He didn’t have long to enjoy his time now. With this beautiful and perfect blond baby boy. He didn’t have time to reflect on how it would come to be when he had finished, he would have to destroy this baby’s life, probably dooming him to a lifetime of pain and sorrow, but he couldn’t let this demon destroy his village either. He had to make a choice, and he had to choice for the greater good.
If he were a lesser man, he would take this child, the only thing left of his wife, of his family and flee. He would run away, pretending that he was strong enough to hide away forever, to teach this child how to grow and be strong. He would pretend that he was the only thing that was left.
A powerful, calloused hand rand gently along the whimpering infant’s pale, soft cheek. The only signs of any imperfections at all, and they were to be seen on the infant’s rosy cheeks. Six whisper-thin imperfections danced across his cheeks, three on each side, giving him an almost feline appearance. The baby was going to be mischievous. He could already tell. Blue eyes clenched shut. He would not be able to enjoy this peaceful moment for too much longer. He would have to leave, he would have to take the baby with him, and he would have to seal the Kyuubi that raged through his village.
He had been afforded a brief reprieve when he’d been informed that a villager-woman had given birth. There had been three at the same time. All of the women deeply entrenched in their own pain, struggling to fight even as their bodies demanded some form of attention. The Yondaime Hokage demanded that he be informed when the first baby was born. It was a selfish request, and he had selfish hopes behind his request, but he had to do what was necessary for the village.
When he’d gone to see the infant, he’d wanted to cry out, fall to his knees, show the very depths of his anguish, but he decided against it. He was the Hokage, he had to be strong, and he had to be an example for all that were following him in this war against a demonic creature. Damn his shinobi training. He hated that he was so talented, that he was the leader of these free men, these tools that he wielded so brilliantly. He wanted to mourn for the woman who had born him a son, who had given him a child to carry his name on. He wanted to cry for the very fact that he was about to leave this child completely alone. Labor could take hours, days even, and he had no time to wait for another woman to give birth. If he waited for too long, he would lose more shinobi than he wanted to, he would lose more of his village, and he couldn’t run that risk. It was his job to protect those who served him, his job to ensure the survival of his village.
“Sarutobi-sensei!” the blond Hokage called softly.
“Yes, Hokage-sama?” the elder man asked, bowing as he looked up into the intense blue eyes. He had never before met a man like his former student. He couldn’t deny his pride in having taught, having raised this man from his genin days.
“I’m going to the roof for five minutes. Come to me when the five minutes is up. I have a task for you.”
“Yes, Hokage-sama,” Sarutobi bowed, closing his eyes.
The fourth and greatest Hokage was about to pass into legend, he was going to go the way he had always dreamed of going, and he would be recognized as a hero when he died. The blond man bowed his head, lifted the child, his only child, into his arms, and turned from the secured nursing room. He needed time alone with his child, before he gave him up.
He made it quickly to the roof, gently cradling the fussing baby to his powerful chest, holding him tightly without squashing him. Blue eyes turned to look up at the night sky, the stars dancing behind clouds of smoke from ruined buildings and raging fires. He would have to put a stop to this. If he didn’t, his son wouldn’t be able to grow up in the environment he needed; he wouldn’t have the peace that every Hokage dreamed of bringing about.
“Naruto,” he murmured, his voice deep and smooth, caressing the child’s ears as he reclined on the debris-littered roof. The Kyuubi no Kitsune had raged through here hours ago, destroying everything it could sweep away with its large, tails. He sighed heavily. Naruto would grow up in a village after the Kyuubi. They would always remember the sacrifices that had been made this night and the night previously. The Kyuubi no Kitsune would be remembered for always, he would never be forgotten. And he hated that it would be so.
“Naruto,” he murmured again, testing the name on his tongue. He liked it. It suited the crying boy in his arms. He lifted his hand, impressed by just how small this newborn was and let the tiny, tiny hand hold onto his own finger. It didn’t even wrap completely around his hand! Blue eyes clouded as he watching this fussing baby in his arms. He would be leaving behind his child; his son, the only family that he had left.
“Uzumaki Naruto,” he whispered, his voice soft so that he wouldn’t upset the baby anymore. “You are a hero. You’re name shall be remembered with pride throughout this village for saving us all from the Kyuubi no Kitsune. You have given your life for your village and you will be respected and loved for it.”
There were tears in his eyes. He let them fall as he watched his squirming child. He would not let this moment pass without passing on his own wishes. But he would not fall victim to the pain, to the desperation that flooded him, that urged him to gather this child into his arms and flee the village.
“Hokage-sama,” Sarutobi-sensei’s voice murmured softly. Interrupting the last few minutes he had with his son. “It is time.”
The Hokage stood, looking radiant in the black night, against the bleak backdrop. His white coat flared around him, the tiny infant in his arms crying as he was held against a powerful chest, his blue eyes watery and focused and blond hair dancing in the slight breeze. He walked purposefully, gracefully, to the man who had been his teacher once and was now his greatest confidant.
“This is Uzumaki Naruto. He is my son. And he is a hero. I want nothing bad to happen to him, take care of my son. Protect him. He shall be the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune. He has saved this village tonight,” he murmured to the older man. “Please, care for him for me,” he finished softly, his voice pleading as the tears fell from his eyes. “Please care for him for me.”
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Chapter notes: Yondaime, Naruto and angst.