"Watch out, 'ttebayo! I'm going to see Jiji!"
Naruto's shout rang through the halls of the Hokage tower. A bright red scarf whipped behind him as the boy barreled through layers of security with a comfort born of familiarity. Most of those the blond ran by made only a token effort to slow him down, knowing full well that it was an exercise in futility to attempt to restrain him when he was in this kind of mood. Besides, it wasn't like anyone would or could pretend to be that child. One or two of the administrative Genin shouted for the boy to slow down as he nearly caused them to trip while carrying large stacks of paper, but they were completely ignored. Naruto would not be deterred. He hadn't seen Jiji in FOREVER. There had been an emergency, and the old man had needed to leave ramen early. He'd been busy and unable to see the blond ever since.
Naruto had tried to make the most of the time, working on the next step of the leaf dancing trick. Apparently, now that he could feel his chakra, he needed to try to move it around throughout his body. Once he could do that, he needed to make it feel sticky and he'd be able to make a leaf stick, no matter how he moved around. If he concentrated, the blond could mentally push his chakra down the length of his arms, so he'd slowly been pulling it all the way to his fingertips. That had taken nearly two whole days, and then he'd needed to start again with his legs. Right now, Naruto felt confident that he could move his chakra anywhere he wanted. The weirdest feeling was when he sent his chakra to the tips of his hair. It tickled a bit, like the wind was blowing through his spiky locks on a warm summer day. He still couldn't change his chakra to make it feel sticky, but with some more help from Jiji, Naruto was confident that he'd get there.
This morning, however, there had been a ninja in a mask waiting in the blond's kitchen when he woke up. The masked ninja worked for Jiji, so it wasn't too surprising to see them there. Naruto had even let them put stuff in the top cabinet in his kitchen, since it was so hard for him to reach. He had never actually seen the quiet watchers eat or drink anything, but sometimes there was a cup drying on the dish rack when he got up, so they must eat sometimes. Seeing the masked ninja always meant Jiji could spend time with Naruto, so they were a welcome sight for the young boy.
"Jiji's got a day off, huh? Sugoi! I bet he'll go play in the snow with me, 'ttebayo!" Naruto had gleefully declared when he saw the masked figure. The pajamaed six-year-old retreated into his room and emerged seconds later in his snow gear. The boy had then barreled out the front door while shouting over his shoulder to, "Lock the door when you leave, please, Ninja-san."
The masked figure shook her head as she watched Naruto race down the street, pausing every now and then to throw an armful of the fresh snow in the air. The boy had gotten used to the ANBU agents who came to collect him only speaking a word or two to let him know that the Hokage had time to spend with his favorite blond. Thus, when there was something more that they needed to convey, he wasn't expecting it and left before they could speak. She could have caught him, she supposed, but it might do for him to get some of his energy out by running to the tower. Besides, all she really needed to convey was that he couldn't barge into the Hokage's chambers as loudly as he normally did. Resigning herself to catching him in the tower, the agent washed her teacup, put it on the drying rack, and locked the front door before disappearing in a swirl of foliage.
Naruto had made record time barreling through the village, leaving several civilians gasping in shock as the "demon brat" almost ran them over in his haste to make it to the red tower at the base of the Hokage Monument. Most knew enough about the boy's invisible protectors to avoid overt displays of their dislike for him, but a few still steered him towards icy patches of the road and snickered to themselves when he almost slipped. Eventually, though, the bright red scarf barreled through the doors of the Hokage tower, and the streets were once again "safe" from the Kyūbi no Gaki.
Naruto had succeeded in traversing the entire first floor of the tower when he felt a hand grab onto the back of his jacket and lift him, squirming wildly, into the air. He found himself facing the same mask from this morning and scowled at the painted face. "I got your message! I'm going to see Jiji right now. Let me go, dattebayo!"
The masked figure held the squirming boy silently for several seconds until he made eye contact through the narrow slits of the mask. "You didn't bother to talk to me at all, Uzumaki-san. You saw me and assumed that Hokage-sama wanted to see you." At this statement, Naruto went entirely slack, gazing in horror at the figure in front of him. "There's no need for that kind of face. Hokage-sama does indeed want to see you, but he asked that I relay a message first." Naruto's face took on such an expression of relief that the woman had to wonder if the blond had seriously thought he was being discarded by the old man. "Now, I was asked to tell you that, when you go into Hokage-sama's office, you need to be quiet. There's someone in there that the Hokage wants you to meet, but they are currently asleep."
"But how can I meet 'em if they're asleep?" The boy's face contorted as he pondered this quandary. "People got's to be awake before you can say hello."
The agent smiled thinly behind her mask, "Well, you'll find out when you go into the office. Quietly!" At the boy's subdued nod, she placed him on the ground, and they began walking towards the Hokage's office. Several times, she had to grab Naruto's jacket to remind him to go slowly, but eventually, they made their way to the office door. Turning to the blond, the ninja knelt so that she was at his eye level. "Now, Uzumaki-san, remember to be quiet. You don't want to wake up Hokage-sama's guest before he's ready. And in the future," at this point she had to grab the boy's arm to bring his attention back to her. "I would appreciate it if you talked with the ANBU agents who come to pick you up. You may call me Nezumi." At this she gestured to her mask, which was subtly marked to resemble a mouse's face.
"Ne, Nezumi-san, what's ANBU?" the boy asked as she stood up to leave.
"ANBU are some of the best ninja in the village. They work for the Hokage and keep him safe," came the reply. With that the cloaked figure vanished and Naruto was free to enter the office. He was curious about Nezumi's comment but reminded himself that Jiji was waiting for him. Remembering one of the repeated warnings to slow down and be quiet, he approached the door on tiptoes and slowly pushed it open. Inside the room was lit as always, with the early morning winter sun leaving strange shadows on Jiji's face. He was at his desk, holding a strange bundle in his arms. There didn't seem to be anyone else in the room, however, so Naruto started into the room on tiptoes.
"Come in, Naruto." The Hokage's voice was just softer than usual, alerting the boy to the fact that whoever the mystery guest was, they must be in the room and asleep, as Nezumi-san had suggested. Slowly the little blond crept in, with exaggerated movements that made the old man grin as he considered how quiet the boy obviously thought he was being.
Eventually Naruto drew near enough to his Jiji that he could give the old man a quick hug before he looked around the room in confusion. "Where's the person I need to meet, Jiji?"
The boy's whisper was hardly quiet, or subtle, but he was trying, so the old man didn't feel the need to correct his young charge. Nodding his head toward the bundle in his arms, the Hokage turned so that Naruto could see the small face in the blanket. "Naruto, I want you to meet my grandson, Sarutobi Konohamaru. He was born several days ago, after I had to leave ramen with you."
Naruto leaned in and looked long and hard at the face in the blanket. It looked kind of like a person, if he squinted and turned his head, but it was far too round and fuzzy. "Are you sure, Jiji? It looks more like a peach to me, 'ttebayo."
The boy's question drew a brief snort from the old man before he was able to reign it in. "I'm quite sure, my boy. Konohamaru-chan is a baby and was born ten days ago. This is what all people look like when they are born. Given time, he will grow and be as big as me. Right now, though, he is small and can't move on his own. Would you like to take a closer look?" The old man scooted over in his chair to make space for the small blond boy.
Naruto nodded as he shed his jacket and scarf, leaving them in a wet heap on the floor before pulling himself into the space created for him. As the whiskered face leaned in close to inspect the bundle in the Hokage's arms, Konohamaru's face screwed up, and black eyes opened slowly. Both boys froze as they made eye contact, eyes tracing over each other warily. Konohamaru was the first to move as small hands reached from the depths of the blanket around him and haltingly reached out to touch the blond's whiskered cheeks. Naruto bit back a giggle at the touch. That tickled! Eventually he couldn't contain himself any longer and broke out in laughter.
"Jiji, that tickles," the boy giggled breathlessly. Small hands continued to move over whiskered cheeks, and the laughter in the room magnified as the Hokage's chuckle joined Naruto's tickled gasping and Konohamaru's delighted shrieks. Eventually, though, the baby was no longer able to hold his hands up to Naruto's face, and the three quieted so that they were only gasping to regain their breath after several minutes of laughter.
"It seems that you and Konohamaru-chan get along quite well, Naruto." Hiruzen smiled broadly at the grin his statement brought to Naruto's face. "Would you like to play with him for a bit?"
Naruto nodded vigorously but stilled when a thought occurred to him. "What do we play, Jiji? He's too little to play tag with, 'ttebayo."
"I was thinking that you could take him for a tour of the tower, Naruto. How does that sound to you?" At Naruto's nod, Sarutobi gestured for him to step down to the floor. When the boy had disembarked from the Hokage's chair, the old man reached down and slowly placed Konohamaru in Naruto's hands. It took several minutes for the blond to understand how he was supposed to carry the baby, but eventually he was supporting Konohamaru's head correctly and had waddled out through the door. The Hokage grinned to himself and followed the pair, content to let Naruto take the lead with the tour.
Naruto's tour of the Hokage tower ended up lasting several hours, far longer than Sarutobi had expected. They had to stop at every desk so that Naruto could show the Genin working there "Jiji's grandson, Konohamaru-chan". They had stopped at every room and Naruto had told a story about some interaction with the old man. Honestly, his memory for everything the pair had done together was somewhat staggering. Sarutobi had offered to carry the baby several times, but Naruto had been adamant in his decision to carry Konohamaru for the entirety of the tour. As they finally came back to the Hokage's office, Naruto noticed Konohamaru's flagging energy and sleepy eyes and finally surrendered the baby back to the old man.
They sat in the office while the Hokage asked his secretary to procure lunch for the pair and rocked Konohamaru to sleep. Several minutes after they had sat down and started their lunch, a woman with dark, bristly hair and black eyes came in. She smiled as she saw Konohamaru sleeping on the Hokage's lap and the little blond boy who kept glancing down at the child with blue eyes wide in wonder. "Thanks for taking him for this morning, Dad," she said softly.
Naruto, clearly having failed to notice her presence, startled and dropped his rice ball, but the Hokage grabbed it from the air before it fell to the ground. "Who're you?" Naruto's eyes were wide and curious as he regarded the pretty lady in front of him.
"I'm Sarutobi Hideko," she responded with a smile. "I'm Konohamaru-chan's mother and the Hokage's daughter. Hokage-sama," here she gestured at the grinning old man, "told me that he had someone he wanted Konohamaru-chan to meet today. Is that you?"
"Sure is, dattebayo!" Naruto puffed his chest out as big as he could as he jabbed his thumb into his chest, grinning so widely that his eyes squeezed shut. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be Hokage one day. That means everyone in the village's gonna be my family, 'ttebayo. We took Konohamaru-chan for a tour of the tower today! I made sure everybody met him and said hello, 'cause he's Jiji's grandson and people got's to be nice to him."
"Well, thank you Naruto-kun. I appreciate that you would be willing to spend so much time with your little brother." At this, Naruto's face froze in shock. Hideko, guessing where his thoughts were going, came over and gently bopped the boy on the nose. "You can have the entire village as your family, but each person gets to be a special part of that family. My father gets to be your Jiji, so it's only fair that Konohamaru-chan gets a big brother who is willing to take care of him and help him grow big and strong. I need to take him now, because it's about time for Konohamaru-chan to have his own lunch, but I'll be sure to let him come back and play with you in the future, okay?"
At the boy's slow nod, she turned to the Hokage and smiled gently at him. "Thanks again, Dad. It was nice to have a morning to sleep in for a bit. I don't know why I didn't realize it would be this tiring to have a newborn."
"It was my pleasure, little Monkey," the old man murmured to her as he handed over the bundle. "It is I who should be thanking you. I had one of the most enjoyable days in a long time today. Naruto seemed to appreciate the opportunity to play with Konohamaru-chan, and I barely had to do anything except enjoy the time with the two of them. We'll have to organize more of these playdates whenever you need a break. Naruto will start attending the civilian academy in April, but those will only be half-day sessions for the first year."
Hideko nodded and left with Konohamaru, pausing to lay a quick kiss on the still frozen Naruto's cheek. "Thank you again, Naruto-kun. Enjoy the rest of your day with your Jiji."
After the door closed, Hiruzen resumed eating his lunch, patiently waiting for Naruto to process what had just happened. Eventually, he was starting to get worried, as five minutes without moving must have been a record for the wild-haired blond. Just as the old man was laying down his chopsticks to reach over and prod the boy, Naruto turned and looked at his grandfather figure. Blue eyes shone with excitement as he turned to the old man, shaking with barely contained joy. "Jiji, I get to be a brother! I- "
Naruto stopped quickly, eyes turning downward and thoughts progressing inward. "What do I need to do to be a brother, Jiji? I don't know how to be a big brother. And I like Konohamaru-chan a lot. I want to be a good brother for him, 'ttebayo." Pleading eyes turned to the old man, who clearly knew everything.
Hiruzen smiled at the boy's face as he reached down to reclaim his chopsticks. "Well, Naruto, why don't you finish your lunch, and we can talk as we eat?" Hesitantly, Naruto retook his seat and grabbed his half-finished onigiri, but his eyes remained fixed on the old man, silently asking for answers. Hiruzen chewed the small bite of fish he had taken as he pondered Naruto's question. "Honestly, Naruto, I think that the best way to answer the question of how to be a good brother is to ask what you'd like your own brother to be like, if you could have one. What traits would you want in an older brother?"
Naruto chewed thoughtfully as he considered the old man's question. "Well, I think that I want a brother who'd teach me cool stuff. He'd be big and strong, and show me lots of awesome jutsu, 'ttebayo. He'd spend time with me and play with me and take me for ramen. He'd be happy when I did good and help me understand hard stuff. And maybe…" Here Naruto's voiced trailed off for a bit before he blushed and started again with renewed gusto. "I'd want him to hug me when I go to sleep. If I was scareded, he'd make it all better. He'd tell people to stop when they was being mean to me. Most of all, though, he'd like me a lot cause I'm his little brother." The boy finished with a definitive nod of his head and looked up at the old man, silently asking what the boy's most important supporter thought of the list.
The Hokage, for his part, smiled broadly at the boy who had such a big heart. "I think those are wonderful things, Naruto. I imagine that Konohamaru-chan would be glad to have a big brother like that, as well." The man's smile disappeared quite rapidly, however, at Naruto's distressed face.
"But Jiji, I can't do that, dattebayo! I don't know any jutsu. I'm not big or strong, and I don't have any money to take Konohamaru-chan for ramen. Can I still be his brother if I can't do those things?"
The boy's expression was so heartbroken that Hiruzen felt the need to grab the boy's chin and gently tilt the whiskered face until he had made eye contact with the boy's glittering blues. "Naruto, I know that you haven't had a big brother before, but you need to realize that if you did have a big brother, he wouldn't be perfect. He might not be able to do all those things you just listed. He might be a civilian and not know any jutsu. He might be allergic to ramen and not able to take you to Ichiraku-san's wonderful stall. I imagine that the only thing he would need to do," at this the old man slowed down to make sure that the boy was paying attention, "is to try his hardest, right? If you had a brother, he would make mistakes and might hurt you on accident. He would always love you, though. Would that be enough for you to have in a brother?"
Naruto paused for a second, considering what the old man was asking him. Turning back, he nodded resolutely. "If he liked me all the time and tried to help me whenever he could, he'd be the best brother ever, dattebayo!"
The Sandaime nodded. "If you do the same for Konohamaru-chan, then he'll be incredibly lucky to have such a caring older brother. Now, do you think we should finish lunch? I believe that Nezumi-san told me you've been making great progress moving your chakra throughout your body. Can you show me what she was talking about after we've got all of this food cleaned up?"
Naruto brightened at the prospect of showing off and excitedly began stuffing the rest of his lunch into already bulging cheeks. Hiruzen chuckled as he finished his lunch much more sedately.
"Inu, I am disappointed in you."
Sarutobi Hiruzen glared over his desk at the masked youth kneeling at attention there. The covered face flinched, but remained stubbornly resolute, eyes fixed firmly on the line where the desk met the floor. Inu had just returned from an extended mission in the Land of Hot Water. As always, the boy's performance was impeccable, and the client had nothing but praise for the protection Inu had provided during the wealthy noble's months of vacation in the country's resorts and natural hot springs. There had been a tense confrontation with a Jōnin from Kumo, but that was to be expected so close to the Land of Lightning. That wasn't the problem. The problem, thought the old man grimly, was that Kakashi believed himself to be cursed. The boy had already lost much in his short life, it was true. That loss had traumatized him and planted a fear deep behind the many masks he wore for the world. Kakashi feared further loss and had emotionally distanced himself from his peers and companions.
The Sandaime Hokage knew that such isolation wasn't good for the boy, but he tried not to overtly interfere in the personal lives of his subordinates. Thus, his solution to give Inu a shift on Naruto's protection detail. It was completely reasonable, as the ANBU agent had been on non-stop assignments out of the village since Naruto's birth. No one, not even such a gifted child as Kakashi could continue for long without some measure of rest and social support. The bodyguard detail was relatively low stress, as far as ANBU missions went, but it was still important mission work for the sake of the village. The old man felt confident that, after watching Naruto for a week, Kakashi would be willing to introduce himself to the blond ray of sunshine of his own initiative. But the impudent whelp had the gall to refuse the assignment! It was quite clear that Sakumo's boy was frightened of the prospect of even coming into that limited contact with the last thing he valued quite so dearly in the world.
"Hokage-sama, I believe that I am unsuited to the bodyguard detail of such an important asset to the village." Inu began what sounded like a practiced rebuttal, his voice a forced monotone. Of course, the brat had thought of this after Hiruzen's previous suggestions to interact with the other shinobi his age had been brushed off. It was the reasonable next step to force social interaction on the ever-so-resistant boy before he broke down and did something disastrous. For all the practice, though, this response was nothing more than falsehood, as the mission report on the desk between the two clearly stated. Inu may have been a genius of the highest order, but Sarutobi Hiruzen had the weight of decades more experience and stubbornness to draw upon, and he would not allow the boy to win this debate.
"Do not lie to me, Inu." The order was cold and quiet, and it had the desired effect of shocking the young shinobi into silence. "Do not lie to me and tell me you are unsuited to this task. I am your Hokage, and I expect better of you." The Sandaime tented wrinkled fingers and glared over them at the masked face, watching the boy squirm under his gaze. "I have here your own report detailing the steps you took to protect a respected member of the daimyo's court and how, while performing your duties, you interacted with his children for extended periods of time." Inu broke eye contact at that, but the old man would not allow him to escape this discussion so easily. "You will look me in the eyes when I am speaking to you, boy." At the stern address, Kakashi flinched again. Eventually, both the red and the grey eye resumed some measure of steel and Kakashi looked up to meet the hardened gaze of the man who had guided Konoha through three Great Shinobi Wars.
"We will speak plainly," the Hokage said simply, terribly, and with a finality that crushed any hope the silver-haired youth possessed that this conversation could be avoided. "You do not wish to accept this duty because of who you would be protecting. You are afraid of the possibility that you might grow to love and care for Uzumaki Naruto." The old man held up his hand to silence the reply that Kakashi was starting to offer before the wrinkled fingers returned to their previous position, and the old man again surveyed the teenager who had been forced to bear many scars, both physical and emotional, for the sake of the village.
The Hokage surveyed the struggling boy for a moment before his face softened. "You are afraid that you don't deserve this prison of isolation you've placed yourself into. Afraid that his son could break you free of your self-imposed suffering. You are also afraid of the pain of coming to care for him and then losing him, as you've lost the rest of your family. Tell me truly, Kakashi, have I made any errors with my assessment of the situation?"
The gravity-defying silver tufts of hair seemed to collapse down on themselves as the boy considered his leader's words and found them to be truer than he was comfortable acknowledging. However, he felt the need to offer some token defense to the old man's pointed accusations. "Hokage-sama, please, don't make me do this." Kakashi knew he was begging now, but he could see no other recourse. "I can't do it. Please. I'll end up hurting him, just like I always do. Then there won't be anyone left…" The words trailed off at the end of the plea. Kakashi took a deep, shaky breath and returned to the proper, at-attention posture.
The Hokage regarded the young man for a long moment before reaching over to the box of pipe weed sitting on his desk. Slowly, he packed and lit his pipe. Turning to the side he blew a large smoke ring before he turned himself back to the boy still kneeling at attention. "Take a seat, Hatake-san." The command was given slowly and with none of the air of authority that had been present for the last several minutes of their conversation. Cautiously, the cloaked figure rose before claiming one of the more worn chairs around the office and sitting across from the old man.
"I have a new grandson, Kakashi, had you heard? Sarutobi Konohamaru was born on December 30."
The question was completely unexpected by the prodigious ANBU agent. As such, he floundered for a moment before finding his bearings and giving the appropriate response. "Congratulations, Hokage-sama. I'm sure that he will be a credit to the Sarutobi name." Hesitating, not sure what to make of the sudden change of topic, the silver-haired young man looked to his leader, trying to understand what was happening. "Hokage-sama, what-?"
"He's a curious child, and excited to meet new people. I'll have to introduce you at some point. I'm sure he would appreciate an opportunity to play with your hair." The Hokage smirked, privately relishing the shiver that ran down the boy's back at that comment. "More to the point, several days ago I introduced him to Naruto. When Hideko-chan came to pick up Konohamaru-chan she told Naruto that he is now an older brother. I'd like to show you his response."
The Sandaime reached into his desk and extracted a small crystal sphere. Concentrating, he projected his conversation with Naruto through the orb so that Kakashi could see and hear Naruto share his wish list for an older brother. The old man smiled to himself as he noticed Kakashi lean in hungrily to look at the soft smile on Naruto's face as he described the love and protectiveness of the blond's ideal older brother. When the conversation had finished, Sarutobi put the crystal away and leaned back in his chair, carefully observing as much of Kakashi's face as was visible.
When he felt that the silver-haired genius had stewed enough, the old man spoke softly, drawing the boy's gaze and pulling his thoughts from the past to the present. "He wants to be Hokage, you know." Kakashi flinched again, fully aware of the cost of the title. "He wants to be Hokage so that he can have a family. One that loves and supports him and makes him feel valued. I do what I can to for him, but I have many calls for my time. He needs more than I can give him, Kakashi. I want you to have the opportunity to be part of his family. I want you to be one of the people he runs to when he is troubled. I want you will help him develop the skills he will need to keep himself safe. I want you to be his older brother, just as you should have been, had everything not gone wrong."
A pair of eyes, one grey and one blood-red, looked at the old man for long seconds before its owner spoke. "Hokage-sama, I know that he needs support. I want to be there for him. It's just…" A short, ragged breath seemed to stabilize the boy. "What if I'm not enough? What if I can't help him like he needs, like he deserves? What if I lose him, too?" The last line was a whisper, likely not meant for Sarutobi's ears, but the old man was perceptive and knew when to listen closely.
"Kakashi, you won't be able to protect him from everything. In fact, there are many things you shouldn't protect him from. Naruto will need to grow strong to overcome the challenges that I'm sure wait for him in the future. The title of Hokage is not given to one who has faced no adversity, after all." Kakashi's head snapped up, but his challenge was cut short by the amusement dancing across the end of the old man's pipe.
After a moment, the Hokage sighed, "All I ask is that you take one afternoon with him. You needn't tell him more than you want. You needn't come to him as anything other than a standard ANBU. Leave the mask on and wear the cloak. Just take one afternoon to be the older brother to his son, and I will never ask you to interact with him again. If you honestly believe, after one afternoon that you never want to see blond hair and blue eyes again, I will allow you to take non-stop assignments out of the village. You can disappear from the memories of everyone who ever knew and cared about you. The cost of this is that you take one day with the boy and then tell him yourself that you will never see him again."
Kakashi felt the Sharingan in his left eye socket start spinning angrily at the Hokage's proposal. Studiously ignoring the subtle chakra drain that Obito's gift suddenly imposed, the silver-haired soldier considered the Hokage's offer. On one hand, the afternoon with Naruto would likely be one of the most painful he would ever experience. On the other, the Sandaime's carrot was too great of an incentive to ignore. He could remain detached for an afternoon. He had to, or Naruto would fall under the curse as well.
Looking up, the last Hatake pulled his hitai-ite over the left side of his face, covering his Sharingan and hopefully halting the drain on his chakra reserves. Kakashi's single grey eye roved the Hokage's face before he nodded curtly. "Hokage-sama, I accept." Hidden beneath the metal plate, the blood red Sharingan eye spun madly.