There were stars in the night sky and moonlight shining through the windows of the Hokage's office. Sarutobi Hiruzen was finishing up for the night. He was never in any hurry to go home, where he was alone, where his wife no longer lived. She died at the hands of whoever released the Kyuubi. Throughout it all, Hiruzen refused to accept anyone's opinion that he was biased against Naruto. He remembered his previous teammates, Koharu and Himura, trying to have Naruto locked up, using the death of his wife as a bargaining chip. They wanted him chakra blocked and contained from a young age, something that Danzo fully agreed with and Hiruzen wouldn't hear of.

Instead, he allowed Naruto to run free, to live on his own, with as little interference as possible. Maybe he gave the boy too much freedom, but that wasn't a bad thing. The boy turned out fine, if not a little loud.