A/N: Hokage is OOC.
Also. The next chapter starts off of Naruto's perspective. This is the last prequel or pre-chapters in the fic.
3. Premonition
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at his desk with his hands crossed over each other. His mission scroll and all of his other forms he had to sign were set on the surface of his desk. He sighed. He was getting old and too tired...
'I am bored.'
He stared deep through the depths of his crystal ball. Hmm...
"Show me something." He desired.
He saw a familiar figure sitting on a swing set. The boy sat all alone staring up at the Fourth Hokage's head on the hokage monument.
Minato's son.
Then Hiruzen turned to face the portrait of the man himself.
The Third stood up and sighed, holding his head. He felt a headache incoming.
He never hated the boy nor loved him. Even if the Fourth had sacrificed his life to seal the Nine Tailed Fox inside of his son, the boy was - and still is - a brat. Yes, Minato had saved his son and the whole village. But it had come at a price. And that price was his life.
Naruto was always a troublemaker. As Shikamaru would say was "too troublesome." He was always pulling pranks as payback for the villager's harsh treatment. All because he wanted - no, needed - attention. He wanted to be accepted, to be acknowledged. But the hard truth was that he could never become the hokage by causing trouble. So he had changed. For the better? Maybe.
But honestly? He was a headache to handle.
He sighed.
"Hokage."
"Iruka."
"Naruto is like the son I never had." Iruka said from beside him, as if reading his mind. "He hasn't been seeing me lately. He stops smiling. I want to know what is bothering him. I am like a father figure to him. Naturally, like any loving parent, I worry."
"He hasn't had the best childhood. He was bullied as a child. And he was always the social outcast; a rookie. He works as hard as he can, so that one day he will be the hokage. He is stronger than most men I know, Hokage." He says.
"Oh? How do you mean?"
"He is not weak. If he were, he would've given up a long time ago."
"I suppose..." The Third said. "But I do not care about his strengths or his weaknesses..."
"Hokage, I know you're busy and all. And you don't want to waste your time on a chuunin like me. But doesn't Naruto deserve the truth? He still doesn't know of his true heritage."
"I don't know...he's better off not knowing. What will he think when the hokage he despises so much also so happens to be his own father? That is the worst case scenario. If worse comes to worse, I will tell him myself."
Iruka shook his head. "His whole life he thought he was the only Uzumaki left. He thinks he was the only one when that isn't true at all! He isn't an Uzumaki. He is a Namikaze."
"Perhaps you are right, after all. I suppose I cannot hide it any longer. As you said, he deserves to know everything. The Attack. The Kyuubi. His father. After thirteen years..." He trailed off midsentence.
'Thirteen years...' He thought.
'Thirteen years of waiting. Thirteen years of hiding your son. Thirteens years of hurting. Naruto, whatever you do - please don't hate your father... All he ever wanted was for you to be seen as a hero, not as a monster.'
"Alright. It's decided. You leave me with no choice."
"Huh?"
The Third stood up from his desk and strode towards the chuunin. He had his hands on his shoulders.
"Listen to me carefully. When the time comes, I trust you to be the one to tell him yourself. Like you said, he is like a son to you. He trusts you much more than anyone. Not even some one like me has that power. You, on the other hand, have it completely. I am far too busy with my duties to truly care about the boy. But you can. I want you to tell him yourself."
Iruka gulped. "I will do it! I won't let you down, Hokage!" He said, determined.
"Good. Because if you don't, I will let his godfather tell him. He has the right to know. I expect great things from you, Iruka. Consider this as a ... top secret mission of sorts. No one but me knows about what I have told you. So what we say does not leave this room. If you tell anyone about this confidential information, I will be forced to take drastic measures by my hand. Let's hope it doesn't come to that." The Third chuckled darkly.
Iruka sweatdropped. "Of course! I won't tell anyone about this! You have my word."
"You'd better not. If I hear you spill Naruto's secret to the village, I won't hesitate to imprison you for life. Or lock you up in the deep, dark dungeons. Or behead you."
Somehow, Iruka knew he was right.
"The villagers cannot know about this, you hear me? The only ones who can is you and your "son". If they knew, it would cause a commotion, no doubt. They hate him enough already, and they will hate him even more. Because they won't praise a monster as the Hokage's son. They will dishonor him, I know they will. And they will do whatever means necessary to capture him or catch him and try to kill him."
"What do you propose we do, Hokage?"
"For now, we wait. It isn't of any concern of us at the moment."