"You want me to do what?" I asked, spinning back on my heel to face the silver haired shinobi. "Kakashi – there's no way that someone like myself is suited to be Hokage."

He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, you were the first to be thought of."

"Danzo not try to shove his way in this time?" I asked, faking shock. Of course he would have tried to have the council swing in his favor – though that never happened. "I can't accept."

Kakashi cocked his head at me, but smiled. "And just why not?"

"I'm not finished my training yet." I said simply, flipping my long black curls over my shoulder. "Besides, Tsunade's just incapacitated right now. She'll be fine in a few days. There's no point in having two Hokage's when one's just fine."

"But you'll be the youngest Hokage. Be in the same league as Gaara." Kakashi tried to persuade me.

I placed a finger to my lips in thought. "Nope. Still not of interest to me."

Kakashi just beamed at me. "I guess I'll just have to bring you back by force then, eh?"

I raised my brow. I should have started running. He hit the pressure point on my neck and I was out.

When I awoke, I was slung over Kakashi's shoulder with a raging headache as he walked down the dirt path towards Konoha; the giant gates up ahead of us. He had gone through the effort to bind my hands and feet with my own metal rope. "I hate you so much right now."

"I know." He smirked, adjusting his hold on me. "I'll just take you to the council and then you can go visit with your old friends. I'm sure they've missed you."

"You can put me down now," I said through gritted teeth. The gates passed by. I felt my jaw drop and eyes widen as I saw the remnants of destruction. My tone softened as I broke out of my rope, "no seriously." Kakashi quickly set me on the ground. I spun around, taking in all the destruction. "Tell me what really happened."

"Pain from the Akatsuki attacked the village looking for Naruto." No way.

"How long ago?"

"Four days." I began to walk through the crater and towards the Hokage monument. "Where are you going?"

"To accept." I stated simply.

Kakashi laughed as he caught up to me, "that's the spirit – Sixth."

"Don't call me that." My eye twitched.

"Welcome Makoto Furiyami, I trust that your training went well." The Daimyo asked, his smile a little too gleeful. I just nodded in response. Danzo was not in attendance. Something must have happened.

"I'm sure Kakashi has explained to you that you have been chosen to become the Sixth Hokage. Tsunade is currently in a coma due to her heroic acts while Pain attacked the village and we are in need of someone to continue on in her place. Do you accept the position of Sixth Hokage?" Homura asked, his hands clasped on top of the table.

"I accept." I said simply.

"Perfect," The daimyo exclaimed, "we'll hold the ceremony when the village is in a better state. I hereby dub you the Sixth Hokage! Your work shall begin tomorrow!" I was flanked by Guy and Kakashi after I left the room and entered the hall.

"Welcome back to Konoha, Makoto," Guy beamed, giving me a thumbs up. "Congratulations on becoming Hokage!"

"Thanks," I muttered as we worked our way through the halls to the outside.

"You should come and help train my team when you're free," Guy smiled, holding the door open for me.

"Maybe when they're not genin," I shrugged as we entered the heat of summer.

Guy laughed, "they're all jonin! They can take anything you swing at them." I raised a curious brow. Most teams stopped training formally together when all members became jonin - even chunin, it was odd that they had kept going.

"Maybe." I mused, walking down the steps ahead of the two until I stopped at the bottom.

Kakashi sighed but nodded. "We have temporary housing set up in training fields nine and ten. Feel free to stay there until we can get something else sorted for you."

"Sounds fantastic." I smirked, making my own way through town. I walked past the rubble of what used to be my village, a few volunteers were busy clearing the debris and filling in the large crater. I diverted my route into the mountains, up towards the graves. I picked a few bunches of wildflowers from the side of the path. It was the best I would be able to do for now. The sun sunk into the mountains, turning the sky a rosy pink. I made my way to each of my old teammate's graves and placed a bunch of flowers at their base. They were the reason why I made jonin. I could not thank them enough. I made my way over to Hayate's grave. He had been killed during the chunin exams five years ago. I left him a few flowers at the base of the monument before turning to leave. A blonde shinobi and two kunoichi stood at the entrance to the graveyard. The blonde ran over to me, his look half anger and half intrigue.

"You're the new Hokage," the blonde shinobi asked, leaning towards me as he looked me over. Whisker marks, Naruto Uzumaki. "How old are you?"

"Just what are you implying?" I asked through gritted teeth. He stood upright as the pink haired and blonde kunoichi hit him over the head. "I'm eighteen."

"No way," the blonde kunoichi gawked, "your team Guy's age? But you didn't graduate the academy with them." The trio became perplexed.

"I graduated at six and made jonin by ten." I explained, placing a hand on my hip.

Naruto pointed a finger at me, "I challenge you to a fight!" I sighed, pushing his finger out of my face and stepped past the group. "Where do you think you're going!?"

I did not even bother to turn back, "I don't have time to play with children." He yelled in anger as I walked off. Once I was out of sight and earshot, I ducked behind a tree and rubbed my temples. What had I gotten myself in to?

"It's been a long time since you came back," a lazy voice said from my left. I opened an eye to see a tall brunet shinobi, hair gathered into a pony tail on the top of his head, dressed in the traditional jonin uniform, had stopped a few feet shy of me. Shikamaru Nara. I smirked, I had not seen the kid in years. We used to play together as children and train when we were in the academy – and after I had graduated until I left the village. "Congratulations on becoming Hokage." He fumbled with the crutch.

I chuckled, standing upright, "thanks."

"Do you have a place to stay?" He asked, "I'm sure Mom and Dad would love to have you."

I smirked, "that would be great. Kakashi told me that something bad had happened, but I never thought that it could be this bad." I walked alongside him towards the temporary housing on the outskirts of the village.

He sighed, shoving his free hand deeper into his pockets. "It was unexpected. The Akatsuki hit hard while we weren't prepared. Pain destroyed the village before Naruto came back and defeated him." I raised a brow, that obnoxious brat was able to take down the leader of the Akatsuki? He must have something up his sleeve. We made our way through the old training grounds, chatting about the past eight years. Someone who could use the wood style had set up a large area of five story buildings reminiscent of the land of Ogres.

"Who did you bring home?" A deep voice called from the third floor balcony. We looked up to see Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, learning on the rail.

I stopped, placing a hand on my hip and looked up at him, "really, you already forgot about me?" He resembled his son strikingly well. "Scarface."

He just stared at me for a moment. Then it clicked. "Makoto?! You sure have grown."

"Makoto?" Yoshino, Shikamaru's mother, popped her head over the ledge, "it is you! What are you waiting for – come up." Her lighter brown hair had been pulled into a pony tail, a few strands left lose.

Shikamaru just gave me a shrug as we made our way up the stairs to their floor. "Mom's been wondering when you were going to come back." I let out a small chuckle as we reached the final flight. Yoshino's arms were instantly around my neck in a hug and I was being pulled inside.

"You left for eight years without so much as one letter – my do we have to catch up. Do you still like tea? I managed to save some of Shikamaru's favourite." Yoshino smiled, ushering me down onto a pillow in front of a small low table. Other families were gathered in different areas, chatting, consoling, the like. She began to boil a teapot using a small fire jutsu. "So tell me, what happened?" She poured the hot water into four teacups, already ready with the tea leaves.

I shrugged. "Just traveled around training and picking up small jobs and missions to make money." Yoshino then began to tell me all about how lazy Shikamaru became after I left the village, but despite that, he was able to become the only chunin at his first exam and all of his accomplishments up until now for about five hours. Yoshino had finally passed out from a hard day's work, Shikaku had to put her to bed. Shikamaru had gone off to visit his sensei's widow to make sure that she was alright. Leaving me with his father, who promptly took out a small flask of sake and poured both of us a glass before he motioned for me to follow him outside. We both leaned over the rail with our drinks, quietly looking out over the dark remains of where the village once stood.

"You sure changed a lot since then," Shikaku chuckled, taking a drink of sake.

I raised a brow and turned my gaze to him, "Really?" He nodded. We stood in silence for a while again.

"I recommended you," Shikaku said quietly, looking up at the stars.

I raised a brow, "why?"

He shrugged, taking a long drink. "Stories always make their rounds. God of death." I cringed at the name. "Danzo nominated himself, of course. The Daimyo thought it over, but as soon as I mentioned your name, you were unanimously agreed upon." I looked up at the starry sky. "You're going to be a great Hokage."

I scoffed. "It's going to take people a while to warm up to that idea. Most don't even remember me. Can't complain though – I don't know most of the people my age myself."

"My best friend and my old man bonding over drinks, what did I walk in on?" Shikamaru said suddenly. We jumped in surprise. "It's late, we should get to bed." Shikaku and I both downed our drinks. He took my cup from me and headed to the shared kitchen. Shikamaru and I followed him in, but Shikamaru slowly lowered himself down to the ground with help from the wall near three set up and empty beds.

"How did you break your leg?" I set myself down beside him, placing my elbow on my knee and my chin in my open palm.

"A stone from one of the buildings fell on me," he replied as I placed my hands above his lower leg. My hands began to glow green. He raised a brow, "you swore you'd never learn medical ninjutsu."

"Things change," I said stiffly as I worked away at mending his bone.

"You should meet Sakura, she's been helping to heal everyone." Shikamaru mused.

I shot him a cold look. "You forget. I don't like females. They're boring and whine and moan about everything."

Shikamaru chuckled lightly, "women are so troublesome."