The Substitute Hokage
Hey everyone, welcome to my first posted Fic. This story is called 'The Substitute Hokage'.
Summary: A prank war gone too far leads to Sakura becoming the new Hokage. Her new job forces her to not only define the relationship with her old teacher, she also has to deal with two angry team members, plus stacks of paperwork.
Pairings: Kakasaku
Rating: M, for language; and for lemons in later chapters.
Chapter 1 – Prank War!
A boy with blonde, spiky hair ran across the rooftops, as fast as he could. He was running extremely fast, like he was trying to outrun an enemy, or like he tried to make it to Ichiraku's before he closed for the night.
But that wasn't what Uzumaki Naruto was running for. Following him was an agile kunoichi, her bright pink hair flooding behind her gracefully, her medic's outfit bright white. When Naruto looked back, all he saw was his beautiful teammate following her like a flowing blossom in the wind – until she opened her mouth. "Naruto, you PRICK!" Haruno Sakura screamed. "When you run out of steam I'll PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE!" Luckily, the hyperactive jinchūriki had enough energy to last for a while, and he knew that Sakura wasn't someone who could outrun him, but he didn't think that he would run into a hard surface, which grabbed him by his arm and threw him on his back.
"Ha, Gotcha!" Sakura dispelled her clone, and grabbed Naruto at his collar. "You BAKA! You're not getting away with this!" she screamed, and punched him in the stomach. The punch wasn't enhanced with chakra, but it still hurt. Sakura was still an awesome kunoichi. Naruto knew that this was going to suck. "I'll never let you forget this, Naruto! Why would you steal all of my clothes while I'm in the shower! Lucky for me, I had one of my spare outfits in my bag, otherwise I couldn't have gone to work today!"
Naruto was definitely scared, he felt his heart beat in his chest and felt the colour drain out of his face. "It was just a little prank!" he blurted out, before Sakura's fist connected with his jaw.
"JUST A LITTLE PRANK?" Sakura yelled. "There ARE some people who HAVE to work every day, you idiot! Now tell me, WHERE did you put my clothes!?" She lifted her arm again, but before she could snap her arm forward to punch Naruto's face, someone grabbed her fist and stopped her. "Now, now, Sakura-chan. You shouldn't hit your own teammates," a warm but lazy voice commented, while his hand brought her fist down to her side. With his other hand he was holding his always-present porn book, and his dishevelled hair was as wild as ever.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura shrieked. "Give me ONE good reason why I shouldn't hit him! He stole all of my clothes and claimed that it was JUST A PRANK! I had to wear THIS… THING.. to the hospital today! I looked fucking horrible! All because of that IDIOT!" She pointed at Naruto like she had pointed at him whenever he was late, when she was younger. Her nostrils were wide, her forehead was wrinkled.. She was angry. And every ninja in Konoha knew to keep out of her way when she was on an angry rampage.
"Ah, Sakura," Kakashi said, sounding unaffected by his ex-student's tantrum. "I was looking for you, actually. I saw Naruto hide a bag of clothing in the alley behind Ichiraku's Ramen stand." Kakashi chuckled, unsurprised of Naruto's hiding spot.
He probably smelled the Ramen and went to get a few bowls, instead of hiding the clothes. Typical. "You'll find your clothes there. You retrieve them, I'll talk with Naruto for a while."
"Arigatou Sensei!" She shot him a grateful look. Her eyes snapped to Naruto and she gave him a look of pure anger. Naruto shivered.
"Now go get your clothes, before someone else finds them," Kakashi advised, giving her his signature eye crinkle.
"Hai!" the Kunoichi straightened out her medic outfit and started to run.
When Sakura was far away enough to speak to Naruto privately, Kakashi lazily shook his head to the Kyuubi vessel. "You know that pissing off Sakura is potentially dangerous."
"Yes Kakashi-sensei," Naruto grumbled. "It's just been a while between missions, and I was bored."
"So you chose to piss off Sakura? You haven't changed at all in the last couple of years, Naruto." Kakashi sighed and started reading his beloved Icha Icha book, while Naruto scrambled himself to his feet.
"You know she's going to get her revenge." Kakashi murmured. "You've picked the wrong opponent, Naruto."
"I'm going to win this thing!" Naruto told Kakashi. "Believe it!"
Kakashi shook his head. "Your choice, Naruto." He mumbled. "But she's too cunning to let you win."
But Naruto was already gone, probably getting some food. Kakashi shrugged.
They really didn't change at all, he thought. I hope this is not going to go too far..
And while his eyes were on his book, and his feet brought him to the memorial, his thoughts were about Sakura and her payback, and he came to the conclusion that she didn't look horrible in that Medic's outfit
The Hokage's office was quiet today. There had been a lot of paperwork – as always, a lot of whining from the advisors – also something she was getting used to, and a lack of sake, which was something she thought she deserved after signing five enormous stacks of paperwork. When the Gondaime Hokage stood up and turned to the window for the first time that day, she wasn't surprised that the sun was already setting, colouring the sky a deep red.
Hmm, the weather's going to change soon, she thought, while looking over the many rooftops of Konoha.
There was a quiet tap on the door, and a set of footsteps walked into her office. Tsunade turned around, and looked at Shizune who walked to her desk tiredly.
"Shizune?" Tsunade asked, "Are you alright?"
The black haired woman sighed, and put a bottle of sake on the table with a loud thud. "You need a break. I've never seen you look so tired."
"Shizune, you have no IDEA how much I owe you right now," Tsunade said, taking a huge gulp of Sake straight from the bottle. "I've never seen so much paperwork to sign in all my years as Hokage. I haven't even been in the hospital for the last couple of weeks!"
"This was an extremely busy month, Tsunade-sama," Shizune sighed. She even had a bottle of sake for herself. She, on the other hand, had grabbed a cup for herself to pour the sake in, while Tsunade had already finished half of her bottle. "The hospital was a chaos. Sakura-san outdid herself again. A minimal of five big surgeries a day. She worked too hard.. But we all did."
"I need a break. And not just for a day. " Tsunade sighed. "I might not look like it, but I'm getting older.. Throwing all those office supplies starts to take its toll. Not to mention the 14 hours of work every day…"
"Well, let's relax a little more the next couple of weeks. We all deserve it," Shizune said, taking a small sip of her sake. "We're almost out of missions as well, the next busy moment will be two weeks after the festival. Only Kakashi-san and Sakura-san are going out on a mission next week. Most ninja take a few weeks of during this time of the year."
Tsunade, who had finished her bottle of sake and enviously looked at Shizune's bottle, yawned. "Well, we're friends with all the hidden villages now, so I bet that the next couple of weeks won't be as bad. I'll work more in the hospital, starting tomorrow.
Shizune smiled. "I was thinking, Tsunade-sama," she said softly, "That we could take a few weeks off in the next couple of months.. I know you miss your gambling…" Shizune offered Tsunade her bottle of sake, which Tsunade happily accepted. She didn't respond to Shizune's idea though. She had turned around to look at the village, the sun had already set, and the lights below made her proud of all the work that they had done the last couple of weeks.
"Shizune," Tsunade began, "I think this is an excellent idea. We both need some time off, and we have capable ninja in this village who could take over for a couple of weeks. We need a way to convince the council, though.."
Shizune's smile turned sour when she thought about the council.. They would never approve..
"We'll find a way, Shizune." Tsunade promised. "Now, I'm going to get some more sake. If we're going to take it easy starting tomorrow, I might as well have some fun before I go to sleep."
Shizune watched how the older woman jumped through the window, to the village. She knew that Tsunade was still a legendary sannin, and the best medical kunoichi worldwide, but her age was starting to get to her. And the thought of the Gondaime Hokage with a hangover in the office tomorrow, didn't encourage her either.
We really need that time off… I hope we think of something..
The black haired woman walked out of the office then, her thoughts on beaches, spa's, and gambling dens.
Hatake Kakashi never was a curious man, but after he had talked to his old students that afternoon, he had to check on the pink haired kunoichi. She was probably thinking about a thousand ways to torture Naruto at this moment, and they were going on a mission in three days. He just didn't want her to take revenge on him.
He knocked on her door hesitantly, expecting to hear an evil laugh any moment, but she opened the door quite normally. She even smiled at him, as he followed her through the door, into her living room. He chose to lean against the wall next to the living room door, which was close enough to quickly get to the nearest exit. He didn't want Sakura to punch him. He knew what she was like when she was angry.
Her house smelled divine, just like the girl herself. An intoxicating mix of peaches and cherries. He couldn't help but notice. There are ups and downsides to being a shinobi with a good nose. This was definitely one of those ups.
Sakura had traded in her Medic's outfit for something more casual. She looked good, he noticed. She traded in her old medic attire for comfy sweatpants and a red tank top. She looked better – and more evil - then a few hours before he stopped her punching Naruto.
"Sensei," she said mischievously, "As you probably have guessed, I already figured out a way to get my revenge. Sit down."
Sakura gestured to her old couch, but Kakashi didn't budge. He really didn't want to be a test subject, and that couch looked suspicious..
He was too caught up in his thoughts, though, and before he knew it, she had pulled him on the couch, grinning triumphantly.
"You're too distracted, Kakashi-sensei," she said, still grinning. "Don't worry about me tricking or pranking you. I need you fit for the next mission!"
Okay, so he didn't have to worry before the mission was over.. but after…
He was safe for a couple of weeks or so, so he gave her his patented eye crinkle.
"Thank you, Sakura-chan," he said teasingly. "I just needed to be.. reassured, I guess," he murmured. "You looked extremely angry this afternoon.. I bet you've already found a way to get back on Naruto."
She laughed, out loud. "Oh yes, this is going to be great!"
Kakashi swallowed nervously when she showed him a small bottle with a – probably illegal – substance in it.
"Sensei, do you remember when Naruto drank that sour milk and sat on the toilet for 16 hours straight?" Sakura asked him.
"Well, I'd rather not remember that.." Kakashi said. He'd be the one who had to fetch Naruto, and the memories and the smell weren't something that he considered to be a good memory.
"Well," she said, "I was helping Shizune cleaning up the medicine lab, and I found this bottle." She held the bottle up eagerly, and held it in front of her face to look at the contents. "Shizune laughed and told me that Tsunade-shishou used the contents of this bottle to annoy Jiraiya when he was peeking at the spa again."
Kakashi didn't respond. He didn't like where this prank war was going, and it was a matter of time before this escalated beyond proportion.
"Sakura, don't overdo it," he warned her, standing up. He grabbed his book, and while he walked out the door he heard her calling after him. "Thank you for checking on me, Kakashi-sensei! I'll see you at the ramen stand in an hour!"
He lifted his arm up as farewell and walked home, reading.
Naruto was going on a mission tomorrow, which gave him a great advantage over Sakura and their prank war. She had spiked his ramen yesterday, and he finally got the courage to get out of the bathroom. He couldn't sleep all night long – Sakura's potion – or poison – had the intended effect. His pain and humiliation mirrored the last time something like this happened, while he drank some old milk a few years ago.
She had the most evil grin he had ever seen on her – she must have really been mad at him to do something like this.
Ignoring his gurgling stomach, he stepped outside to do some preparations for his mission tomorrow.
It was a beautiful day today. Warm, even though it was still winter. The sun didn't shine as bright as on a summer's day, but it felt fantastic to walk outside.
Naruto went to get some food first, grabbing a couple of Ryo out of his frog wallet. He bought an apple – not wanting to eat the same ramen that made him feel so miserable yesterday, and nibbled on it on his way to the Hokage tower. He just had to pick up the mission scroll for tomorrow.
It was a solo mission to sand, and Tsunade always gave him missions like these because of his ambition to become Hokage. He needed to speak to the Kazekage Gaara about a new agreement between Konoha and Suna.
He was looking forward to the mission – Gaara and him had always maintained contact after saving him from the Akatsuki. He liked Suna, and the warm desert sun. It took him three days to get to Suna, which gave him enough time to not only relax a little, but also to think about his next prank. He wanted to get Sakura back.
He arrived at the Hokage tower, and walked through the spacious hallways, straight to the Hokage's office. He knocked on the door – something he learned doing because of Tsunade's love of throwing office supplies – and walked in when he heard Tsunade's voice, saying 'Come in!'
Tsunade looked horrible. She looked extremely tired, even though she used chakra to look like her young self. She was probably hung over. Naruto knew that she loved drinking and gambling, and she had probably done both last night. He knew that he shouldn't treat her like normal, but with more respect, to get out of the office unharmed.
"I'm here for the mission scroll, Tsunade-sama," Naruto said respectfully, earning a confused look from both Shizune and Tsunade. They had both noticed that he wasn't calling Tsunade 'Granny', that he wasn't hyper nor annoying, and that he actually sounded respectful towards the Hokage for once. Naruto saw Shizune nodding her approval in his peripheral vision.
Tsunade quickly grabbed the scroll, signed it, and gave it to Naruto, even smiling a little due to his mature behavior. But when Naruto turned around to walk away, she said "Naruto, there's one last thing I need to warn you about."
Naruto turned around, and looked confused at the Hokage.
"I heard that you started a prank war with my apprentice, Sakura?" She asked. She looked very serious. Naruto nodded, a bit hesitant.
"Don't take the prank war too far, Naruto," she said stern. "I know who you are, and I know who Sakura is. She won't back down, and she'll find something to get back at you, which will be ten times worse than your worst nightmare.." Tsunade grinned softly. "She's my apprentice, after all."
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Naruto said quietly. He was too stubborn to let Sakura go. He was going to get his revenge. But first, he had to take care of the mission assigned to him.
He left the office quickly, heading home, thinking about several ways to prank Sakura. Maybe he had to involve Sasuke, after all.
Let me know what you think!