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Kakashi walked through the streets of Konoha, ignoring the cruel grimaces of the villagers who made a point of making sure they were out of his way. Did word really travel that fast? It was only three days since the Kyuubi attack, yet everyone seemed to know that Kakashi was currently in charge of the "demon" boy.

As he saw the hateful glares he had known all too well for most of his life, Kakashi resisted the urge to destroy what was left of his pathetic village and finish what the Kyuubi had started. No one seemed to care for the poor child. The temptation to tell them all that this was the Yondaime's own son was very strong but no one would believe him, despite the fact that they were completely similar in every way.

As he walked, Naruto just gazed up at him with those beautiful blue eyes, oblivious to the murderous looks all around him and Kakashi smiled in spite of himself.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL! HOW ARE YOU?" Kakashi cringed. Gai was very energetic, perhaps too much so, but he was one of the few whom Kakashi dared call a friend. He couldn't exactly call him a friend though; it was for his own good. All those whom Kakashi called "friend" ended up dead like Obito, Rin, and Minato-sensei. He was doing it for Gai's well-being, because he couldn't bear to have him die as well.

"What is it, Gai?" Kakashi swung around to see the flash of green spandex that halted in front of him. Gai was sporting a broken arm, various cuts and bruises, and a nasty black eye, but his smile appeared to not have faltered. It was as blinding as ever, which when viewed against the pallor of broken buildings was actually pleasing.

"I have heard that you are taking custody of the young child!" Kakashi nodded. "I just wanted to tell you that I am so proud of your partaking in the POWER OF YOUTH!" Gai then proceeded to strike his "good guy" pose that was quickly becoming his trademark. As if his clothes and hair weren't enough.

"If you don't mind, I would request the honor to help you in this endeavor! I shall make sure this child grows up very strong and full of the POWER OF YOUTH!" Kakashi inwardly flinched, Why does he always have to scream those words? He suddenly had a brief image of a young Minato frolicking in green spandex with Gai, making ridiculous poses and running around Konoha on both hands. Kakashi mentally shuddered.

Clearing his head, he said calmly, "That's very kind of you, Gai, my eternal rival," (he added the last bit for good measure), "but right now I have a meeting with the Sandaime, and I would appreciate some help later." Unfazed by his response, Gai grinned and turned his attention to the child. Naruto was staring with his mouth open at the strange figure before him.

"What is his name?" Gai asked quietly, holding his finger out to Naruto. Gai was being . . . quiet?

"Uh, Naruto." Gai smiled fondly then snapped his head to attention.

"I do hope your meeting goes well. I must return to assisting the reconstruction of the village." With that said, Gai turned and ran off in the direction he came.

Naruto let out a happy babble and Kakashi looked down at him. "He's a little strange, but really nice. You'll learn to like him."

Sarutobi sighed. There was so much paperwork to do, and so little time to do it. Not only did he have to fill out reports and assign missions at the regular pace of their village to keep up their image so neighboring countries would not attack them, but now there was all the damage caused by the Kyuubi that he had to take care of. He had almost forgotten about all the paperwork that Hokage entailed. It was not a pleasant thing to go back to, to say the least.

He was pulled out of his inner rantings by a loud rap on the door.

"Come in!" As he moved aside a large pile of documents to make his desk a little more suitable for conversation, he wondered who it could be. Everyone was out with assigned duties at the moment, and he didn't expect Kakashi to come for at least another hour. Or two.

"Hokage-sama? You called for me." The Third Hokage raised his eyebrows in shock.

"You're on time, Kakashi? I think little Naruto is having a positive effect on you!" The jounin scowled at the comment but held his tongue.

"Well, I called you here to give you some basic supplies you'll need for Naruto, as well as some personal belongings of Minato-sama that I'm sure he would want you and Naruto to have," Sarutobi said. He gestured to two large bags near the base of his desk.

Kakashi's mouth went dry and a large lump formed in the back of his throat. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he said slowly. The young boy promptly made a clone of himself. "Take these to my apartment," he ordered. The clone nodded, bent down to pick them up, and disappeared.

Sarutobi examined the young jounin before him, full of concern for the boy. He had lost everyone important to him in such a short time. Minato was a second father to him, so now it was like he had lost his father twice. He held a special soft spot for Kakashi in his heart, just like with all the other orphaned and traumatized youth of the village. He tried his best to give a small amount of comfort to each and every one of them that he could, but it never felt like enough. Kakashi had always pushed him away, insisting that he be assigned more and more ANBU missions, as if he were trying to make himself as inhuman as possible to avoid the pain. Sarutobi's gaze then moved to the precious baby in Kakashi's arms, and realized with a pang of regret that he was going to have to make room for another. The old man didn't think his heart could hold out much longer.

"If you'd excuse me, I have a lot of paperwork to do," Sarutobi said heavily. "I hope you and Naruto have fun together," he added a little hopefully.

Kakashi just nodded before bowing and leaving the room.

The Third Hokage sighed and rubbed his temples. Why did he have a nagging feeling that the next couple of years were going to be full of trouble?

Kakashi carried the child to his apartment. There wasn't much because he barely spent any time in it. Kakashi sighed; he would have to get a larger apartment to properly raise the boy. That might be best, he figured. If people wanted to extract revenge on him or the Jinchuuriki, it would be better if they were somewhere no one would suspect.

The jounin sighed and carefully laid Naruto down on his futon, cushioning him with his pale blue sheets so he wouldn't fall and turned to his clone He was standing still in front of the bags he had brought back from Sarutobi's office. With a mumbled thank you, Kakashi dispelled the clone and began to peruse through the baby bag as soundlessly as he performed his duties on the battlefield. The last thing he needed was a squealing baby.

As he was examining a container marked "Powder" a crash from the nearby apartment sliced through the silence and woke Naruto. At his shriek Kakashi was so startled that he dropped the baby powder. It resulted in an explosion that enveloped everything within a three-foot radius, including the copy nin. Despite the fact that he was wearing his mask, he still ended up sputtering and tried to clear the air around him so he could breathe. Once the cloud had dissipated Kakashi yanked the mask off his face and brushed the powder off. He then turned around to see Naruto wailing and flailing his tiny feet.

Frightened that he might fall, Kakashi leapt to the futon in one bound, hands at the ready to catch him. Naruto's bright blue eyes shifted to the fifteen year old as thick, heavy tears dripped onto the sheets. While Kakashi stared at him, racking his brains for a way to silence him, Naruto's whimpering gradually slowed to a halt as he stared at Kakashi in wonder. As he examined the jounin the child began to smile and cooed in a way Kakashi could only interpret as a laugh.

"You think that's funny do you?" he asked, raising his eyebrow. As if he could understand him, Naruto began to laugh harder, kicking his feet happily.

Feeling it was appropriate to do so, Kakashi picked up the child, cradled him in his arms, and walked a few feet to his mirror.

His whole upper torso was dusted in the white scented powder. His usual silver hair was now pure white and his Hitai-ate was a lighter shade of blue. Naruto gaped at his reflection and tried to grab it. With a sound dangerously close to a chuckle, Kakashi brought Naruto close enough to the mirror to touch. With rapt fascination, Naruto placed both hands on the glass, and after discovering what it was like, happily began slapping the mirror.

Worried that he would hurt himself, Kakashi pulled Naruto away, then froze when he saw the teenager staring back at him. There was a smiling young boy with silver hair and pale skin. That person was not him. Kakashi fumbled with his mask as he frantically lifted it up over his mouth, hiding the child beneath and destroying the smile on his lips and in his eyes, reverting back to the cold and distant holes that had stared back at him for as long as he could remember.

He turned to face his sensei's child and noted that he was starting to fall asleep again. Kakashi narrowed his visible eye and frowned.

He was Hatake Kakashi—the great and renowned Copy Ninja, son of the White Fang, ANBU captain, and remaining heir to the Hatake clan. He had stared down numerous shinobi who would have sent a lesser man screaming in the other direction and had killed hundreds of others without a second thought.

So why was a newborn child able to break through his cold and murderous exterior so easily? Naruto had already done so before; was he going soft?

Realizing he didn't know the answer to that just yet, Kakashi carefully laid the child back on the bed, double-checking to make sure he didn't fall off, and then returned to unpacking the bag. He glanced at the other which was full of things from his late sensei, but assured himself that whatever was in there could wait. Possibly for a long time.

I tried my best to do Gai, but he is really hard to do. I figured that he would be the other person to accept Naruto for who he was, especially due to his relationship with Lee. This was also my first experience with doing a lot with Sarutobi, and I hope I did him okay. Oh well, I tried my best.