It was the saddest day in Naruto's young life

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and only use it for entertainment purposes.

It was the saddest day in Naruto's young life. The Sandaime Hokage, the man he admired most in the world was dead. For as long as Naruto could remember he could count on the old warrior to lend him a comforting shoulder, some sound advice about being a shinobi or life in general, or just someone to sit and enjoy a bowl of ramen when no one else was around. For twelve years Naruto counted on the Hokage to be there for him, even when Naruto was an outcast in the Hyuuga Clan Sarutobi was there for him. Now he was gone and Naruto, as well as many others, were feeling lost, numb and uncertain about the future.

Standing outside the Hyuuga Compound along with Naruto was the entire Hyuuga Clan, from the Elders to babies. They were waiting for the funeral procession to make it down the street. From there it would be lead through main section of Village and finally to the Hokage Tombs were the other three Hokage were buried. Once the body was interned they would make their way to the Memorial Stone where Sarutobi name would be carved along with all the other deceased ninja.

Hear the distinct sound of marching footsteps the entire Hyuuga Clan turned to their right to see the approaching procession. In front carrying the casket were the Sandaime's old teammates, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu; his children Sarutobi Asuma and Shion; the old Monk Chiriku; and to Naruto's mild surprise the Fire Daimyo himself. After the casket passed their location Naruto left the Hyuuga Clan and joined up with the rest of the Sarutobi Clan. This was one of the Sandaime's requests in his will, that Naruto be seen as a member of his family in every way that truly mattered.

After Naruto joined the Sarutobi Clan, walking beside Konohamaru, the Hyuuga Clan joined the rest of the Clans of the Village, right behind the Fire Daimyo's family. After the Clans came the rest of the shinobi force. After them the citizens of Konoha followed. Finally, came the representatives of many villages and towns from across Fire Country. In all over fifty thousand individual people came to pay their respects to man known through out the world as the Professor and the God of Shinobi.

During the interment ceremony Konohamaru finally started to cry. Until then his face was blank from shock that his beloved grandfather had passed away. Now there were virtual waterfalls flowing down his face. His tears acted as a catalyst and soon there was not a single dry eye among the mourners. Even the normally unflappable and battle hardened shinobi like the Hyuuga Clan, Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke were seen whipping the tears from their eyes. Naruto had the dual burden of trying to comfort Konohamaru and deal with his own pain; the only solace he had at the moment was that he knew his Ojisan (Grandfather) was proud of him.

Hours later in the Sarutobi Home there was a private meeting so the Sandaime's personal belongings could be distributed. In attendance were the Sarutobi Clan, Naruto, Jiraiya and a handful of others. It was late in the evening and by now all the tears had been shed. Now was the time to hear the personal messages the Sandaime wrote to those he cared for most.

"Otosan left us each a personal letter as well as his will," Asuma said. He was the newly instated head of the Sarutobi Clan as such it was his duty to fulfill his father's last wishes. Clearing his throat Asuma began to read, "To my family friends and students I leave the following items. To Asuma I leave my Summoning Scroll, I hope the Saru (Monkeys) serve you as well as they did me. I also hope that when he is ready that Konohamaru will be allowed to sign the Scroll as well. To Shion I leave my personal calligraphy set; you always were better at calligraphy than I. To Konohamaru I leave my first staff; I hope you learn to love it as I had. To my student Jiraiya I leave my collection 'meditation' scrolls," Asuma actually made the gesture for the quotation marks from the scroll gaining a slight laugh from those there. "To my student Tsunade I leave you my luck monkey paw; I hope it gives you the luck you always seem to lack in gambling. To my Teammates Koharu and Homura I leave my pictures of our teacher and us together as a way of remembering where we all came from. And finally to Naruto, I leave my personal library of jutsu…" Asuma trailed off. Everyone in the room was shocked silent. The jutsu library of the Professor filled almost have of the Konoha armory section devoted to ninjutsu. For ten minutes the only thing anyone could do was stare at Asuma or Naruto. Finally the silence ended when Asuma finished the will, "My personal library of jutsu, provided that you give Konohamaru the same opportunity that I gave you. As I know you better than just about anyone I am confident my life's work is in good hands. Good bye to you all and I hope not to see any of you too soon."

After Asuma finished silence descended into the room once again. After a few moments Asuma reached for a small stack of scrolls with different names on them. These were the personal messages the Sandaime left for each person. The people of the room would take the scrolls and started to leave. The messages were private and each person wanted to be alone.

Naruto made his way to the Hokage Mountain, more specifically the Sandaime's likeness. When he reached it he sat down and remained completely still just staring off into space. After a time Naruto broke the seal on the scroll and unrolled it displaying Sarutobi's personal message to Naruto:

"Dear Naruto,

By the time you reading this you should know what I left you. I have tried to explain why I left you my life's work. I have many regrets in my life; not stopping Orochimaru all those years ago when I had the chance; not taking the Yondaime's place when he sealed the Kyuubi into you and finally my greatest regret; allowing the Hyuuga Clan to mark you with their Curse Seal. It is because of that you live under a constant death threat and ruined you chances to reach your full potential. With that Seal on your fore head you cannot use Elemental Chakra because it was placed on you long before anyone else and before the Seal trapping the Kyuubi fully settled. I do not know the full architecture of the Caged Bird Seal but I do know it is an odd number Seal; with the even number Seal containing the Kyuubi this has resulted in your charka coils from being damaged in such a way that you will never have an elemental affinity. But I have digressed from my original topic.

Back to why I left you my library. It is to give you the best advantage I can by allowing you to know how many of the jutsu are performed. This will allow you to devise a counter strategy for nearly all enemies you encounter. This cannot make up for what I allowed to be taken from you but I hope my knowledge aides you in your quest to protect you precious people.

And speaking of precious people, I ask you to look out for my most precious person on all, Konohamaru. He looks up to you like an older brother and actually listens to you, as hard as that is to believe. And when he's ready teach him everything you have learned from me and anyone else. He wished to be Hokage and I know with you acting as his guide he will achieve that goal.

Now on to other matters. Specifically something you have wanted to know all your life, the identity for you parents. Your Okasan (Mother) was a kunoichi from Whirlpool Country named Uzumaki Kushina. She had red hair and was a tomboy as a child but she grew up to be one of the finest women I have ever met. She was full of life and had a temper on a very short fuse. She was fiercely protected of everyone she loved and would have been of you. When she was pregnant with you she would always go one about the kind of child you'd be. She had many fantasies of how you would turn out but she would always say that no matter how you turned out she would love you. Your Otosan was a native of Konoha and to be honest the best man I have ever known. This was why I named him as my successor. Yes Naruto, you are the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. He was a genius of the highest caliber and truest friend anyone could have. He was patient with the most frustrating people and easy to laugh with when he told a joke. Before he died he told me the greatest accomplishment of his life was seeing you born and his only real regret was he would never see you grow up.

I wanted to tell you all this in person but I am afraid that is impossible. For as I write this letter I know Orochimaru is planning my death. I have no illusion that I can defeat him. I am just too old. So I can only tell threw this letter.

The reason I waited so long was because it was your father's wish that you be at least a Chunin to know of your heritage so that you may defend yourself. Your father had many enemies would strike at him through you if anyone but his most trusted friends knew. As you do not have a ninja rank this last request was hard to fulfill, but when Jiriaya told me you completed the Rasengan I knew it was time.

I hope you live a very long life and one day find a nice girl to marry and have lots of children with.

Love,

Sarutobi Sasuke, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, Fire Country."

Naruto put the letter down and slowly turned his head to left to look down at the Yondaime's head. His mind was split into three different ways. One was denial, he could not believe what he just read, that he was the son of the Yondaime Hokage. It was so hard to believe that he was related to a person that was a near myth to his generation. In a way it was like being told you were related to a god, it was a bit overwhelming. Second was actually acceptance. Naruto had seen the picture of the Yondaime in the Hokage's office dozens of times and he could see the similarities between the two. They had the same eyes, hair and general facial features. And finally Naruto's mind was thinking on his new responsibility. He was essentially in charge of the Sandaime's legacy, a huge burden for anyone to bear much less a twelve year old. Added to the fact that the recently buried Hokage expected him to pass all that on to Konohamaru only added to the weight.

"The world just seems to pile stuff on to me, doesn't it?" Naruto asked looking down at the Sandaime's likeness. "First the Kyuubi, then protecting Hinata-sama when we were kinds, and now this. But why did you put this on me?"

"Because he trusted and cared about you as if you were his own," a deep voice answered. Naruto turned around to see Hizashi and Hinata only a few paces away from. Their faces showed worry; Hinata's was so blatant that anyone could have seen it, Hizaishi not so much. Naruto could only see it because he had known the man for all his life. Slowly they walked up to Naruto now that they had his attention. The two came to find Naruto after they heard the will reading of the Sandaime was finished. They were the closest to Naruto of the Hyuuga Clan, Hinata because she spent the most time with him and Hizashi because he was Naruto's guardian for many years. "Jiraiya-sama came by and told us what Hokage-sama left you. It is a tremendous responsibility and I am sure you will handle it." When he was close enough the Head of the Branch House knelt down slight and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "You are one of the strongest young men I have ever seen and I know you will succeed. And don't forget if you ever need any help we are all here for you." Hinata took Naruto's hand nodded her agreement.

Naruto squeezed Hinata's hand back and nodded his acceptance to the offer, "Thank you. That actually helps a lot. But it's not the only thing bothering me."

"What else is bothering you Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

Naruto did not answer immediately. Instead he looked Hizashi in the eye and asked, "Did you know who my parents were?"

Naruto asked this question a lot when he was younger. Every time he did the adult he asked would subtly change the subject and Naruto would let the issue drop. He honestly wanted to know when he was a child but was also afraid the reason the adults changed the subject was because his parents did something horrendous. Naruto later concluded this was the case and never brought it up again. He did not want his fear confirmed if he did not know the truth he could always hope his parents were heroes or something similar. Now Naruto knew the truth. His father was a hero, the second greatest hero Konoha had (the first being the Sandaime in Naruto's mind).

Hizashi saw that Naruto already knew the answer to his question. This was a test of trust that was cracked by whatever the Hokage wrote in his personal message to Naruto. It was time for a confession, "Yes I know your parents were Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato." Hinata gasped at the second name. Her face looked like it had an epiphany as she quickly compared Naruto to the images of the Yondaime Hokage she'd seen. Subconsciously she moved closer to Naruto to offer whatever silent confront she could. "We kept your parentage a secret from you once Sandaime-sama told us of Yondaime-sama's last wish. Only Hiashi. Myself, and our wives knew the whole truth. We suspect some of the Elders might have suspected when you started to grow up but we doubt they know for sure. For if they did they would have tried to turn you into a weapon instead of trying to impede your growth."

"When were you planning on telling me?" Naruto asked.

"When you turned fourteen," Hizashi answered honestly. "After you were denied the chance to become a shinobi we figured that by them you would have been able to understand completely by that age."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded accepting his answer. "Lets go home," Naruto finally said as he let the days fatigue into his voice and posture. "I'm tired and I know we'll have a lot to do tomorrow." The Hyuuga duo nodded and walked off with Naruto down the stairway and back to the village. Just before he left the top of the mountain Hizashi glanced behind and nodded to man standing in the shadows. The man stepped out revealing himself to be Jiraiya who nodded back. Naruto was right they all had a lot to do tomorrow and the weeks to come.

Author's Note: I know its been a while since I updated this story and this chapter is a little short. I wanted to devote a chapter to Naruto's feelings on the Sandaime's death. I felt the manga glossed over that entirely too much. I hope I portrayed Naruto's feelings in a believeable manner.