Aged, wrinkled hands shook with anxiety. It had been like this for months, ever since…

He still wasn't sure how it happened, or who could kidnap a child in the middle of their village. No security seals had been tripped and somehow none of the ANBU felt the intruder's chakra enter the barrier. They had made off scott-free with their villages Jinchuriki.

He was more than just a sacrifice to The Hokage, who did his best at staving off another 'bout of worry. They needed to appear strong, and no other village was any wiser of Konoha's apparent fuck up.

Because what else could it be called if not that? They'd lost a previous Hokage's child, and the heavens only know where the blonde is. The only solace Hiruzen had was that the Kyubi had not escaped the seal, or any of Konoha's border outposts would have felt the malicious chakra being free once more.

Kakashi had re-entered into the ANBU, taking his role as captain once again in hopes to find his sensei's son. Hiruzen had allowed it, even encouraged it as he would give anything to see that ball of sunshine once more. Ever since that day, the elder Sarutobi had raged inside of his mind over the fact that he could have done more for the child. He could have stood up to the clan leaders, squash their bickering over power-plays and remind them that they were speaking of Minato's child as a weapon of destruction.

He should have allowed Kakashi to raise the boy, or hell, even taken him and given the boy protection and inducted him into his own clan. He had been weak, letting other voices sway his judgement, so he left the child to be raised by the village.

Another mistake.

The boy grew up without guidance and without an adult figure he could emulate, resulting in a child that lied. Not that there was anything wrong with lying, it came with the profession, but lying about how he felt. Hiruzen should have dug deeper, trying to get the child to open up to him.

Then again, would he even have if he were placed into Naruto's position? The boy was smarter than he gave him credit for, able to bounce back from seemingly anything, only to bury the anger / hate / resentment deep into his core. That only served to hurt the young blonde, and made only a paper bomb waiting to be primed.

The Hokage sighed, looking down at the papers left on his desk for the day, a review of team assignments. This would have been the point where he assigned the Uzumaki to a team, people whom he would grow to trust and cherish for his days to come.

Now, however, Hiruzen was forced to pull a Genin from the overflow to place alongside Team Seven. After going over the available Genin and analyzing the roster once more, Hiruzen made for the door to retire for the day. Hopefully head home and maybe have one night where he actually slept.

Just as soon as he stood from his desk, a panicked knock rapped against his office door. He sat back down with a heavy sigh, knowing he wouldn't be getting sleep anytime soon.

"Come in," the Hokage commanded and made to clear off his desk whereupon he rested his arms.

The figure entered and closed the door behind them. Once the figure turned around, Hiruzen nearly choked from nerves, forcing him to cough as he spotted a tuft of blonde poking out from a blanket that Inu had wrapped the child in.

"Is…is it him," Hiruzen asked and reached out to feel with his chakra. He had to suppress the urge to quickly grab the child from Kakashi, feeling the outer edges of his emotions beginning to crack.

The silver haired ANBU nodded, "It is," he replied in a small tone, one that spoke of relief. Kakashi had looked down at the boy, sound asleep, as Kakashi slowly removed an edge of fabric from his face.

Hiruzen had already noticed something strange with Naruto's chakra before Kakashi even spoke. Something had been grafted, etched onto Naruto's chakra. It was familiar, and the familiarity only caused Hiruzen's mind to work in overdrive.

Hiruzen stilled, knowing where the child had been and who his kidnapper was.

"Did you check him for any seals," Hiruzen asked and stood to move closer to his ANBU who cradled the Uzumaki.

"None," Inu responded. "We found him outside the Land of Grass, he seemed to be moving in the direction of Konoha," Kakashi stopped to suck in a breath as the next part came out, the words tied soundly with the emotion of rage. "He… he's done something to him."

Kyubi, Hiruzen signed with his unoccupied hang in ANBU, laying his pipe with the other on his desk.

Kakashi shook his head, the seal from what his ANBU knew was secure. Of course it had been the snake he should have put down years ago. Curse his naivety, letting such a monster run loose for so long.

Hiruzen's eyes poured over the child, noting the mismatching skin tones where areas along his limbs looked to be grafted with skin that wasn't his. His hair was longer, down to his back and sides, his roots red marred by dry blood.

The Hokage's heart almost stopped beating when the child finally opened his eyes and his blood ran cold.

Instead of two pools of azure eyes staring back at him, it was just one. Hiruzen could make out incision areas around the other, and it seemed like his capturer didn't have the time to finish his experiment, or perhaps they did and whatever he tried to implant had been rejected.

The child blinked away his fogginess, and Hiruzen had to stamp down on the urge of tears and guilt building within him. Konoha was supposed to be a village where children were safe, where they could grow and play with others before the harsh reality of the world they live in was introduced to them.

Naruto coughed softly into his tiny hands before looking at Hiruzen then back to Ino. The light in his eyes seemed to fade for a moment as the boy whispered, "I'm finally dead. I must be…"

"Naruto," the elder Hokage said quietly. "You're not dead, thank the gods. You're back in Konoha," he said to the child's widening eyes. Hiruzen motioned his hand over to Kakashi, "Inu here found you trying to make your way back to us."

The boy sniffled, burying the palms of his hands into his eye and lack of one.

Nothing more was said as the dam that was Naruto broke.

Three years worth.


AN: I've let this float around in my head for awhile until I finally started writing it.

I promise you nothing. No exact dates for release, no shipping request, nada.

All I know is, I had fun writing this. I'm much further ahead than this lone chapter, but I still need to edit my drafts and fix some prose.

I will not spoil anything or tell you any ideas aside from trashed concepts that no longer hold value to the plot if such a time occurs.