Hiashi Hyuga was a man on a mission. He was going to the Hokage's office to request permission to raise the son of Minato Namikaze.
When he reached the outer door he knocked firmly.
"Enter," came a voice from the other side of the door.
"Hokage-sama, I would like to request that my clan be allowed to raise the boy Minato chose to contain the Kyuubi." the Hokage could hardly believe his ears.
"Hiashi this is most unusual, I would have thought that you would want to have the boy killed."
Hiashi chuckled, "I am not so heartless as to wish death on an innocent child, and I am not so blind as to presume that the fourth Hokage would sacrifice his life in order to simply reincarnate the Kyuubi No Kitsune as a human child. To believe such a thing would be a dishonor to all those who died that day, and an insult to the memory of the fourth himself as well."
The third Hokage looked at him with a stern expression on his weathered face.
"I must inform you that there have been several clan heads who have already spoken to me about this matter today. Most of them wanted the boy killed, but there were a few who had requests similar to your own. Now, tell me why I should grant your request when I refused the others?"
Mentally Hiashi smiled to himself, he had almost succeeded in his quest to adopt the boy. All he had to do now was pull out his trump cards.
"Because I know the identity of the boy's father, Minato Namikaze, more recently known as the fourth Hokage." The look of surprise on the old Hokage's face was priceless, but Hiashi continued as if he hadn't noticed. "And I do not seek this boy merely to train him as a weapon or to use as a way to raise the status of my clan in this village. We are already one of the most powerful clans in the village, and I don't think we need any more power, the elders of my clan are troublesome enough with the power that we already have, to give them any more would just be asking for trouble. I only wish to honor the memory of the fourth Hokage by giving his child a family. And I have a feeling that this boy will someday unite the branch family and the main family somehow..."
At that exact moment Hiashi's trump card walked in, his twin brother Hizashi.
"That is why Hiashi and I want to raise Naruto Namikaze." Hizashi said, finishing his brother's sentence as he entered the room unannounced.
"For too long the branch and main families of the Hyuga clan have been at each others throats. Within one or two more generations there will be enough unrest to split the clan in two, and I doubt that it will be a peaceful split. Most likely a small civil war will erupt, resulting in the destruction of the Hyuga clan. There is also a very high possibility that most if not all of Konoha itself will be dragged into the fight. Which is why Hiashi and I want to at least attempt to stop this feud now before it even begins."
The Hokage could see where they were heading with their explanation.
"You two are going to put Naruto into the branch family aren't you? And then you are going to have him marry into the main house through Hiashi's unborn daughter. Am I right?"
Hiashi knew there was a reason why he respected the Hokage so much, he was a genius when it came to figuring out his opponent's train of thought. But this time he was wrong.
"not exactly, Hokage-sama....you see we had thought of that but we ran into a problem. because of the arrogance of the main family, members of the main house and the branch house never intermarry. We came up with a solution to this problem however. We will put him into neither one. In other words neither I nor my brother will actually adopt Naruto. We will simply raise him as Hizashi's godson, and hope for the best. But you must make no mistake, Naruto must eventually be told of his true parentage for this to work, otherwise our plan will most likely fail. Once he is old enough Naruto will no doubt realize that my daughter is a fine choice for a wife, and will seek to win her heart. At least that is our hope. If that happens the elders will not be able to stop the reuniting of the two families this time. but if he believes her to be related to him, that will never happen. So to avoid that happening we will be sure to raise him as the son of a close friend of the family instead."
Hiruzen Sarutobi, third Hokage of Konohagakure, listened to their plan with admiration. The two brothers had thought of everything. And with the protection of the Hyuga clan there would be very little need to hide the true identity of the child in question. He would eventually know exactly who he was and where he came from. He could see no way around it, the best place for Naruto would seem to be with the Hyuga brothers, and if their plan worked it would prevent further bloodshed and allow one of Konoha's greatest clans to become truly united. Only one question remained.
"How will you keep him from receiving the caged bird seal? The elders may see fit to try to force it on him even if he isn't an official Hyuga, and lacks the Byakugan."
"My apologies Hokage-sama, in my haste I forgot to explain exactly how we will achieve this feat. I will allow Hizashi to explain, as it was his idea."
"Thank-you brother, Hokage-sama, as you know every member of the branch house receives a curse seal to prevent the Byakugan from falling into enemy hands if they are killed in action. It is a seal that Hiashi and I do not believe that it is necessary any longer, it was instated before our clan came to Konoha and now that we are several generations into our settlement here, we believe that the time has come to stop using the seal since we now have the security of a ninja village to aid us in our struggle to survive as a clan. The only reason that Hiashi, as the head of our clan, has not stopped the use of this seal is because the elders will not allow him to do so. Presently the seal is being used by the council of elders to separate our clan into upper and lower classes, and they do not wish this to change, even though it will end up destroying our clan in the long run. Because the elders have so much power we cannot fully prevent the curse seal from being used on Naruto, but you can. If you order our clan to raise Naruto but place him under your own protection as the Hokage then the elders will have no say in how he is raised. Your protection will prevent them from placing the seal on him since that protection means that any procedures must be approved by you. And if you do this Hiashi will be free and clear of any negative repercussions that could result from not placing the seal on this child, because he will pretend to disagree with your decision. To ensure that we are able to convince the elders of the sincerity of our little farce Hiashi will order me to raise him rather than soil the good name of the main house and I will argue against it, we will create a compromise and raise him in both houses. At least that is how the elders will see it. By raising him in both houses we will hopefully be able to unite the two families."
The third Hokage was impressed, they really had thought of nearly every detail. Only the future remained in doubt, but the Hokage was sure that this was the right decision.
"Alright,i will allow you two to raise Naruto as you see fit. I will inform the council of my decision in two days, let's hope that we can make it a convincing argument for their benefit."
"Thank-you Hokage-sama"
both twins bowed and then turned to leave the room to go prepare for their new responsibilities.
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and began to plan out how he was going to 'force' Hiashi Hyuga to raise Naruto Namikaze.
This is going to be a very interesting council meeting.
Two days later
-the village council meeting
Hiruzen looked out over the assembled clan heads.
"I'm sure that you all know why I have called you all here today."
He paused, choosing his next words carefully.
"I have decided to place Naruto Namikaze under my protection, and will chose a clan that I feel is best suited to raise him to his fullest potential."
Every clan head was suddenly paying attention, even Shikaku Nara looked up from where he was pretending to take a nap, each one was certain that their clan had been chosen over all the others, as the one best suited to this task. They were to be sorely disappointed.
"I have decided that the Hyuga clan is best suited to raise the boy,"
there was a general outcry from everyone present, obviously they did not agree with this decision. the Hyuga may have been one of the most powerful clans, but the were not the most popular. many people disliked them because of their superior attitudes, their arrogance made them the second most hated clan, just ahead of the uchiha in popularity. the Hokage waited for the outcry to die down before continuing.
" I have chosen them because their unique position as the wielders of the Byakugan will be instrumental in allowing us to know if the seal holding the Kyuubi should ever weaken, such a warning would allow us to take preventative measures to ensure that a repeat of the Kyuubi's attack does not happen. They are also the best suited to protect him from those who would harm him or take advantage of him."
Of course it could be said that the plan laid out two days earlier by Hiashi and Hizashi was taking advantage of him as well, but it allowed him to choose whether or not to go along with it. Unlike Fugaku Uuchiha's plan.
Flashback
"Hokage-sama there is something I wish to discuss with you"
"Go ahead Fugaku, I am listening."
"I believe that the Kyuubi container must be destroyed!"
"Fugaku you know I can't do that. You of all people should know that killing the boy will only release the Kyuubi once more. The seal has not had enough time to adhere to the boy's chakra sufficiently. Besides killing an innocent child is an action that I could never condone."
"Then allow me to raise it as a weapon to use against our enemies!"
"Fugaku you are starting to sound like Danzo. I guess I'll just have to give you the same answer I gave him. that would be a very firm 'No', or rather 'Hell No' if you want to know how I truly feel about it."
As Hiruzen came back to the present, he saw that Hiashi was about to speak.
He had better make this convincing. He thought. But knowing Hiashi, by the end of his little argument the council would be begging him to take the boy.
"Hokage-sama, I understand your reasoning behind choosing my clan to raise the boy, however I must protest. taking in this boy would place my entire clan in great danger, not only from the kyuubi no kitsune but from the enemies of the boy's father. minato namikaze, better known as Konoha's yellow flash had many enemies, not only within this village but also in the other villages as well. if any other village were to find out that my clan had taken in the man's son they would not hesitate to attempt to kill the boy to take revenge on his father, such an attempt would no doubt kill many members of my clan."
the hokage knew what hiashi wanted him to say next.
"Hiashi, there is a very good reason why i chose your clan. The unique structure that your ancestors created will afford greater protection to the boy. Having two families within the clan will serve to confuse the enemies who would seek to kill the boy and allow both families to say that the other family is the one in possession of the boy. And as i said earlier, your Byakugan gives your clan an early warning syster should the seal ever be in danger of breaking. I know that i would sleep better at night knowing that there was a way for us to find out beforehand should another attack be about to take place."
The clan leaders were beginning to see the logic in placing the boy with the Hyuga clan. they certainly no longer wanted to have such a dangerous child in their own clans, after this meeting they were almost glad to let the Hyugas have him. Hiashi pretended to acquiesce to the hokage's point. He lowered his head submissively.
"Alright Hokage-sama, I will raise the boy. But i must be sure to point out that I take on this responsibility with extreme reluctance. That being said, I will not allow any one in my clan to adopt him, instead I will have my twin see to his well being. But there is one problem with your plan, however. You realize that taking in the boy will make my entire clan a target for those who would like revenge against the fourth Hokage. But there is a way to prevent such an occurrence from happening. In that regard, I must respectfully request that the identity of the boy and what he contains within him be made an S-class secret, with all the protections that such a declaration implies. If you grant my request then we must chose a new clan name for him. Because nobody in their right mind would believe that he is a Hyuga, I would recommend using his mother's name instead. Uzumaki."
The Hokage knew that they had won. It was time to end this charade on a positive note and hope for the best.
"The head of the Hyuga clan is correct in his analysis of the situation, as such I am inclined to grant his request." he said, looking at each of them in turn.
"Naruto Namikaze and all information relating to the true fate of the kyuubi no kitsune is now an S- class secret. Hence forth this boy shall no longer be known by the name of Naruto Namikaze, he is now Naruto Uzumaki, until such time as he wishes to reclaim his true name. This meeting is adjourned. Hiashi, you may pick up Naruto at your earliest convenience, he is with my son Asuma."
Hiashi was overjoyed, not that he showed it. The plan was working and nobody had any idea, other than his brother and the Hokage. Now all he had to do was fool the council of elders into accepting this turn of events. A task easier said than done.