The Aftermath
The days following the Kyuubi rampage have been hard for HIruzen. Soon after the deaths of both Namikaze, he brought their bodies to the Hokage tower to be buried soon. Shunshining back to Naruto, he took one more look at the kid's face and steeled himself for what was to come. He grabbed Naruto and shunshined back to the Hokage tower.
"Anbu!" He commanded. "Gather all shinobi clan heads and call them here for an emergency meeting, furthermore, recall all current shinobi back unless they are on a mission above B rank! And Inu, stay behind for now."
"Hai, Hiruzen-sama!" They saluted and went off on their assigned task.
Hiruzen left his gaze on Inu as the rest of the Anbu left for their tasks. He felt for the older teen. Having lost his father, team, and now his sensei and almost mother figure, Kakashi must've been at one of his lowest points. "Inu, take off your mask," Hiruzen ordered.
"Hai, Hiruzen-sama." Kakashi obeyed. As he slowly removed his mask, he revealed his lone sharingan and his ever so slight frown. "I can see your sadness for what happened in the last couple of hours, and while now I want nothing but to mourn those that we've lost, I hope you do realize this is possibly one of the most dangerous positions Konoha has been placed in." Hiruzen spoke, "I don't have anyone else to confide this info to but you and two others, but since both are out of this village right now, only you'll hear of this info."
"As is the danger of the situation, I'm labeling whatever we say in here as an S-rank secret. I do hope that you can keep all of this to yourself." With a stern look, Hiruzen waited for an answer from Kakashi.
"Of course Hiruzen-sama." Kakashi replied.
Hiruzen closed his eyes and took a light sigh. "Now then, as much as I appreciate the formality, we need to speak somewhat quickly as the shinobi clan heads are bound to arrive soon." He went behind the Hokage's desk and reached for the makeshift bed that Naruto was left in for the last couple of hours. "This child here is Naruto Namikaze. Son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Namikaze, and since they both saw you as a surrogate son, I believe they would've wanted you to know of his existence."
Kakashi stood in utter shock. Kushina had a kid? "I always thought one day Minato- sensei and Kushina would have a kid, but they were married already, and to have a child? I never saw a ring…" he thought. Kakashi shook himself out of his thoughts and took a glance at the child. Naruto looked just as Minato would've been if he was also a babe, with the only differentiator being the difference in eye color, with Naruto taking the large blues of his mother more than the ones of his father. Looking ever so slightly down, he gasped. A seal.
"Hiruzen-sama, did Minato-sensei seal the Kyuubi into Naruto?" He asked, now understanding the S-rank placed on their meeting.
"Yes, he did. And as far as I know, Kushina helped, so the final wishes of both elder Namikaze are left within the two scrolls sitting on my desk." Hiruzen replied. "One I want to open in your presence, as you've known both Minato and Kushina for longer than I am aware of, and for you to help guide me on what we need to do forward for Naruto."
"The other scroll though is for someone due to arrive just about… now."
Just as he finished, the windows behind Hiruzen shattered as a large white figure burst through the reinforced glass of the Hokage's tower. Kakashi hurriedly put on his mask and got in a fighting stance, while Hiruzen kept his composure as the figure started to recover from smashing into multiple windows.
"And I'd like you to meet the other person one of these scrolls was addressed to. Jiraiya the Toad Sage." he introduced. Kakashi slowly let down his fighting stance in the presence of one of the legendary sannin. While he did not personally have any connection with the man, he knew that his sensei had a pretty deep connection as Jiraiya was Minato's own sensei.
"SENSEI! Is the news true?" Jiraiya bellowed out.
As if knowing what was going to happen, Hiruzen had placed his hands over his ears to block off the immense amount of sound that came out of Jiraiya's mouth. "Yes, Jiraiya-kun. It's all true. Minato and Kushina are dead." he said once more. "I already spoke to Kakashi here about it, and I wanted the both of you to be here with me as we opened up one of the scrolls and-"
"Where's Naruto? Don't tell me he's dead also." Jiraiya interrupted.
"Oho, so you already knew about Naruto. Information really does travel fast on your network Jiraiya-kun." Hiruzen chuckled. Jiraiya just quickly shook his head. "I was one of the few people that Minato confided in during Kushina's pregnancy. But back on topic. Where is he?"
Again, Hiruzen took Naruto's crib and just placed it on top of the desk. Jiraiya was quick to go up to the child to make sure he was ok.
"The Shiki Fujin?" Jiraiya spoke softly. "I never expected Minato to be one to use this type of sealing on anything, and on his child no less." His face fell as he remembered what he was doing at the moment he heard the Kyuubi's roar. "If only I was here for it. Then maybe… maybe the both of them would still be alive…"
The Hokage's office was dead silent after that statement by Jiraiya. All of the men in that room have lost something dear to them during these last few hours. To one a student, and almost a surrogate son. To another, a successor, and one to be there when someone asked for help. And finally a mentor, someone to confide in, and to them, a parent.
It was until Kakashi spoke up that conversation once again filled the room. "Uhm… Hiruzen-sama. You said something about scrolls a couple of minutes ago, and the need for haste. Should we get back to them?"
"Ah yes Kakashi-kun, we should get back to the matter at hand. Sorry for that." Hiruzen replied as he wiped a tear off his face. "Jiraiya, I'm sure you would've come back anyways due to the Kyuubi's roar, but getting you here first was my intention." He walked over to the desk and grabbed the scroll that had a label outside "For Naruto" and handed it to Jiraiya. "Minato left this for you to give to Naruto when he's older. You can do whatever you want with it, but please give it to him whenever you think is right."
"And for the main purpose of this meeting, we need to discuss little Naruto's future," he spoke once again. "Minato left me a scroll that is both instructions for care and the wills of both Minato and Kushina. And I wanted to bring you two here as you two are bound to be some of the most prominent figures in his life."
The discussion surrounding the possible routes that they could take in influencing Naruto's life for the better, and how his future might look took a couple more minutes before an Anbu shunshined into the Hokage office to let Hiruzen know that all of the surviving clan heads were currently waiting for him.
"We'll have to have a deeper dive into this on a later day. But I will leave a mission for you two. Jiraiya, keep a parameter around Konoha and stay close so that we can respond to any threats to the village. Kakashi, you'll be instructed to help with the rebuilding effort. Dismissed!' commanded Hiruzen. He turned back around from the two shinobi that jumped away to complete their assignments to the Anbu waiting for Hiruzen to head towards the meeting room.
~~~
As soon as he walked into the room, a wave of depression rode over him as he took a look at the state of some of the shinobi clan heads. Some were recently healing from major injuries, and others were only somewhat injured, but in some clans, the faces that Hiruzen was used to seeing during his own council meetings were gone. Replaced by someone half his age.
"I offer my fullest condolences to all your clans and to the impact the Kyuubi rampage might've changed your clan forever," Hiruzen said. "And, it might be known by all of you clan heads, but to those who don't know: Lord Fourth is dead. Minato succumbed to his injuries that the Kyuubi inflicted on him."
"But what of the Kyuubi Hiruzen-sama?" One Shikaku Nara asked.
Hiruzen sighed as he knew that this question would come up sooner or later, but he wished that he could've explained the entire situation before answering the question. "Lord Fourth sealed the Kyuubi into a child." He said as he brought Naruto's crib to the main meeting table. "This child here is named Naruto Namikaze, the last legacy of the Namikaze and Uzumaki clans respectively. Or in other words… Lord Fourth's child."
The room was in a frenzy. Lord Fourth had a child and none of the shinobi clan heads knew about it?
"When was he born?"
"Who was the mother?"
"How is the child?"
A blood vein started to appear on HIruzen's face as the questions began to pile on him and Naruto. And as the room grew louder, Naruto began to wake up from his slumber, and still being a child he started crying. The room got quiet instantly as they heard the crying of the Namikaze-Uzumaki heir.
In all of his infinite knowledge of the shinobi arts, Hiruzen had little idea about taking care of children. He even left his own child to be mostly raised by his wife. As the crying got louder, the head of the Inuzuka clan spoke up. "Hiruzen-sama if I can…"
"Of course Tsume." he hurriedly replied as he handed Naruto off to Tsume. "As Tsume is tending to Naruto, we need to talk about the state and future of our village."
"I offer myself to come out of retirement and stay as Hokage until we find a new successor. And as so I will use the powers offered to me only if you, the shinobi council will let me."
A short vote by the clan heads reinstated Hiruzen as the Hokage, and using the powers inherited by the position of Hokage went on to make decisions to keep the village alive and its clans strong. After some debate, voting, and decision-making, Tsume finished tending to Naruto. "Hokage-sama, as a request from the head of the Inuzuka family, we would like to formally adopt Naruto Namikaze into the Inuzuka family," she said as she put Naruto back into his crib.
"I'm sorry Tsume, but I'm afraid I can't oblige your request…" Hiruzen said with a small but sad smile on his face.
"Then the Nara family will open its doors for adopting Naruto," Shikaku said as Hiruzen was finishing talking.
"I wish I could indulge all of you in your bid to adopt Naruto, and give him a family that he could rely on, but I'm unable to give Naruto to any family, and will have to unfortunately leave him to the orphanage system." Hiruzen sighed.
Inoichi Yamanaka raised a question soon after. "But why Hokage-sama? Surely raising the Namikaze-Uzumaki heir would be a great benefit to both Naruto and the clan he is under the wing of." And the others agreed with him.
"Naruto Namikaze isn't just a normal child anymore. He's the Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi, and leaving him with any of the major or minor clans will just upset the balance of the village. No doubt the Hyūga and the Uchiha will also want this power to get one up on each other, won't they, Hiashi and Fugaku." he remarked towards the two clan heads who both had to stifle a cough as some of their intentions were read by Hiruzen.
"Wouldn't his name alone give him an abnormal life in the village anyways? Lord Fourth built his fame on his name and his jutsu. A child named after him is going to raise some eyebrows and others are going to see the physical connection between the two." Shikaku questioned.
"While we are calling Naruto, Naruto Namikaze in here. As soon as we head out of this room, his true name will be made an S-rank secret, and so will his Jinchūriki status. And from the moment the meeting ends, he will be known as Naruto Uzumaki until we feel confident in his ability to handle himself and not be threatened by our enemies. This will be my final statement on the topic of Naruto. Neko! Take Naruto to my office!" he commanded
"Yes, Hokage-sama!" She saluted and then proceeded to take Naruto and his crib back into the Hokage's office. As Neko walked out with Naruto, Hiruzen had to wrap up the meeting to let these clan heads go back to their clans and mourn those that they'd lost.
~~~
~ The next day~
Hiruzen stood atop the Hokage monument in preparation for giving a speech to the general populace of Konoha.
"People of Konoha!" he bellowed. "We all know that the previous day was a life changer to many and I'd like to give a moment of silence for all those whose lives have been lost from the Kyuubi rampage."
…
"I now would like to give word that Lord Fourth gave his life in defending the village from the Kyuubi. He killed the Kyuubi by moving its chakra into a child. And the child's name is Naruto Uzumaki!" he yelled as he raised the child above his head. A deafening roar rose up from the village's populace. Hiruzen knew from that moment. That maybe.
Maybe everything will be fine.
Oh, how wrong he was.