**Disclaimer: If you don't like what you're reading, don't comment. If you want to comment, please make it constructive.
Tips: It is not uncommon for a child at almost 4 years of age to be able to make complete sentences. Honestly, look at the cartoon on Sprout "Caillou"; he's 4 years old and his little sister is about 2. Rosie (the sister) can speak in almost complete sentences and walk properly for the most part. Caillou is able to understand most things the adults say and can learn from others. He speaks in complete sentences, can tie his shoes, walk/run/jump on his own. He can even use kid skates and ice skates. Also, ever hear of "anime logic"? Well guess what; anime logic barely ever exists. There are animes that have almost no logic like Excel Saga and Azumanga Daioh. Do not tell me this story is unrealistic when realism hardly ever exists in anime; Naruto is no exception. Also, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya were all Gennin when they were FIVE. Kakashi? Gennin at FIVE. Itachi? Gennin at SIX. Zemaria being excessively talented stems from OROCHIMARU being her father. Think about it; O-RO-CHI-MA-RU! The most well known obsessively EXPERIMENTALLY induced individual in the entire series! He EXPERIMENTED on his own child! Of course she's going to be OP! She's no stronger than Itachi and I did that on purpose because she's a SENJU and he's an UCHIHA! I wanted it to be mirrored off of Madara and Hashirama. If common sense can't make you see that, then there's something wrong.**
Chapter One
Third Great Ninja War
The third great ninja war seemed to go on forever. It forced young shinobi to fight endlessly and risk their lives; shinobi such as Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara under the leadership of Minato Namikaze. The three young shinobi were all between nine and eleven years old. But there was one child so young, she couldn't have possibly been old enough to fight; let alone have much in the way of chakra control. Her name was Zemaria Senju and she was a prodigal child of her generation.
Her parents were two of the three legendary Sannin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Zemaria was three and a half years old. Orochimaru insisted she participate in the war. He wanted to test her strength in the heat of battle. Being born of two Sannin gave Zemaria unprecedented power. While Zemaria was fighting alongside her parents, Minato's team came up with a tactic to split up. He would go off on his own and Kakashi being the other Jounin in the team, would lead his two teammates in a different direction.
"Does everyone understand the plan?" Minato asked the three kids.
They all nodded. "Yes Sensei. We'll head to the East and branch off from there," Kakashi replied.
Minato put the map they were looking at away. They all stood up and ran off to the East as Kakashi had said they were to do. After a while, they split up from their Sensei and went in the opposite direction in search of the enemy to take down. It didn't take long for them to encounter enemy shinobi. While in the midst of battle, Rin was kidnapped.
Immediately, Obito rushed to try and go after the shinobi who took his teammate and friend. Kakashi stopped him. He told him the mission was top priority; they would save Rin later. Obito didn't like that idea. He tried to change Kakashi's mind.
"Rin is our teammate! Our friend! Don't you care about her at all Kakashi!?" Obito yelled.
"Those who disobey the rules are scum. We can't waste time trying to save Rin and risk failing the mission!" Kakashi yelled back.
Obito clenched his hand into a fist, "That might be true in the shinobi world, but... those who abandon their friends, are worse than scum! I'm going after them and I'll save Rin on my own!"
The two split after their argument. Obito went after the enemy to find Rin and save her while Kakashi went in the other direction to continue and finish the mission by himself. Once Obito found where they had taken Rin, he was about to go inside the cave where she was being kept. The enemy ninja attacked him. He hesitated at first but soon fought them.
The fight didn't last very long before he nearly had gotten himself killed. In an instant, their attack had failed. Kakashi decided to change his mind and go after Obito. He knew his teammate couldn't handle things on his own and saved him from the enemy's attack. The battle continued on and just as things were looking like they were to favor the young Leaf shinobi, one enemy managed to cut deep into Kakashi's face directly over his left eye with a kunai.
"Kakashi!" Obito yelled. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's just hurry and save Rin," He replied, his left eye now closed tight.
While they handled things there, on another battlefield, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Zemaria were fighting enemy shinobi in mass quantities. Zemaria had so much concentration on the battle at hand that her parents only needed minimal effort to handle the enemies before them. Their young daughter who wasn't even old enough to enter into the Ninja Academy was slaughtering hundreds of shinobi in five minute incriminates. Tsunade was clearly impressed as the three moved from battlefield to battlefield effortlessly. But something was bothering her; Zemaria's ease of killing. She seemed to do it without any emotion whatsoever.
Tsunade wondered just what kind of training Orochimaru had been giving her. She feared and was worried her daughter would turn out just like him; a cold blooded heartless killer. She already had more speed than both Tsunade and Orochimaru combined. Zemaria wasn't at all a perfect assassin however; she for a single moment had been thrown off kilter and because of that moment, had been struck with a kunai. It left a cut stretching from her cheek bone, kissed the corner of her right eye, and rested over top of her thin eyebrow.
This threw her off balance for a few seconds before she regained her groove. The attack caught the attention of her parents who were about to help her until they realized she was actually perfectly fine as well as capable of handling it herself. Meanwhile, Obito and Kakashi made it inside of the cave after Obito was able to activate his Sharingan; the famed kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Together, they defeated the enemies and freed Rin. However, it was no time to celebrate as one enemy had created a cave-in not long after the two boys' rescue was successful.
"We have to leave, now!" Kakashi ran towards the entrance.
"We'll never make it in time!" Rin said as the opening started getting blocked by chunks of rocks.
Rin ended up tripping. Obito dove toward her and shoved her out of the way, "Run Rin!"
She was shoved closer to Kakashi who had gotten a bit ahead of them, "Obito!"
The rocks fell directly on top of Obito's right side, "Rin... Kakashi... you both have to get out of here before you're trapped inside."
"Obito... we can't leave you behind. Maybe I can move the rocks," Kakashi said.
"No, it's useless. You two... have to leave. But, before you do... I just remembered something. I... never gave you... a gift- for making Jounin. I want to- give you something that's not stupid or useless," Obito said and held his left hand up. "Take my Sharingan... Kakashi. It... doesn't matter what anyone will say. You deserve it and I know it will be in good hands. Take care of it and we will always be connected."
Kakashi took the bandage off and opened his eye after Obito transferred the Sharingan over, "Obito..."
Rin sensed more enemies approaching, "Kakashi! We have to leave now! More enemies are coming!"
"Promise me... you'll protect Rin," Obito let out his final words.
"I promise," Kakashi told him just as the collapsing cave covered the rest of his friend.
Kakashi hurried off and he and Rin rushed for the hole they came in from. He got out first and reached down for Rin's hand to help her out just as the opening became covered and closed up. When they turned away from the cave, a whole mess of enemies stood before them. Kakashi was ready to take them all on alone in order to protect Rin. But before he could, he collapsed. Rin knelt down next to him.
The enemies were about to attack when they were all wiped out. Minato had caught up to them and Zemaria had sensed a large group of ninja. She had been the one that wiped them out as Minato stood to protect his young shinobi students. Minato carried Kakashi to a safer place; Rin following close by. He asked Zemaria to accompany him and the remainder of his team. They were now down one team member unfortunately.
Rin tended to her teammate's wounds. Zemaria even assisted in transferring a small amount of her own chakra over to Kakashi to help in his recovery. Day soon turned to night and Kakashi finally woke up. He was laying next to Minato who was sitting up and staring off into the distance. Rin was a little farther away staring up at the sky and Zemaria was leaning against the tree.
"Minato-Sensei? Did you... save us?" He asked him.
"I was about to, but no. The one who took out all of those shinobi was Lady Zemaria," Minato replied.
"Lady Zemaria?" Kakashi blinked confused.
Zemaria shifted more towards the two, "That would be me. I sensed a large number of shinobi not from the Leaf so I hurried in that direction. When I saw you and your teammate and sensed you had little chakra and energy left, I felt it would be best for me to step in."
Kakashi gasped seeing how young she was, "You? How old are you?"
"I'm three and a half years old," she told him.
He was shocked that someone so young would be involved in the war. What was the Hokage thinking? Was she really that powerful that he'd allow her to risk her life before it's barely even begun? Kakashi had so many questions about her presence. Who were her parents and why would they allow their own child at her age to fight?
He lightly shook his head, "Sensei, where's Rin? Is she okay?"
He just pointed to where she had been standing for hours. Physically she was fine but watching her teammate and friend being crushed under those heavy rocks had upset her greatly. She cared deeply for Obito and now he was gone; his dreams all crushed and destroyed. Obito and Kakashi had just started to get along too and then that had to happen. Zemaria stared a bit confused by their sad states. She didn't quite understand what was going on.
"Why do you guys seem upset?" She asked.
"We couldn't save our friend...," Kakashi said still looking at Rin's backside.
The wind blew lightly, tussling their hair. "Oh. I'm sorry," she said softly.
The concept of personal loss wasn't something Zemaria was able to understand yet. She's never experienced before. But she was still young. One day she would understand. She stuck her hand in her pouch and pulled something out. Then she stretched her hand out to Kakashi in an effort to offer him the item. It appeared to be a food pill but it wasn't perfectly round and the color was different than normal ones.
"Uh? What's this?" He asked.
"Take it. It will help replenish your chakra as well as your energy. So you won't feel drained or as tired," she told him.
He took the small odd shaped pill, "Thanks. Where did you get something like this?"
"Mother is a medical ninja and father experiments a lot. I watch them both constantly so I tinkered around and found a good recipe and that pill is the result. Don't worry, I've used them myself as a test as well as my parents," was her explanation.
Minato was the only one there who was aware of who her parents were. That was how she was so powerful at such a young age. Rin finally decided to join her Sensei, Kakashi, and Zemaria. Tsunade and Orochimaru knew their daughter went off on her own. They planned on rejoining her after they were done at the battlefield they were at.
"Kakashi, Rin I've decided on something," Minato started. "Since we're down one team member, I've decided to temporarily add Zemaria to our team."
"What? Why?" Kakashi asked not very thrilled with the idea.
"I think she could be a huge help. We should at least give her a chance," Rin said sweetly.
"But Rin! She's even young than we are! She may be skilled but-," he argued.
"That's enough. From what I heard from the reports, Lady Zemaria has been consistently taking down up to two hundred enemies in five minutes every single time. During the entire time she'd been in the middle of the fighting, she's only ever received one minor injury," Minato informed him.
Kakashi started at his Sensei, "Two hundred in five minutes? And only one injury?"
It was settled; Zemaria would be a temporary member of team Minato. They rested a bit before heading out again. The war lasted another several months before it finally had come to an end. Thousands of lives were lost because of it. The warring lands came to an agreement and made a peace treaty which ultimately resulted in the Third Hokage resigning from his title.
Sarutobi acknowledged Tsunade, Orochimaru, Minato, Rin, Zemaria, and of course the fallen Obito and many others as heroes of the war. He then looked at all of the possible candidates for who would be his successor as the Fourth Hokage. The top shinobi was Minato but there was also little Zemaria who could be a good candidate to be trained by the top special Jounin to one day become Hokage. He himself was very young when the First and Second Hokage decided to have him trained to be Hokage. Orochimaru put his name in as a candidate himself.
There was just one problem; Orochimaru's ambitions would have been the Village's downfall. He simply wasn't right for the position. His daughter however, was a perfect candidate because of her lineage of being Tsunade's child and the Great Granddaughter of the First Hokage. After a week to build up the number of potential candidates, Sarutobi made a decision; Zemaria. It was true she was now four years old but she had him and the elders of the council to aid her in leading the people of the village and making decisions.
"Me? But Lord Hokage, shouldn't the one to succeed you actually be a legitimate shinobi? I'm not even academy age," Zemaria told him. The truth was, she had zero interest in being Hokage at all.
"You've shown the greatest power and skill on the battlefield during this war more than any Jounin had. As Hokage at your age, you would have multiple advisers as well as a special Jounin to continue training you as a shinobi. You're also the daughter of two of the Sannin of the Leaf and the great granddaughter of the First Hokage. Not only that, but your parents along with Jiraiya have been training you since you were two years old from what I heard. And finally, the three of them were my students which means, they were trained by a Hokage. You're over qualified technically to be Hokage," Sarutobi explained to her.
She sighed, "I have absolutely no incentive to be Hokage. It's not my goal and not something I want. What about Minato-Sensei? He's skilled, powerful, intelligent, and incredibly fast."
"Mm, Minato was high up there with you on the candidate list. But in the end, I chose you. You're young and could have a lot of years as Hokage. Which means choosing the fifth would be very far into the future. This could be the best thing for you as well," he said.
You just don't want me turning into my father old man..., She thought. "Alright fine." She let out another sigh.
It was settled. Lady Zemaria Senju would become the Fourth Lord Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village. There were sure to be those who wouldn't be very happy with the Hokage's choice simply because of Zemaria's age and others who knew who her father was would likely think that she'd be a ruthless ruler who would use the people of the village as her test subjects. It didn't matter though since there was more to her than just Orochimaru's DNA. The people and shinobi kept forgetting that she also had Tsunade and Hashirama's DNA. The Senju side of her was what made her sweet and caring and have a huge love for her village.
The inauguration ceremony would take place two weeks later in order to get everything ready. Her new Hokage cloak had to be made, the Lord of the Land of Fire had to be informed, the villagers and shinobi had to be informed, and all of the paperwork had to be written up. The war may have ended, but the work needed to replace the fallen and fix any damage to the village had only begun. There was a lot of work to do. Sarutobi summoned Orochimaru and Tsunade to his office. The elders of the council as well as Danzō; the leader of The Foundation which was the underground variation of the Anbu Black Ops.
"You what?" Tsunade asked shocked.
"How did you end up choosing our daughter as Hokage and not me when I put my name in there for it?" Orochimaru asked a bit irritated by the choice.
Sarutobi groaned lightly, "Orochimaru, you lack the necessary qualities for being Hokage. Young Zemaria is not just your DNA but she is also Tsunade's and because of that, she possesses the personality of the First Hokage; Hashirama Senju. That alone qualifies her for the title of Hokage even at her drastically young age."
"Tch. Fine," he said and left the room without being dismissed.
"Orochimaru!" Sarutobi yelled but he ignored him.
He explained further to Tsunade who seemed rather proud about her daughter becoming Hokage. She thought Zemaria would turn out like Orochimaru but was no second guessing it. If Sarutobi trusted in her to be a good leader, then she could too. For the next two weeks things were being arranged and the village was undergoing much needed repairs. New Gennin and Jounin were being chosen. Until the village was back in order, the Chuunin exams would be on hold so no new Chuunin were being chosen.
Soon, it was time; Zemaria's inauguration for the title of Hokage. Her Hokage garment was finished just in time. Instead of the standard cloak like the Hokage before her wore, hers was more like a tailcoat shirt with the words 'Fourth Hokage' stitched on the back in kanji lettering. The shirt itself was red with a gold filigree design and gold lettering. It had no sleeve but instead, she had special arm sleeves made separately of the same color and design. The one little difference was the fact it had the Senju clan symbol embroidered onto the cuff area on the front and back of both sleeves. The shirt had the same symbol embroidered onto the slightly raised collar.
"Shinobi and residents of the Leaf; I Hiruzen Sarutobi am here to pass on the title Hokage to someone who played a very big part in this most recent war. She may be extremely young, but she will have great power, knowledge, and skill as both a Shinobi of this village and a great leader in the years to come! Now, it is time... to celebrate the new Fourth Hokage, Lady Zemaria Senju!" Sarutobi addressed the crowd.
Zemaria appeared and walked over to stand next to him, "I promise to all of you, I will protect this village even at the risk of my own life!"
Everyone muttered in confusion. They weren't sure how to react to such a child becoming Hokage. Was she really that powerful? How much of an impact did she have on the war?
"Lord Third said 'Senju'. Is she really from the Senju clan?" Someone whispered to another shinobi.
"She doesn't look like a Senju," another questioned.
Zemaria knew it would be difficult for them to accept her as Hokage. She had previously requested that Minato be the one to oversee her ninja training; at least in taijutsu and weaponry. From studying his fighting style, she had noticed he was able to use wind release which was something she wasn't able to use at all. At her current age, she was only able to use fire release and wood release.
"All right! Settle down everyone! I know she's young and by that, I mean she's only four. But I will be advising her until she's old enough to handle things on her own. You have no need to worry," he reassured.
"Lord Third, may I make another request?" She asked softly.
He nodded, "What is it?"
"I'd like there to be someone specific to be an adviser; Shikaku Nara," she told him.
"Mm? Shikaku Nara? Why him?" Sarutobi asked.
"I've known him since I was born and mother always works with him to get deer antlers for her medicines. He's become something like a big brother to me and I know he'd look after me. I also trust him a lot," she said.
He thought a moment, "Very well then. He does have excellent tactical skills and intelligence."
