Chapter 1

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a busy man. Rarely, if ever, did he find anything that could resemble free time. Even in his lightest workload, he was still always doing something, anything, that would protect or in some way help his village. That was the purpose he lived his life for, that was the very reason for his existence. It wasn't all that complex, really, it was what he lived to do, and that was as far as he ever thought of it.

But even he could not deal with the stress of constant work. Not for forty continued years, followed by a brief retirement that was unfortunately cut short by the tragic passing of his successor. Sarutobi Hiruzen was an unlucky man, for amongst the six likely candidates it'd been only he who had made the cut to become Hokage, only he had the strength of will and body to carry the burden of the village on his shoulders, and as such, it'd fallen to him.

Some days he regretted dedicating his life to his work, when he looked at his grandson, grown as he was. Some days, he regretted ever dedicating his life to the protection of the village, when he saw the scum of the earth disguise themselves with the faces of normal, everyday people, and spit on his, and his predecessors's sacrifices, disrespecting them by word and act.

But at other times, he was quite glad that he'd chosen to protect this beautiful land, when he walked by the playgrounds and saw children, old enough to already have killed in his time, playing with toy kunai, their movements clumsy and slow, simple and predictable. They weren't trained. They wouldn't be trained. These children were merely playing and nothing more. At the end of the day, they'd return to their loving, civilian parents, and live their lives without ever worrying about getting the blood of the last man they killed on their pillows.

And there were benefits to being Hokage. He signed his own paycheck, for one, and for another, well, all those years of service had made him accumulate quite a bit of time for holidays. Homura, Koharu and Danzo could carry the village in his stead, all they had to worry about was a week anyway. Plus, he was sure that Koharu and Homura's cooler heads, in particular Homura's, would keep Danzo from overstepping his bounds. Failing that, well, he'd already made it clear that Danzo was merely advisorial, and that he was disposable. The old warhawk was tenacious and determined, but he wasn't stupid enough to provoke Sarutobi out into the open.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's accumulated wealth was vast. His children had quickly started to have an income of their own, so he hadn't had to spend much on them, and he was an austere man by nature, used to simpler pleasures, such as ramen from a stall or cheap tobacco and homegrown weeds. Which was why he could now afford a trip to the most luxurious beach to the east of the Land of Fire in which he brought along his grandchildren.

Ah, yes, grandchildren. Though he only had the one biological grandson, Sarutobi Hiruzen was not only an austere and pragmatic old fucker, he was also a very kind old man who'd grown up an orphan and had done his best to stand by and support the people who suffered like him. Which explained why Konoha had only the one orphanage. Odd for a ninja village, which would have a high rate of parents dying, but when it came down to it, it also had the single best adoption system in the entire continent. Even Danzo agreed it was for the best, orphan children in orphanages ate away at the village's resources and were flat out wasted potential, and keeping potential parents tied in legal bindings was ridiculous when it was so easy to have a Yamanaka screen them and clear them in a short while.

Incidentally, that measure also made him immensely popular with the Yamanaka, since it gave them loads of jobs as psychologists once their expertise with the mind was proven. They hated using their psychological skills for torture… or most did, anyway. There were those who enjoyed being the torturer as much as the nurturer, and, well, there were also sadists.

It was a ninja village, and those were highly appreciated in one of them.

Still, Sarutobi smiled at the thought of his biological grandson and all sixteen of the orphans he'd be bringing to the beach today. It was an all-time low number of orphans in the village, and he felt like celebrating, so he invited the matron and her assistant, as well.

There was only one person he had to ask to accompany him now, and that was why he had taken so long musing in his own world, as he completed the journey to her home. He'd passed by the orphanage, which he imagined had prompted his thoughts on it. Now, however, he stood in front of a relatively quaint, old-school estate. White, two meter tall walls surrounded a two story house painted a blue so light it could be confused with white if one didn't pay attention, with blue tiled roofs. He smiled, the paint was perfectly spaced, and he noted how good the work was. Not bad for a genin team. The large dojo set to the furthest corner to the right reminded him that another D-rank would most likely come soon, as it had a sizable hole on its roof. The garden, however, looked absolutely perfect, and he had to commend the one tending to it for sure.

It had been one of the homes that belonged to his clan, but its owners had long since vacated it and moved into the main Sarutobi Compound, citing reasons of safety to raise their child. Sarutobi had bought it from them and then offered it as a gift to the person he perhaps treasured the most in the village.

A smile drew itself on the wizened Hokage's face as he rang the doorbell, a relatively recent addition to the house, given that the last one had been destroyed. The outer gates still bore the mark from when Sarutobi witnessed a malet tear through them. He shuddered visibly when he remembered how close it'd come to nailing him in the groin. The ringing of the doorbell continued for a few seconds before it ceased.

"Uzumaki residence, how may I help you?" a cold, calm and collected voice spoke. It was a female voice, speaking with authority and dominance. He knew the visage of the one who spoke matched the voice perfectly, as she was a stern and collected woman who might appear to be a cold and rather unapproachable person at first glance.

"I'm here to talk with Naruko-chan," Sarutobi answered, simply. "I believe I sent a courier this morning..?" he trailed off.

"Ah, yes… my apologies, Hokage-dono, I didn't recognize your voice," she said, the surprise minimal but evident to one as experienced as Sarutobi.

"My pipe is in my mouth right now," Sarutobi said, taking his right hand out of his robes's pocket and using it to remove the pipe from his mouth. "That might be it," he added.

"Ah, yes," she said.

Sarutobi didn't blame her. Few knew his voice well enough to pick him across an intercom, much less so when you consider that the left side of his mouth had remained closed to keep his pipe on his lips.

"It is not lit, I assume?" she said.

Sarutobi chuckled. This was one of the reasons he respected this woman very much, and why he even allowed her near his most precious person in the first place. "Of course it isn't," he said, "I am not inconsiderate enough to smoke in another's home without permission."

He knew that wasn't the reason she asked, but so did she, and she knew that he knew. Their conversation didn't really need him to point that out.

"Very well," she said, "you may enter," she added.

The door in front of him gave a mighty creak, and the bars began to slide into the walls around him. The gate itself wasn't a real defense, not when the wall could be jumped so easily, but that wasn't its purpose in the first place. Ninja won't sneak into your house through the front door after all. Sarutobi mused, however, that they served their purpose quite nicely. After all, they were only there to give them a chance to screen friendly visitors.

The walk through the gardens was quite pleasant, and Sarutobi was met halfway by a smiling blonde wearing a long white skirt and a green long sleeved jacket thrown over a darker green shirt. The alabaster path contrasted nicely with the predominantly green yet varied flora that surrounded it. "Good evening, Hokage-dono," she said, giving him a warm smile accompanying her light and similarly warm voice.

"To you, as well," Sarutobi replied. "I do so love visiting you all, and I hope I am not imposing," he said.

"Oh, no, not at all," the blonde said, shaking her head. "Naruko-chan was excited when you said you'd visit," she added.

"I'm sure she'll be really excited when I tell her why I'm visiting," he added, chuckling.

"Oh, I'm sure she will," she replied with a smile, nodding at him, "please, follow me."

Sarutobi nodded, and when she turned around and led the way, he followed after her. He may or may not have managed to sneak a few glances at her pert behind. It was interesting to note that, even with the rather loose fitting skirt the woman wore, it was still quite a nice view.

His eyes never did wander to check the house around him, as he knew it fairly well. He used to come here fairly often, after all. It wasn't long until he was led to the sitting room, where he was seated in front of a table. The blonde had even served him tea while he waited for a minute or two until a much smaller blonde walked into the room. She was slightly pale and somewhat flushed, though the smile on her face told him the flush was probably because of physical exertion. She did so love to run around and play.

"Hello, Naruko-chan," Sarutobi said.

She walked up to him, and he opened his arms, welcoming her welcome hug. "Hiya, old guy," Naruko replied, before separating from him and walking to sit across from him on the table. He absent mindedly noted that she squirmed a bit on her seat.

"You're full of energy, as usual," he said. "You were having fun?"

"Lots!" Naruko replied, grinning widely.

"I figured, you didn't get all the mud off your fingers," Sarutobi noted, causing Naruko to bring her hands up and look at her hands. There was some brown in between her fingers and at the tip of her fingernails, and Sarutobi had easily noticed it. "Were you having a mud war or something?"

"Er—I was totally not playing with mud, honest!" Naruko said, shaking her head.

"It's okay, Naruko, we all enjoy throwing a mud bomb or two at someone every once in a while. Why, I know some people who used to throw poop at each other," he mentioned, though he failed to point out that those people were his summoned monkeys. "Ah, but I digress. I'm sorry that I cannot truly stay for long and chat, Naruko-chan, but I did come here with a purpose today."

"Really?" she asked, pouting. He knew she was upset that he couldn't stay long enough to really entertain her, but he couldn't succumb to her pout now.

"Yes, indeed," he said. "I've come to invite you and your family to go on holiday with me, for all of next week, at a beach a few kilometers east from here."

"Just us, Old Guy?" Naruko asked, frowning with suspicion at her. He couldn't blame her, she knew him.

"No, I'm afraid not. There'll be quite a few others with us…"

Naruko nodded. "Sounds fun," she said. "I'll tell everyone, and we'll pack! When are we leaving?"

"Right now," Sarutobi said. "I sent a messenger ahead so your family could pack, I wanted to spring it on you as a surprise."

Naruko blinked. "Hey! That's mean!" she yelled, puffing her cheeks.

Sarutobi laughed. That face was exactly why he'd done it that way.