Early October 1905

Mount Sagiri, Japan

In the Konoha Forest there was a mysterious building that had a rather intricate seal placed on the floor that could transport whoever stepped upon it to somewhere far away from the Shinobi Nations. Not many from Konoha knew about this place, much less anyone in the Land of Fire or in any of the Shinobi Nations. The Third Hokage was one of these few people who were aware.

The first time that Hiruzen Sarutobi learned of the building's existence was in his younger days, and on the "other side" of the Spatial-displacement seal he met a person who was about his age named Sakonji Urokodaki and became his best friend. Now the sixty-one-year-old village leader was visiting his friend once again, however this time he did not come to Mount Sagiri by himself.

Hiruzen was accompanied by a certain five-year-old child from his village, a child named Naruto Uzumaki was the second his late-successor Minato Namikaze and the unwilling container of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Because of his status as jinchūriki, the boy unfortunately had a lot of hatred and disdain unfairly put upon him from many who refused to see that the container and the contents were clearly not the same. And because of this, Hiruzen had decided that it would be best if the child did not remain somewhere he would certainly grow up alone and hated for his entire life.

When the pair of Konoha-citizens arrived at a certain house nestled at the base of Mount Sagiri, they found three older children who appeared to be about eleven-year-old training with bokken.

Feeling nervous, Naruto hid behind Hiruzen since not many kids back home were nice to him.

"It's alright, Naruto-kun," the elderly-Hokage assured the young Uzumaki.

"Hey, who is that," asked one of the children as he and his friends turned to notice Hiruzen and Naruto. The boy who'd spoken had peach-colored hair, grayish-lavender eyes and a large scar going down the right side of his face. He wore a green-yukata with a yellow geometric hexagon design tied off at the waist under a plain-white haori and a pair of black hakama pants. "Hello!"

There was another boy who had long, black hair tied back into a ponytail and blue eyes. He was wearing black-hamaka pants like the first boy and a red-kimono. The third child was a short girl with shoulder-length black hair and gentle, deep-cyan eyes. She was wearing a red-yukata with a pink-and-white flower-dot-pattern under a dark-purple sleeveless-haori and a pair of sandals.

"Um...hi," Naruto greeted nervously as he stepped out from behind the Hokage.

The door of the house opened and out came a gray-haired man with a tengu-mask over his face and a cloud-patterned jinbei kimono over his clothes. Hiruzen smiled, knowing who this man is.

"Hiruzen, it has been a long time," the masked-man, Sakonji Urokodaki, greeted the Hokage.

"Indeed it has, Sakonji," the Hokage agreed.

"You know this guy, Master Urokodaki," the black-haired boy asked Sakonji.

"That I do, Giyū-kun, Hiruzen Sarutobi is an old friend of mine," Sakonji replied.

"Old...friend," the black-haired girl asked, trying not to laugh in response to the unintended-pun.

Or at least...she assumed that it was unintended.

"Makomo-chan," the peach-haired boy chided his friend.

"What, Sabito-kun," the girl, Makomo asked, but Sabito simply sighed.

"May Naruto and I come inside," Hiruzen asked Sakonji. "There's a lot we have to discuss."

"Of course," Sakonji replied, having already noticed the boy standing next to his friend. With his enhanced sense of smell, he could detect the demonic-presence lurking on the boy, however he could also tell that the child was linked somehow to the Fourth Hokage who he'd met years ago.

Although the boy was redhaired like an Uzumaki, he also had the same eyes as the Fourth. And Sakonji presumed that the boy was Minato's son, especially since he had met Kushina as well.

Kushina was a member of the Uzumaki clan as well as the wife of Konoha's Fourth Hokage.

Upon entering the home of Sakonji Urokodaki and his three students, the masked-man brewed some tea for his guests while everyone got comfortable. Naruto had already been made aware of the Hokage's decision beforehand, Hiruzen not wanting to hide the truth of their visit from him.

The Urokodaki house was small, at least compared to some in Konoha, consisting of just three rooms, two bedrooms and a larger room that served as a living room, kitchen and dining room.

One bedroom belonged to Sakonji while the other was shared by his three current students.

Once the tea, as well as some food, were ready, Sakonji, Hiruzen as well as the four children gathered in the livingroom/kitchen/dining-area at the room's small table. The group of six ate and drank their tea, before the children were sent outside so that the elders could speak in private.

"So what brings you here today," Sakonji asked. "If I were to guess correctly, it's about Naruto?"

"It does," Hiruzen confirmed, unsurprised by his friend's perceptiveness.

"He's Minato and Kushina's son," Sakonji asked correctly again, and Hiruzen nodded to confirm what was pretty obvious to the retired-Demon Slayer. "And he contains...the Nine-Tailed Fox."

"Exactly," Hiruzen replied. "That's why I brought him here. I'd hoped that Konoha would overlook his jinchūriki-status and that Minato's wish for his son to be seen as a hero would be respected."

"He did seem rather nervous earlier," Sakonji recalled when he had first seen the Uzumaki child.

"He's a sweet child, but his attempts to make friends have always been thwarted," Hiruzen said. "Be it by parents or other children. I just hope that he doesn't turn to troublemaking for attention."

"I see," Sakonji remarked. "No one should have to go through that..."

"Agreed, which is why I was hoping I could leave the boy here with you," Hiruzen responded.

"You want him to become a Demon Slayer rather than a ninja," Sakonji asked, surprise hinted in his voice. In the Shinobi Nations, the major villages revolved around ninja-culture, which died out long ago here in Japan while being very alive in the Shinobi Nations. Although retired and training the next generation, Sakonji was a Demon Slayer, someone who hunted and killed demons.

Demons were man-eating beasts who used to be human and could only be slain by decapitation using a special katana called a nichirin or by exposure to direct-sunlight. However, there was a third way to kill demons, the wisteria flower. While poisonous to demons, it was not used often.

"If that's what he eventually decides, but becoming a ninja may not be a good option for Naruto."

"Because of the prejudice in Konoha," Sakonji surmised. Hiruzen nodded. "Does he know?"

"Yes, I told him before bringing him here," Hiruzen replied.

"So he knows about his heritage and what he contains as well," Sakonji asked the Hokage had not exactly specified just what he had told Naruto before bringing the boy here to Mount Sagiri.

The boy would eventually be told, but when was the right time? That was the ultimate question.

"I only told him that I'd be bringing him here to stay with you," Hiruzen replied. "If that's alright."

"Mmm, it's fine," Sakonji said. "When should the boy be told?"

"I will leave that for you to decide," Hiruzen said as he stood up. "Well, I should be going now."

"Of course," Sakonji replied, knowing his friend had to return home since he was the Hokage.

"It was good seeing you again, Sakonji, take care," Hiruzen said as he turned to leave. "I'll come back from time-to-time to check on how Naruto is doing."

"Naruto would like that," Sakonji agreed as he stood as well. "You also take care, Hiruzen."