The Sandaime slowly took a drag from his pipe, as he observed the severely damaged state his village had been reduced to. Most buildings were flattened to the ground. His ninja were focusing on clearing the excessive rubble, while still trying to keep up the pretense that Konoha was unaffected by dispatching teams on constant patrol.

Thousands had been killed in the attack; more and more bodies were being found every day. The Third knew it would take years before his people were healed again, and they would never forget this event, but he had confidence in their resilience.

He turned away from the windows in his office, and fixed his gaze upon a peacefully sleeping baby. She was a newborn; only a couple days old, yet she held probably one of the most dangerous powers in the world. Sarutobi seemed to age in that moment; he knew of the hardships she would have to go through, to protect Konoha unknowingly. He sat down at his desk, shifting through the numerous papers to find the envelope with their will.

The will Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki had left behind for their daughter. There was a sealed letter in there for her, to be given to her and opened when she came of age, as well as a note addressed directly to him.

'Sarutobi, please take care of our daughter, make sure she is safe…' The Sandaime read through the rest of the letter, until he came to the last few sentences. 'This is Kushina. If Mikoto is still alive, then please ensure her son and Naru know each other as they grow up. It was our plan that they would be friends, so make it happen! Thanks again Sarutobi. We know you'll have her best interests at heart. See you in the next life, Minato and Kushina'

The third Hokage let a small tear slip down his face as he regarded Naru; he had been good friends with the Yondaime and his fiancée, and now they were both gone…

But he collected himself again, hardening into a personality crafted by years of battles and experience from being a ninja, pushing away his personal feelings. The Yondaime had told him he believed the village should not be told of the demon being sealed inside his daughter, and that he had little faith in their ability to separate it from Naru. He also thought her parentage should be concealed until she was the proper age to understand the significant danger she would be put in if it was widely known. Both Minato and Kushina had made many enemies, especially because of his Hiraishin Jutsu.

On that point he concurred with Minato; however on the issue of the Kyuubi he disagreed. Sarutobi thought the people residing in Konoha deserved to know about the demon, and they could figure out that Naru herself wasn't the fox. Nodding to himself, resolute in his decision, he called forth a hidden ANBU.

"Cat-san, make an announcement to all ninja and civilians I am giving a speech on the Hokage tower, and they need to gather below."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The ANBU bowed and disappeared, off to round up his squad and notify everyone.

A half hour later, the Hokage stepped out onto the balcony of the Hokage tower, and used a jutsu to make his voice loud enough for all to hear.

"People of Konoha, we have all been struggling these past few days to accept the wreckage the Kyuubi has left behind. I feel that it is your right as a citizen of this village to know how the Yondaime defeated the demon." He paused here, surveying the crowd with critical eyes, taking in the emotions rippling across faces. "He sealed the bijuu into the body of a small child, making sure it couldn't get out. That child is effectively the only thing standing between us and the Kyuubi no Kitsune. She is our protector."

The Hokage motioned to Dog to come forward and give Naru to him. Walking forward to the very edge of the balcony, he raised Naru in his arms slightly, declaring "This is the jailer of the fox! Know, however, that she is not Kyuubi; she is as human as you or I. They are separate beings. Also, taking affect today, I am integrating a new law; from this point onward, no one can discuss what happened to the demon to the younger generation, other than that the Fourth defeated it."

Sarutobi stepped back from the edge. "Thank you."

The crowd dispersed into groups, angrily discussing the news. Murderous looks came upon their faces. The Kyuubi was alive, the Sandaime had to be mistaken. It even had whisker marks on its cheeks! The creature could be nothing but the fox incarnate. It was only a matter of time before it became stronger and turned on them once again.

Many resolved to do everything they could to hinder the demon, whether that was refusing to sell products to it, giving it bad food, keeping their children from interacting with it or even ganging up and attacking it. It was their duty to their beloved leader to avenge him as best they could.

After pondering the issue of where Naru was to go to live and be raised, Hiruzen decided she could not be placed with just any family, or even the orphanage. Despite his hope in the Konoha villagers to be fair to the girl, he still held a small seed of doubt in his gut, and that was enough to make him waver on who to give her to. It would also be a disgrace and offense to Minato if he allowed his daughter to be mistreated by bad caretakers.

Thusly, Sarutobi concluded the girl must be taken care of by him. Although he was very busy, and often times would not be able to look after the girl like he needed to, there were always solutions to any problem. Creating a shadow clone could work, hiring a baby sitter (probably Dog would be best, as even though he didn't know Naru was his beloved sensei's daughter, he was smart enough to 'look underneath the underneath' so to speak), or even arranging playdates with the youngest Uchiha baby. Yes, Sarutobi would make it work. He owed that much, at least, to his friend. However, it would have to be kept very under wraps, as there would be a huge political conflict if it was discovered that he had taken the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki in. Probably as soon as she was able to be out on her own and take care of herself, she would need to be moved into her own place.

Returning to his office briefly, the Third glanced at the portrait of the Yondaime before he left with Naru. "I hope I'm doing the right thing. Forgive me if I'm not." He tipped his hat to the Yellow Flash and exited the office.

Luckily for the inexperienced old man, his eldest son's wife was at her home. She was a civilian, and his son was a ninja, so she was patiently waiting for him to come back from his mission.

Hikari was a vibrant young woman, and even though she wasn't trained as a ninja, she had a slightly mischievous side, with many genius techniques to keep her husband in line. She was great with kids, and had always dreamed of having one or two of her own someday. Her husband was reluctant, worried that he might perish on some difficult mission or something and any kids of his would grow up fatherless, but Hikari was determined, and she would get what she wanted. Besides, she reasoned, what's the point of life if you can't get some joy out of it? Even if he did die, his kids wouldn't grow up not knowing about him or be ashamed of him, she would make sure of that.

So when the Hokage came to her home with a small baby in her arms, Hikari knew this was her chance.

"Sarutobi!" she exclaimed. "Who is this little cutie?"

Naru gazed up at her sleepily, exposing her crystal clear blue eyes to the world. Combining that with her soft, fluffy blonde hair, Hikari was a goner, right then and there.

"This is Naru-chan. I'm taking guardianship of her because of recent...events that rendered her without parents or anyone else suitable to take care of her. I was hoping you could help me with her somewhat?"
"Naru-chan, huh? Oh, she looks like such an angel! I will definitely help you, Hiruzen!" Hikari took Naru into her arms and tickled her cheeks. "When she grows up, we'll have trouble getting the boys to stay away from her, I can tell already!" She laughed.

Sarutobi smiled at the cute domestic scene his daughter-in-law and his surrogate granddaughter made. "Thank you. I have some business to attend to, so I'll leave you two to get acquainted. Let me know if something comes up." He shunshined away.

"So, Naru-chan, this is my humble home," Hikari gestured to the house. "I'll take you on a tour! I don't know if you'll be living here with me or not, but for sure you'll be visiting often! So here's the kitchen…"

Hikari described the entire home in detail to Naru, leading her through the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, with soft fuzzy pillows on the couches that were made of animal fur, and both the bedrooms with their adjoining bathrooms. Finally, they reached the end of their excursion, stepping outside into the small garden Hikari kept.

It was basic, but very beautiful, with many bright flowers accompanying some small statues. A few stepping stones led toward a weeping willow that had a small bench underneath it in the shade. Butterflies loved to rest on the delicate flower petals, and koi fish peacefully swam through a clear pond that was lined with stones. Naru smiled and laughed, grabbing the nearest orange lily.

Hikari noticed this and grinned slyly. "So, you like the color orange, do you Naru-chan? We'll have to go shopping, and maybe we can get you some cute orange baby clothes! I bet Hiruzen hasn't even thought of that sort of thing yet."

Seeing how much Naru loved her garden, Hikari took her over to the bench in the shade and sat down. A slight breeze picked up, rustling the willow's long branches and swaying Hikari's long brown hair. She sighed in contentment, soaking up the feel of the gorgeous summer day.

"I can't wait to show you my shop, Naru-chan! It'll be so much fun, I think you'll like it. I'm a civilian, and I've never had any type of ninja training, so it's not quite as exciting as running a weapons shop or something similar probably would be, but I enjoy it. It's just a couple blocks from the house. I have a bookstore, and I stock all kinds of different books. Everything from ninja textbooks, nonfiction textbooks, many fiction novels…on subjects of all different genres! Who knows, maybe you'll become such an amazing reader you'll gobble up all the knowledge my store has to offer!" Hikari paused in her musings to glance down at the blonde baby. "But for right now, you're simply a newborn. Must only be a few days old. And already you're taking the world by storm with those big blue eyes of yours!"

As if she knew what Hikari was saying, Naru yawned and snuggled down into her baby blanket. The daughter-in-law of the Sandaime started, whisper-exclaiming, "I guess you're tired, Naru?! Well, I don't have a crib for you…" She squished up her face to think.

"I have just the solution!" Hikari made her way to the kitchen, set her new charge down gently, and rummaged around in the cupboards for a large pot. Finding one of the perfect size, she fetched a pillow from the living room and stuffed it in the pot, forming a makeshift bed for Naru. "There you are, sweetheart. Sleep well, or as best you can in this pot." She snickered. "If only my husband could see this!"

She moved out to the front porch, where there was a swinging bench and a couple potted plants. Placing the pot Naru was sleeping like a rock in beside her, Hikari gently pushed the bench to swing back and forth, while she sang a lullaby her mother had sung for her when she was small.

"Dream of the bubbling brook, my darling, dream of the fairest blue sky;

Know that you're safe and sound my darling, and there's no need to cry.

When you're asleep the moon and the stars will watch out for you,

Yes, my words are true.

The animals will keep you from harm,

The birds will keep singing and soothe your alarm,

So dream on, my darling, dream on…"