"I'll take him"

The baby in his arms dozed quietly, a stark contrast from the wailing, screaming mess it had been just moments before.

The old man looked up briefly, sparing the teenager only a brief glance before returning his attention to the blonde, whiskered bundle he was cradling.

"Hokage-sama, I said.."

"He has Minato's eyes, but he takes more after his mother." The soft voice, full of regret and the weight of more years than the teen had drawn breath cut him off. Kakashi stiffened, grief wringing in his chest.

Hiruzen again looked up, catching only a glimpse of the gaping, terrible pain in the Hatake scion's eyes.

Outside, beyond the Hokage's Tower the last of the fires were being extinguished by what few able bodied Shinobi left. The sky still glowed as if alight, reflecting the devastation that had ruined half his village.

His Village.. Once more he bore the weight of that damned hat, and once more the Kami no Shinobi shouldered the burden of leading his Village.

"Jiraiya is on his way. He will want the boy, you know that."

Kakashi straightened at the steel in his Kage's voice, discipline instilled by a lifetime of training and war reasserting itself instantly.

"Naruto.." his voice, however, still failed him, wavering at the mention of his Sensei's son's name.

"Jiraiya-sama would not make the best role model, or parent for Naruto. His lifestyle is too nomadic, too erratic, for the boy to ever grow as he should."

"He will be safe with Jiraiya. There is no doubt that that old schemer in his caves will have his eye on Naruto-chan. Minato was the only man he hated more than me." Again Hiruzen's voice betrayed his weariness.

Kakashi was undeterred.

"Jiraiya-sama may be the best suited to protecting him, but traveling with the child will hinder his work. His need to maintain the network will leave Naruto exposed. Naruto-chan is safest here, in the village. Iwagakure can try, but short of the Tsuchikage himself, no one will be getting near the boy. Not with me raising him."

The fierce possessiveness that had crept into the silver haired ANBU's voice had not gone unnoticed by Hiruzen.

"I did not expect this from you, Kakashi-kun. You understand what you are asking for?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I will raise him as my own."

Hiruzen gently rocked the sleeping babe, humming an old Konohan lullaby that his wife had once sung to his sons. His mind, however, was burning through a hundred different scenarios at a time. Nobody would accuse The Professor of going senile in his old age.

"He will take your name. Hatake Naruto. You will need to step down from ANBU. I will not have you raising a child while murdering others in their sleep. A profile of his mother will need to be crafted and planted.. I will need you to take a trip through Fire Country, perhaps a stop in Grass or Tea. A year should be long enough that people do not question your return bearing a son."

Hiruzen was planning, like he had planned so many countless missions before, like he had planned for the two and a half Shinobi World Wars. The orders and instructions rolled off his tongue as if he had rehearsed the briefing a dozen times.

"I will grant you compassionate leave, citing your grief over the death of your Sensei and his wife. Nobody will question you seeking comfort in the arms of a woman. We can do nothing for Naruto's appearance, however it shall be some time for people begin to truly suspect anything. Time enough for him to unquestionably establish himself as your son."

The orders were burnt into Kakashi's mind as easily as calligraphy onto a scroll. His brain raced, operational planning sharpened by a perfect mission record easily crafting his Kage's instructions into a plan of action. A single glance at the content bundle of warmth, sleeping peacefully and sucking its thumb shattered his train of thought, throwing his mind an eternity back to that conversation.

"Kakashi! You need to get out of here, damn it!"

"Sensei! I left Rin behind, I lost Obito, I sure as hell am not losing you!" Horrendous chakra saturated the air, its very touch bringing an inescapable feeling of hopelessness and despair. Kakashi was struggling to even stay conscious, and all that kept him sane was his Sensei's Haori flapping defiantly in the chakra-wind, tri-pronged Kunai in one hand, son in the other.

Death, all was death and ruin. Fire rained even as the Kyuubi no Youko, harbinger of destruction that it was, roared its earth-shattering rage. Chakra potent enough to burn through concrete exploded from the tips of its nine gargantuan tails, leaving another swathe of annihilation in its wake.

"I'm sorry, my little scarecrow. Where I'm going you.. you can't follow. I'll take the Kyuubi away from here, away from Konoha, and then I'll end this." Namikaze Minato never wavered, the strength of his conviction cutting through even the madness of the malevolent demon-chakra.

"I'm proud of you, Kakashi. Your father would be proud of you too."

Something broke within Kakashi. The teenager who had written his reputation in the blood of so many Shinobi, who had never flinched at death or worse, found himself wrestling with a pain he had not felt since his father had abandoned him.

"Please.. don't go." It was a whispered plea, but it held Kakashi's very soul.

A flash of yellow, and then he was there, hand ruffling his hair in that familiar motion that had always annoyed him but now brought unbidden tears to his eyes.

"Kakashi. Don't mourn my death. I'm going to die a hero, just like I always wanted, I suppose. You, on the other hand, must live. Naruto-chan is going to need someone to raise him." Those bright, still mirthful cerulean eyes met his own obsidian, tear filled one.

"Promise me, little scarecrow. Promise me you'll take care of my son."

"Hai, Sensei." was all Kakashi could choke out.

Another flash of yellow, and the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō, Yondaime Hokage, and greatest Shinobi of his generation was gone.

"Kakashi-kun?"

Hiruzen's voice dragged him out of his waking nightmare. It clicked for Kakashi then, that nothing else mattered but for the last living legacy of his Sensei.

"I am still curious as to just what exactly has brought this about. I would have never guessed that Sharingan no Kakashi would volunteer to raise a child." Hiruzen's unspoken concern, hidden behind a jest was painfully obvious for the perceptive, now former-ANBU Captain.

And who wouldn't be concerned? For all of Kakashi's strengths, parental affection was not the first thing that came to mind. People would think more of untraceable assassinations, clandestine kidnappings, or devastating smash and grab black-ops.

Hatake Kakashi, ANBU Detachment Alpha Operative Inu, youngest Jōnin in living memory, could think of a dozen ways to kill a man with a bottle of milk, but feeding a child? Changing diapers? He could teach the boy to track, to hide, to fight, but to read? To write? To love?

"Promise me, little scarecrow.."

Kakashi met his Kage's searching gaze with renewed resolve. He would not shy away from this task, difficult though it would be. This was a mission he could not, would not fail. He had never failed before.

"I have a promise to keep."

Hiruzen leaned back into his chair, chewing thoughtfully on the pipe in his mouth. The aroma of burnt tobacco wafted around, comforting the Sandaime Hokage. Before him, a dozen different documents were arrayed, a comprehensive paper trail of his plot to erase Namikaze Naruto, and to give Hatake Kakashi's deception life.

The records in Konaha Hospital had already been carefully edited by Kakashi himself, giving evidence that Namikaze Naruto had been stillborn, killed by the Kyuubi even as it escaped Kushina's seal.

One of Kakashi's own ANBU teammates, a Kunoichi sworn to secrecy had already left the village, heading for a small village on the border of Fire Country and Grass Country to begin masquerading as the woman who would be Hatake Naruto's mother. A skilled genjutsu user, it would not be difficult for her to convince the villagers that she had been living amongst them since she had been born.

His attention turned to other reports, of border tension on the Earth-Waterfall border, and of Kumo shinobi poking about the north-eastern border. Blood was in the water, and Konoha's traditional rivals were circling. No Village had come through the death of a sitting Kage unscathed, and with the fragile peace following the Third War predicated almost solely on Minato's terrifying reputation…

"You're getting old, Sensei."

"Jiraiya-kun. I thank you, for the reminder."

The massive Toad Sannin leapt down effortlessly from his perch on the window sill, carrying his impressive frame with all the confidence of a man who had nothing to prove and no one to fear. He snorted, amusement at his aging Sensei's mannerisms almost bringing a smile to his grizzled face, before sorrow pushed it away.

"Where's the kid?"

"Which one?"

"My Godson."

Hiruzen allowed the shadow of his hat to cover his wrinkled visage.

"Kakashi-kun has him. He leaves the village tonight. When he returns, he will be Hatake Naruto, son of the Copy-Nin."

"I see." Jiraiya's curt reply caught Hiruzen off guard. He had been expecting petulance, even anger, but not this stoicism.

"You have nothing to say?"

"Kakashi's a good kid. He'll take good care of the brat. I'll just swoop in when he's old enough and teach him to be just as badass as his old man's Sensei."

Hiruzen laughed, for the first time since the Kyuubi had attacked, and his laughter brought a smile to his old student's face. Jiraiya moved, covering the distance between them and reaching over the desk, grabbing a bottle of Sake and two saucers.

"To Minato, and to Konoha." He started, even as he poured the Mount Myōboku fire-sake that was his Sensei's, and Student's favorite.

"To Minato, and to Konoha." Hiruzen echoed, mirth, mixed with sadness still in his eyes.

"Damn that boy, he was meant to be the best of us. I was so sure.."

"Naruto will be great. Greater than his father. Uzūmaki heritage, his father's talent, the Kyūbi in his gut, and raised by the legendary Copy-Nin Kakashi? He'll wear this hat one day, mark my words, Jiraiya-kun."

Jiraiya drained his sake in one go, not even flinching at the burn that could incapacitate lesser men, before grinning.

"As long as he summons toads, and not dogs, he'll make a damned fine Hokage!"

Hiruzen nodded, amusement once again flickering over his features. He drank with Jiraiya until late that night, regrets of what could have been and sorrow at what was lost giving them reason to indulge in drink and laughter. The next day he would wake, feeling every one of his sixty years, but refreshed with the knowledge that despite all that was lost, the Will of Fire would endure.