In the Darkened World

Chapter One: A New Hokage

I do not own Naruto or any of the characters except for a few jutsus later on in the story.

"I'm tired of waiting for results from the other kages. Give me Kakashi now!" demanded the new Hokage. Konohamaru rushed out of the Hokage Office and after the sensei. The Hokage turned his chair around to face the window behind his desk. Then he looked at his old, framed, orange jumpsuit. His clothes were different this time. Naruto wore a white shirt, which was very baggy and gave his arms a lot of room to move around in; a pair of black shoulder blades with one leaf encrusted into each one; his pants were almost as baggy as his shirt, and he had a belt on now which also had a leaf in the middle to hold up his new baggy pants; and he had new sandals on too now, for he liked the feel of being lighter when he walked, and each one of them had a leaf also encrusted on the sole of the sandal. But, with being the new and sixth Hokage, the feeling of having 5 leaves before him physically and mentally lightened the load.

Konohamaru came back into the Office and out of breath. "Kakashi... needs... to finish... his... Ichi Ichi Tactics... Volume... Three!"

Naruto's back was to Konohamaru as he gazed out at the village before him. Rain and wind whipped against the window. It was a drizzly sort of day, and clouds covered the sky so it was a bit difficult to tell the time of day and the wind took the form of the day: depressing and gloomy, so only naturally the wind blew hard, which made this day too hard to bear for the new Hokage.

"Konohamaru," Naruto began, "could I ask you something?" Naruto finished. "Anything you want boss." Konohamaru replied happily. "Would you tell me your own opinion?" Naruto asked. "Of course boss." Konohamaru returned only too willingly to please his master.

"Do you think I'm a good leader?" Naruto asked. The air was full of thinking and breathing. Konohamaru didn't want to disappoint the Hokage, but told him the truth. "Well, boss, to be honest, I think you are an excellent person. Look at how many people who have changed their ways thanks to you. On the other side, I don't know if you can rule over a village, that's only because of your experience. Every Hokage has a start like this, but they grow attached to the job and never quit, and that's what is important here boss." Konohamaru answered back, only to pleased with his answer, because it was just Naruto's personality to never give up. But, about experience, Konohamaru was only too right. Naruto was only nineteen and there was a lot of pressure lying upon him not only because of his age, but also because of the Kyuubi chakra inside of him. And the villagers can only seem to judge what they think about him, not about his actions, and Naruto was finally given a chance to show everyone what he could do.

Kakashi entered through the doorway at that moment with a smile, although you couldn't tell because of his mask, hiding half of his face. But someone could presume such things by looking into his one shown eye, his other wielding the power of the Sharingan.

"Kakashi," Naruto started, "I'm tired of waiting for Gaara-sama and the other kages to make a decision, so I'm making one for myself and the village. Besides, this doesn't involve the others. It involves Team Seven. You, Sakura and I are going after the Akatsuki Leader..." Naruto paused here as he turned his chair around and glared at Kakashi and then he continued, "For what he did to Sasuke."

"Damn it Naruto!" yelled Kakashi at the top of his lungs so that Konohamaru shrunk down against the wall so that he wouldn't get dragged into this, yet Naruto still kept his glare right at Kakashi until the sensei continued, "You only care about Sasuke and not the lives you put into..." Kakashi stopped abruptly. Naruto's eyes grew wildly so that Naruto's pupils widened to fit his entire eye, and Naruto didn't care about anything else except hurting Kakashi at that very moment. "To hell with that idea! Wasn't it your father who told you to never forget your friends and remember who they are? If you are happiest with them, then it shouldn't matter what others think!!!" Naruto finished his sentence with great difficulty and began to cry, then he stood up from his seat, and regaining control over his emotions again walked right up to Kakashi, looked him in his seen eye and asked, "Now, where is Sakura-chan? I know that she will come, but I thought that you would want to come since you are the leader of Team seven." Naruto resumed his seating position, the same one before Kakashi came in, and started his used-to-be gloomy stare outside of the window.

Kakashi answered both previous questions after the Hokage had a chance to regain his self-control. "Sakura-chan is on another S-ranked mission with the other Anbu again. But, I just thought it over and I think that it would be a perfect opportunity for you to receive some experience leading a team. How about you become leader of Team Seven? Besides, I'm afraid, after turning 31, 6 months ago; I don't know if I could keep up such a thing."

"I wonder though," Naruto began, still not daring to face Kakashi sensei, yet clinging to the landscape of the village, "did you hear about what happened to Sasuke?" Naruto asked. "Not until I got back from the bookstore late last night buying Ichi Ichi Tactics Volume Three, but even then, it was still an unconfirmed rumor." replied Kakashi. "I thought so." Naruto started. "Anyways, to hell with those Anbu. They don't trust me. I wouldn't be Hokage if I wasn't able to cope with having the job." Naruto stated.

"Well listen Naruto," started Kakashi, not willing to start up a new argument with the Hokage, "Sakura-chan will be back in a few hours, and, how about you tell me what happened to Sasuke over a walk around town," Kakashi finished.

Naruto nodded in agreement as if speaking was too much pain and grief. Konohamaru waited for the new Hokage to stand up and get out of his seat before he sat down and began some paperwork. Then, Konohamaru looked up and watched two of the four members of Team seven filing out, Hokage first.

Kakashi walked back into the office. Konohamaru jumped out of his seat, surprised and scared at the same time. "Oh... Konohamaru," began Kakashi, "Around nine or ten o' clock, could you greet Sakura at the front gate and inform her to stop by my place?" It seemed that Kakashi wasn't waiting for an answer because he walked right back out through the doorway, smiling the same way as he had come back in, but you could only tell by his one visible eye. Konohamaru, making sure that no one else was going to come in through the doorway, sat down in the chair, the same exact one the worried new Hokage had sat down in moments earlier, and turned the chair around the same way as Naruto had done, waiting, watching for something to happen outside of the Hokage Mansion. And then it hit him, and Konohamaru smiled as he saw the pair leaving the Hokage Mansion .

"Well Kakashi, let me start the story where we all left off..." said Naruto as he and Kakashi descended into the village of Konohagakure .