Worthy or Not

by Maddy-Lynn

Many people were against Tsunade's decision to make Sakura her successor. But since Sakura had always been by her side, Tsunade felt that no shinobi was more worthy to take her place. It won't be easy, especially with so many things fighting against her.

One shot fic about Sakura trying to become the next Hokage. Hope you enjoy it =)

---

— Worthy or Not —

Hold your head high gorgeous, they would kill to see you fall

—*—

It was a typical spring day in Konoha. The sun was shining brightly in a near-cloudless sky; cherry trees were in bloom and petals danced throughout the air; birds sang cheerfully among their boughs; children ran around and laughed; and like any other day, Sakura was stuck inside on this beautiful day helping Tsunade in her office.

"Sakura, I'm thinking about making you the next Hokage."

This had also become a normal thing these days. Majority of the time Tsunade would be drunk when she told her this but to Sakura's knowledge she was sober. Still, it was not out of the ordinary for her to make that statement. So as always, Sakura shrugged it off and continued copying down mission reports for the record.

"Sakura!"

She stopped typing mid-word and looked up at her. "Yes, shishou?" she asked patiently.

"I want you to be the next Hokage."

"Yes, you've stated that many times now."

"I'm serious."

Sakura let out a silent sigh and rested her hands on her desk. "No offence, but most of the time when you tell me that, you're drunk."

"Just because I'm drunk doesn't mean I am not serious."

"True, but it makes others less likely to take you seriously."

Tsunade squinted her eyes at the girl. "You know, you're really starting to get a smart tongue."

"One of the many things I've learned from you," she smiled, spinning her remark into a compliment. In the months that she had been working in the office with Tsunade, she learned that she had to talk with an edge of sarcasm most of the time—especially when she was drunk. Any time Sakura had apologized for talking bluntly she just ended up with more work to do and harder training sessions. Thus, she learned the best way to keep her sanity was to challenge Tsunade in little ways, often in conversation.

Tsunade nodded and leaned back in her chair. Sakura waited for a minute to see if the discussion would continue. When it seemed like it wouldn't, she went back to typing and once again the room filled with the soft clicking of the typewriter. For the rest of the morning Tsunade said nothing more of the idea.

When Sakura went down to the café across from the Hokage Tower for lunch, she ran into Kakashi. It happened often enough that it went unspoken they would eat together again and catch up. Since Sakura had been under Tsunade's training and Kakashi was assigned to a new team, she didn't see much of the man making things to talk about rarely in short supply.

"She told me again today that she's going to make me Hokage," Sakura said before she took a bite out of her sandwich. "Do you really think she would ever make me Hokage? I mean, why me? Naruto wants to be the Hokage more than me. Why not pick him?"

"I don't think anyone will ever understand Tsunade's logic half of the time."

She frowned at him and swallowed the bit of sandwich she had been chewing. "You make it sound like it's such a terrible and crazy idea for her to pick me," she teased.

He chuckled. "That's not exactly what I meant, but you cannot deny it is a fairly crazy idea."

Sakura shrugged and continued eating. Kakashi watched her and as he did, she started to get a bit antsy by his unwavering gaze. "What?" she muttered with a mouthful of half-chewed food.

"Would you ever accept the offer of becoming Hokage?" he asked.

Sakura nearly choked on her food. "Are you serious?"

"Of course not," he said flatly with sarcasm dripping on the end and gleaming in his eyes. "Why would I ever think you would actually accept the offer of becoming the Hokage?"

She set her sandwich down and stared at it while she thought it over. Honestly she had never thought about it because she never thought Tsunade would ever be serious about the idea. "I don't know… do you really think I could?"

"From what you've told me, you do much of the Hokage's work already. And who better to succeed Tsunade than her own apprentice?"

"I guess…" she mused.

On her way back from lunch, Sakura passed Shizune in the hall. "Hey Shizune, can I talk to you real quick?"

"Sure, what is it Sakura?"

"Is Tsunade really considering me to take her place?"

Shizune was taken back by her question. "I didn't know that she told you already."

Sakura nodded. "Multiple times now. Most of the time she was drunk so I never took her seriously."

"Well," Shizune started. She shifted the box she was carrying to her hip. "As far as I know, she's serious about you succeeding her. Just talk to her about it." It was clear that Shizune was in a bit of a hurry and wasn't in the mood to divulge much.

"Okay, thanks Shizune," Sakura said and continued on her own way back to Tsunade's office. She hesitated outside the door, thinking of how she planned on asking Tsunade about her retirement. She wasn't even sure she should ask her right now. She took a sharp, confident breath and entered.

The room was empty.

Tsunade was not sitting at her desk or standing by the window like she normally would. Sakura peeked out the window to see if she might have gone out onto the roof. Nope. It was odd to find her nowhere in her office at this time of day. Maybe she left her a note saying where she went. Sakura glanced over Tsunade's desk but found no such note. Then she checked her own desk only to have the same result.

Slightly frustrated, Sakura sighed and sat on the edge of her desk as she glanced around the room. On the back of the door, she noticed a small piece of paper taped on it. Out of all of the places Tsunade could leave a note, why there? She got up and went to read the note.

Up top.

If anyone asks, I'm at the hospital researching today.

She ripped the note off the door and threw it into the trash before going up to the roof. She could see why Tsunade went up there; it was a beautiful day and the breeze was nice on the top of the Hokage Tower. Out there, she found Tsunade lounging under the shade of the tree. If this was what the Hokage got to do then maybe Sakura wouldn't mind surpassing her.

"Come to join me?" Tsunade sighed contently.

Sakura sat down next to her. For a moment, they sat there in silence as Sakura tried to figure out the words to say. She knew what she wanted to ask but the words refused to put themselves in order and leave her lips.

"You want to talk to me about becoming Hokage, don't you?"

"H-how did you know?" she asked surprisingly. She hadn't expected Tsunade to read her thoughts like that. Then again, maybe it was more obvious that she had thought.

"Why don't you think you can handle it?" Tsunade sat up and looked at her. She was completely serious about this.

"I don't know," she said and looked up at the clouds. "I guess it's just that I have never thought about it before. I'm surprised that you would even consider choosing me."

"Why do you think I started training you in the office? While I was training you to become a better kunoichi, I saw your strong determination. When I was training you in the hospital, I saw how well you got along with others. Both these traits are highly important to becoming Hokage."

That made sense. Still, Sakura had a hard time wrapping her mind around the thought. "Why not pick Naruto, though?"

"I'm sure Naruto will become a great Hokage in time," she said. She stood up and walked over to the edge to overlook the village. "For now though, I think you're more ready."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked and joined her.

"Naruto has much to learn still. For now, it's better that he stay a shinobi."

"Don't you think he'll get upset if you make me the Hokage before him?"

Tsunade smiled. "Yeah, he probably will complain for awhile. But I think it will help him mature faster so that he could possibly be the one to accede you."

"That is if I don't kill him because of all his complaining first," I laughed.

"So I'm guessing you're accepting my offer."

"I guess I am."

"You know," Tsunade started. She turned around and leaned back against the railing. "This is only the beginning. Now we have to convince the Council of Elders that you are worthy of the position."

"You mean you haven't even talked to them about it?"

"They hate being bothered so I wanted to wait until you accepted before I brought it up to them."

"Oh joy," she said flatly. Sakura had had few encounters with the Council, but in the short times she did meet them, they didn't seem to care much for her. This was going to be a real challenge. "When are you going to talk to them?"

"We are going to talk to them next week."

"That soon?"

"Yes." Tsunade pushed herself off the rail and went back to her spot beneath the tree. "I suggest you get working on you speech on why you would be a good replacement for me," she said as she lay on the ground and closed her eyes.

—*—

"When are you going to tell Naruto?" Kakashi asked. It was three days after Sakura had accepted Tsunade's offer. She was having lunch with Kakashi in the hopes that he would be able to help figure out how she could convince the council to accept her as the next Hokage.

"I was thinking of telling him after it's official."

"You do know that he isn't going to be very happy that you're going to be the sixth and not him."

She made a face and inwardly groaned. She was not looking forward to that. Maybe he could conveniently go on a long mission. "Don't remind me."

"Have you told anyone yet?"

"Just you," she shrugged. "I don't know who else I can tell. I mean it isn't official yet. The last thing I need is for word to get through the whole village that I'm going to succeed Tsunade when it's not even a for sure thing."

Kakashi sipped his water quietly and frankly seemed to not be paying attention to her as she rambled on. Sakura of course noticed and glared at him. "Kakashi!"

He sighed and looked up at her dully. "I know you're stressed over all of this. I also know that you will come up with a great argument against the Council to support Tsunade's decision."

"Well you're a lot of help," she groused.

"I do my best." He smiled at her from behind his mask patiently. It wasn't that he was not interested in her problem, but more that there was nothing he could really do to help. He could tell her a million reasons why she would be a good Hokage; he could tell her exactly what to tell the Council to sway them; but even if he did, he knew her well enough to know that her nerves would still be shaking with anxiety.

Sakura groaned and threw her arms down on the table and rested her head in the crook of her arm. "What am I going to do?" she mumbled into the table. Kakashi placed his hand on her arm and she looked up at him, her chin resting on her arm. "You're going to say something inanely profound and useless, aren't you?"

"No. Just something inane and useless."

Sakura put her head down again and began mumbling to herself. She knew she shouldn't have come to Kakashi for help. The only things he was good at were being lazy and being late. But as she sat there longer, she found his nonchalance relaxing on a subconscious level and gradually she stropped worrying so much about the entire thing. She lifted her head, eyed him suspiciously, and said, "Don't you have training with you team today?"

He cocked his head and thought for a second. "Huh… I completely forgot about that."

"You are a terrible man and when I'm Hokage, I'm making sure you don't get assigned any more genin to torture."

"And here I thought you weren't going to become the Hokage."

Damn. Did he just use reverse psychology on her? She wasn't sure if she should ram his head through a wall or hug him. She didn't do either but picked a choice closer to the latter. "Kakashi, I pray, for the sanity of this world, that you do not reproduce."

—*—

Her heart pounded heavily in her chest as she paced back and forth like a caged animal. Her mind was a million places at once; her hands were shaking spasmodically; she felt dizzy and nauseated from the lack of sleep; and all she wanted to do was to go back home and curl up in her bed forever.

"Sakura!" Tsunade snapped. "Stop it."

"Sorry, shishou. I'm just so nervous."

"No, really?"

Sakura frowned at her sarcasm. She couldn't understand how Tsunade could be so calm about this. They were about to talk to the Council of Elders for the first time. In Sakura's mind, she envisioned walking into that room and having them immediately laugh at the idea before kicking her out—in another version they were yelling at her for even considering such an absurd idea. Either way, she still ended up being denied in a humiliating way.

"Will you just sit down and stop thinking!" Tsunade grabbed her arm and yanked her down into the chair beside her. "You're just working yourself up. You need to relax. Otherwise all the awful things you keep thinking will happen."

She was right; Sakura knew she was. But Tsunade could tell her that a million times and slap her each time she did, Sakura would still not stop panicking. Even Sakura's inner self was telling her to calm down. Maybe she had gone completely neurotic in the past twelve hours. It would explain her uncontrollable anxiety and irrationality.

The door creaked open making Sakura jump and freeze. "We're ready for you," the Elder standing in the doorway said. Tsunade rose and looked down at Sakura waiting for her to follow suit. A moment of incomprehension passed over Sakura before she hopped to her feet next to Tsunade. Tsunade nodded to her, then walked into the room. Sakura followed, heart pounding strongly against her ribs.

The door closed behind them and Sakura jumped again. On the plus side, she was no longer twitching. On the flip side, the cold stares of the Elders around the long table all on her made her want to crawl into the corner. It didn't help that the room was dimly lit compared to other offices in the building, adding a foreboding aura to the Council.

"Tsunade," one started as he thumbed through a few sheets of paper before. "You're here to discuss your successor?"

"Yes."

"And who would that be?" an Elder—from the Hyuuga clan by the look of the man's eyes—questioned, looking at Sakura speculatively as he said it. Clearly he didn't have a good impression of her abilities.

"Haruno Sakura," she said and motioned towards her. Again, all eyes fell on the girl making her feel completely out of place. "She's been my apprentice for a few years now and I have trained her not only in the battle field but in the office as well. Many of the citizens of the village know and love her. She was also the one that saved the Fifth Kazekage's brother from a deadly poison, as well as kill one of the men from the Akatsuki who had abducted the Kazekage. If anyone in this village has the highest credentials to become the next Hokage, it's Sakura."

The moment of dead silence that followed Tsunade's little speech filled Sakura with dread. She had been surprised when Tsunade had started saying all the stuff about her and initially it made her feel good. But now, with the even more austere glares upon her, Sakura didn't feel as highly of her self anymore.

"Surely a more seasoned shinobi would be a better candidate." In other words, they didn't like that Sakura was so young. However, being a shinobi, one could say that Sakura was closer to being middle aged than a child since most shinobi didn't reach their fortieth birthday unless they had retired or became a sensei for genin teams.

"Sakura is very mature for her age so I do not see that as any kind of issue," Tsunade calmly responded. Knowing Tsunade's short temper, Sakura could not fathom how on earth Tsunade was acting so calmly at the moment.

Whispers and glances were exchanged across the table. And not very positives ones at that…

"Look," Tsunade snapped, silencing the Council. There was the temper Sakura had always known. "I know you would rather have someone older to be appointed next and that you'd rather have a man. But Sakura is more than qualified to be Hokage. I'm not saying I expect her to have a long term. But for now, she's the only one I know qualified enough and willing to take on the position that I know of. If you pompous, old, patriarchal fools don't accept Sakura as my successor then I guess Konoha will go without a Hokage."

Sakura's jaw had dropped halfway through Tsunade's little speech and her eyes had bugged out by the end of it. Tsunade, did you really have to insult them? Sakura thought helplessly. These men already thought poorly of them, how did she think insulting them would benefit them at all? Sakura swallowed her anxiety the best she could and looked around the room at the Council. They seemed just as surprised as her from Tsunade's words.

One of the men stood up and cleared his throat. Everyone's gaze drifted to him as he began to speak. "Very well. We'll compromise and allot you a trial period. If Ms. Haruno can perform satisfactorily, then she can become your successor. However, if she messes up even once, I don't want to hear any more about this. Do we have an accord?"

Everyone looked over at Tsunade. She took her time contemplating the offer. As Sakura saw it, they weren't going to get anything better. "For how long?"

"One month."

Tsunade took a deep breath and let it out in a soft sigh. "Very well. She'll start tomorrow." The Elder nodded in response and sat down. Apparently that meant they were dismissed because Tsunade turned and started to leave. Sakura quickly followed and they left the room without another word. They walked down the hallway, down the stairs to the first floor, into the lobby, all in complete silence. Sakura was too afraid to ask her about what just happened. Shizune had walked up to them but seemed to share Sakura's reluctance when she saw them. Then out of nowhere, Tsunade smiled and started cheering. "Yes! We did it! Not completely yet, but it's a good start!"

Shizune looked over at Sakura for an explanation. "They gave me a one month trial period."

Tsunade grabbed Sakura by the shoulders and looked at her seriously, though her eyes still beamed with triumph. "Look Sakura, this next month is going to be tough. You can't slip up at all. But don't worry, nothing big is going on right now so it shouldn't be too bad." Sakura gave her a weak smile; for some reason she had a sinking feeling that this wasn't going to be the cakewalk Tsunade was making it out to be.

—*—

Rogue ninjas, S-class criminals, and even the Akatsuki were all things that Sakura could handle with little to no fear. The first day of her test run as Hokage on the other hand, frightened her to the bone. Sure she had helped Tsunade in the office for so long that she knew how pretty much everything worked, but she never had to do all the work herself. Now, she would have to make all the decisions and sign all the papers herself—well Tsunade would still sign them since she was still the official Hokage but Sakura would be the one deciding which papers were signed and which were not. Now that she was actually faced with the duty, Sakura was starting to have her original reservations about taking the position.

When Sakura walked into the office, she automatically started for her old desk. When she noticed Tsunade now sitting there she stopped short and stared, bemused.

"Good morning Sakura. Can I get you anything?" Tsunade greeted her. Sakura narrowed her eyes and tilted her head in suspicion. What was up with Tsunade this morning? Tsunade sighed. "You're Hokage now, remember? You're the boss. You sit in that chair now." She pointed over to her desk and Sakura glanced over. Through the corner of her eye Sakura noticed someone sitting on the other side of the room. "That's Uichi," Tsunade explained. "He's one of the council's supervisors."

Oh… Joy. She ignored Uichi and walked over to her new desk. It felt different. She began rocking back and forth in the chair as she looked around. Tsunade raised an eyebrow at her and Sakura stopped. Her head shifted slightly to the left. Tsunade had a point: Sakura should probably take the extra effort in making sure she behaved maturely.

"So what's on today's agenda?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade picked up a clipboard and read off the long list. "First you need to look over some plans for the upcoming Chuunin Exams in Suna. Then you have a meeting with the contractors at the hospital at eight. After that, you have to give all the shinobi their missions and their pay. At three, you have a meeting at the Academy. Then there's a bunch of paperwork that needs to get done before your shift at the hospital tonight at seven."

Is that it? Sakura mentally sighed. Why did her first day have to be so jammed pack? There were only two reason Sakura could think of as to why she had been given such a heavy load: either Tsunade wanted to make a point that she could hold her own even under such a tedious amount of work; or the Council was purposely going around making sure to dig up every possible thing that the Hokage would have to handle. Cynically, she thought it was a bit of both.

The paperwork for the Exams wasn't too bad. All she had to do was double check the number of hotel rooms they needed, go over who was going to take the exams, when they would leave, and other little things that were not too hard to handle. Then again, she had already gone over most of the stuff with Tsunade back when they were originally deciding everything with Suna.

By the time she had to assign the mission she was feeling pretty good. She met with the other officials that took care of the missions, Iruka among them.

"Hello Iruka-sen—" Tsunade had cleared her throat and Sakura stopped short. Being the Hokage now, Sakura guessed she wasn't supposed to call anyone sensei anymore.

"Hello, Hokage-sama," he smiled. It was weird for her to hear him address her like that. She had to shrug it off though and get to work. When the teams started to come in she noticed right away the slightest flinch everyone had when they saw her instead of Tsunade. Some of them, mainly the older shinobi, were able to hide it better than the genin and chuunin. At first it bugged her. She couldn't figure out if they were just so used to seeing Tsunade that they were taken aback when their routine was altered, or if they were skeptical why she was the one replacing the Hokage.

Though the best reactions had to be from her friend. Ino's jaw dropped and her eyes bugged out; Shikamaru's brow scrunched; Chouji dropped his bag of chips; Kiba gawked, then started laughing; Hinata was shocked into silence, almost feinting. Then there was Naruto…

"Next is Team Kakashi," Iruka said and glanced at her. "Are you ready?"

I knew what he meant. We both knew—everyone in the room likely did too—that Naruto would have the most dramatic reaction out of everyone in the village.

"Send them in."

When they walked in, Kakashi didn't react at all—then again he already knew. Sai was his normal nonchalant self. Naruto only flinched and made a skeptical face. "Where's the old lady?" he asked.

Her eyebrow twitched. Thankfully Tsunade had already left because if she were still there, Naruto's face would be getting to know her fist very well. "I'm filling in for her right now," she answered. Kakashi gave her a look and she gave one right back. It technically was not a lie. It just wasn't the entire story. "Anyways, your next mission is a B-Class escort to Wave," she started and pulled out the mission scroll.

"Oh come on, can't we have anything harder?" Naruto complained.

"Sorry Naruto, but that's the hardest mission I can give you right now since you're down a medic."

"What do mean? You're out medic."

"Yes but I won't be able to accompany you on this mission."

"Why?"

"Because for the next month I'll be on a trial period to get the Council to agree to me succeeding Tsunade as Hokage."

Naruto's expression was absolutely priceless. His jaw had dropped completely agape, his nose scrunched, eye widened in confused anger, brow knitted tightly. "WHAT!" he bellowed and pointed a shaky finger at her. There was the reaction she was expecting. Though she hadn't thought it was going to be quite so hilarious. She wasn't sure if she would be able to keep back the bubble of laughter building inside of her. Sakura wasn't the only one with that problem.

Kakashi had turned his face away as he tried to keep his composure. All along the table people covered their smirks with their hands and their snickers with coughs. Naruto had caught on to everyone and crossed his arms as he continued to pout angrily with his shoulders hunched. However, that didn't distill their amusement.

"Naruto," Sakura finally said," are you going to take the mission or are you going to complain more?"

"Why did Grandma pick you?"

She sighed. "Of course you'd complain," she mumbled under her breath.

"I've always wanted to be the Hokage, so why did she pick you and not me? This is a joke, right? It has to be. I'm supposed to be the next Hokage," he rambled on and on. Sakura had zoned out shortly after he started complaining. She had been hoping he wouldn't be such a headache. Now she began to understand why Tsunade always had a headache.

"Naruto!" Sakura barked and slammed her hands down on the desk as she stood up. Naruto flinched, frightened by her temper, and promptly shut his mouth. "Just take your blasted mission scroll and get out! I don't have time to listen to your jabbering." She held out the scroll but her glare froze him in his place.

Kakashi stepped forward and accepted the scroll. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." His tone held a hint of tease in it making Sakura blush and want to slap him. It was weird when Iruka had said it, but Kakashi had made her feel even more awkward about it.

By the end of her shift at the hospital, Sakura was exhausted—no wonder why she had been stuck with so much work as Tsunade's assistant. Never before had she worked so hard. If this was what every day was going to be like, Sakura thought that maybe she really wasn't cut out for this position. She would almost rather have to fight an Akatsuki again then go to work the next morning.

As she trudged down the street back to her apartment, all she wanted to do was crawl into her bed. But of course she would have to wait. As she tuned the corner she spotted Naruto; he saw her too. With no chance of escaping him, she sighed and walked up to him.

"Hungry?" he asked.

Sakura stared at him, surprised that he hadn't started complaining about the Hokage thing again. Seeing that she hadn't eaten a good meal since that morning, she definitely wasn't going to turn down a meal. "Sure," she said, and they started down the street side by side.

—*—

"Why do even want to become the Hokage? I mean it's not like you've always wanted to, like me," Naruto asked after they ordered their ramen at Ichiraku Ramen.

"I don't really know, to be honest." Sakura stared absently at the counter and lazily drew circles with her finger. Through the corner of her eye she could see Naruto's fist clench on the counter and she mentally sighed. She was exhausted to the bone and wasn't sure if she could handle Naruto at the moment if he blew up again on her.

"I still don't get why Tsunade chose you." He didn't sound angry, but pained. "I mean aren't I strong enough?"

"Naruto…"

He scoffed and bitterly smirked to himself. "For the longest time, you were the weakest member of Team 7. Sasuke and I both grew so much while you were almost lost in our shadow. Now you're surpassing both of us and it seems like it all happened so quickly," he sighed.

"Naruto, it's not like that," Sakura comforted, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not going to be the next great Hokage. I'm more like just a temporary place holder until a more appropriate candidate comes along." Chagrin washed over her as she noticed Naruto's fist clenching tighter. Obviously her words hadn't exactly helped the situation. She took a breath and tried again. "There's more to being Hokage than being a skilled ninja. There's a lot of paperwork that must be done and other tedious things to do. I already know what it's like to do all those things since Tsunade has made me do all of it for her time and again. Right now, there are more important things for you to do than sit trapped in an office behind a wall of paper."

Naruto looked up and gave her a long, even gaze. She didn't know whether that was a good sign, or a bad one. Then Naruto sighed and looked back down at the counter. "I guess you're right," he mumbled.

"Cheer up," Sakura said, leaning over and kissing him on the cheek. "Things could always be worse." And almost like a nasty omen, the wind started to rustle the trees outside. If only either of them cared to pay attention to omens.

—*—

By the fifth day, Sakura had fallen into a fairly steady routine. She would go to the office in the morning, do some paperwork, attend meetings, give out missions, go to more meetings, and end her day with a long shift at the hospital. The few hours of sleep managed to catch didn't help distill the chaos of the day. But she soon found that three cups of strong coffee strategically had throughout the day was enough to keep her sharp. Thankfully she didn't have to deal with anything near catastrophic. All the work she had now was enough of a handful.

That was the first week. By the second, things weren't as easy—if you could call the first week "easy".

"Sakura-sama!" Kira came barging into her office out of breath. Sakura jumped to her feet at the sight of him. "Come quick. River shinobi attacking just outside the northwest gate."

Without another word, Sakura vanished, heading toward the border to go defend her village. For the past few months, there had been great tension between Leaf and River. Until now though, it had just been an angry staring contest as they spat insults at each other. From the very beginning, Leaf was adamant about waiting until River threw the first punch. Now that they had, Sakura knew that she would be adding "War Planning" to her already long list of duties as Hokage. And with the Chuunin Exams looming, a war was the last thing the village needed.

By the time she got to the woods right outside the gate, most of the fighting was done thanks to the four ANBU there and a few others like Kakashi and Neji. Sakura didn't have enough time to see who else was there when she had to dodge an attack. Instantly, she focused chakra into her fist, punched the ground and sent a fissure her attacker's way. He dodged, but she expected him to. That was why when he jumped in the air he met three kunai with paper bombs attached.

Within ten minutes, they had incapacitated all of the shinobi. But something had felt off to Sakura during the fight. "Search all of them for any useful information. If any are still alive, take them back to be interrogated," Sakura commanded. There was slight hesitation from the ANBU before they did as command since they were not used to serving Sakura yet. And she noticed.

"You okay?" Kakashi asked, leaning against the tree next to her.

"I guess," she answered without looking at him. She chewed her lip while she watched the ANBU work. "Something is off."

"You noticed too."

"I can't figure out what though," she growled lowly. Her mind itched as she tried to piece things together. Why here, why now? How many more attacks were there going to be in the coming days?

"Sakura-sama," one ANBU said and knelt before her. Sakura blinked, startled from her thinking, and looked down at him. He held out a scroll to her and she took it. "Should I take it to them?" he asked after she examined it for a moment.

"Them" was an unspoken code for the small group of shinobi that don't officially exist in the village. Their duty is to crack the complicated seals used by other villages without compromising the contents—they were also good at recasting said seals so no one would notice that it had already been opened. Because of that, they have to train extensively in other villages while keeping their identity secret. That's why no one in the Leaf Village knew about them. If word of their talents got out, there would be a crackdown on security in every village and then it would be even harder to train future seal breakers.

"Yes. I'll be over there as soon as I can." A moment passed yet the man still hadn't left. Sakura's brow knitted together. "What?"

"Shouldn't Tsunade-sama be the one to go since she's still the official Hokage?"

Her eyebrow twitched and jaw clenched. Kakashi was ready to hold her back from exploding on him but she waved him off before he even took a step. "Look," she barked, her arms akimbo. "I'm the Hokage right now, not Tsunade. Sure, it may be a trial run but that's only to please the Council. I am going to be the next Hokage so you might as well get used to following my orders without question now. Got it?"

As an answer, he vanished silently. Gradually, Sakura's annoyance did too. She took in a slow, deep breath, held it for three seconds and let it out in a whisper. Kakashi placed a hand on her should. She looked at him with exasperation in her eyes. Although his mask concealed it, she could still see the soft smile he gave her. "You're going to be a great Hokage."

She laughed and looked back towards the battlefield. "Not if I can't figure out how to deal with this," she said grimly.

—*—

"Have you gotten anything yet?" After writing up a report and talking to everyone involved with the fight, Sakura had gone to see if the scroll had been opened yet. However, when she arrived the scroll was still sealed tight with a seal master buzzing over the thing like it was a delicate bubble.

The seal master, named Kumo, glanced up at Sakura and shook his head. "Nothing yet. I've never seen this seal before."

"Do you think they're starting to use new ones now?"

"Possibly," he shrugged. "It makes sense that they would try to at least, considering we're on the brink of war with each other."

If River had developed a new seal for their scrolls then they were screwed. One of the Leaf's advantages had always been its ability to crack the seals of their enemies' scrolls to gain genuine intel. About every generation sealing techniques would advance but not like this. This was a completely new style, which made Sakura start to wonder if it was really a scroll from River. Maybe someone else had given those shinobi the order to attack. She had a feeling that the scroll was even more important now.

"Keep at it and let me know of any progress immediately."

—*—

"What are you going to do about the attack?" Uichi asked when Sakura marched back into her office. She didn't answer him, just glared, noticing he was the only one there, and sat down behind her desk. He didn't seem to like her response though. "Well?"

Sakura's gaze drifted to him and she stared flatly at the man. She had grown quite annoyed by his almost-constant presence over the past ten days. He would always be sitting there, making little notes on his clipboard, raising an eyebrow to every other word she said and making snooty comments here and there. She had already daydreamed up hundreds of scenarios of killing him and every day she added a few more.

"Sorry but I don't think I can really talk about such a thing with you," she said, trying to not let the words come out with the growl she was thinking them in.

He frowned. "I work for the Council. I'm privy to such information."

"Is that so?" she mocked. She hid a smile as she relished the knowledge that she was getting under his skin. "Too bad. I'm not exactly in the disclosing mood right now."

"Fine. But the longer it takes you to act, the worse it looks for you," he sneered smugly. If it hadn't been for the fact that he played a part in her becoming the next Hokage, she would have decked him—or killed him in one of the numerous ways she had imagined. He was like a wasp: annoying to the bone but deadly to try to mess with.

"Tsunade's at the hospital?" Sakura asked after a moment of silence. Normally she would have been in the office. Since she wasn't, the hospital was her next likeliest bet.

"How would I know? My job is to watch after you, not Tsunade-sama."

She glared at him and spun around in her chair so her back was to him. She needed to talk to Tsunade. But how was she going to manage to find her and get her alone to do so? Her best bet was to wait until later that night when she started her shift at the hospital. Still, it would be risky either way and she preferred to talk to her sooner than later. If she was right, then she needed to act fast before things got worse.

"I'm going to the hospital. Some of our men were injured in the fight and I should go help heal them." She stood up and walked out the door before Uichi could protest. It was partially a lie; no one had been badly injured. Everyone that had been injured was more than likely healed and back to normal by now. She just needed an excuse to go looking for Tsunade.

Rushing down the stairs, Sakura bumped into Shizune, literally. "Oh, Sakura. Where are you to in such a hurry?"

"To find Tsunade. Is she at the hospital?"

Shizune quickly glanced around and looked Sakura in the eye with a dead serious gaze. "Yes, she is," she said. However, her eye had shifted down towards the floor. Sakura followed her gaze and saw a small slip of paper in her hand.

Sakura nodded. "Thank you." As the two girls walked by each other, the note was skillfully exchanged with no one the wiser.

Once Sakura had gone a few blocks away from the office and was well hidden amongst the villagers and buildings, she slipped into an alley to read the note. All that was on it though were a bunch of numbers. It had to be some sort of code, she figured. She quickly memorized them and their order before slipping back into the crowd with the note hidden in her pocket.

There were three sets of numbers, two of them with arrows next to them. Maybe they were coordinates? It was hard without a map but she was able to mentally figure out where the spot would be if the numbers really were coordinates to some place. If she was correct, it was about a kilometer south of the epitaph and two kilometers east—what could possibly be out there? Thinking of the other sets of numbers, she found them to be a time. That made sense. It wasn't for another two hours that Tsunade wanted to meet her there though.

In the mean time, she decided to go out to eat at Ichiraku Ramen in the hopes of running into Kakashi. When she arrived at the small restaurant she didn't find Kakashi, but found Neji. He glanced over his shoulder at her silently. Had he been waiting for her? Sakura wasn't sure but slid into the seat next to him anyways. He had been at the fight earlier; maybe he noticed something wrong too.

"Hey Neji."

"Sakura," he greeted softly. He took a sip of his tea then turned to face her. "Today, in the woods…"

She nodded. "Something was off."

"I agree. Kakashi-sensei noticed too."

"I can't figure out what yet."

"Coordination."

"Huh?"

"The lack of," he said to clarify.

It took a moment, not for her to understand what he meant but to realize that that was indeed the thing she had felt. With that in mind and the fact the scroll was still sealed, Sakura began to suspect even more that River was not behind the attack. Could it have been one of their allies helping them? Or maybe it was an enemy of River trying to start things up. Even worse, what if it were treason?

"Behind it?" Sakura asked carefully.

Neji shook his head. "No clue. It wasn't them; that's for sure. I just can't think of who then."

"If anything comes up—"

"I'll tell you immediately, Hokage-sama," he finished with a smirk.

Sakura smiled and rolled her eyes at him. She was going to have to get used to that one day, but for now, it still felt a bit odd. Yet at the same time, it filled her with so much pride knowing that Neji Hyuuga, the amazingly talented ex-jerk that he was, accepted her as Hokage.

Minutes before five o'clock, Sakura was standing next to a giant dead tree in the middle of the woods. She hoped she was in the right place. She hadn't been able to check a map so she had to go off pure memory of the coordinate grid of the village. As the seconds ticked by she became more anxious, thinking she had the wrong place.

"Hello Sakura," Kakashi said as he appeared before her.

She was startled for a moment and gawked at him. She had been expecting Tsunade, not him. "What are you doing here?"

"I asked him to come," Tsunade answered, also appearing. "As you might have figured by now, something is up."

"Those shinobi were not sent from River. Even Neji thinks so."

"You talked to Neji about this?" Tsunade asked harshly.

"In broken conversation, yes. I didn't tell him anything he doesn't already know. He just helped confirm a lot of my suspicions."

"And what are your suspicions?"

"Just that something is wrong. Someone wants us to act against River even though they weren't behind the attack. The only motive I can see is that whoever did it can somehow proffer from us going to war with River." When neither of them said a word, Sakura began to worry. She had a growing feeling that she was completely wrong and that they were trying to think of the best way possible to tell her so.

"We need to figure this out fast before things get out of hand," Tsunade finally said. "If either of you finds anything new out let us know right away. If we put our efforts together we might be able to solve this sooner."

"So is this gonna be our meeting place then?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"No. It's best if we don't meet in the same place twice."

"Right."

"Contact each other in the same way though. And make sure to burn the notes in private. We need to make sure we cover all our tracks from unwanted birdies lurking in the trees."

Right as they were about to go, Sakura grabbed Tsunade by the arm. "Hey, could I talk to you for a moment?" Tsunade furrowed her brow, curious why Sakura's tone implied she wanted to have the talk in private. But after glancing at Kakashi she nodded her head.

After Kakashi had left, Tsunade asked, "What is it, Sakura?"

"I have a question, about the seal masters."

Her eyes sharply narrowed. It was very risky to mention them, even in such a secluded place. But the fact that Sakura had mentioned them made Tsunade wonder what could be so important that Sakura would need to ask about. "Go on."

"I know they're trained with others' techniques. What about our own?"

"No, they aren't. The masters handle foreign scrolls. Our regular team handles ally and village scrolls. Why do you ask?"

"I have a theory I want to test."

—*—

Sakura and Tsunade went back down the where the masters worked. They hadn't been graceful or quiet as they barged in, making Kumo jump as they entered. He looked at them, flustered, and blinked a couple times as he regained his composure. "I-I'm sorry but I still haven't gotten any further on it," he stammered.

"Of course not," Sakura said and grabbed the scroll. "Because you aren't the one that should be working on it." Without any further explanation, Sakura went right back out the door just as quickly as she had entered. Tsunade quickly followed her down the hallway before pulling her to a stop.

"Care to explain what you're thinking, Sakura?" she harshly whispered.

"Mutiny."

Tsunade took a moment to think that through. She seemed to catch on to what Sakura was thinking and nodded. The two of them headed through the twisting halls back up to the ground level of the Hokage Tower. They left the building, Uichi calling after them for an explanation, and headed towards the communication tower. There they would find a high level seal worker and see if they could possibly open the scroll.

"Where's Tsuki?" Sakura asked the woman sitting behind the office in the lobby.

"Most likely the cafeteria right now."

They hurried down the hall, anxious to get some answers. Thankfully the cafeteria was small so it didn't take them long to search the place for her. However, she wasn't there. "Do any of you know where Tsuki is?" Sakura generally asked to other people in there.

"She just left to return to her post," one guy said.

"What floor?"

"Third."

Thankfully there they did indeed find Tsuki. Her reaction to Sakura and Tsunade was similar to Kumo's earlier. "What is it?"

"Can you unseal this scroll for us?"

"Sure." She took the scroll from them and placed it on the table beside her. She examined it for a moment. "Strange, the seal's construction seems so simple yet it's so complex to release. I haven't seen many shinobi use such a seal. Who is this from?"

"We're not sure yet. Can you open it?"

Tsuki nodded. "I might need to consult someone else, but this seal is definitely ours so it should be no problem."

Just as Sakura had thought: the scroll was from a Leaf shinobi. Now the question was who. Since the seal was a higher level, she knew that it had to be one of the higher ups. She went through all the high level shinobi she knew but none of them seemed like they would commit treason. Then again, aren't those always the ones that end up committing such a crime?

"Hey Haseo, could you come here," Tsuki called.

An older man, nearing his sixties, possibly seventies, came shuffling over to them. "What is it?" he grouched.

"Have you seen a seal like this before?" Tsuki handed him the scroll. He pulled out a pair of glasses and perched them on his nose and twisted the scroll around in his hands.

"Oh, yeah. This is an old style of sealing that you kids don't use anymore. You kids stopped using it, saying something about it being too much work. It ain't too much work, you kids are just lazy—"

"Excuse me, Haseo?" Sakura interrupted. She had a feeling that if she didn't stop him talking now he never would. "Could you open the scroll please?"

"Of course I can. I wasn't born yesterday." He set the scroll down and quickly did some hand signs, holding the last one. At first nothing happened. It was getting to the point where they wanted to ask if it would open when it finally did. "See, just takes some time."

"Thank you," Sakura said and snatched up the scroll. She and Tsunade left, choosing a private room just down the hall. There in privacy they would read the scroll. She took a breath. This was it; in a few seconds they would know who ordered the attack. Carefully, she unrolled the scroll and her jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"I guess we shouldn't be too surprised," Tsunade said.

Sakura heaved a sigh and collapsed in the chair next to her. She couldn't believe it. After all of that, the scroll was blank. Was it a decoy? Or had the contents been erased already? "What are we going to do now? We have no leads to go on."

"At least we narrowed things down a bit more."

"Huh?"

"Think about what Haseo said. The technique used on this scroll isn't used very much now, meaning an older, possibly retired shinobi was the one that sealed it."

"I can't believe I'm so close, yet so far."

—*—

The night sky seemed so empty that night as a thin layer of clouds hid the stars away from view. Sakura couldn't fall asleep. She was too bothered with disappointment to sleep. She would go between staring out the window aimlessly and staring at the scroll angrily. There had to be a secret to the scroll; it couldn't be completely blank. Why go through the trouble of using such a complicated seal to just have a blank scroll?

Sitting at her desk again, she glared at the scroll and sipped her water. When only a small drizzle came out, she tilted the glass more to get the ice cubes to move. But of course ice cubes didn't slide down one by one, they all fell together in an avalanche to attack her face. She jumped up, spilling some water and ice all over the scroll. She cursed at her own clumsiness. As she scooped up the ice back into her cup she notice a black smudge on the scroll. She tried to wipe it off but it would not go away.

"What the…?" She wiped the water over the scroll and more black smudged started to appear. They weren't smudges, she realized. It as writing. Frantically she dumped all the ice onto the scroll and pushed it around with her hands. Gradually the characters started coming into view.

"I knew you weren't blank," she smirked happily.

—*—

Things were falling into place quicker now. After her discovery the previous night, Sakura marched to her office her head held high with a newfound confidence. Today was bound to be an interesting day for her. She had many things planned and with luck things would turn out just how she dreamt they would.

"You're in a good mood this morning," Tsunade noted when Sakura walked in. "What changed?"

"Well, after going home and having a glass of water, I discovered something."

"And what is that?"

She smiled and looked out the windows at the village. "That if I want to succeed as Hokage, things are going to have to change." In the reflection on the glass, Sakura saw Uichi glaring at her suspiciously. Her smile widened as her focus returned to the village. Soon, she would be completely in control of it all.

An hour later someone rapped on the door. "Enter," Sakura called. The door opened and in stepped Neji. "Oh, Neji, thank you for coming in this morning."

"Of course," he said, bowing slightly. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Come with me to the other room so we can talk in private." She felt bad for leaving Tsunade out of the loop but she had to. She couldn't talk to Neji in her office because of Uichi and there was no way to get all three of them alone at the moment. She would have to settle for updating Tsunade—as well as Kakashi—later.

"Here," Sakura said once in the other room and handed him a scroll—the scroll to be exact.

Neji took it and eyed it curiously. "It's sealed."

"Yes," she nodded. "Open it, please."

He studied the scroll for a few moments trying to figure out what kind of seal he was up against. Then suddenly he gasped, flinching a bit, and looked at Sakura. "Where did you find this scroll?"

"I think the proper question is, who in your family still uses that technique?

"I only know one person who would still know this. The only reason I know of this technique is because I saw him use it once when I was younger. Where did you get this scroll?"

"This scroll was found on the body of one of the fake River shinobi we fought with in the woods. Wanna guess what it says?"

Neji sighed and shook his head. "So now what are you going to do?"

"Well before I do anything I might regret, I'm going to talk to Tsunade and Kakashi. They might be able to come up with a better plan." Sakura didn't have much time to spare in her schedule to go meet with Tsunade and Kakashi but she had to find the time. She couldn't afford to sit back for too long. At any moment another incident could occur. How far would they eventually go? Would they hurt—or worse kill—innocent civilians? The more she thought about it the more she wondered if she should just go on and act without the guidance of Tsunade or Kakashi.

"Sakura… Sakura!"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking. Excuse me but I have to go now." Sakura marched out of there on a mission. She barely noticed those she passed in the hallway, not even Shizune. Nothing was going to stop her.

When she arrived at the large doors that had once intimidated her, she literally kicked them open. Everyone inside went dead silent and stared in stunned bafflement. "I should have you killed for this!"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"You know quite well what I'm talking about! I can't believe you would commit treason. I think it's safe for me to assume you did this to try to make me rethink becoming Hokage. But I guess you never thought I would figure out you guys were behind it, especially so quickly. What else did you plan on doing? Are you really that intimidated by a young, female Hokage that you would hurt your own village? If any of us are unfit to run this village, it's all of you, not me!"

If this were a tournament for the best poker face, the Council would win first place. They all sat calmly around the table steadily staring at her. The only emotions they revealed were the ire in their eyes and stone hard frown set on their faces—although it was possible that those frowns were a permanent facial feature for them. "That is a harsh accusation to make, especially for someone in your position. Do you even have proof to support your allegation?"

Sakura tossed the scroll on the table. "This scroll was found on one of the fake River shinobi we fought the other day. The seal on it is unique in that it's an old method not commonly used anymore. Also it's a Leaf seal. I know this for a fact because I know exactly who sealed it. And I know you, Hyuuga Taizo, weren't the only one in on this because I know this isn't your writing."

"Clearly it's a fake. None of us would ever do such a thing."

"Bull! None of you want me as Hokage because you're a bunch of bigots. And you know what, I don't care anyone. Hate me all you want. I'm going to become Hokage with or without your approval. Now I'm going back to my office and am going to write my speech for when Tsunade officially announces me as the next Hokage." Sakura turned on a dime but stopped before she even took a step to leave. In the doorway stood Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Iruka and Uichi; oddly they were all smiling at her. She opened her mouth to ask why they were standing there like that but no words came out.

"Congratulations, you passed the test," Tsunade said.

"Test?"

"All of this was set up to see how you would handle a real situation. You acted swiftly yet not rashly. You weren't afraid to confide in others when you needed to yet you were also confident enough in yourself to act on your own. And with that display just now, it's clear that you're not afraid to stand your ground despite the fact you might make enemies. Really, you could not have passed in a more perfect way. You really will be a great Hokage."

Sakura's jaw was even more agape by the end of Tsunade's little speech. This entire time she was being played—and everyone was in on it. "I can't believe you guys," she sighed, shaking her head. "And you expect me to trust you lying jerks after this?" A slow smile lit up her face and they both began laughing. It was a good thing Sakura knew them well enough not to hate them for pulling such a stunt. But of course she wouldn't let them off the hook. As they hugged and laughed in celebration, Sakura began thinking of ways she would get everyone back once she became Hokage.

---

I hope everyone enjoyed this fic. It ended up being a bit longer than I had originally intended (just over 18 pages in word), which is why it took me a bit to finally post it... Anyways, reviews/comments/suggestions/faves/etc. are always welcomed =)