue reading it. Once again his expression worsened as he continued on reading the scroll. It took him close to ten minutes to finally finish before he rolled it back up and handed it to his wife. "You're going to want to read that. I know you're going to have a lot of questions as I do but please wait until you finished it before asking anything. Once Sarutobi also reads this I think that we will have a rather long discussion about this." Minato let his wife know what he was planning. Kushina finished reading the scroll in a little more time than it took Minato. When she finished she rolled it up only to find an older man walking in.
"It's rare for you to look for an old man like me in the middle of the night, Minato."
"Sensei, I think that you would want to know about this before anyone else." Even though it was the middle of the night Sarutobi didn't look displeased at all. Although he was no longer as active in the village as he used to be before Minato became The Fourth. He was still willing to council and advise Minato when he needed it. He didn't want to interfere with the new generation's time to care for the village as he was prepared to step back and watch his home grow and prosper. "Kushina, do you mind letting Sarutobi read it? I'm sure you want this to start as much as I do." Minato calmly asked his wife who moved to hand the scroll to the third.
"I'm sure this isn't just any letter for you to be asking for me at this time." Sarutobi said as he eyed the looks of the other two in the room.
"You'll know once you read the scroll" Kushina said as she walked back over to the window to gaze at the village on the other side. Many emotions were reflected on the glass as she was still coming to term of what she had read. Sarutobi opened the scroll and just like the other two his expression soon turned stiff. Just like the other two before him it took over ten minutes for Sarutobi to read the contents of the scroll. Once he digested what he had read he slowly rolled the scroll back up before looking at Minato and Kushina. "I think we should send for Tsunade as soon as possible. She's had it rough for awhile and knowing she might have another family member might give her some hope."
Minato had written a letter in the time the other two were reading the scroll for Tsunade. Now that everyone had finished and they could begin their discussion he got up from his chair and walked to the door. Outside he handed the scroll to the closest ANBU bodyguard with his instructions to deliver this as soon as possible in person. Minato then walked back to his desk and heaved a deep sigh before saying "From what I gathered from that scroll there are four main points. Besides the first one the rest could have more than once consequence for this village. We need to figure out if these claims are true and we need to verify what was discussed in the scroll as soon as possible. Kushina and I will keep the child safe until Tsunade returns to the village. As for after that we should leave it up to Tsunade as she is his only living relative at this point."
"Minato we can discuss this later but for now I think we need to investigate these claims before we move on any of the information in this. If we can verify the easier parts then I think we can make an attempt at valuing the more outrageous claims in this. Does this person seriously expect us to believe this?" Kushina said. The meeting between the three lasted through the night.
Tsunade was woken up when the sun started to shine through the crack in the shades. Getting up in the bed she could feel a pounding headache. Her head felt like it was ready to split apart as she tried to put the pieces of last night back together. All she could remember was drinking a few drinks before going to play some cards. She remembered only bits and pieces but something felt very off last night. She sat up in the bed surveying the room for the closest drink of water she could find. Instead of finding what she wanted Tsunade noticed her clothes were spread out all over the room in a very chaotic manner. Sighing inwardly she could only think of one thing that led her to this situation. Unfortunately her memories of last night were still blurry at best which couldn't help alleviate her fears of what happened last night. Once more she tried to piece the pieces together but nothing changed. The only thing that she could figure out was that she occasionally won last night. Feeling defeated by this she got up out of bed grabbing her clothes from around the room. Outside of her door she heard a voice call out to her.
"Lady Tsunade its urgent and there is someone here to see you. You should come out when you can we need to head back to the village as soon as possible." The voice on the other side of the door was a voice she had become used to recently, Shizune. After losing her uncle, Shizune has been learning medical ninjutsu from her. On the other side of the door Shizune was looking especially worried. Not only was last night a mess but with the appearance of this messenger she could only worry.
"Alright. I'll be out in a minute." Tsunade grumbled. Inside she was getting herself together. Snatching the rest of her clothes she got dressed while thinking about what the village could possibly want from her. She only left the village a few months ago after she could no longer stand the loss in her heart. She wanted to get away, to run away from her troubles. The village was already calling her back but why? What could I offer with how I am right now? Tsunade left the room and descended the stairs to see Shizune standing next to an ANBU operative.
"Lady Tsunade this is from The Fourth and he orders you to return to the village as soon as possible. He expects you back to the village before nightfall. Now that I have delivered his message I'll take my leave." The ANBU operative then disappeared into thin air as Tsunade could only looked shocked to what she just heard. She was ordered back by The Fourth? He has never used this kind of authority towards her before. Tsunade unrolled the scroll and started reading what was in front of her. Soon the scroll started to show creases and Tsunade's face showed shock. Shizune to the side wanted to ask what was in it but before she could Tsunade spoke "Shizune get what you need ready. We're leaving for the village immediately. I need to speak to The Fourth as soon as possible."
It took Tsunade and Shizune less than fifteen minutes to make their preparations before leaving their lodging. They were already running out of the town they were staying heading towards Konoha. Shizune had never seen Tsunade looked this determined before. She couldn't figure out what exactly she was thinking as Tsunade stared straight ahead. Eventually she worked up the courage to ask what the fourth's order was. Tsunade looked at her with a little bit of hope in her eyes and told her "Last night a little boy was dropped off on the roof of the Hokage's office. In a note left next to the child it said he was a Senju. I don't know how he's related to me but if he is I want to see him. There's a chance that I might have family again. Minato had asked me to be the child's guardian as I might be his only family."
Shizune was shocked by what she heard but couldn't help smiling. Tsunade being the last Senju was a well known fact in and out of the village. For her to have family would change everything for her. It had been so long since she was determined to move forward in life. This child could be an incredible gift for her. Shizune, herself had wanted Tsunade to move on as she hates seeing her like this. Looking at Tsunade she could see her tighten her fists as they increased their pace back towards the village. It shouldn't take more than a few hours for the duo to make it to the village.
At a different place on the same morning Kushina was already having her hands full. The child they had taken in the night before was running around their entire house trying his best to not be caught by her. The little guy would do anything to not be caught by her. Running under tables, sneaking in between the back of furniture and the wall and the worse was him sliding under chairs to avoid her. Kushina could easily catch him if she wanted to but she didn't want to scare the little guy. The boy tried his best to keep running room from room but the best he could do was to run a little before falling and trying again. Although she was annoyed with the child she couldn't help but chuckle each time he fell over. He was pretty adorable trying his best to run around.
Eventually the boy ended up running into Minato who had just come out of a room and knocking himself onto his rear. Tears started to well up in the child's eyes as he seemed to finally let it all out in front of the two. "Look what you did. He's crying now, come here little guy I'll make sure the bad man doesn't hurt you anymore." Kushina said while giving her husband a dirty look.
"It's not my fault he ran into me." Minato tried to defend himself as he began to crouch in front of the little guy. "Please don't cry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Despite his begging the crying only got louder as Kushina picked up the child in her arms. In Kushina's arms the child started wailing and struggling to get away. Immediately Kushina lowered the child back to the floor as he scampered away to another room as quickly as possible. The couple stared at each other before Minato broke the silence with "I think the little guy is already traumatized. I think he's smart enough to know what's happened to him."
Kushina nodded in agreement but it showed on her face how much it pained her to agree. Eventually they both followed after the escaped child to make sure he didn't hurt himself. Searching through the house they couldn't find the little boy but they could hear his crying turn into sobs. They narrowed the sobs to be coming from a guest bedroom. In the room they could hear the sobs of the child but couldn't find him. Looking around they realized the only spot they hadn't checked was under the bed. Kushina moved to look under the bed but was stopped when Minato placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
"It's better to leave him be for now."
"I'm not going to let a child cry under our bed" Kushina barked back at Minato
"Please, let's give him some space and maybe he'll come out on his own in a few minutes. He's probably hungry so let's get him some food for now."
"Fine but you're making his breakfast." She didn't want to leave the kid be but she knew he was right. His environment had changed without him realizing so she eventually gave up.
The two walked out of the room leaving the child behind. "Do you think Tsunade will be able to handle him like this? I mean she's also not in the best state of mind."
"We can only hope for the best. If that kid really is a Senju there is a chance that he can revive the clan. Bringing that family back from the brink? I can only imagine how happy that would make her. I'd also like to do the same for your Uzumaki's"
Kushina wrapped her arms around Minato and spoke in his ear "I think it might be time to talk about that now."
"We can leave that for when we're alone. I have breakfast to make remember?"
Minato walked to the kitchen and was trying to figure out what to make the kid for breakfast. When he heard the voice of an old man come from the entrance of his house.
"I hope it's alright for me to come in. I'm curious how our visitor is doing."
Kushina went to greet Sarutobi who was waiting at the entrance of their home. "Honestly it's not going so well. He won't let anyone near him and is now hiding under our guest bed crying. He slept through the whole night and we didn't have any problems until he ran into Minato a little bit ago. Come in and sit down, Minato is making breakfast for everyone now."
"I'm still trying to figure out what to let the kid eat" Minato had chimed in from the kitchen.
"Toast" Sarutobi replied back "It's easy enough for him to eat without any problems since I'm sure he's not going to be sitting at a table. If he's still hiding leave it on the floor of the room and he'll eat it when he wants to."
Kushina roared at the old man "How can you treat a child like that? The poor kid is traumatized and you want to let him fend for himself?"
"Kushina, we need to build trust with the child before we can move forward. If he doesn't trust us then how will he open up to us?" Minato added as he poured a glass of water.
"He makes a point. I don't like it just as much as you but right now he won't do anything we ask him to until he spends some time with us. Tsunade should be here soon and maybe she might have better luck with him."
"We can only hope" Sarutobi said as he sat down. "Have the two of you already talked about what you're going to do with what the scroll said? I'm sure it's not easy to believe but it's better to be prepared for anything."
"Minato and I haven't talked about it yet we've been too worried about our guest." Kushina said as she looked a bit red in the face turning to look away at the door the child was in. In a low voice she told the others to look.
Three heads were all looking at the doorway of the guest bedroom. Soon they saw a head peek out with red eyes from the door frame before disappearing. The child had crawled out from under the bed but wouldn't make his way out from the room. Minato walked over and left a plate of toast and the glass of water in front of the door and slowly backed away. Soon two tiny hands made their way to grab a piece of toast. Then the tiny hands took the glass into the room before another slice of toast was taken. It didn't take long before the plate was empty. A light laugh could be heard from the three watching this unfold. Minato then picked up the empty dishes and slowly walked back to the kitchen to continue making everyone else breakfast.
An hour passed by and the head of the child was only seen once in this time. Kushina couldn't take it anymore and went to find him. She looked all over the room and couldn't find the little Senju. She looked in the closet, under the bed and anywhere else she could think of. Her eyes then laid on one of the dressers that had been open slightly with some of the linens inside hanging out. She gently moved it to the side to see a sleeping child curled up in a ball. "Sleep tight little guy, you deserve it." Kushina said softly before leaving the room.
"How is he doing?" Minato asked when Kushina returned.
"He's sleeping in the drawer of the dresser under the sheets we left in there."
"That child is a survivor" Sarutobi chimed in while taking a sip of the tea in front of him.
"I want to put him to sleep on the bed but he looked too peaceful to move. I gave up and came back here."
"Lord Hokage there is a visitor here to see you" A loud voice was heard from one of the ANBU guards outside of the Hokage's house.
"Thank you please let them in."
Tsunade quickly entered the Hokage's house with Shizune behind her. Minato got up to greet her and softly told her to be quiet as he was sleeping right now. Shizune paid her respects to the others while Minato was busy with Tsunade. After everyone had gotten the pleasantries out of the way Minato and Tsunade moved towards his guest bedroom. Inside Tsunade looked around and her face twisting into one of confusion. She couldn't find the little kid she came here to meet. She glared at Minato who moved to the side and pointed to the drawer that he was sleeping. Looking to where Minato was pointing Tsunade made her way across the room and pulled out the drawer. She took out the linens that were on top of the child and finally saw a little boy sound a sleep.
"What's his name?" Tsunade asked as she had a smile on his face. The child in front of her had auburn hair with red eyes. Those eyes reminded her of her great uncle the second hokage.
"The letter left with him didn't say. I'll show it to you in a little bit and we'd also like your opinion on what's written in it."
"How old is he? Who were his parents? Where did he come from?" Tsunade couldn't help herself anymore. She started rambling off anything she could think of. It had only been a minute but she knew that this child needed her. It was a feeling that she's never felt before.
"We honestly don't know anything about him. He was just left here last night with a note and as for what we found out this morning is, the little guy is scared." Minato told her in a quiet voice. Tsunade reached into the drawer to pick up her new family member which caused Minato to try and stop her but it was too late. "I don't think he lik..."
A blistering wail was let out in the next moment as the child finally woke up. Kushina, Sarutobi and Shizune all burst into the room to make sure everything was all right. However, what they saw when they entered the room could only make them laugh. Inside was an angry Tsunade holding a wet child and behind her was Minato who couldn't stop laughing at the sight in front of him. The child was so scared in front of her that he couldn't hold his bladder anymore. Kushina then realized that he hadn't gone to the bathroom since they found him last night.