When Naruto woke up, two sky blue eyes looked up at Hiruzen. Looking at the old man, Naruto smiled wickedly and tugged lightly on his beard.
Hiruzen, seeing Naruto's mischievous nature, only smiled warmly, kissed him on the forehead and ruffled his hair.
The third even thought about the fact that this infant had managed to open his eyes and learn to smile in just a week. But, having learned from bitter experience in raising children in his time, he remembered that if the baby woke up, he would not fall asleep due to lack of attention and would start to fidget and make noise.
As soon as he thought of that, he started rocking little Naruto in his arms. But when he felt the wetness in the area below his torso, he realized that the little one needed a diaper change. Signaling for one of his Anbu, the Hokage sent him to fetch the nurse.
Once Naruto was in the arms of the pretty nurse, she immediately began changing the diaper. Hiruzen looked at the nametag and dared to ask:
'' Maya-chan, have you been looking after these children for a long time?"
' Yes, Hokage-dono, since..."
" I see, you don't have to continue! But tell me this, what's the condition of this brat, and also, what's his behavior during the time you've been watching him?"
The nurse, after thinking about it for a bit and remembering her shifts, replied:
'You know, Hokage-sama, I'm even surprised by this child. If he cries, it's the least if it's to feed him or change his diaper, and I'm surprised that he can show emotion. And according to the medical data, he has the best health, that's what's weird."
"Maya-chan what?"
" As soon as you brought him to us, after examining him, he had a suspiciously active chakra focus."
Hiruzen, upon reflection, guessed that Naruto's chakra was starting to go into maintaining the seal, but decided to make an excuse.
"It's no surprise, the babies of the Uzumaki clan have a very large chakra reserve in the world and I think that this child had a hearth starting to form and that's why it was so active."
"Uzumaki? He's not like them. And there was no last name on his ID.'
'His papers?"
"Yes, one of the Anbu brought his document from the Fourth."
"Yes? Will you let me see it?"
"Yes, of course, Hokage-sama, just a moment!"
While the nurse looked for the document, Hiruzen pondered over Four's sanity. And when he looked at the document, he saw the following:
Name: Naruto
Mother: Unknown
Father: Unknown
Next of kin: None
Date of Birth: October 10.
Hiruzen didn't bother to read any further, as he had seen everything he needed to and left a final admonishment to the nurse.
"Maya-chan, keep an eye on him and don't forget about the others. These children are the future of our village."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Oh, and I was wondering..."
"Yes, Maya-chan?"
"What are those stripes on his cheeks?"
Hiruzen, after thinking about it, answered truthfully:
"It's his parents' legacy."
"Yeah? It's a strange legacy, of course, but those stripes make him look cuter."
Unable to resist, Maya kissed those cheeks.
Hiruzen took one last look at Naruto's sweetly sniffling face and thought. The reason for losing his wife was inside that innocent child. But to blame the child himself, who was holding back a blob of pure hatred and incredible strength, was low and unreasonable. How desperate can one be to subject their child to such a hard life.
In the evening, after visiting Naruto, Hiruzen went to his home, contemplating how right he had acted. Was he acting out of cold calculation, or was he clouded by the grief of losing Kaname?
When he got home, he met his sons Kasaro Sarutobi and Asuma Sarutobi, who had come from a mission to rebuild the village. Asuma looked like a teenager of about fifteen and had the same brown hair as his father, dark skin, brown eyes, and was dressed in a chunin uniform.
Kasaro, on the other hand, looked like an exact replica of his father in his younger years, and even had creases under his eyes that Asuma did not. The children were the first to say hello, and Hiruzen simply nodded in response.
When they sat down to dinner, they decided to spend it in silence. But Kasaro, seeing his father's tired look and the bags under his eyes, decided to inquire a little.
"Father, how's work?"
"Work is like work, I've been at it for over 30 years and I don't think anything will change..."
"Father, why don't you take a vacation?"
"No, son, vacation is the last thing on my mind at the moment."
And then the silent Asuma, who had thoughts of his father's fierce zeal for his work, couldn't stand it.
"Dad, and big brother is right, we too are saddened by our mother's death. But you always told us that death goes hand in hand with shinobi, and Mom was one of the elite shinobi. You are as much a king as Minato-san. And if you collapse from exhaustion, we'll be worse off."
"Asuma, my son, do you still think it's necessary to protect the king?"
"Well, that's your choice. But I will continue to do what I will do. And you continue to do what you think is right. You have a purpose, don't you?"
Asuma, thinking about it, said:
"Father, I have long wanted to ask you to let me go from the village."
"Asuma, son, do you really want to become a renegade ninja?"
Such a statement made Asuma choked on his tea and quickly started shaking his hands in protest.
"No, dad, I want to become one of the ninja defenders of the fire temple and serve the daima."
"Well, that's commendable. But your hotness and youth. they're not likely to take you on."
"How can you not believe in me? Father!"
" I believe in you, son, but wait a little longer and we'll settle this."
"But Dad, if I don't go tomorrow, their enrollment won't be for another year."
Hiruzen couldn't stand it any longer, banged on the table and shouted at him.
"So you'll wait another year!"