Chapter One

The Third Hokage looked up in surprise from his meeting with the elders council. Mitarashi Anko and Yuuhi Kurenai, two female Chuunin, had just burst through his office doors in a panic. "Hokage-sama!" they cried almost as one, in a weird sort of sync.

"To burst in on such a meeting is the height of insolence -!" Elder Danzo snapped, but the Hokage put up a hand to quiet him.

"Anko, Kurenai, this had better be good," he rumbled. "You know the state of affairs the village is in. The enemy could attack at any moment and time is of the essence."

The village out the office windows showed the scene clearly. Whole sections of Konoha had been razed to the ground, smoking faintly in the deceptively still air. A huge section of the outer wall was missing. The Kyuubi had just attacked, and been contained, the Fourth Hokage dying in the process. The Third Hokage had come out of retirement in the immediate hurry that followed, forced to act professional in spite of the death during the attack of his own wife.

"It is urgent, Hokage-sama," said Anko heatedly, "what I have to say."

Kurenai frowned. "And what I have to say is of equal, if not greater, importance," she argued.

The Hokage sighed. "Very well," he said. "Make it quick. What is it?"

"I heard that the new Kyuubi jinchuuriki is a girl, Hokage-sama," said Anko, and she raised herself up. "I would like to take over the raising of her."

The Hokage's eyebrows rose steeply, as did the brows of several other elders.

"Hokage-sama, that is what I wanted to request as well!" Kurenai added hurriedly in clear distress, and this was even more surprising.

"Anko, Kurenai, I must say I did not expect anyone to want to raise Uzumaki Naruko," said the Third. "And yet two people do. Let me hear your arguments, yes?" He was curious despite himself. "First Anko, then Kurenai. Each argument will be given equal consideration."

Anko spoke first. "Hokage-sama, I feel a kinship to this girl," she said passionately. "Like myself, she is a marginalized woman that people will distrust and fear. We all know nobody has ever looked at me the same since my old teacher Orochimaru's defection." There was a sobering, uncomfortable silence. Anko plowed on, "Despite this, I am still loyal to the village. I would like to pass that on to Naruko. I want to give her the sort of mentoring I never had."

The Hokage paused, and nodded. "Very well. Kurenai?" He turned to her expectantly.

"My argument is along somewhat similar lines, Hokage-sama," said Kurenai seriously, frowning. "That the new jinchuuriki is a girl strikes me deeply. I want to give her a female mother or big sister figure growing up. I want to mentor and help along a girl on her way to becoming a loving, strong, intelligent woman and a powerful ninja. Women must help each other out. That is what I intend to do for Naruko."

The Hokage looked between them, thoughtful.

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, this is ridiculous," Danzo scoffed. "Control of the jinchuuriki should be given over to me, and we all know it."

"Why?" said the Hokage, turning to him clinically. "Make your argument."

Danzo reddened in indignation. "I refuse to make an argument on an equal level with two Chuunin -!"

"Then, Danzo," said elder Koharu, who usually sided with Danzo in many matters, "you will have to be discounted out of hand. We must hear all arguments."

"Agreed," said elder Homura, frowning.

Danzo leaned forward, his eyes gleaming fanatically. "I can make her powerful," he said. "I can make her into the village's perfect weapon."

"What if I don't want her to be the village's perfect weapon?" the Hokage asked softly. "What if I want her to be a strong and human worthwhile ninja, in the traditional Konoha style?"

Danzo suppressed what was obviously his first reaction, which was an angry, Then you are a fool. "I can bring her power," he maintained. "You speak of her emotional and intellectual growth. What of her physical growth? Who can provide that better, me or some Chuunin?" He lifted his lip in a curl.

Kurenai and Anko were both glaring daggers at him. Kurenai an impassioned idealist, Anko wary of anyone who sounded too much like Orochimaru, each had a separate reason for hating Danzo's speech and his imminent threat to some helpless baby girl.

"Yet you usually only train men, Danzo," said Koharu thoughtfully. "What do you have to say to that?"

"I will make an exception, for a jinchuuriki," said Danzo stiffly.

Koharu turned to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama, I vote to let one of the women take her," she said bluntly, and Danzo's eyes widened in betrayal and outrage.

Kurenai and Anko gave secret smiles. Koharu was, in the end, a kunoichi, like they themselves were. She no doubt felt for Naruko in a way similar to how they felt.

Homura followed Koharu on everything, so that turned the tide. "I agree, Hokage-sama," he said with dignity.

The Hokage, who had wanted this all along, smiled. "Excellent," he said. "I concur with you two. Danzo is outvoted." Danzo's teeth gritted in a resentful glare, but he stayed silent. "Now, as to which woman takes her… I like both arguments," the Hokage admitted. "Anko, Kurenai, you two do not know each other. But if I introduced you, what would you say to both of you raising her?"

Anko and Kurenai turned to look at each other in surprise.

"Well, Hokage-sama, her heart seems to be in the right place," said Kurenai at last. "And I'm always up for making new female friends. So I have no problem with it."

Anko, who did not have many friends in the first place, shrugged. "I'm game," she said casually. "We want the same thing, so I can live with it." Anko had learned to take most things in stride.

"Excellent." The Hokage straightened, pleased. "Here's how it will work. I propose you both continue to be working ninja, but I coordinate your missions so at least one of you is always home to look after Naruko. In addition, you will be given a stipend from the Konoha village council. It will pay for much of your child expenses, and it will help you purchase a house. Agreed?"

"Agreed," they said, straightening and nodding, serious like ninja and nervous like new parents.

"I congratulate you both on being able to look past prejudices, and on agreeing to take on such an enormous task while still so young," said the Hokage seriously. "This will not be easy, I take it you both understand that?" He looked from one to the other.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," they said solemnly.

"Very well." The Hokage sat back in his seat. "Kurenai, this is Mitarashi Anko. She is the former student of Orochimaru of the Sannin; he abandoned her and left her for dead. She has been tested and interrogated, and proven herself over the years to be genuinely faithful to Konoha village and its ideals. She despises the memory of her former Sensei. Among her specialties are psychology, poisons, and snake summoning. Her ninja registration form states her biggest hobby as tea ceremony.

"Anko, this is Yuuhi Kurenai. She is from a prestigious family. Her father is the headmaster at Konoha Ninja Academy. She is an idealistic young feminist, a marvelous up and comer, who specializes in illusions. Her ninja registration form states her biggest hobby as wine tasting.

"I take it you both will pass on your skills to Naruko?"

They agreed. Yes, they would.

"Very well then. There are a few things about Naruko you must know. Sit down," said the Hokage evenly. "This elders council is adjourned. I need to speak with the new mothers privately," he added abruptly. The elders apparently knew what he meant, because they stood immediately and left without question. Kurenai and Anko sat down rather hesitantly, surprised.

What would they need to know that they did not already know?

"I have passed a decree. No one may speak of the fox demon sealed inside Naruko's body. This is to give her a chance with her own generation," the Hokage began. "So to her peers, she will just be another girl.

"To their parents, of course, she will be the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, and will doubtless face prejudice at their hands. But there is one thing even the adults of Konoha do not know.

"Naruko is the child of the late Fourth Hokage and his late wife - both of whom died in the demon attack."

Anko and Kurenai's eyes widened.

The Hokage sighed and sat back. "Uzumaki Kushina was brought from the Uzumaki clan in Uzu, to Konoha, as a sign of diplomatic good faith. She was made the latest in a long string of secret Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Then her Uzumaki clan and home village were destroyed in the Third Ninja War, and she was all that was left.

"She married Namikaze Minato, the Golden Flash and the Fourth Hokage. When they decided to have a child, they kept their pregnancy a secret. A jinchuuriki's seal is weakened by labor, and of course no one was to know Konoha had a jinchuuriki, so she was taken out of the village for the birth. The demon somehow escaped from its seal on the night of Naruko's birth, terrorizing half the village.

"The dying Kushina and her husband Minato died sealing the demon away inside their newborn infant daughter. Naruko."

"Why haven't you told anyone?!" Anko demanded, flabbergasted. "Why doesn't she have her father's name?! That could protect her from the adults' prejudice -!"

"But it would leave her wide open to assassination attempts from her father's former enemies," said the Hokage bluntly. "Would you rather she be prejudiced against or assassinated?"

"Hokage-sama, she must have her parents' scrolls," said Kurenai, pained. "She must have a connection to them, know their ways."

"Jiraiya of the Sannin, Minato's former instructor, has promised to teach her about the Kyuubi and her father's ways when she gets older," said the Third. "That is taken care of."

"But her mother's scrolls?" said Kurenai insistently.

"... I could give them to you," the Hokage admitted. "Yes. I will do that. I suppose she might as well master the Uzumaki clan ways first."

"And you must lift the decrees from us personally, Hokage-sama," Anko added fiercely. "We need to be able to tell her who she is, and why so many people hate her. She, at least, must know."

"I want Naruko to grow up as normal as possible," said the Hokage gruffly, glaring.

"Normal." Anko scoffed, sitting back in her seat. "That's wishful thinking."

"What I think Anko is trying to say," said Kurenai, glaring at Anko meaningfully, "is that the way for her to grow up as normal as possible, is expressly to give her a family connection and some context for what is happening to her."

The Hokage thought about this for a while. "Alright," he said at last. "I will lift one part of the decree. You two may tell only her about herself. She, meanwhile, can tell anyone she wants to as she gets older. Hokage successors may also if they choose lift the secrecy decrees in the future.

"Now. The money will be transferred to your accounts. ANBU Black Ops are currently taking care of baby Naruko. Once the village is in some semblance put back together, you two need to go and pick out a house. Once you have a home, care of Naruko will be transferred over to you.

"But she is okay for now. Go and help with the Konoha village cleanup. It's why young people like you were spared fighting. Once it looks like things are improving, start looking for a house."

And he shooed them off. They walked out triumphant, however.

They didn't expect to be raising Naruko together, but all the same, they had what they came for.