Disclaimer: Still…I don't own Naruto. But hey, You can get anything on eBay!

Author's Note: The last chapter, I'm done! Wow! This story was originally longer, and his mom did have a name, and a face so did his dad. But I didn't like the idea of making an OC. I wanted to keep it the way it was. So here it is. The last chapter. Thank you so much for all the reviews that I got. I'm so happy that everyone liked this story so much!

Behind Every Great Man

Part Three: The end

How did I get back to the hospital? I don't remember.

But I'm standing there, on the first floor, and my ears are burning with the cries of wounded ninja. My body quakes with each stomping step a medic takes to go out to the field of battle and help there. I couldn't take it anymore, all the screams and shouts. I shut my eyes and brought my hands together, forming a seal, then disappeared and reappeared on the third floor. The maternity floor.

I slowly walked by the windows that showed all the babies that were born recently. My son wasn't in there. He was in a separate room, alone. My heart sank, but I came across a closed door, that had a file hanging over it.

Uzumaki Naruto

I opened the door and went inside. The room was dark; there were a few candles, but nothing much. In the middle of the room was a small wooden crib and a blue blanket. A fair-haired baby was lying there, crying. I became angry with the staff. How could they just leave a newborn here unattended? I walked up to the small child and lifted him and the blanket up, covering him. While I was covering him, I noticed a mark on his stomach. A seal. Tears came to my eyes. So I was right in suspecting that he was the one who harbored him. I smiled softly and kissed my son's forehead. He stopped crying and stared at me through large blue eyes. His father's eyes.

He looked so much like him, with a few differences, his father's hair and eyes, and my nose and mouth. I stepped out of the dark room and into the light hallway. The door closed behind me, and the baby in my arms squirmed a bit. I smiled and sucked in a breath.

"Hey there, Naruto."

I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the cold floor. My son stared up at me, and his little hands clenched into pudgy fists by his head. I smiled and began to speak with him.

"I'm your mommy. You, heh, you came into the world at a messed up time, kiddo. But that's all right. You've been the most joyful part of my day. We, um…"

I choked on my words and my vision clouded over with tears.

"We lost someone very important to us tonight, Naruto. We lost your daddy. He's a hero, son. Your dad is a great hero. You…you are a great hero."

I could feel the tears start to slide down my cheeks, and I took in another breath.

"Your daddy, he told me to give this to you. It's a present from him. Now, I don't know how daddies hug, but this is how yours always hugged me."

I tightened my hold on the baby, and lowered my face to his, kissing his cheek softly. When I came back up I could see him staring up at me with big eyes, taking in every inch of my face, as if he would never see me again and wanted to remember everything. It frightened me, how he looked at me like that, and for a second I had a flash of my husband before I left him. He gave me that exact look; only…only he really would never see me again. I began to sob, great sobs that racked my body. I held my baby to me and rocked back and forth. I cried. I shed tears for myself, for my love, for my village…but must of all; I shed tears for my son. Not only would he live a life where no one would understand what he was going through, but also he would live it with out a father. I sobbed harder and whispered under my breath.

"Love, how am I supposed to do this? How am I going to be able to do this without you?"

I could hear footsteps coming towards me. They were soft, and slow, as if the person was in a sort of a daze. Then I heard a thump and the sound of clothes sliding down the wall. I turned my head to look at the new comer. What I saw was Kakashi sitting next to me. His shoulders were slumped, and he stared at Naruto in a daze. I sniffed and took a shaky breath. Kakashi's revealed eye looked over Naruto and he sighed.

"So…you're the little guy who saved our butts."

Then he stared over at me and sighed once more. No words were said. Kakashi lifted his hand and placed it on my shoulder, squeezing it slightly. I however reacted in a different way. I took an arm out from under Naruto and brought it around Kakashi's shoulders, pulling him to me. His shoulders stiffened slightly. Kakashi wasn't a very huggy person. The only person I have ever seen him hug was Rin. But slowly, his arms came around me as well, and we sat like that for a while. I knew he was uncomfortable, but he was doing it for me and that was something that I appreciated.

Within two weeks I was able to take Naruto out of the hospital. It was also the very day that we were holding the Yondaime's funeral.

Liquid fell down from the soft gray sky so it seemed like God himself was crying. The large crowds of people were all dressed in black with solemn looks on their faces. Except me. I stared with an opaque expression on my face as I looked on at the picture of the young blue-eyed blond sitting on the long table. I was standing at the front of the crowd with Rin at one side of me and Kakashi on the other. Naruto was sleeping soundly in my arms, his soft head pillowed against my chest with a serene expression on his face. My son. His son. While everyone else was thinking about my deceased husband, I was thinking about his child.

Everyone, after a few moments of prayer went up single file to leave a rose on the table. That signified the ending of the funeral. Since I was in the front, I had been one of the first to leave a rose. People passed by me; some staring at me, others mumbling among themselves, some even laid their hands on my shoulders saying that it would be ok. I wanted to call them all liars. How could it be ok? My husband was dead. Our Hokage was dead. The only people who understood how I felt were the other women who had lost their husbands and loved ones in the battle. But what angered me most was how people were staring at my son. They looked on him like he was the cause of all this. All their pain and suffering. They looked on him like he was something wrong. But who decides that? Who decides what's wrong and what's right? Right now the villagers thought that my husband's death was a bad thing. But he didn't. The Yondaime thought that it was good. He sacrificed his life and the life of his son to save thousands. He's a hero. My son was a hero too. Naruto would live his life with people fearing him. People would tell him that he was worthless, a spec, that he would be better off dead. But he would prove them wrong with his power. I would help him. Yes, my husband was dead, but he wasn't gone. His legacy would live on forever. I decided then, that I would stand strong. I would not let this break me. I had to be strong because my son had to rely on me now. I had to take care of my baby boy. Because everyone would run him into the ground, I had to put him on a pedestal, and that's exactly what I was going to do. Naruto was my treasure, something that my love gave me to make me smile, laugh, and love. I was going to do that. I would love my son until the day I died, and even after that.

A voice to my left broke me out of my thoughts. Rin had just said my name. I looked down at her and smiled softly. The fourteen year old's sad brown eyes met mine.

"What now Uzumaki-san?"

I brought my hand up and brushed her hair off her shoulder, tucking it behind her ear, much as an older sister would do for her younger sister.

"Now…now we live our lives, Rin."

"But Sensei…he's gone."

I shook my head.

"Not really."

I switched my eyes to Kakashi, asking him this question as well.

"Do you remember everything that he taught you?"

Both teens nodded.

"Then, he's not really gone. Everything that he taught you is embedded into your head and heart. Someday when you get married and have kids of your own, or someday when you become a teacher, you're going to teach your kids the same thing he taught you. Like…"

"Teamwork."

I smiled at Kakashi's comment.

"Yes teamwork. Come on, kids. Let's go."

We walked away, Rin holding my hand, her head on my shoulder in comfort, and Kakashi's hands in his pockets. We walked away from my husband's grave…and onto a new chapter in our lives.

When Naruto was three months old. I had a thought come into my head, and I inquired it to my guests.

"Rin-chan, you're a medic right?"

The fifteen year old nodded.

"Can three month olds eat ramen?"

The girl raised an eyebrow, and then seemed to take my question into consideration.

"Uh…I don't know. Maybe. It might be a little too spicy or hot for them."

Well, we'd find out. I smiled at my son, who was sitting in my lap and pounding his tiny hands on the table.

"Naruto, would you like some of mommy's ramen?"

He gurgled in response and I lifted a small bit of it with my hashi and laid it on the table next to my bowl. Then I took out my kunai and started cutting the noodles and beef until they were mush. As I was wiping the knife with my napkin, Naruto held out his small arms towards the weapon. I slid it across the table, away from him.

"Oh no, cutie, those aren't for you. Not yet anyway. No playing with Mommy's kunai. Or shuriken. Or any other sharp implements of death and destruction."

My front door opened up as Naruto grabbed a handful of ramen mess. I looked over to see my newest guest and smiled.

"Hey Kakashi, what brings you here?"

"I've come to ask if the rumors are true?"

"Rumors?"

The young Sharingan user ran a hand through his silver locks and sighed.

"Are you taking on a mission to the Land of Waves?"

I shook my head.

"I don't plan on taking any missions until Naruto is at least six months old."

Kakashi pulled out one of the chairs and sat down.

"Well, who's going to watch him when you're gone?"

Rin raised her hand.

"Present."

I smiled and nodded.

"I wouldn't be able to stand leaving my baby this soon, right Naruto?"

My son looked up at me and smiled a toothless, ramen filled grin. I laughed and kissed his head.

Three more months went by, and as expected, the Third Hokage assigned an ANBU mission to my squad and me.

"You don't have to take it if you think it's too soon."

I shook my head.

"No. It's fine."

"Does Naruto have a godmother, or father."

"My husband told me before he passed that he appointed Kakashi to look after Naruto if anything should happen to us."

"And what of when Naruto is still an infant?"

"Rin will take care of him in the nursery."

The Hokage looked me over and then nodded.

"Very well. You know your mission. Go."

We were supposed to go to the Village hidden in the Sand and help them with a battle between them and the Rock village. I didn't know that it would turn out the way that it did. Uchiha and I got cut off from the rest of the group in the woods. There were too many rock ninja. We had killed twenty of them, but our chakra was drained and there were seven more, with more coming. I saw the shuriken before he did. Uchiha already had two boys and a wife waiting for him to come home. I couldn't let…I couldn't let those boys live my son's life. Not if I could do something to stop it. So I did the only thing I could do. I threw myself on top of him and pushed him to the ground.

"Uzumaki? Uzumaki!"

My breath came a little quicker and from what I could feel, there were three shuriken embedded into my back, and one in my leg. They were in deep. I grunted and grasped the handle of the shuriken in my thigh. My scream seemed louder than it was as I pulled the crimson blade out. I looked into Uchiha's dark eyes and winced when I tried to stand up. Damn those shuriken. But I couldn't let myself go down this easily. I had worked too damn hard to become an ANBU. I was the wife of the Yondaime for God's sake! I was Uzumaki Naruto's mother! If I was going to die, I would die with my head held high, and kicking ass doing it. I would make sure that my son was proud to have the name Uzumaki. So I winced and cried out once more as I pushed myself up to my feet. My eyes caught those of Uchiha's who was also beginning to stand. He stared at me and breathed out one simple question.

"Why?"

"Because…you need to go home and be with your family."

I moved my eyes to the group of Ninja that were coming towards us.

"Now, take the forest out of here, I'll distract these bastards."

"But…"

"Uchiha! Go home, kiss your wife, and play with your sons."

"Uzumaki, I can't leave-"

I grabbed my katana from its sheath on my back and growled out one sentence to him.

"That's an order from your commander. Go!"

He turned, stopped, and then leaped into the trees. I smiled to myself, behind the fox mask, showing no fear to my enemies. Then I ran towards the group, my blade tight in my hands.

Sure, I wasn't showing fear on the outside, but on the inside…as I fought, I knew I wouldn't make it out of this. The only thing I could think was one sentence that he would never hear.

I'm sorry Naruto, I love you.