Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I did this for fun
The Son of the Sannin
Chapter 1: Where There is Death, There is Life
The rain, droplets of life descend from above that have either quenched the thirsts of dying throats, or drowned them in a violent torrent of sorrow and sadness. At times gentile and at times hard. Along with the rain, blood, sweat, tears and souls were spilt in the defense of Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves following the aftermath of the attack. The sudden appearance of the Kyuubi no Kitsune; the Nine Tailed Fox, destroyed many homes and killed many shinobi before it was brought down. The greatest lost from the attack was the Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage when he sacrificed his soul to the Shinigami in order to seal the demon into his newborn son.
"Oh Minato," Hiruzen Sarutobi said openly, knowing there was no one to hear his words of grief and regret.
Tears were falling from his old tired eyes as he sat there kneeling over the body of the fallen hero, Minato Namikaze. He dared not touch the fallen ninja even the slightest, for thinking in the most imaginative impossibilities Minato was not dead but sleeping. Sarutobi's tears were hidden in the falling rain when the first thunderclap struck, the storm started when the battle ended, as if the heavens themselves were weeping for the Leaf Village. As the sky was sobbing, Hiruzen heard something else crying uncontrollably inside the Fourth Hokage's robes. Moments later, as Minato's body was being carried away to the hospital by several medical ninja, Hiruzen walked in the opposite direction with a crying bundle of joy in his arms.
"I never imagined I would be in these robes again." Sarutobi said to himself as he stood on the balcony overlooking the village in the Hokage's office three hours later.
"I never imagined you would take this position again."
Sarutobi, now the Third Hokage once more was startled when he heard the other voice, thinking he was alone in the office. Hiruzen turned to face a scar ridden man, wearing a long black trench coat and a forehead protector in the shape of a bandana.
"Ibiki, it's good to see you." Sarutobi said to the leader of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force.
"Lord Hokage," Ibiki Morino said as he bowed to the old man.
"I have the reports you asked for on the attack."
The Third Fire Shadow lit his pipe in response and sat down at his desk while reading the damage reports given by Ibiki.
"Despite the chaos during the battle, the village did not sustain as much damage as we thought; only ten percent of the city was destroyed. However that section was heavily populated. What's worse is that many shinobi families lived in that area."
The old man placed his pipe on his desk and placed his face into his hands, indicating his frustration and exhaustion.
"How many casualties did we suffer?" Hiruzen asked Ibiki as he reinserted his pipe into his mouth.
"To answer that question Lord Hokage, there are two parts involved; one good and one bad, which one would you like to hear first?"
Sarutobi was already stressed to the fullest with the death of Namikaze and the situation with his son, the last thing he needed was a long self-realizing process to an easy estimation of fatalities resulting from the attack. The last thing the Third Hokage wanted however was to squabble with his fellow leaf ninja when unity was of the upmost importance.
"Give me the bad news first; I suspect the good is a result of it."
Ibiki looked over the reports thinking how to deliver possibly the only silver lining to this dark cloud of a catastrophe.
"The bad news is that we have lost one-third of our shinobi from the attack. But because the area of violence was dense with ninja families, many of the civilians were unaffected, so there weren't any needless deaths resulting from the attack. Also, many if not all of the shinobi families were able to escape from the carnage. So in retrospect when you look at the big picture, we didn't necessarily lose that many."
Hiruzen exhaled a puff of smoke and stood up from his chair.
"Good, I'm very glad to hear this Ibiki. The attack from the Nine-Tailed Fox could have meant the destruction of Konohagakure. I'm relieved to know how lucky we are considering the possibilities, is there any news on my students?" Sarutobi asked as he walked out to the balcony again.
"Reports indicate the Sannin will reach the village momentarily Lord Hokage." Ibiki said, not moving an inch since entering his lord's office.
"You are dismissed Ibiki, thank you."
"My lord," said Morino as he bowed again and left the Hokage's office, not noticing the straw basket that was holding the new Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. As Morino left the room Sarutobi said to himself,
"So the Slug, Snake and Toad have returned to the Leaf." He sighed as he continued looking over the village.
"I'm getting too old for this shit."