Title: Secrets
Summary: The Third's view
Disclaimer: IT isn't mine, i'm not sure i'd even want. Being rich and famous is overrated.
The third was the only person in the room the afternoon Naruto came screaming into the world and his mother went smiling out of it.
The boy's father had rushed into the room only moments after they had pulled the sheet over her head, and in that instant he knew his successor wouldn't survive the night.
They spent the better part of the hour arguing over who would perform the jutsu to save the village. They were both leaders of their village and they were both fathers, the younger man insisted that he was the one with whom the responsibility lay and in the end he couldn't argue with it.
He'd seen that look in the eyes of his shinobi in the past and for the rest of his life he'd always think that the death of the woman in childbirth had aided the younger man's conviction.
He alone knew that the Fourth had had a death wish that night.
When he later thought the circumstances through he'd wonder if the Fourth had had just a little more time to grieve, a little more time to think about the life of the child he'd be leaving behind...if he'd had that time would he have made the same decision?
There hadn't been time to discuss the welfare of the child, the Fourth had sent him along to the front while he'd said goodbye to his wife's body. When he'd come with the child the only thing he'd asked was that they look on the boy as a hero. He hadn't even been able to do that.
He knew that in the chaos that followed he'd made mistakes that had altered the boy's life.
He was the one who gave Naruto his name that night, while the rest of the village was treating the wounded and tallying casualties. Naruto for the ramen item that both of his parents had eaten religiously and Uzumaki for the symbol of the leaf; the cause for which his father had died. And though he'd look back at his decision and wonder; that night he hadn't been purposely trying the hide the boy's parentage.
He'd been certain of who should raise the child and he'd turned down Jiraiya's offer with hope that the gray haired teen would make the right decision. The teen was going to need someone to live for now that all of his comrades were gone, he'd hoped the child would be enough to anchor him to life. He'd knew how wrong he'd been when the next morning the woman from the orphanage had demanded payment for keeping the demon child that the young copy-nin had dropped off in the middle of the night.
He'd again turned down the Jiraiya later that year. It was a selfish decision, but he wanted to see his successor's child grow up.
He spent the next twelve years watching Naruto grow. The boy was amazing in his tenacity, and if he sometimes let him get away with more than the other villagers... it was only because at every turn the child reminded him of his father.
Once Naruto became a Genin he didn't have the opportunity to spend as much time with him, the boy was gone more than he was at home. They'd spent no time talking in the recent months...but he hoped that if he knew nothing else...Naruto knew that he was proud of him.