Chapter 2: Future Planning

It was the morning, as the Hokage sat once more beside the child, ever since he woke up that night, Naruto stayed asleep unmoving, without the constant breathing Hiruzen would have thought that Naruto was dead, but as morning came so was his responsibilities.

"Anbu"

A group of anbu appeared in front of him once more, kneeling awaiting any orders the Hokage may give.

"You will look after Naruto, anyone that comes in and comes out must be inspected heavily, make sure even the nurses do not bring anything that may harm the child, is that understood?"

""""Yes""""

With a nod, Hiruzen left the hospital making haste towards his office, thinking of multiple ways to help the Boyz while still maintaining the position while also looking for a successor.

Upon arriving he sat down, as he was about to take out his pipe to smoke, the door was knocked.

"Come in"

It turned out to be only his secretary carrying multiple scrolls for Hiruzen to sign, and this made him sigh in defeat, as for how strong he became the paperwork seems unending.

'I need to know how Minato was able to fix this problem'

He took away his pipe, he was needed to be Hokage afterall, but this didn't stop him from taking a small smoke to start the day.

Upon finishing the last scrolls Hiruzen was surprised that it was already noon, upon forgetting to eat lunch he attempted to get up and try getting something to eat only to be surprised by a familiar face by the window.

"Jiraiya? How long has it been?"

The man now named Jiraiya smiled widely at the old man, as he came closer.

"How are you holding up Sarutobi-sensei? Hopefully the old back still fine"

As happy as he was to see one of his students, Hiruzen was reminded of Naruto.

"I'm doing well, but not so well for Naruto"

This took away the smile on Jiraiya's face as it turned serious.

"What happened to him?"

"*Sigh* it's a long story, come sit down"

As Hiruzen started to explain to Jiraiya what happened last night, the serious look on Jiraiya's face turned red of anger.

"Where are they now?!"

"Let me finish Jiraiya, I was as angry as you are now, but unfortunately the man in question is already dead"

"That's unfortunate, I would have loved to talk to him"

Silence descended upon the two as neither knew how to continue the conversation, but Hiruzen was determined to try something.

"Jiraiya could you–"

"Sensei if this is still about the position of Hokage, you know I'm not a fit role for that, and who's gonna take care of the spy network? You know I can't stay for very long in the village"

"It wasn't about the position"

"Huh? Then what for?"

"It's for Tsunade, I need you to locate her as soon as possible, Naruto is old enough to join the ninja academy, I was thinking of the Shinobi training center, but I don't think the civilians would take too kindly to his presence there, so I thought of paying the tuition for the Ninja Academy"

"That's a good idea sensei, and getting Tsunade would take a while, you know this right? And besides that I don't even know if I can convince her to come back"

"No Jiraiya I NEED you to bring her back, her presence is essential for the village more than ever, I can't let the morale of the village plummet due to Orochimaru's defection, and I can't always rely on you, so I need her to be here to atleast help the hospital, or provide me with second opinion outside of the elders"

Sighing Jiraiya scratch the back of his head, finding Tsunade was already a challenge of itself, but convincing her to even step foot in konoha

would take a miracle, and that was something that Jiraiya was all out of.

"I'll try sensei, I'll try"

"Thanks Jiraiya this means a lot to me than you think, by the way while your here help me plan things for Naruto"

"Plan how sensei?"

"I already told you that I'll be putting him in the ninja academy along with all the heirs of each major clans of Konoha, I don't plan to intervene for the first year or so to allow Naruto to build character of sorts"

"Build character? I feel like your just leaving him to his own devices again sensei, this has got to stop"

"No I know that it seems bad for now, but I need Naruto to grow slowly, atleast as slow as I can make it at this point, the child has already suffered enough, and I think a moment of rest won't harm him and would be beneficial for his psyche, I want him to slowly take in what happened, the trauma won't go away but mentally recovering would be better than only physically recovering"

"Then won't a yamanaka be good for that?"

"That's it, there's Inoichi's daughter that's gonna attend, I kinda wanted her to keep an eye for him"

Jiraiya took a pondering look, this was his only godson, how can he let him suffer so much without any recompanse.

"Fine we'll do that, but protecting him would also have to come first before any of this, can you spare a few anbu?"

"Unfortunately no, I can probably spare 1 but not a full squad"

"That's gonna be a problem sensei, but no worries, I should have some ninjas that's trained well enough and would just need to be integrated to the village properly"

This news has gotten a surprised look from Hiruzen.

"Ninjas? You? This is news to me, how come I haven't heard of this ninjas your training"

"I didn't train them perse but their wandering ninjas that helped me multiple time, most of them want to find a place to stay but they would need money for it, so I normally provide majority of it if the need ever arise a favor is needed to be cashed in"

"I see, so you will send this ninjas here? To guard Naruto?"

"Not only guard sensei but to help him aswell, I need to make sure that my godson can grow up healthy, money isn't a problem for me, and I won't be sending much, I don't train and the ones I will send are trained"

"I see"

"Is that it sensei? If so can I go"

"No, I need to talk to you more about this, planning for the future is tricky if not explored enough"

"I know"

"Can you provide names of who's gonna guard young Naruto?"

A shake from Jiraiya is all the answer Hiruzen needed, the old man could only sigh in defeat, even if he trusted Jiraiya it is extremely difficult to trust just anyone, the worst part is that this is a ninja village one of the strongest if not the strongest, and by sending random ninjas here would send a problematic message to other villages.

"I can probably allow some of them, but I will also need to send some of our own, if that's alright with you"

"Of course sensei, you need to provide input aswell, I do have a suggestion on who to send as his body guard if ever that comes into fruition"

"And what would that be Jiraiya?"

"Make it all female and make the contact as least as possible until needed"

This has gotten a raised eyebrow from the Hokage, as he smoked his pipe.

"I understand the second part but why the first?"

"Women tend to be more caring and considerate, while if we were to send a man as a bodyguard then that's it, he will stop at being a bodyguard, and I don't want to allow my godson to be treated as a mission than a person"

"I see, that's a valid point, but there's only a few kunoichi in the village that remain, atleast that still take on missions"

"Two is enough sensei, I'll be sending a few more when I get the chance, but expect a minimum of 4 to come in your doorstep when you give the word"

"I'm giving the word now, when can I expect them?"

"By the end of the month at most"

With that both parties split way as the Hokage gone to get a bite to eat, while Jiraiya went to the hospital to see the condition of his godson.

As he arrived he was inspected by the anbu, while irritating it was one of the few things that made him happy, it meant that his godson was safe for all that comes in.

Looking at his condition, Jiraiya naturally grew angry once more but he couldn't do anything, he was gone, away again as the child that he promised to protect is lying here in a coma, guilt and shame started to flood Jiraiya as he sat down beside him.

"No one knows this but I'm your godfather, the names Jiraiya of the sannin, hopefully this won't happen again, I have so much I can teach you, so many stories I can tell about your father and mother, I just can't stay for now, but someday I'm gonna be here but for now please accept the ones I'll send in my stead, and hopefully they are enough to protect you"

Holing the bandaged arm Jiraiya started to cry, feeling the helplessness couldn't have come sooner.

'I am so sorry Minato, how could I allow this to happen when you made me the godfather of your son, how could I let this happen to my godson, I maybe unable to help me him personally, but I'll goddamn make sure that he is safe and healthy'

With that the feeling of determination started to overpower the feeling of shame he felt earlier, while the helplessness is still there, that doesn't mean it can't be remidied, Jiraiya stood up as he took a pen and a scroll writing something down.

With the Hokage after getting a bite to eat, he came back to the office, feeling a lot better at the fact that Naruto won't be as either alone or as vulnerable as before, he would be taken care of making sure that he's safe at all times, this gave him some space to breath, and with Jiraiya trying to bring Tsunade here has brought upon even greater relief than before.

'The planning isn't over yet, with Tsunade still gone I'm gonna need to set aside funds for the hospitals of Konoha, I will also need to set aside funds for the developments of curriculum of the subjects in schools; it's too old fashioned now, the council may not support me at this, I need to make sure that Naruto lives comfortably; Minato's house should be a good place to stay, with all the seals he can learn, teachers can be remedied as to who is guarding him, development of Konoha is also needed to be taken into consideration, I need to try and get on with the experiments, but I need to make sure Danzo doesn't find out, I can probably use the basement of Minato's house to make it as private as possible, but that would mean I need to make sure that the guards are trust worthy and can keep their mouths shut, ah I can't forget to recover shodais cells and the weird vials of blood, it seems like I'll really need it, if it can help with Konoha I would need to slow the progress if I want to keep it safe; if it can be safe'

Thinking about solutions and thinking about problems have given the Hokage a headache, but this didn't stop him from thinking of ways not only to retire but also to strengthen Konoha itselft, he knew that his time would come to an end soon, so he needed to plan as soon as possible to make sure that the future generation can continue the work he couldn't finish.

'I think I should tell Naruto about his lineage? No that can wait until a year or two, I will need to make sure that Naruto is mentally fine, with the kyuubi in him the physical recovery is all but guaranteed, but the things his mind had gone through is not easy, his mentality would be in shambles for a while and allowing him to take a break wouldn't hurt anyone, hopefully I can convince Tsunade to take the sit before then so I can focus more on Naruto's development, I also can't forget about Konohamaru haaaa I'm too old for this job'