A/N: Yay let's welcome our new addition to the angst train: Naruto!
The sky is still dark, yet untouched by the light of dawn. It's quiet except for the click of Snake's armour as she clips the shoulder straps. "Go back to sleep," she whispers.
"You're making a racket," Kakashi mumbles back, a dark eye peeking out from behind messy silver hair as he shifts under his shuriken blanket. She huffs in protest as she kneels down to fold her borrowed futon into a neat rectangle. On the floor beside her, Urushi snuffles in his sleep, his legs kicking, and Pakkun lets out a high pitched, whistling snore whenever Rin pets his head. The other dogs are in similarly lazy states.
"Want some miso? I have some of that instant stuff somewhere," Kakashi offers as he sits up, scrubbing his face.
"It's alright. I'll pick up something on the way." Her mask is on now. "I'll see you soon."
"Yeah, see you."
Snake ruffles Kakashi's hair, gives Bisuke a scratch behind the ears, and leaves out of the window. It takes only half a second for her to meld into the darkness. When Kakashi tears his eyes away from the window, he notices the futon still lying on the ground and sighs. "Dammit, senpai. Now I have to bring it back."
Still, he picks it up and buries his face in it, inhaling deeply.
"Boss—"
Screeching, Kakashi flings the futon away. "What the—!" Urushi wheezes with his hyena laugh while Kakashi coughs in chagrin. "Why didn't you all warn me?" His ninken are all awake now, wagging their tails unrepentantly.
Pakkun's flat face pulls into a sharp-toothed grin. "That Snake-taichou borrowed Chiro-obaasan's futon? Why would we?"
Realising that that Kakashi had just taken a good lungful of old landlady, Rin bursts into uncontrollable giggling. Sakumo can only shake his head with a sigh.
Kakashi falls flat onto his bed face-first and groans. His ears are very pink.
The outpost where Naruto has been placed sits along a secluded section of Konoha's wall, behind a series of training grounds and untamed forests, a portion of which belongs to the Nara. If the Kyuubi breaks loose again, it wouldn't be anywhere near the village proper.
The jounin smoking at the gate waves Kakashi into the tower with a smile that speaks of familiarity. "You've grown, Kakashi-kun!"
"Naraya-taichou," Kakashi greets, surprise colouring his voice when he gives the dark-haired man quick once-over. "Haven't see you in a while."
"Since the war," Naraya replies with a thoughtful hum as he leads Kakashi up the winding staircase. Pale sunlight filters down from the circle of windows above, illuminating the several ANBU who dart out to greet them. Bright specks of dust are left dancing in their wake when they disappear again.
"How's Kumona-san?" After the war, Kakashi hasn't been in contact with either of his teammates from the front lines.
"Hm. He's retired now. Lost an arm during a mission." Kakashi makes a noise of sympathy but Naraya shrugs. "You don't need two arms to play with your grandkids."
"I didn't know he was so old."
Naraya shakes his head wryly. "His daughter just got it on early. Post-war baby-boom and all that."
The door to Naruto's room clicks open and the med-nin on shift greets them with polite nods. "Sirs."
Naruto's incubator sits along the wall, next to a gaudy, flower-patterned sofa where the nurse apparently sleeps. The blinds dim the morning light to nothing but a dull orange glow, and in the corner of the room, a heater hums. It's oddly cozy.
"Are you his guardian, now?" Naraya asks tentatively.
"No," the silver-haired youth murmurs, looking down at the tiny bundle sleeping within the incubator's thick plastic shell. Downy blonde hair crowns a fragile, egg-shaped head, and rounded, whiskered cheeks puff out in sleep, pink little lips moving as the infant dreams. Wisps of Kyuubi chakra linger on the newborn's skin, restless yet unlike the malice-filled miasma that remains in the village.
"Naruto," Kakashi whispers, his fingers touching the incubator almost delicately. He has a soft look in his uncovered eye that might just be affection. "Uzumaki Naruto."
"He looks healthy," Rin murmurs just as quietly, her eyes glistening even as she smiles. "Healthy and peaceful." Naruto's birth is a silver - no, golden - lining along the clouds that have filled Konoha's overcast skies. The tight knot of grief in Sakumo's chest loosens at sight of the sweet child who has already saved the village mere minutes after being born. Minato and Kushina's legacy indeed.
Kakashi draws back with the shadow of regret darkening his face. "Minato-sensei's will wasn't updated, so guardianship automatically falls to the Hokage. Sandaime-sama himself is busy with the village, and his wife died in the attack as well, so Naruto will be going to the orphanage."
"Perhaps Hokage-sama can appoint you as guardian instead?"
Kakashi shakes his head slowly. "I have no idea how to be a father. And I don't think I'll be able to take care of Naruto properly, not without quitting ANBU."
"No-one knows how, at the start. And you can always get Kumona-san to babysit if you need to go on missions," Naraya suggests with a smirk.
Self-doubt still plagues Kakashi. "I don't know."
With a sigh, Naraya slaps Kakashi on the back. "No pressure, Kakashi-kun. It's okay. The orphanage is pretty alright."
"Yeah?" Kakashi murmurs. "I'll go by and visit sometime. To make sure." He turns and gives the med-nin standing by the side an eye-smile. "Thank you for taking care of Naruto."
"The Kyuubi has been very cooperative," the med-nin says softly. She tucks a loose strand of her hair behind her ear nervously when Kakashi's eyebrows fly up in surprise. "A premature baby wouldn't be able to withstand the full force of the Kyuubi even if he has Uzumaki blood and the seal. The body is just too weak. The Kyuubi..." She breaks off and swallows. "The Kyuubi hasn't been trying to escape."
"That's..." Kakashi starts hoarsely, turning to stare at Naruto in perplexity.
Impossible, is what Sakumo might have said, if not for the evidence before him. A peacefully sleeping jinchuuriki with ancient chakra licking almost protectively about the babe.
'Even the most vicious animals of the wild guard their own fiercely,' Sakumo's mother had warned him with a secretive smile, gently tugging him away from the den they'd spied. He had been very young, then, with too much curiosity and too little sense. The mother-wolf's burning yellow eyes had pierced him deeply, deadly and sure even as her cubs tumbled around her, carefree.
Sakumo can't imagine why a demon-fox would show it's nurturing side after wrecking such havoc and killing Naruto's parents, but it is how it is. Perhaps it is survival instinct — if Naruto died, so would the Kyuubi, for some time.
Had Minato known? Had Kushina?
For all that the young couple have sacrificed for Konoha, Sakumo holds a deep respect for them. But at the same time, he is also chilled by the full extent of their actions. Sakumo knows, for sure, that if the choice had fallen to him, he would have never risked Kakashi life like this. He would have never placed this kind of burden on him, for the greater good or not. He simply wouldn't be able to do it.
But Naruto had never chosen to be the Hokage's son either.
"Poor kid," Naraya sighs as he shoots Naruto a pitying look. "Life's tough when you're destined for great things, huh?"