It was a desperate situation.

Everyone was betting on him to save the day.

Everyone's hopes were resting on him.

And they were right in their trust in him; he had come up with a solution. He was, however, hesitant to use the method he invented and tried in vain to find a different way to preserve his hometown, Konoha.

Looking at the small infant with a patch of black hair resting in a crib right beside him, his determination to find a way out of the Kyuubi attack without condemning him to a life burdened by prejudice, flared.

Standing atop his trusty summon, the mighty toad chief, Gamabunta, Namikaze Minato couldn't help but shiver as he felt the hand of the shinigami grip his soul.

"I am sorry, Naruto," he quietly whispered more to himself than to the blond infant in his arms who, right as he looked down, opened his blue eyes a little to return the stare.

"I'm so sorry.. I can only hope your new looks will help alleviate the prejudice against you a little.. if everything works out like I think it will, they will wonder if, perhaps, you are my son. That will protect you, little one. I hope your real parents can forgive me, wherever they are.. Live a good live, Naruto..."

Those were the last words of the Yondaime Hokage to the small infant he took from Konoha hospital not eight hours ago.

Days before, the small infant had been found at the front doors of the hospital, a letter at his feet proclaiming him as 'Naruto' and stating that his parents were unable to provide for him.

No parents, no heritage, Naruto was the 'ideal' choice to carry the burden of the Kyuubi; more so as the infant ward had been hit by the Kyuubi and a few children had died. It was easy for the Hokage to manipulate everyone to think that Naruto was among the causalities.

Had Minato had a child, himself, he would have chosen it. Sadly, he was infertile due to a poison attack in the last shinobi war.

The best he was able to come up with to help Naruto – given the time and the fact that every second the Kyuubi was not sealed, people died – was to tweak the seal he had designed a little bit.

A new feature was added to the seal. Using his own blood, Minato was able to create a seal matrix that would change Naruto's outward appearances to mirror Minato's own. It would adept to Naruto's age as time went by, meaning that for all instances and purposes, Naruto would become a clone of Minato himself – at least as far as appearance was concerned. No one was as of yet able to actually clone someone, not even the one person heralded as the greatest prodigy in the field of sealing.

Minato had hastily written a letter explaining everything to Naruto, before sealing it with Naruto's blood and handing it over to his predecessor, Hiruzen Sarutobi, leaving him with orders to turn it over to Naruto once he made genin.

Thus began the life of the foundling 'Uzumaki' Naruto. Everyone who saw him would wonder if, perhaps, he was the secret son of the Yondaime, their hero. There were after all no records of him until the day of the Kyuubi attack, when Minato had produced him from somewhere to seal the beast into him...

And no one knew of the abilities that really slumbered in his blood...

AN: there you go.. a way for you to explain Naruto's appearance without accepting Minato as his father. Though, perhaps, Jiraiya would still train Naruto, as he doesn't know for sure.. and perhaps Minato even left everything he owned to Naruto as he didn't have family himself.. well.. enjoy! ^^