"Ano, Jiji…?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up from his ramen to see the usually unflappable four-year-old restlessly playing with his jacket. The boy had finished his own bowl, so the issue wasn't of world-shattering importance. Nevertheless, anything that could cause the blond to address his Jiji this haltingly was worth the old man's full focus. Casually setting his chopsticks down so that he could give the child his undivided attention, the old man turned and addressed the downturned face. "Naruto, what is it?"

Blue eyes peeked from underneath unruly bangs as the child considered the aged face smiling gently down at him. A mumbled response sneaked its way from his lips as anxious hands returned to the worn hem of the boy's jacket and azure eyes rediscovered the floor of the small food stall.

"Naruto, if you want me to hear what you're saying, you need to speak up." Hiruzen was moderately worried now, but he reminded himself of the finished meal and resolved to patiently wait until the boy worked up his courage to broach this new and unsettling topic with his Jiji.

After much fiddling and further mumbling so that his words ran together incomprehensibly, the blond seemed to gather his courage and raised his face to look at the older man. "Wh-why do they look at you like that?"

The head of the Sarutobi clan raised an eyebrow, trying to follow the child's train of thought. He hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary as he spent his afternoon with his all-but-adopted grandson. Whatever had brought about Naruto's questions hadn't even registered on his attention. "What do you mean, my boy? Who were we talking to when you saw this 'look'?"

"Everyone!" the blond blurted, with sudden intensity. Realizing his outburst when he noticed the old man quirk an eyebrow, Naruto quickly returned his attention to his shirt and started again, returning to the quiet voice he had used initially. "When we were at your office, everyone was happy when they talked to you. All the ninja, the lady at the desk, the people in the masks, and anyone else who came in, they were all happy to see you. They smiled, and their eyes were different. They never look at me like that, 'ttebayo. I want them to look at me that way, Jiji!"

Hiruzen's breath caught in his throat. What could he tell this boy he loved like his own blood? How could he avoid hurting Naruto? The truth of his status was beyond Naruto's ability to understand or deal with at this point in his life. However, that hadn't been the question, had it? "Well, my boy, do you know what I do? What is my job?"

Blue eyes peeked from under untamed blond bangs as Naruto carefully considered the old man in front of him. "You're my Jiji. You bring me food and toys and pay for my ramen. You talk with me, even though no one else will." The reply was a bit sullen, as though the boy resented having to remind the old man of this fact.

Sarutobi held back a frown at Naruto's response. That the boy thought no one wanted to talk to him was deeply concerning. Making a mental note to have Inu check in with the blond when he got back from his most recent mission, Hiruzen decided to address the first part of the response. "Being your Jiji isn't a job, Naruto. I would do that no matter what anyone else said. What else do I do?"

Naruto scrunched his nose as he considered the question. Eventually, he turned to the old man and offered another answer. "You read and write a lot and talk with the ninja. You tell them what to do, even the ones in the masks, 'ttebayo."

A warm smile grew on Hiruzen's face as he nodded, accepting the boy's answer. "I am the Sandaime Hokage, Naruto." Naruto's head snapped up and his mouth dropped, eyes shining at the man in front of him. Stifling a chuckle, the old man asked, "Do you know what the Hokage is, my boy?"

The boy was silent for a moment, but his eyes widened in excitement. He spent several seconds sputtering, desperately trying to wrap his head around the fact that his Jiji is the Hokage! Eventually, though, he snapped back to attention and burst out in excitement. "Sugoi Jiji! That means you're a ninja. The best ninja in the whole village, dattebayo! Can you show me some cool ninja tricks?! Can you fly? Why haven't you told me before? Are you super strong? Can you breathe fire? Will you teach me to be a ninja? Please?! I'll be good and clean my apartment and stop throwing my vegetables in the trash."

The stern glance Naruto received at the last comment told him that the Hokage hadn't been aware of that last fact and they would eventually need to discuss it, but the blond was too excited to really pay attention. His JIJI is the HOKAGE! Opening his mouth to renew the deluge of questions, Naruto stopped as he noticed the Hokage's calming hand gesture.

"Slow down, Naruto. I won't quit being Hokage, or a ninja, for quite a while yet. You can ask me any questions you want, but, for now at least, let me answer the ones that you've already asked." At Naruto's vigorous nod and beaming smile, Sarutobi started again. "Let's see, your first question was about showing you some 'cool ninja tricks', I believe. The quickest trick you might appreciate…". At this, Hiruzen reached out of the stall and grabbed a leaf drifting by on the breeze. "… is this one. I'm going to stick this leaf to my fingertip and cause it to spin, using nothing but my chakra."

With that, the old man began spinning the leaf on his index finger. Chuckling at how the small performance had enthralled his audience, the Sandaime began weaving the leaf around his hand in complicated patterns, changing the speed of the rotation as he went. This went on for several minutes until Naruto's attention snapped back to Sarutobi's wrinkled face. As the boy opened his mouth, Hiruzen preempted the question he knew was coming. "I can show you how to do this if you'd like Naruto. It's a kind of ninja training." The boy nodded with such vigor that Hiruzen momentarily feared the boy would give himself whiplash. "Well then, shall we pay for our ramen and let Ichiraku-san clean a spot for more customers? We can go back to my office, and you can work on this exercise while I spend some time on my own work."

Naruto continued to nod fervently and scrambled off his chair. He bounced on his toes as he waited for his Jiji to rise and pay their bill. A raised eyebrow and a cleared throat caught the blond's attention, and he pondered Jiji's expectant face. He thought for several moments until, with some small exasperation, the old man seemed to decide that Naruto wouldn't remember without a stronger reminder. "Manners, Naruto. What do you have to say to Ichiraku-san for the meal he just served us?"

Naruto's face lit up in understanding, and he turned a glowing smile to the grinning restaurateur. "Thanks for the ramen, Teuchi-jiisan. It was really good, 'ttebayo." At the appreciative bow of his second-favorite adult, Naruto seemed to regain whatever energy had been shelved as he puzzled on the expectations of strange old men and burst from the small ramen stand, shouting and laughing at the top of his lungs.

The two adults shared a chuckle at the boy's antics as Hiruzen paid for their meals and the several other meals he was sure Teuchi would give Naruto before the Hokage could bring him again. With a jovial wave, the Sandaime left the food stall and went to go track down his charge so that he could fulfill the promise made over an empty bowl of noodles. It truly was a marvelous thing how quickly Naruto's mood could be turned around. All he needed was an excuse and his joyful heart would bring him out of whatever melancholy held the boy captive. It seemed that the worries which had been bothering him had been washed away with the promise of a neat trick and the attention of someone who cared about him. Smiling to himself, the Hokage allowed Naruto to take his hand and steer the pair down the street towards the Hokage tower.

"Okay, Jiji!"

As soon as Naruto had successfully dragged the Hokage through the doors of his office, the boy turned and leveled a commanding finger at the old man. "You promised. Now show me how to make the leaf dance, dattebayo."

Hiruzen chuckled to himself at the boy's behavior. While his advisors thought it improper for him to allow the blond to address him so informally, he knew that teaching Naruto manners promised to be a tremendous task, due in equal part to the hostility of the civilian population, the indifference of the clans, and the demanding nature of his own obligations as Hokage. Naruto needed someone to remind him regularly about manners and the rules of polite interaction. With so few adult role models, however, he was bound to fall far short of the standards to which he was being compared. Besides, Hiruzen reasoned to himself, there were very few joys so simple and refreshing in his role as Hokage as Naruto's honest and upfront manner of handling everything. "Very well, Naruto. Do you know what chakra is?"

"Cat-ra? Is that what all of the cats in the street barf up after they lick their fur?"

Hiruzen caught himself before he burst out laughing, but it was a close thing. It would not do to earn the boy's ire so early in the afternoon. Instead, he focused on correcting Naruto's pronunciation. "No, Naruto. What I'm talking about is chakra. Cha-kra."

"Chatra?"

"Cha-k-ra"

"Chakra?"

The old man smiled when he heard the correct pronunciation. "That's right. Now, I want you to say 'chakra' to yourself several times, while I explain what it is." Naruto nodded and began repeating the strange word under his breath as Hiruzen resumed his explanation. "Chakra is the energy that ninja use to perform their jutsu, or ninja tricks, as I think you called them. Everyone has some amount of chakra that they're naturally born with, but you can make more by training yourself. Chakra is a mixture of the energy from your body and your mind; thus, you need to train both so that they can stay in balance." Here he stopped, smiling at Naruto's waving hand, and indicated that the boy should ask his question.

"Jiji, how much charkra- no, chakra- do I have? I bet I have a lot. I'm super awesome, so I probably have a lot of chakra, 'ttebayo. What does chakra look like? Is it the same for everyone? How do I know which one I need to train?"

Once again, Naruto stopped his questions at the old man's raised hand. "You're excited to learn, I see. That's wonderful. Asking questions and learning new things is part of training your mind. I'm going to answer the rest of your questions from lunch before we forget what they were, and then I'll answer your questions about chakra. I need you to hold off on asking any new questions until I answer them all, okay?" At the boy's enthusiastic nod, the Hokage began again. "The first question about showing you a cool trick we took care of when I showed you the spinning leaf. The second question was if I can fly. There are many jutsu- remember that is a ninja trick- that I know, but that technique is not one I have any experience using. The Sandaime Tsuchikage can though, and he is a fearsome opponent, not only for that ability. After that, you asked me why I'd never told you that I was the Hokage. While we have never directly discussed what I do, everyone aside from you addresses me as Hokage-sama in this room and quite frequently when we walk through the village, as well. I know you've been here to hear them, and I thought you might have already noticed."

Naruto's pout drew a laugh from the veteran shinobi, and he quickly resumed answering the blond's questions. "The title of Hokage is given to the most powerful ninja in the village, so I suppose that I might be called 'super strong'. However, there are many other ninja living here who are also quite powerful that you might meet if you continue to visit me here in the Hokage tower. You should know, though, that the Hokage is not just the most powerful ninja. Otherwise I'd never be here to be your Jiji. I'd always be out doing missions. The Hokage is the leader of the village and its protector. His job is to guide and care for all the people in the village like his family."

At that Naruto's face went quiet and his bright blue eyes glazed over as he fell deep into thought. Hiruzen paused in his lecture to eye the boy for a moment. When the normally excitable blond remained quiet for several minutes, the old man resumed his paperwork and let Naruto think. Eventually, Naruto started and turned back to the Hokage, smiling sheepishly. Hiruzen returned the smile as he resumed his explanation. "The Hokage has to help all of the ninja get along and make sure that the village is helping everyone grow to their full potential. I choose which ninja to send on missions, and I make decisions on behalf of the entire village. There have been three other Hokage."

"But Jiji," Naruto interrupted, his face scrunched in a pained expression. "You said you're the Sandaime Hokage, 'ttebayo. How can there have been three others when you're the third?"

Hiruzen nodded to acknowledge the boy's point. "An excellent question Naruto. I am the Sandaime Hokage, but I started being Hokage again after the Yondaime Hokage died. It is a long and sad story, so we can't talk about it right now, but after you complete the first step of the leaf dancing exercise, I'll tell you the story of my chosen successor: the hero who saved the village." Naruto nodded enthusiastically at that idea. Story time with Jiji was always fun. "Then, your next question was about my ability to breathe fire." Hiruzen brought his hands up and stuck them together in several different shapes within the space of a second. Bringing his left hand up to his mouth, the old man blew out a small lick of flame that traced down to the dumbfounded blond and slowly formed into the shape of the kanji for fire where it wavered for several seconds before disappearing. Naruto didn't respond for several seconds as his eyes bugged out of their sockets and he stared vacantly at the space the character had been. TheHokage took thesilence as an opportunity to resume his explanation. "Your next question, I believe, was whether I can teach you to be a ninja." At this Naruto's eyes snapped to the wrinkled face, eagerness written all over the huge grin that suddenly appeared there. Hiruzen let out a merry chuckle as the boy's mouth started working with little to no sound coming out. "I would be honored to show you some of the first steps on the path toward being a ninja, Naruto. You should also know that when you start school next year, everything you do there will be important for teaching you how to be a ninja. We can start after I finish answering your questions."

To say that the old man wasn't expecting the wordless shout of joy would have been an understatement. Without any warning, a golden-tipped projectile launched from the chair opposite the Hokage and attached itself to his waist. Hiruzen smiled and quite lost himself in enjoying the hug and the nigh-endless stream of "Arigato's" that were streaming from the boy's lips. Eventually, Naruto quieted enough for Sarutobi to rub his back and prompt, "Shall we finish answering your questions so that we can get started, Naruto?"

Immediately, the boy drew back, blue eyes still shining, and nodded vigorously. "I'm ready, Jiji. We can skip the other questions if you want. I want to learn to be a ninja right now."

Sarutobi smiled again and reached out for his pipe. "That would be difficult, Naruto, as you need to understand what chakra is to start." The boy stared blankly for a few seconds as the Hokage filled and lit his pipe. Taking a deep breath, the old man breathed out before returning his gaze to the boy who had started to fidget as he considered what he had been told. "Your first step in ninja training with me will be making the leaf dance. There are several parts of the process, but what you need to understand right now is that you will need to feel and be able to use your chakra to do this."

At Naruto's look of growing comprehension, the Sandaime replaced his pipe in his mouth and resumed the lecture. "I believe that addresses most of your questions from Ichiraku's. We still have the issue of you throwing your vegetables in the garbage to address," the old man's stern look brought a sheepish grin to Naruto's face before Hiruzen continued. "But I believe that can wait for the end of our afternoon together. Now, Naruto, I already said that chakra is the energy that ninja use for their jutsu. Do you remember that word?"

"Hai!" came the enthusiastic response. "Jutsu are the ninja tricks, right?"

"Very good," Hiruzen congratulated. At the blond's proud smile, he resumed his lecture. "Chakra is rarely visible, but occasionally, when especially powerful jutsu are used, you can see it. The Yondaime Hokage created a jutsu that made chakra into a ball that you could see and touch. Because I can't normally see chakra, I can't tell you what color it is. Some people can see and feel chakra, though, and they say that everyone's chakra is different. As far as how much chakra you have, Naruto, it's quite a lot. You won't get tired from exercise as easily as many of your classmates when you start school next year. However, since you have lots of chakra, I imagine that you're going to have trouble sitting still in class to train your mind. Remember though, you will need to train both your mind and body to be an effective ninja." Seeing Naruto's confused expression and slipping focus, the old man brought his charge's attention back to the present by standing abruptly. "Well, that's quite enough lecture for today, I suppose. It's time to show you the technique you were promised, isn't it?"

"Yatta!" Naruto sprang from the chair where he'd resettled himself and started dancing around in small circles. "Okay, Jiji! I'm ready, dattebayo! Show me how to make the leaf dance!"

"Alright, Naruto. There are several steps to being able to 'make the leaf dance'. The first is to be able to feel your own chakra. Have you ever felt anything in your belly, my boy? A bit of extra energy that flows through you?"

Naruto's face screwed up as he thought long and hard. Eventually, the whiskered blond turned to his grandfather figure and shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about, Jiji. I've only ever felt me. Do other people feel other things?"

Hiruzen smirked to himself as he squatted and raised his hand to the young boy's belly. Gathering his chakra, the old man pushed a little through the touch, smiling at the awed expression that spread across Naruto's face. "This is my chakra, Naruto. What I'm doing right now is sharing a bit of it with you, to teach you how it feels."

"Jiji…" Naruto's voice was soft and warm as tears started to well up in his eyes. "It's like that time I fell asleep in front of the fire with you after we played at the park all day. It's nice and warm and comfy, just like you."

Hiruzen nodded, remembering the day well. It had been nearly a month previously when he had been able to work his schedule around for an entire day with Naruto. They had eaten at Ichiraku Ramen twice and played at the park for the entire afternoon. The boy had been exhausted and had insisted they build a fire in the small stove sitting in the corner of the office. Shortly after the fire had been started, Naruto had fallen asleep on Sarutobi's lap. Hiruzen had needed to summon his ANBU guards to return the boy to his apartment. It was a positive and formative memory of their relationship if there ever was one. With any luck, they would have many more such memories over the coming years. And, Hiruzen mused, perhaps he could add his soon-to-be-born grandson to the mix. Every bond that Naruto could create with the people of the village would be important to support the boy. "Now you know what my chakra feels like, Naruto. The first step is to try to find something inside of you that's like this but feels more like you. Close your eyes and feel around your body to try to find something like that. It might take a while, so don't get frustrated if you don't feel anything right away. Let me know if you have any questions."

At this, the boy nodded and nestled himself into the cushions on the side of the room. Hiruzen smiled to himself and settled into his seat, picking up a mission request application and perusing it. This had been an enjoyable afternoon and promised to continue as such. Naruto would likely be busy trying to identify the feel his own chakra for the rest of the month, at least. Inu was due to return from his mission soon, and Kakashi might serve as another point of reference as the blond sought to develop a feel for his own chakra. The older boy had the most right of anyone in the village for Naruto to recognize his chakra, after all. Yes, Hiruzen smiled, it was his job as Hokage to care for his people, and this was a wonderful opportunity to see to the emotional health of two needy boys under his care.

"I got it, Jiji!"

Naruto ended up identifying the feel of his own chakra within two weeks, with many exposures of the Sandaime's chakra to serve as reference. To be fair, Hiruzen supposed, the boy likely asked to be shown again just as much to relive the comforting feeling from his first exposure as for help identifying the feel of his own chakra. After having made that step, Hiruzen was glad to take the blond out for lunch at Ichiraku's to celebrate. After bragging to the supportive vendor and his young daughter, finishing his meal, and bragging a bit more, the boy turned to the smiling Hokage and asked a surprising question. "Jiji, you told me that if I could feel my own chakra, you'd tell me more about the Yondaime, dattebayo. You said it was a sad story. Can you tell me now? Before we start the next part of learning to make the leaf dance?"

Hiruzen cleared his throat at the boy's question, purposefully ignoring the mournful expression on the faces of the other occupants of the small stall. He remembered that promise but was honestly surprised that Naruto had paid attention to it with all the other excitement from the day. "That will be a long story, Naruto. Let's thank Ichiraku-san for that delicious meal and head back to the Hokage Tower. I will take the afternoon off to tell you everything I can."

Naruto hopped off his chair, turned to the proprietor and gave an exaggerated bow. "Thanks for the food, Teuchi-jiisan." The old man smiled and bowed back, wishing his youngest patron a good afternoon. Naruto then grabbed onto Hiruzen's hand, and the pair walked together back to the office.

Hiruzen was surprised at the sedate pace the boy was setting and turned to him once they had arrived at the old man's office and gotten settled into their chairs. "Naruto, are you feeling alright? You were much quieter than normal on the way back from the ramen stand."

Naruto looked up at his grandfather with a gentle smile on his face. "I'm fine, Jiji, but you were sad when I asked about the Yondaime. When I'm sad you hold my hand, so that's what I was doing for you. I wanted to help you be less sad."

Hiruzen smiled softly, touched by the child's empathy. "I am sad Naruto. The Yondaime Hokage was a great man with a promising future. He died to save the village from a giant, nine-tailed, fox spirit: the Kyūbi no Yōko. On October 10, four years ago, the Kyūbi attacked the village. It was a terrible night where many brave ninja lost their lives fighting the beast. Nothing seemed to slow the monster down until the Yondaime appeared on the battlefield atop a giant toad. They fought for what seemed like hours, but in the end, the Kyūbi was defeated, and the Yondaime died. Do you remember the festival the village celebrated about a month ago?"

"You mean the one on my birthday that I had to stay inside for?" Naruto asked petulantly. He remembered and was still upset that Jiji hadn't let him attend the festivities. What kind of birthday was it when he had to stay inside and didn't get to go join in the party going on RIGHT OUTSIDE THE WINDOW?!

"Yes, that's the one," Hiruzen responded quickly. He wasn't about to get into this argument again. It had been painful enough arguing with the boy about staying inside on the day of the festivities. Finishing this story might lead to an entirely different kind of pain, but Sarutobi had promised a story, and he would not be more of a liar to Naruto than the boy's safety required he be. "That festival was to celebrate the Yondaime's defeat of the Kyūbi and mourn his passing."

Naruto's eyes shone with growing comprehension. He was quiet for several seconds, head bowed. Eventually, though, he raised his head with solemn eyes and met the weary gaze of the Hokage. "Is that why they don't like me, Jiji? The festival was on my birthday, 'ttebayo. Was I borned when the Kyūbi attacked?"

Hiruzen smiled briefly at the boy's grammatical mistake. "Yes, Naruto. You were born on the night of the Kyūbi attack. Through no fault of your own, you came into the world in the middle of the chaos and violence of that night. There are many within the village who see you and are reminded of that pain."

Naruto's eyes went dim for a moment before he closed them. Eventually, he opened his eyes with a stuttering breath but didn't raise them to meet the Hokage's gaze. "Why did the Kyūbi come to the village, Jiji? Maybe he came because of me, and all those people d-dieded because I was borned. All those people are sad because without me they'd have their friends and the Yondaime and-, and…"

Hiruzen swooped in and pulled the boy into a deep hug on his lap as the normally chipper child tried to restrain the tears threatening to overwhelm him. They stayed in that posture for several minutes with old fingers massaging the tiny frame as Naruto desperately fought to hold back his sobs. Sarutobi murmured comfort to Naruto as weathered hands rubbed a small circle across the boy's back. Eventually, the blond quieted and sat in the quiet warm comfort of the old man's lap. When he deemed that the boy had calmed enough, Hiruzen pulled Naruto back and lifted the boy's chin to meet his eyes. "Naruto, I want you to listen to me right now. The Kyūbi's attack was NOT your fault. It is a force of nature, something beyond the power of normal people to comprehend. The ninja who died four years ago did so because they loved this village. They wanted to protect their home and the people in it. I want you to promise me that you will never again entertain the thought that you caused that disaster. It is one of the supreme regrets of my life that the villagers cannot see past their pain to tell what a wonderful, caring boy that you are."

Naruto nodded meekly as he held back a new round of tears. He didn't really understand all the big words Jiji was using, but he still understood what the old man was trying to tell him. Wiping the snot running down his face with the back of his hand, the blond looked at the Hokage, and his face assumed some of its usual joy. "I promise, Jiji. I won't say that it's my fault, dattebayo. But how did the Yondaime beat the Kyūbi? You said it was really strong."

"He used a forbidden technique, Naruto: a kinjutsu. Frequently, they have a terrible cost. In the case of the jutsu used by the Yondaime, the kinjutsu cost his life." Sarutobi looked down at Naruto's face, hearing the sudden gasp.

"Why would the Yondaime do that, Jiji? He could have done something else to beat the Kyūbi, couldn't he? Why did he have to make himself die to stop the Kyūbi?"

Sarutobi shook his head sadly. "There was nothing else to do, Naruto. The Yondaime decided to sacrifice his life to ensure the safety of everyone in the village, you included." At Naruto's surprised look, the old man chuckled. "Oh yes, Naruto. The Yondaime believed that all the people of the village were worth his sacrifice and performed the kinjutsu to save them. When I found him, he had a smile on his face, just knowing that they were safe. That's part of what it means to be Hokage, you know." Again, Naruto looked sharply at the wizened figure on whose lap he sat. "The Hokage is a pillar that supports the village of Konoha. He sees the entire village as his family. That is a wonderful thing because it means that he wants to see every person grow to be the most they can be. It also means that he wants to protect them. The Yondaime ended up deciding that he loved the village enough that he was willing to die to defend it. That's only natural for a father to do for his children."

At that comment, Naruto's eyes grew wide. "Doe- does that mean that I could call the Yondaime my daddy, Jiji? I know I don't have a real daddy, 'ttebayo, but can I call the Yondaime my daddy?" The eagerness, wistfulness, and pain in the boy's voice tore at the Hokage's heartstrings. It really was a cruel fate that this child bore: entrusted with a heavy burden from birth and not even able to know who his family truly was.

The old man smiled at the boy on his lap. "I think that's a wonderful idea, Naruto. However, let's only call him your father when we're alone together. There are many others who wouldn't be happy with you calling yourself his son, and we don't want them to get angry at you, do we?"

The boy shook his head vigorously. Then, he turned his head and looked at the old man questioningly, "What do you mean, Jiji? Who would be mad if I called the Yondaime my daddy?"

Hiruzen's heart clenched at that question. There were so many ways this could go wrong. So many ways Naruto could get hurt. In the end, though, he found that he couldn't deny his favorite blond this small bit of comfort. "Well, Naruto, there are people outside of the village who don't like the Yondaime. Many years ago, there was a war, and he fought to defend our home. Unfortunately, that means he hurt many people, and they might want to hurt you to try and make themselves feel better. Also, until the villagers realize how kind you are, they might be angry that you would try to associate yourself with their hero."

Naruto nodded, slowly. "Okay, Jiji. I'll keep it secret, 'ttebayo. Why did the Yond- my daddy hurt those people? Were they bad people?"

Hiruzen smiled to himself at the flush that crept across the boy's face when he called the Yondaime his father, instantly concluding that his decision to allow Naruto to privately claim the Yondaime as his father had been the right one. "They weren't inherently bad, Naruto, but they were fighting against him in the war to protect their own families and friends, and he was fighting to protect his friends and family."

The boy snorted and responded to Hiruzen's questioning look. "That's stupid, dattebayo! They should have left each other alone and not hurted each other, and then everyone could have been happy."

Hiruzen paused, reminded of his one remaining student, before he answered the boy slowly. "That's true, Naruto, but it's a difficult thing to do. Both sides had been hurt badly by the other, and they weren't willing to forgive the past mistakes. It's not a satisfying reason, but it's the only reason I have. I was Hokage at the time, and I needed to make a decision that would prevent as many people in Konoha from getting hurt as possible."

Naruto's face screwed up in thought, but the effect was ruined when he yawned mightily. It had been a busy day. He had stayed up late last night trying to identify the feel of his chakra and had several monumental revelations today. Hiruzen laughed and brought the boy onto his lap to sleep. "Go to sleep now, Naruto. It's been a busy day. I'm immensely proud of you, both for your accomplishments and the way you handled our talk today.

"Jiji," the boy said sleepily, his thumb playing absently with his eyelashes. "I'm proud of you too. You and my daddy. I think… I'm going to be the Hokage one day, too. Then I can keep people safe and have a huge family that loves me, 'ttebayo."

The last thing Naruto heard as he drifted off to sleep was the Hokage's warm voice. "I like that idea very much, Naruto. I'm sure you'll make it, and I look forward to watching as much of the process as I can."

With that thought rolling comfortingly around his head, Naruto fell asleep. He dreamed of a huge and loving family and a father who wore a large red hat on his golden head. Whether it was himself or the Yondaime, he wasn't sure, but in the end, it didn't really matter, because everyone around him was happy and safe.