Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author note: I know that I shouldn't be making a new fanfic but I couldn't help myself. So I'll be alternating weeks on which fic will be updated. However, this came to me, as I was reading Fairy Tail's Innocent Vixen so I couldn't help myself.

Sarutobi Hiruzen knew the moment he laid eyes on the bodies of Minato and Kushina that they were dead or the very least going to die in the next couple of minutes. With their stomach pierced, it would be a miracle if any one of them would survive.

It didn't mean he couldn't hope that one of them had survived. He looked down at the baby sleeping soundly, noticing the small tuft of blond hair that was so similar to Minato. Her face was round just like Kushina and her cheeks were adorned with fox-like whiskers but what stood out to him was the seal on her stomach. He realized with horror that the little baby was their child, their daughter that the two of them had spent hours talking about and what his successor had done to the baby girl.

He shook his head and grabbed the baby from the cushion, clutching her close to his chest as he made his way towards Kushina, hearing numbly as one of his subordinates cried out Minato's name. He closed his eyes, feeling his old heart tightened with pain at the lack of answer. Hiruzen knew it meant that his successor was truly dead, perhaps from sealing the fox into his daughter or protecting her from the fox itself.

Taking a deep breath, Hiruzen walked closer to his subordinate that was calling out to Kushina, his voice desperate to get some answer from the woman. He balanced the baby in his hand as his subordinate put Kushina into a sitting position. She stared at them with pained eyes but with a bright smile on her face as she looked at the baby in his hands.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama…" Kushina wheezed and he rushed towards her, kneeling down until the two of them were at eyelevel. She smiled at the sight of her child in his arm but her smile was soon replaced with a look of pain.

"Kushina…"he finally said as he tried to formulate the words to say that he would take care of the child in his hands. But, the words were stuck in his throat and his lips suddenly became dry when he saw the smile playing on her lips. He wondered how she could still smile? It was obvious to anyone looking at her that she was in so much pain. So how could she still smile?

"Please…tell Minato's father to take care of Naruto," Kushina begged—her tone filled with so much pain as she looked at the sleeping baby. She took in a couple of deep breaths, wincing at each deep breath she took before continuing. "He's the only one Minato and I…can trust to take care of her. He needs to know about his new grandchild. If he's everything like Minato described then I can rest easy knowing that she won't suffer from this burden. Minato has hopes that the villagers would see her as a hero…but I don't think that will ever happen with what happen to the village."

Hiruzen nodded his head, staring at the smiling red-haired woman and watched with a pained heart as her eyes became dull and how her whole body slumped against his subordinate, who yelled out her name. How could this day any get worse? Hiruzen moaned, staring at the wide-eyed baby in his hands. For a few minutes, the baby was quiet as he moaned and rocked her back and forth. While he did this, Hiruzen thought of how he could take care of her until her grandfather come and picked her up.

But his thoughts were interrupted by the huge wail coming from the baby in his hands. He looked at his subordinates, all of them looked unsure on how to calm down the crying baby. Hiruzen took in a couple of deep breath, struggling to keep his mind in control as he tried to calm down the crying child. For Hiruzen, it had been so long since he dealt with a crying baby. The last time he dealt with a crying baby was with his own son, who was now nearly fifteen years old.

He shook his head and hummed a little tune to keep the baby calm, rocking back and forth as he did so. Hiruzen felt his heart lightened when Naruto stopped crying, her eyes wide as she stared at him and a smile played on her lips.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama, what do we do now?" His subordinate asked—their voices were hollow with grief and angst from what they all had just witnessed and experienced.

Hiruzen stopped humming the tune and looked down at the smiling baby before finally answering, "Tell everyone in the village to gather around. I'll be announcing what has happened to the Kyuubi and the deaths of the Yondaime Hokage."

The two ANBU stared at him as if they wanted to say something to him but seemed to have thought better of it. So with a bow towards him, the two of them rushed out of the forest and made their way to the village to inform them of the assembly. Hiruzen knew what he was to say to the villagers might cause them to look at this newborn baby with hate but he hoped for the baby's sake that it wouldn't be the case.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Naru-chan," Hiruzen whispered, as the baby girl looked up at him with a smile on her face and before he realized it, the baby reached out to his finger. Hiruzen put it closer to her and watched in amazement as she squeezed his finger as if to reassure him that she was fine. He blinked his eyes and smiled at the little baby, who stared right back at him with happiness dancing in her eyes.

This child, Hiruzen decided as he walked towards the Hokage's tower, was a fighter. He wasn't saying this because of what she contained or who her parents were. He knew from the way she smiled at him and squeezed his finger while still giving him a smile as if to say that she was going to be all right.

If that wasn't a fighter then Hiruzen didn't know what was.

Hiruzen had never met Minato's father in fact before the events that happened last week, he didn't even know that the young man had a father because Minato never mentioned him to them. The young man had always avoided talking about his family, which had always made Hiruzen believe that Minato was an orphan. Oh how wrong he was to believe that! He didn't know what the man was like but for Naruto's sake, he prayed and hoped that the old man was as kind as his son.

Shaking his head, Hiruzen stared at the old man sitting across him. There was no striking resemblance between Minato and this man except from the twinkle in their eyes. Other then that, Hiruzen was very surprised to know this short old man was Minato's father. Why Minato was a fairly tall man while this old man here was as short as a child. Of course, Hiruzen didn't voice it out loud for him to hear because that would have been very rude.

"I thought I will be seeing my son and his wife," Makarov said as he looked at him and then to the baby in his hands. His eyes softened when he saw the pink bundle in his hands. "Tell me why have you called me here? And where are my son and his wife? I've been looking forward to meet the young woman that managed to get my son's heart! It isn't everyday your son announced to you that he's married and is going to have a baby!"

Hiruzen kept quiet at this— uncertain on how he could gently break the news to the older man that Minato and Kushina were dead. Hiruzen knew from the way the man's eyes lit up on talking about his son that he loved his son with a passion. He knew if someone told him bluntly that his son was dead that he wouldn't believe them. He took in a deep breath, stared down at the sleeping baby in his arms and then back to Makarov before finally stating the words that could break the man:

"I'm sorry that I'm the one to inform you this but… Minato and Kushina had died in the battle against the Kyuubi," Hiruzen began, pausing to see the man's reaction. He tried to keep his facial expression blank as he watched the older man struggled to keep his grief hidden but failed to hide it. Hiruzen felt his heart breaking into a million pieces as he watched the tears streaming down his eyes and the hollow look in his eyes. Hiruzen waited till the older man had regained his composure before continuing, "Before Kushina died, she wished that you would take care of Naruto-chan. She stated that you're the only one Minato and her can trust to take care of Naruto."

Makarov blinked and blinked his eyes, looking very surprised to hear this before smiling sadly at this. "I'm surprised Minato and his wife think so highly for me. I haven't been the best father to him and we said horrible things to each other before he came here. I never knew that he trusted me to take care of his daughter…are you sure his wife wasn't joking with you? I know I haven't been the best father to him or his brother but for them to want to take care of Naruto…it just surprise me."

Hiruzen raised his eyebrows at this before nodding his head. "Kushina told me that if you're everything like Minato had described then she can rest easy knowing that she won't suffer from the burden that Minato and her had placed on her."

"Burden? What burden had my son and his wife placed on her?" Makarov asked—his pitch getting higher at each word he spoke.

The Hokage took in a deep breath and answered, "To defeat the Kyuubi, your son had to seal the Kyuubi inside his daughter."

Makarov stared at him, looking uncertain on whether or not he was joking about the fact that his son had sealed a demon inside his newborn daughter. He took in a couple of deep breaths as he rocked back and forth in his seat, waiting for the older man to say something to him but the older man said nothing, only staring numbly at him.

The Hokage sighed and continued. "Knowing this, will you raise Naruto?"

"Of course I will raise her!" Makarov said, jumping onto his table and Hiruzen leaned back in his chair when he saw the flames of passion dancing in his eyes. "I don't care if Naruto has a fox inside of her! And I can't deny my daughter-in-law request for me to raise her! But I can't promise you about her becoming a shinobi. I'm not letting any grandchild of mine having this job! I couldn't prevent Minato becoming one but I can prevent Naruto from becoming one!"

"What if Naruto wants to become a shinobi?" Hiruzen asked, glancing down at the sleeping baby.

"Then that's a different story but I'll make sure she doesn't want to end up becoming a shinobi," Makarov promised, smiling down at the sleeping bundle. "I'm also not certain on whether I'll bring her back here. I know one day she'll be curious about her home and I know that I can't stay away from my son's grave. I've so many things to say to him, things that I should have said that day and things that I was going to say to him when I found out about him becoming a father."

"I am certain that Minato knows these things, he was a very bright boy," Hiruzen said as Makarov paced back and forth in the table. This made Makarov's face split into a wide smile and puffed his chest, looking proud at hearing the compliment.

"Minato got his brains from his mother," Makarov said, beaming at him. "My wife was one of the smartest people you could meet! She wasn't able to go to school because of the warring states period. Till this day, I remember how she insisted Minato and Ivan went to school even if they insisted they weren't going to become doctors. You should see their whines."

Hiruzen laughed and shook his head, imagining a young Minato complaining about going to school. The Hokage couldn't see the young man complaining but just imagining it was enough for him to laugh however, his laugh stopped when he saw the pain in the older man eyes. He didn't know the pain that only a parent could experience but Hiruzen knew from witnessing the countless parents, who lost their kids, that the pain of losing a child was the worst pain that they could feel.

"If you wish to bring Naruto here for visits then wait a few years," The Hokage informed him as he handed Naruto to him. Hiruzen felt his heart constrict when he saw how Makarov clung to the child, rocking her back and forth. He knew that Naruto was the only legacy left of the Hokage, no, of Minato and Kushina. "I fear if you bring her here in the next three years that she'll feel the hatred of the villagers. A child must not experience those feelings."

"Hatred? Why will they hate Naruto? Why will they hate my granddaughter" Makarov whispered harshly while he balanced the baby in his arms. "I understand that they hate the fox for killing their loved ones but Naruto? Naruto is just a child. A little girl unfortunate to be given this burden."

"It is because she carries the Kyuubi they'll hate her," Hiruzen said, rubbing his temple. "She's a reminder of the many lives that were lost. They won't look past the whisker marks in her cheeks and see her as Naruto but see the fox she carries in her. Already, people are calling her the demon child and are calling for her death."

"She isn't a demon child!" Makarov said as Hiruzen took in a couple of deep breaths. "She's an innocent child in this matter! And even if she was one, how could they be so willing to want a baby dead? My son didn't die for them just to want to kill the girl! To kill his own child!"

"I know and I've given them the highest punishment if they even mention the Kyuubi to their children or grandchildren," Hiruzen informed him. "I hope that when Naruto does come here that she'll be able to make friends with the kids here. By the time she comes here, hopefully the whole mess will blow over and no one will figure out that she is the jinchuuriki."

"By the time she will come here, she'll be at least ten years old," Makarov said firmly. "By then, my grandson will come with her and her uncle too. I know that Ivan will be interested to see the village that his brother had lived in and Laxus is very interested in the stories his grandmother had given him about the village her clan made."

Hiruzen smiled at hearing this. "And if they ever do make their way here, they're free to stay in my house!"

"And the same goes to you Hokage-san, if you ever find yourself in Magnolia, you're welcome to stay at our home," Makarov smiled. "Even if some of your shinobi have somehow find themselves there, they're welcome to my guild."

Hiruzen nodded and watched as the old man rocked back and forth with his granddaughter. He knew that Naruto was going to be loved by her grandfather. He could tell from their conversation that Makarov already loved his granddaughter with as much passion as Minato had, maybe a little bit less because a grandfather's love couldn't compare to a father's love. However, Hiruzen could feel the love pouring out of the old man's body, ready to envelope the whole room with it. He knew that Naruto was going to be a happy child.

In the weeks to come, so many guild members would spoil Naruto and have many parties dedicated to her. She would have her cousin looming over many people that dared to look at her in the wrong way and have her grandfather's friends buying her dresses that showed how cute the girl was. She would not know of the life she had barely escaped from or the names she would be called.

Thank you for reading

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