Disclaimer: I do not own anything or any characters involved with the Naruto/Naruto Shippuden Series

Of All the Diamonds in the Rough

The Prologue

"Hokage-sama, I don't think you understand what you're asking of me."

"But I do."

The Third Hokage stood at his office window as he stared out at the village, the moon sitting contently in the dark night sky, a shadow looming behind him in the darkness. He kept his hands neatly locked behind his back as he gazed up at the stars, the breeze gently blowing and whispering in his ear. Its voice was quiet and soft, reminding him of the touch of his wife; the thought of her always made him smile.

"Please. You need to reconsider."

"I've already made up my mind." Turning around, Hiruzen stared into the darkness, a lean figure hiding in its abyss. "You are the only one left that we know of. He needs you now more than ever if he is to stay on the right path of life."

"…How could I possibly steer him in the right direction when I don't even know which direction that is anymore?" The Hokage smiled as he chuckled quietly, catching his guest off guard.

"You know, my dear. You've always known." And without another word, Hiruzen walked past the figure, stopping as their shoulders brushed.

"…We mustn't let Minato and Kushina's sacrifice be in vain." The Hokage could feel his companion stiffen beside him. "For their sake, you must do as I ask and take care of the young boy."

"…Yes, sir."

So! I've been wanting to try my hand with this story idea for a while, even before I started writing (I have just recently posted my first story up for the public, and not my school professor to read) and now that I'm actually writing and posting, I figured why not. I was a rather devoted fan to Naruto when it first came out. I will admit, after all the focal points of the series were aired, I fell out of it. Then when Shippuden began, I watched and read the series. The Naruto series is actually one of the only animes I like, the others being Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho and Dragon Ball Z (because those were truly just classics). I stopped watching Shippuden, just due to how long it was lasting, but when I heard that the series had ended, I ended up picking up where I had left off in the manga and read until the end. It's actually sort of sad that it's all over now (which is ironic because I used to always complain about how the series was just too long for its own good XD). In honor of the end, I decided to write this story and post it up, just to see how it goes! I'm not sure how many people are actually going to read this, but to those of you who do, I know this is short, but it's just a prologue. I have a nice outline for how this story is going to go, and hopefully you'll stick around to see where it leads!

This is not going to be just a love story. This is going to be a story about loss and tragedy and it's going to be a story about what happens after losing the things most precious to you, and about learning to overcome the darkness in your life, which, all who watched and loved Naruto know that is just a common theme in the show! Yes, there is still definitely going to be romance, but there's going to be angsty moments and some funny moments...this will have a lot! The reason I'm explaining this all now is because, yes, this is a short chapter, so I feel whoever is reading this deserves at least a run-down as to how this story may go! Yes, it's eventually going to be a KakashiXOC story because he truly is one of the best characters in the series! And there can never be too many stories about him, OC or not!

Also, just to let you readers know, this story is going to be rated T, but there will be chapters that are rated M. I will have a disclaimer at the top of the chapters that will need rating changes. For now, it won't be an issue!

So, anyways, if you are interested, please stick around and I can only hope you'll enjoy! If not, thanks for reading anyways! Sorry I rambled on so long!