Who paid Naruto's expenses during his childhood?

Naruto, despite being the son of the Fourth Hokage, became an orphan the moment he was born. His parents sacrificed themselves to protect the village while sealing the Nine-Tailed Beast within him.

As a result, a question that has arisen within the minds of several fans is about the idientity of the person who used to pay for Naruto's expenses when he was a child. This was because the fact that he was the Fourth Hokage's son was kept secret from everyone, except a few people like Kakashi, the Third Hokage, and Jiraya.

So it would make sense for fans to always feel puzzled. As such, the answer to the same has been discussed within this article in great depth.

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The Third Hokage was Naruto's childhood guardian

During his childhood days, Naruto was taken care of by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. He used to pay all of the former's bills and also provided him with a monthly allowance in order to take care of daily proceedings.

However, this caretaking aspect was not simple because, while the Fourth Hokage did ask him to take care of his son, the clause was to keep it as secret as possible.

This is because, since the latter was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, he was already a target for several people outside of the village. However, if they knew he was the son of the Fourth Hokage, Naruto would have a target on his back at all times.

Therefore, he used to live in a small one-room apartment all alone, away from almost everyone. He used to eat ramen all the time, and had minimal rations to carry on his daily life.

Several fans often blame Hiruzen Sarutobi for being a failure. In fact, many feel that he should have been more upfront about Naruto being the Fourth Hokage's son, atleast in front of his own village. This is mainly because his childhood was not very pleasant due to him being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

He was treated like a virus by the entire village, and never had any friends. In fact, no one even saw him as a child, and considered him to be a threat to everyone, including most of his teachers in the academy.

As a result, he always felt lonely, even though he had a very bright personality on the inside. Fortunately, he got to make a few friends in the future and things turned out for good. However, it is safe to say that he had all the ingredients ready if he chose to go down the wrong path.

Even then, it is be correct to say that Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice. These were Shinobi villages, which meant that spies used to lurk everywhere. Therefore, there was no safe or optimal method to reveal Naruto's parents to anyone within the village, without word spreading outside.

Thus, the relationship between The Third Hokage and the son of the Fourth Hokage was bare minimal. It was enough to get Naruto through his childhood until he was out of the academy and was able to earn money by completing missions and assignments.