It was a long and very Dark night for the Village Hidden in the Leaves. They had just lost their Greatest Hero in a battle that would shake the very foundations of the village for ages to come.

A squad of four men raced to the scene where the Tailed Beast was last seen, fear and worry making their hearts race faster than ever before.

No battle they had ever witnessed before was as devastating as this. With one roar the Nine Tailed Fox blew away buildings and killed many innocents without so much as a second glance. These men watched as it trampled over brave men and women who attempted to slow it's progress to the center of the Village. They watched as one man stood in the face of death with a determined look and led the beast to a secluded section of the forest that surrounded the home he swore to protect.

He fought the beast to the death and won.

However he and his wife left behind their only child in the process.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked on in sadness at the sight before him. Minato Namikaze, dead, holding his wife in his arms. Her right hand laid limp against her child's cheek as the blood from their wounds spilled onto the ground. Hiruzen could tell she was happy to have given birth to the child as, even in death, she was smiling at him.

A heavy weight crashed on his shoulders as he thought of the future. The boy would one day ask who his Parents were. If that day came Hiruzen hoped he would be prepared. The enemies his parents made would surely come for him when they found out.

"Weasel, Bear, gather their bodies. We can't leave them here."

"Lord Third," An ANBU member with gravity defying Grey-Silver hair stepped forward.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed a heavy sigh. He knew Kakashi wasn't going to handle this well. The trembling in his voice said as much. Even when wearing a mask he couldn't hide his true self. It almost made him hug the boy. But alas he couldn't do so.

"Speak." He said in a quiet tone.

"What are we to do of the child?"

The Third Hokage rubbed his temples as he tried to gather his thoughts and emotions.

"Place him in the Orphanage. While he is there we will seek out a suitable family for him to live with until he is ready to live on his own or become a Ninja."

"Hai." The unnamed ANBU Agent picked up the sleeping child and disappeared into the night.

Hiruzen stood there alone and looked to the sky. Life sometimes was unfair. Too unfair.

He fell to his knees and picked up a lone bloodied kunai. It was Minato's signature tri-pronged kunai. His vision became blurry and his arms weak.

No one would be able to stand stone faced at the sounds of the Third Hokage weeping at the loss of his successor.

"Sensei," A sniffle sounded from the silver haired ANBU member. "I never did tell you, but I looked up to you as I would my own Father."

He looked into the fire he set in his fireplace and sobbed.

He threw a bouquet of lavenders and roses into the small fireplace.

"I should have been there! I should have been protecting you both." He sobbed again and took off his mask.

"I should have been there for Rin. I should have taken Obito's place." His lone Sharingan Eye lit ablaze in the night as he threw the mask into the fire.

"I promised you I would take care of Naruto but i..." He sobbed again as he thought of the blond ball of Sunshine. "I can't bare to lose you too."

He grabbed his Kunai and plunged it into his gut as blood flowed from his eyes.

(-)

Anko Mitarashi was considered and viewed many things by the people of the Hidden Leaf. However no one dared say she abandoned her friends. So when she knocked on Kakashi Hatake's door and got no snarky answer in return she knew something was wrong.

"Kakashi?" She said cautiously. She broke the lock as silence was still her only answer.

She smelled burning lavenders and sighed. It was Minato's favorite flowers.

"I know how you feel Ka-" Her breath caught in her her throat at the sight before her.

A weeping Kakashi with a kunai embedded in his gut.

"KAKASHI!" She screamed in horror.

No no no no no! She rushed at him and began applying what little medical jutsu she knew over the wound before removing the Kunai and rushing out of the house with him in her arms.

He coughed as she kept the wound closed and his blood flowing to his heart. She wiped his tears away and carried him to the hospital, quietly singing to him all the way there.

"Everything will be ok Kakashi. Please don't leave me."