Disclaimer: Don't own it. There will be no talk of legal action.

Five reasons why Naruto will never be like the Fourth Hokage

1.

For twelve years the Fourth was the third greatest man in Naruto's mind, right after the Sandaime Hokage and the Ramen stand owner. That all changed the night Mizuki-sensei revealed the truth about the demon fox and it's sealing.

2.

Kazama Kira is sixty-three years old and lives two days walk from Konoha. She is the mother of the Fourth Hokage and the last person to bear the Kazama name. What few know is two days after the Fourth's death she asked to hold her son's legacy. It was only the quick actions of the Sandaime's personal ANBU that prevented her assassination attempt on the infant Naruto.

3.

Naruto will be seventeen and a chuunin when Iwa launches a surprise raid on Konoha. When the attack starts Naruto will be standing near Fuji Dai, a local merchant who nearly killed a six-year old Naruto in a drunken haze.

Naruto will make sure to catch Fuji's eyes right before an Iwa-nin kills him. The Iwa-nin will die a second later. Three weeks later Fuji's widow will come across a picture of her husband as a child, grinning widely next to a blond-haired boy. She will think nothing of it.

4.

When the new Rokudaime is being considered, Naruto will lay a hand over his wife's round belly and make a choice.

5.

Jiraya will be nursing an ugly bruise courtesy of Tsunade-hime's disdain over his 'research' in the presence of eight-year old Uzumaki Aya. It will only be then in the peaceful home of his one-time apprentice that he will realize it takes a great man to die for his cause. It takes an even greater man to live for his.

Naruto could have told him that at twelve.

Fin