Disclaimer-i do not own naruto or anything related it belongs to kishimoto.
Sarutobi Asuma stood in the council chambers of Konohagakure no sato holding his new born son in his hands,the yondaime hokage had died sealing the nine tailed fox in his child . The Yondaime's own child had died with his wife Kushina Uzumaki and having no other option the yondaime had asked Asuma if he would be willing to sacrifice his child for the sake of the village. Asuma had no other choice but to offer up his child as there was no other new born present which could be used for the sealing ritual and it was his duty to do anything to protect the village . Asuma had almost regretted his decision of marrying early in his life but then just a glance at his child's innocent face had washed it all away. Unfortunately his wife was one of many that died tonight. The only saving grace was that at least it was natural,she did not survive childbirth. For the few moments in which she had held their little son in her arms, the happiness he had seen in her eyes had taken all his momentary pain away.
The sound of shuffling of feets broke him from his thoughts,the council chamber had now been occupied by all the shinobi councilors and the three elders.
His father entered the last and gave a nod to him,the man's lips could not resist a small tug at the corners when his eyes fell upon his grandson. He was a grandfather now but his village came foremost all his happiness or pain was stuck aside for the time being. A flick of his wrist and everyone sat down at their respective seats. "Today has been a very bad day in the history of our village,the losses which we have suffered are very high, those ranging from our shinobi strength to economic losses and structural damage within the village."; he waited as he looked around and then continued "but the loss of our Yondaime hokage is the biggest, the fourth gave his life to protect this very village and we have to carry on his legacy and wishes further,I AM reinstating myself as the Hokage ,if anyone opposes then please come forth". As expected no one came forward and he sat down in his old chair. His succesor/predecessor was dead now and he had the reigns of the village back in his hands again but this time he had to rebuild it. "I don't think i need to remind anyone about their duties and i ask you to perform them to your best . Lets bring back Konohagakure back to its original glory". There was a conclusive nod of heads all around the chamber.
"I know all of you want to know what happened to the nine-tails; i'll tell you this that it has been sealed,but the knowledge of the container will be hidden from everyone due to security issues,i presently trust no one but once the village stabilises i'll think about disclosing the secret" .There was a rush of hushed whispers around the chambers but no one dared say anything, afterall the hokage's word was law.
Hiruzen had previously decided to disclose his grandson's status but while on his way to the council chambers he had seen the destruction and the widespread hatred for the kyubi and he could not just condemn his own grandson to such a life in which all this hatred would be directed solely at him.
As the meeting ended he had gotten up from his seat and spoken once more "although there is a widespread atmosphere of fear and mourning,i have a little good news to share with you,today i've become a grandfather ",he motioned Asuma to come forward and took the child form his arms "this is Naruto Sarutobi,my grandson".There was a chorus of congratulations for both the sarutobi clansmen,and soon everyone dispersed leaving the the three generations of sarutobi family alone in the room. "Dad i'm glad you did not tell them,i could not fathom a child bearing so much hatred on his shoulders, even if he was not my own child. Thank you". Asuma's statement was accompanied with a short bow of his head. He had never seen Asuma bow his head in front of anyone and to see Asuma bow,showed the elder Sarutobi how much he loved his son. "I'm sorry for the death of your wife,she had become like a daughter to me,what happened?". Asuma sighed and then spoke"She died of childbirth, she already had a tumour in her brain due to which she quit her shinobi career abd married me. Bit the strain of pregnancy and the sudden illness she justcould not survive it. But i know she died happy, I saw it in her eyes she when she held Naruto in her hand ." A tear dropped from his eyes thinking about her but it was not the time for showing weakness . He had to control his emotions now,his son and village needed him right now.
"Whatever happened was out of our control,but we will get time to mourn our loved ones but for now it is time to help our home. I will leave Naruto with his aunt Mikoto for the time being as we both do not know much about child care but as soon as we learn how to do it my son will come back home with us".
The elder Sarutobi nodded but there was a problem,the clan head Uchiha Fugaku had died in the kyubi attack and young Itachi was actually too young to become the clan head so Mikoto had taken up the role of the head for the time being."will Mikoto be able to handle Naruto and being the clan head at the same time?".The thought had come up in Asuma's mind but there was a solution."It'll be alright she is due to give birth in a few months and so most of her work will be through her home so she'd be able to manage it,and then again itachi is pretty mature for his age,i know he'll take care of his new cousin".Hiruzen just nodded in approval.
Later at the Uchiha clan compound...
Asuma landed in front of the gate of the compound with his little son wrapped up in a bundle of red cloth with just his face visible .he couldn't help but notice how the little guy had inherited his mother's balck eyes and hair but he could already see that strong jawline and cheek bones which he inherited form his handosme father. He couldn't help but let loose a little chuckle at the notion. The guards at the gate were a bit unnerved by the jounin's chuckle but they let him through without a question,afterall the man was not a stranger with being a elite jounin of the village and the member of the twelve guardian ninjas till five years ago when he returned to the village after his tenure at the service ended and then married the younger heiress of their clan. How could they stop him he was afterall directly related to the head family.
Asuma knocked at the door of the clan head's house and was surprised to see the door being opened swiftly by Itachi. the boy in question was seven years old and was already a genin and looking at the small smoke cloud disperse and how fast the door had opened he could guess the boy had used the shunshin to appear at the door. His use of shunshin was not very surprising as another kid Shishui the closest one to Itachi's age in the whole clan was of chunin rank and must've taught Itachi his favourite jutsu. And if he knew correct then the Shishui kid had also just joined the ANBU and was already making a name for himself with the formidable use of the shunshin no jutsu.The kid had already gained a moniker of 'Shunshin no Shishui'.
Asuma was a bit jealous ,he did not have any moniker with his name even though he was very strong on his own and here kids half his age had alreday started getting monikers, 'the copy ninja' and the 'green beast' were already quite famous. He sighed again his father had always told him the next generation would always surpass the older. His son as if getting the confused mood of his father let loose a giggle.
"ah Itachi-kun,how've you been?".the boy just shrugged "i'm fine i guess,i heard about kasumi-obasan,i'm sorry".
Well that was a sore topic the boy had struck so Asuma just ruffeled the boy's hair and went inside,where he met mikoto and explained her everything,even about naruto's container status. The woman could not decide wether to be haapy or sad. She had now a new important person in her life but on the other hand lost her husband and sister at the same time. In the the end though she agreed to take care of Naruto.
13 months later...
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his office doing paperwork,beside him on the floor sat naruto painting some glibberish on a piece of paper and giggling along with it. The little child had grown. He could already understand everything said to him and had started speaking a little bit even if most of it could still not be understood. The village had stabilised a bit too,but this time he had kept everything on a tight leash. The civilian council had been set to always match his opinions on all matters ,the others who had always opposed him had been slowly killed in anonymus accidents performed by ROOT. Oh yeah,he had restarted ROOT alright. The village of konohagakure na sato needed all the help it could get and it always had its benefits to keep Danzo on his good side,because even if the man was crippled he could cause a lot of damage if left alone. After all it was better to keep a wild animal on a leash rather than leave it free.
He was also slowly getting ROOT under his control too. After restarting ROOT he had appointed Inoichi as the deputy head and the man was doing his work very well.
He had also made a small gamble by telling the three advisors about Naruto's status,thankfully it had played out well,his two team mates weren't effected much and Koharu had already taken a shine to the boy considering him her own grandson and would always come to meet the boy with gifts and all. Danzo had kept quiet for a while and had then just nodded,the man just wanted a strong container for the village and he knew that The god of shinobi would train the boy well so he left the boy as he was for the time being.
His thought process was broken when the door to his office creaked as it slowly opened and he could see his secretary peering inside looking at him,"Hokage-sama,elder Koharu is here to see you",a nod from his head was all that she needed for assent. Koharu entered his office with a small bag held in her hand."ah Koharu what can i do for you today?".The woman just ignored him and slowly walked towards his grandson while speaking to him"Nothing Hiruzen i just came in to take Naruto-chan here,i'm taking him to my home for tonight".This was not happening for the first time and now he could see what was in the bag,it must be candies just in case Naruto refused to go with her tonight. A chibi sarutobi thought in his mind that how devious the woman was,she had prepared a contingency plan. But the voice of Naruto singing "koharu-obaa"again and again was enough to make him sure that Koharu wouldn't need to use her backup plan.
As she started moving out of the office a shadow dropped from the ceiling following them. It was Shishui,naruto's ANBU guard. He sighed as the door to his office closed and then he was back to doing paperwork .With a handsign that most jounins would always recognise two clones popped behind his back and picked up a pile each from his desk. The solution to defeat his greatest enemy had come to his mind while taking care of Naruto once when he had to console the crying boy and complete his paperwork simultaneously. He grinned thinking about it,his grandson had already started helping him. He couldn'texplain how glad he was to have him.
A few shadows hidden through out the office sweatdropped on looking at the glee filled maniacal face their Hokage was making.
4 years after the Kyubi attack...
The backyard of the hokage mansion was littered with shinobi tools,kunai and shuriken stuck in trees and dummies alike.A small figure stood panting in the centre,short black hair,fair skin and sweat dripping from his boy looked at his handiwork,he had been practicing his aim from the last four hours,he still could not hit every target in the centre but 90% of his hits were accurate and he was slowly getting there. It had been a month since he had started training ,nothing intense just some physical exercises to increase his stamina and endurance. He had already unlocked his chakra last week and according to his dad it was quite potent and his chakra pool was also quite large for someone his age but not nearly to a level of a genin.
He started moving towards his home and on the way plucked a leaf from the tree and stuck it on his forehead and moved inside. Asuma lay on the sofa grinning at the sight of his four year old son dripping with sweat from his body. All the boy did was either train or read. He was too stuck up in proving his worth to the village and most importantly to his maternal clan. Some idiot Uchiha had called his mother a failure and the boy had heard him,he still could not understand how a four year old had such restarint as at the time the boy had just heard the comment and had not bothered replying. If it had been him who had heard anyone insulting his late wife, the person would surely be in the hospital. On the other hand the little guy had gone to his grandfather and asked him "Grandpa will you please train me?".The older man had looked at the boy's face and could see tear marks on his cheeks,he was about to ask the boy if anyone had hurt him but a shake form the boy's ANBU bodyguard stopped him. Sighing he just got up from his place and nodded in assent.
He could see a good future for the boy.