The Hokage's Will

Chapter Three: Earth, Lightning, Wind , Water and Fire

"As long as there are leaves in this village, the will of fire shall never die!"

-Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage

Everyone looked on in awe at the person that stood above them, with the hat of the village Kage held in his right hand. Naruto looked below in the same manner that the elder population of Konoha had seen only once from their former Hokages.

Namikaze Minato.

Shikamaru looked on in surprise himself, in a way; it answered the questions why Naruto had gone missing for the past five days, without as much as the ANBU searching for him and his requests from Kakashi that he search for Naruto being denied by the said man, apparently, Kakashi was in on this too, seeing as he was the proxy Hokage, along with Yamato who had supervised the Kumo Nin at the records department.

"So… He's finally fulfilled his dream… It's… Kind of melancholic, huh, Shika?" Ino mentioned as she thought how it must have been painful to label Sasuke as a missing nin.

"First off, don't call me that, second, yeah. I know what must be going through his head right now; he'll put his feelings as a friend aside in order to keep the village safe."

It was then that Naruto began his speech,

"I'm sorry for taking this long to finally get to speak to you; I bet Kakashi-sensei got too bored at the job just within five days of it." He said that with a grin, some of the ninja scowled at Kakashi at that, they were going around in circles two days ago disguised as a mission! And the item often was some crap that wasn't really that important!

Kakashi merely scratched the back of his head and silently laughed, sure it was a sin to be fooling off when the village was in such a state, but come on! The thought of giving Gai a mission that involved a lot of scavenger hunts and fetch me's was hard to pass up!

Okay so he did pass it up, if only because the village had a giant crater in the middle and the reserve genin and chuunin needed exercise! Honest!

"Anyway, I'm sorry again for being late in announcing my ascension to the position. I had some things to take care of. Can you believe it? Me, a genin, not yet even reaching Jounin or even Chuunin, and already, I took the seat, Ibiki-san must be laughing his ass off right now."

Back in the intelligence department, said man was indeed laughing his ass off at the irony of it all.

'Even if I'm a genin for life, I'll still become Hokage, watch me! I'm not scared of you!'

Ibiki grinned as he watched perched on the rooftop of the ruined building and letting the new Hokage speak.

"Damn right you did, brat. Guess that's a loss on my part." Ibiki mentioned.

"Oh? It was him all along? I can't wait to… entertain him when he's stressed."

Ibiki stared at his partner and coughed something about being a cradle robber. Anko never was someone who could keep her thoughts to herself. Maybe that was why she was in the torture and interrogation department most of the time. As the things that come out of her mouth often scare the hell out of most men except for him though, Ibiki was the kind of guy that could eat a big piece of meat while watching Anko gut a man during one of her sessions and that was saying something.

"You do know that sixteen would get you twenty, right?" Ibiki mentioned. Anko merely shrugged, hey, a girl can dream can't she?

Back at the tower, Naruto spoke, "I know what it must feel like, loosing everything right now, our home is destroyed, and the works of the people before us vanished without anything left except for destroyed buildings and lives."

Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, balling his right hand into a fist,

"But we're still alive, as long as we are alive, Konoha is still here! We are Konoha! We are the village that makes up the buildings!"

Everyone shouted in agreement.

"We'll get through this! We'll become stronger! We'll bounce right back! We'll kick more asses than the former Konoha did!"

Everyone smiled at that, Hinata merely smiled as she held her hands close to her chest. A blush crossing her cheeks.

"Heh… First time we've got a loudmouth for a Hokage, he's done the impossible, eh Shino?"

Shino nodded with his hands in his pockets and said while looking up, "This is the reason why I would not simply let Akatsuki get him."

The bug user continued, "Why? Because every time one of us is sad, Naruto was there to make us feel better, forcing us to take another step forward by word or by force, Naruto made us into better persons… Do you understand, Kiba? This is his power… Greater than any jutsu, greater than any tailed beast, this is the power that will drive us forward."

Hinata nodded, "Naruto-kun will be… The one to lead us there."

Chouji grinned as his father looked simply in awe, "Naruto, we believe in you… So, make us proud!"

Sakura simply looked at Naruto in melancholy, "Naruto…"

Sai, who had been with Sakura all this time, looked at the cherry blossom girl then back to Naruto, he then said to the girl, "Sakura… I may not understand Naruto and emotions that much… But even I… Can tell just how painful it must be for him to hear the news of Sasuke joining Akatsuki and the choice that he made on what to do."

"But even so I…" Sakura muttered, Sai continued, "It must be hard for Naruto to throw away his heart in order to keep your promise… Sakura, please stop whatever you are doing, you and Sasuke are the cause of his greatest pain."

Sakura could only stare at Naruto biting her lip as tears began to fall. If indeed her actions were the ones to cause him pain, maybe it was time to tell Naruto about Shikamaru's decision as well as the rest.

As Naruto finished his speech, everyone seemed fired up, including the children. With renewed vigour, they went back to repairing the village again. Naruto went to the office, his clones working double time on the paperwork ranging from budgets to status reports.

Grabbing the summarized paperwork, he went out of his office, overseeing the repairs, according to the reports, the village repairs were coming along fine, Yamato had restored some of the amenities down town; most specifically the market and stores to jump start the business district. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the western area of the village had been rather well off; the hot springs were receiving quite a nice batch of customers. Naruto wondered at that, perhaps hearing of Jiraiya's demise somehow made the place trustworthy again.

As he went around town, he overlook at the townspeople on the repairs, who apparently waved at him, with him waving back with a smile, some of the women seemed to squeal however.

Naruto scratched his head at that; did he look that ugly that the women would scream like that? Whatever, he needed to go check on the other parts of town before he had to go tonight for that summit. He sighed, his work as Hokage was tiring, there were things to do and decisions to be made.

Walking around the crater, Naruto saw Team Gai in front of him, minus their teacher. Lee was covering his eyes with his right forearm as the new Hokage approached them.

"Hmm? Lee? What's the matter?" The blonde asked

"Naruto-kun! I was absolutely taken by your speech earlier! Your passion has ignited a fire in my spirit! Already you show the sign of being a great leader!"

Tenten shrugged, "Ignore him, blondie, he's just a little emotional after that little speech you gave."

"Tenten, it's not courteous to call the Hokage names, I'm sorry Rokudaime-sama… My team is a little…" Neji apologized and bowed, Naruto seemed to groan at the new title and suffix and title he had just received, he'll never get used to it.

"Ah, pull that stick out of your ass, Neji. This is Naruto we're talking about… He's not THAT particular about courtesy calls." Tenten mentioned, Neji begged to differ however,

"Titles are important Tenten, names are important; they tell that the person is a dignified member of the elite…"

"Actually, I'm not that particular with names like that…" Naruto had cut in; Neji seemed to raise an eyebrow and said,

"That's not acceptable Rokudaime-sama… Remember that you are now in the highest position. As such, you must display your authority as one…"

"I believe that Naruto-kun's denial on title names is a show that states that he may be Hokage, but he is still a human like the rest of us! Kah! Naruto-kun! You're fires of youth shine brighter than any of us!" Lee shouted, tears of joy welling from the bowl cut chuunin.

"Lee, Naruto doesn't want to be called with a title because he's still not used to it, not because he wants to be the same as other people, why'd he accepted to become Hokage in the first place if he just wants to be the same as the people?" Tenten argued,

"This is why he must show that he has an air of benevolence." Neji replied,

The three then began started arguing with each other, Naruto sighed, how did they become a team again? Oh right, dead last plus genius, plus smartest Kunoichi. Naruto really needed to revise THAT formula; the rookies would most likely kill each other before they could take the chuunin exam, Naruto had first hand experience just how disproportionate their team was ever since the bell test, and although they grew up to complement their fighting styles, they fell apart. Sasuke left the village, Naruto was held back and Sakura remained stagnant. Their team dynamics were the worst in their generation, Neji, Lee and Tenten were lucky enough, often they argued with each other and had a sensei that wasn't lax in team dynamics. Naruto and Sasuke argued with each other, while Sakura supported Sasuke adding fuel to the fire. Kakashi may have hoped that Sakura would serve the mediator, but it already came too late to realize when Sasuke and Naruto were already at each other's throats almost critically injuring or even killing each other. Naruto thought that Team Seven most likely fell apart when Sasuke watched as he fought off Gaara of the Sand when he was barely able to stop him, that showed his jealousy and inferiority complex that Team Seven didn't know Sasuke had.

"GUYS!" The blonde shouted, earning the attention of the three people arguing in front of him, the three immediately stopped and looked at their Hokage.

"Could we please quit it with the pointless argument for a while? There's a village to rebuild, you know!" Naruto exclaimed, silencing the three and standing up straight and saluted, saying,

"We are terribly sorry, Hokage-sama!"

Naruto dropped his head and sighed,

"Just… Just check on the supplies or something, the reports stated that Spring Country has just sent its aid to us."

Neji had cut him off, "We already did Hokage-sama, and the Princess gave us a letter addressed to you."

The Jounin then handed to him the scroll; Naruto quickly unfurled the scroll and read it.

Naruto flushed about halfway through.

Apparently Koyuki had a dirty mouth about… Things that Jiraiya would seemingly giggle and enjoy, and said… Things were directed at him. Now it being a letter, Naruto couldn't really tell if she was teasing or not. That and the fact that she said she never knew that Naruto was such a big fan of the Icha Icha series. Sure, he read the books a few times, but he didn't really found it enjoyable as Kakashi had. Though from Koyuki's letter, it sounded like he was.

Naruto had inkling as to who sent the letter and revised it. He made the letter the night he was about to leave, giving it to Kakashi to proofread and edit if ever he had said some awkward words to the head of state of Spring Country. Said Jounin gave a simple nod and said to leave all of that diplomat letter bullshit to him.

Naruto right now, was sweating bullets as his face was flushing.

"I need to have a word with Kakashi for this…" Naruto said, unfurling the scroll further and found a storage seal. Massaging his temples, Naruto thought that he needed to teach Kakashi a lesson in suddenly putting him in a precarious situation that the Jounin would have terribly enjoyed.

"Oh for the love of…"

Unsealing the storage scroll, he saw a signed copy of the Icha Icha movie that Kakashi had been clamouring about three years ago. Naruto sighed… Yep, looks like he'll be taking a detour to Kakashi, if he ever finds the man that is.

"I swear he's like an endangered species or something." Naruto said stalking away from Team Gai who had then argued again as they walked off.

Naruto then flipped the clip board to oversee any other structures that needed repairing, the paper next to his list was the hospital, there were still a lot of injured people in the infirmary and with the hospital staff being deployed to the make shift tents for the injured and first aid to the people that got injured in reconstructing. There he met Inari and Tazuna who had arrived earlier, discussing about what had happened here and how he became Hokage. Some of the men and women were looking at them strangely, but mostly out of curiosity as to how Naruto befriended two foreigners and how close they were to their Hokage. Apparently, Tazuna was there because of a hangover and Inari was there to guard his drunkard of a grandfather. They parted ways when Naruto had to go check the medical supplies and then recieve the parchments for the approval of more aid.

Naruto went through and talked to the Hospital Director about the received Medical Supplies. The director nodded and showed him crates and crates of medical supplies and equipment and stamped the approval of more incoming supplies from their allied countries, Spring was generous enough to offer a large amount of it. Checking the crates, he then said to the hospital director to take charge of any more supplies coming their way and that he should conserve them as much as possible. Nodding, Naruto thought it was time to visit the old lady, still in her coma.

Coming in to the tent, Naruto greeted Sakura and Shizune. Sakura merely looked sullen and continued her job.

"How's baa-chan?" Naruto asked as he kneeled beside wrinkle faced Tsunade.

"She… Hasn't woken up yet but her vitals are normal… We're still trying our best in waking her up." Shizune said, Naruto mellowed down as she leaned to Tsunade and bowed,

"I'm sorry I didn't make it in time!" Naruto shouted to the unresponsive elder woman, Shizune and Sakura only looked at Naruto as he talked, holding his head and letting his tears fall. He cursed his inability to not make it in time, he cursed Danzo for the fate of Tsunade, he cursed the situation for not being able to do anything against the war hawk. Being the commander of Root, it took a sizeable amount of the Konoha Military force. Simply reprimanding the man was far too risky even for him.

"First Ero-sennin, not you too… I'm sorry for yelling at you when Ero-sennin died! I'm sorry for not making it in time! I'm sorry for calling you baa-chan! I'm sorry for being a brat! I'm sorry for asking so much from you! I'm sorry I failed to protect Konoha!"

Naruto continued to bawl out his emotions as he continued to cry, hiding his eyes with his right forearm, indeed, despite the fact that Konoha had all of its villagers and shinobi alive; it didn't take away the fact that Konoha was destroyed. Konoha was decimated, in a matter of seconds. Seconds that could have been prevented if he arrived earlier.

Sakura merely watched as Naruto continued to cry, Naruto was mortified of himself.

It was then that Sakura saw Naruto fall apart in front of her master. For Naruto, he considered Tsunade grandmother, even a mother at times. For him to suddenly fall apart in front of her was forcing her to cry as well, she bit her lip as Naruto cried.

"Naruto! This isn't how a Hokage should behave!" Sakura shouted as she too, cried. It was hard enough seeing Tsunade like this, but seeing Naruto fall apart like that as well was far too horrible for her.

"What do you know!? Did you force yourself to make the decision regarding Sasuke!? For the village? For the men that I may have stopped from sending them to war just because of him!? I'm forced to label him as a missing nin! Even if I'm the Hokage, I couldn't do anything! I shouldn't even be here talking to you! Because it would just hurt you more to know that it was me who did this!" Naruto shouted at his teammate. Not looking at Sakura. Sakura was silent, so he did know about Sasuke…

"Naruto! That's enough! Don't keep your promise anymore!" Sakura literally shouted, she hated being so useless in this mess, so useless to Team Seven.

Naruto didn't speak as he stood up and got out.

"Please Naruto… Don't hurt yourself because of us…" Sakura mentioned, as she cried.

Naruto bit his lip as he balled his hands to fists, shaking. "I didn't become Hokage because I want to sacrifice my ideals like that. I became Hokage because I wanted to protect anyone that I can. I became Hokage because I knew it was the best way to deal with everything. I became Hokage so I could lead the people the right way and prevent anymore tragedies that cross my way."

Naruto only exited he didn't face Sakura with Naruto only saying, "I'm going to beat him down to the ground this time… I'll be the one to pound the sense in him."

"I've had enough… As the Hokage, I'm going to do what's right for my people." Naruto only mentioned as he went to his office.

As Naruto went away, Sakura was reminded of Sai's words.

'Sakura, please stop whatever you are doing, you and Sasuke are the cause of his greatest pain.'

Sakura was left contemplating those words… In the end, she couldn't say to Naruto what she had wanted to say from Shikamaru… There was no need. Naruto had already decided.

Hokage's office:

The events played out earlier had left Naruto mentally and physically exhausted. He never felt so drained by what happened earlier, to him, being Hokage was still an emotional roller coaster. As he looked out in front of him, his clones were frantically squirming in his office, carrying paperwork and discussing more of the needed work to be done. He glanced at his wall clock and noticed that it was nearing four in the afternoon. He stood from his seat, and the clones quickly began stacking the paperwork around, and vanished as Naruto ordered them to disperse.

It was time.

Calling for one of his messengers, he motioned for them to go look for Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai.

In anticipation for the summit, Naruto looked over his backpack and then to the pictures of the former Hokages. With a firm resolve, he hefted the bag to his back along with the Hokage's hat and stood in front of his desk as Gai and Kakashi appeared thirty minutes later with their backpacks and cloaks for the cold weather in Iron Country. Naruto then said to the two,

"I hope both of you are prepared for what might happen at the Kage summit."

Kakashi stepped forward and said, "The Kage summit… Is an event that even Akatsuki can't ignore… They would most likely try to move and disrupt the meeting and in the process, at least kill one of them."

Gai said without hesitation in his voice, "I am prepared to face them Hokage-sama… We will defeat them without any hesitation."

Naruto nodded to both and said, "I chose the two of you because you are the best Jounins that came to mind. I'm sorry for calling on such short notice."

With a nod from both Jounin, Naruto and his two escorts vacated the premises of the Hokage's office.

As they went out, going to the northern gate towards Iron Country, he stopped when he suddenly turned around, the villagers and ninja alike were going with him, about to see him off. All of them lined up from left to right, shinobi and civilian, seeing him off.

"Take care, Hokage-sama…"

"Please be careful."

"Come back safe!"

"Gai-san, Kakashi-san, please guard him well."

Naruto smiled and raised his right hand above his head into a fist, signifying his affirmation.

Kakashi replied his orange book still in his hand, "Mah, we'll be fine."

Gai nodded, "Hokage-sama is important so we won't let anything happen to him."

As they walked off, Naruto who had lead the team, couldn't help but smile and a trickle of tear fell from his right cheek.

'A Hokage… Must be strong in front of his people… Like a rock meeting the tides of fate and uncertainty on the shore, he must never waver. Is it your dream, Naruto-kun? to become Hokage?'

Naruto remembered those words from the wise Sandaime, as he turned back and took one last look at the Hokage Mountain, his face still not carved on it.

"Don't worry; I won't let anything wrong happen. But just in case, watch over this village"

Wind Country, Sunagakure no Sato:

Gaara looked up, the desert wind caressing his face, as he looked back to his people who were there to see him off. Young and old, men and women. His people...

"Please take care of yourself, Gaara-sama…"

"Temari-san, Kankurou-san, please take good care of Kazekage-sama."

Temari waved her hand to the townspeople flapping her cloak as she said, "We will."

Kankurou however, rolled his eyes and said, "Not like he needs bodyguards anyway."

Gaara simply said, "Courtesy call Kankurou, you know how much tension can escalate on the wrong words alone."

"Whatever, I bet you're the only Kage there who doesn't look like a dried prune." Replied his brother.

"Say that to their faces and we might have a war on our hands, baka. And I'll call your bet for a hundred ryo." Said Temari casually grabbing a canteen of water and gulping a little off the bottle. She didn't know why she did that, as she knew that it was such a stupid bet, but somehow seeing Kankurou lose a bet from impossible odds, and seeing him eat her shoe like a damn goat? She was sold on this bet!

"You're on! Looser has to eat the other's shoe!" Kankurou pointed to his sister, smirking at the gamble, he had this in the bag!

Lightning Country, Kumogakure no Sato:

"Alright, everything's set… Let's do this! Shi! Darui!" Said the Raikage, slapping himself with both his hands and jumped through the glass stained window…

Shi stood up from kneeling and said, "Not again… Hey, how much do you think the property damage that the Raikage will have to pay now?"

The blonde sighed, as Darui scratched the back of his head and looked up, thinking of something.

"Well considering how fired up he is and where we are going, I'd probably say about a hundred thousand ryo."

Shi then approached the broken window and said, "So, you coming?"

Darui shook his head, "Nah, too much hassle, I'll use the stairs instead. It's safer for me and my wallet."

Shi shrugged.

"My fruit stand!"

"I'm sorry, I'll pay for it!"

The yells outside made Shi sweat drop and said to his friend who was smirking, "Yeah, I see your point; I think I'll use the stairs too."

"My ceramics!"

"I'm sorry! I'll pay for it!"

Shi and Darui immediately scrambled down and meet up with the Raikage before the village funds could be drained from the Raikage's rampage throughout Kumo alone.

Earth Country, Iwagakure no Sato:

"Akazuchi! Kurozuchi! Please take good care of Tsuchikage-sama!"

"Show them what you got!"

The short old man sighed and cradled his aching hip.

"Ah, it's troublesome for someone my age to go to meeting that far." The man said leaning against his wooden bag.

"You youngsters don't understand how your hip becomes a virtual time bomb!"

The female of the group, wearing the standard uniform of Iwa Jounin replied, "Why don't retire you then gramps? You can't really rely on your former glory forever."

The biggest of the three, a plump man towering over the two, gave a laugh and leaned down while laughing,

"I'll carry your luggage of your shoulders, Tsuchikage-sama."

The old man lashed out at the man and ever the stubborn old crone shouted, "Don't touch, Akazuchi! I don't need your help!"

The old man then placed the saddles to his shoulders and lifted but…

A loud sickening crack was heard that both escorts flinched at and then…

Pain!

SWEET MOTHER, THE PAIN! The aching, throbbing, grinding and excruciating PAIN!

"OOOOOOOOHHHH! My hips!" The old man shouted in agony shaking from the sudden gush of unpleasant nerves signalling he sit this one out. But what remained him standing on his feet and preventing him to fall down was his pride as the Tsuchikage.

Kurozuchi, trying hard to contain her laughter, said to the old man, "So, does that mean, you'll send someone in your place?"

The old man replied in the midst of his groans, "What are you saying!? I'm the Tsuchikage! Fearsome leader of Iwagakure! I'll carry my own luggage!"

Kurozuchi sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Stubborn old goat."

Akazuchi then lifted the old man and his luggage and then said, "Alright, carry your own luggage then, let's go!"

The old man couldn't really deny that request, besides; a free ride is all that this old man needs to ease the pain on his back!

Water Country, Kirigakure no Sato:

"Now please take good care of yourself." An old man then handed the hat of the Mizukage to the rightful wearer. The man's hand wavering and shaking due to his Parkinson's. The others were simply amazed of this man's dedication to the village.

"Don't let anything go wrong." The old man continued Holding the snake ornamented staff that he held.

The Mizukage replied, holding the hat on her hand and said, "I swear in my honour as Mizukage, I will fulfil my duty in the best of my ability."

The old man then turned to her escorts, "Ao, Choujuro, please guard Mizukage-dono well."

"I-I won't fail… Probably." Said the boy holding a very large sword the shape of a dried fish on his back, adjusting his glasses, the elder replied,

"Don't be so humble, Choujuro, you're strong, you're a member of the seven!"

"That why, you were chosen to guard me, ok Choujuro?" The Mizukage squatted on the boy's eye level and smiled, Choujuro blushed and nodded with a smile.

"Bah, you kids today… Why can't you just say 'Yes, ma'am!'? We don't need you spouting on about, 'I'll do my best!' be a man, Choujuro! Grow a damn spine!" Ao exclaimed

The Mizukage fell silent at that as the older man ranted about his generation and then Choujuro's generation.

The Mizukage suddenly had that urge to behead the spouting old goat for reminding her that she needed a man in her life since she's almost half past the prime age of marriage.

"Shut up Ao or I'll kill you!" She said that with venom laced in her voice

Ao looked puzzled at that and remained silent wondering what had gotten in the head of their leader. What the hell did he do? It wasn't like he was suggesting that the Mizukage was never going to marry! Honestly, she rushes this marriage thing way too much, there were countless men after her heart she just needs to take the time NOT being Mizukage and walk from that office of hers! This was why this generation was such a failure, why can't they use their own feet and eyes and be absolutely sure about what they were thinking!?

The Mizukage could feel the cold wind as she walked by with her escorts, wishing she had a man on her side right now. Oh, the woes of being single woman! Isn't any man interested in her!? With a dejected sigh, the Mizukage walked with her escorts slouching down in depression. She had hoped at least, that she might find someone in Iron Country that will likely sweep her off her feet!

In Fire Country:

"ACHOO!"

Naruto sneezed and sniffed, a sudden chill just crawled down his spine.

"Brrr… It's not yet even Iron country and I'm already shivering, I think I might be coming down with something."

Kakashi merely said, "Nah, you don't get sick because of your tenant. Must be the air here, this area IS very humid."

"Yosh! If Hokage-sama is cold, then I will use my chest and warm him with a most youthful embrace! Come Hokage-sama; come feel the manly chest of Maito Gai!" The said man then gave a nice guy pose, complete sparkling teeth

Naruto merely shivered at the prospect and said, "No thanks, I'm already fine. Just… Be ten steps away from me… Please…"

Kakashi merely chuckled under his mask, thank God for it, his uncovered eye looked unflinching, ah the wonders of being a multi-talented person.

It was then that Kakashi stopped in walking, stretching his hand slightly, Naruto stopped as well, looking to his upper right, as did Gai. Naruto didn't flinch.

"We're being watched." Kakashi mentioned, Naruto nodded as did Gai,

"Hokage-sama, I suggest you remain in your place, we'll take care of them for you."

Naruto remained silent, slowly inching his hand towards the horizontally strapped Fuuma Shuriken strapped at the back of his waist.

Naruto wondered who these people might be, Kakashi flicked his hand is quick as lightning, letting loose three shuriken.

In a blink of an eye, eleven people, jumped straight at them. All of them bearing the symbol of the Hanya clan. Kakashi was about to dash towards an opponent, Naruto motioned for him to stop as they threw shuriken and kunai in countless directions.

"I'll handle this." Naruto said, as he grabbed the folded Fuuma Shuriken from the back of his waist and flipped it in mid-air, catching it by the handle with his left hand.

"Fuuma Shuriken: Windmill Mode!"

The Fuuma gave a resounding click, as the blades separated and spun wildly. Naruto out stretched his hand and deflected the thrown weapons sent at him. Placing chakra on his feet, Naruto jumped and switched the Fuuma Shuriken with his right hand.

"Fuuma Shuriken: Blade mode!"

Another loud clicking sound was heard, the Fuuma Shuriken immediately stopped and retracted to its blade form, deflecting the sword strike aimed above his head, Naruto bent his lower body forward and kicked the man by the abdomen.

The kick forced the wind out of the man as he fell down on the ground with the blonde hitting the man with the blunt part of Shuriken at the back of his neck. As he landed upside down on a tree branch, the blonde had put his hands together in a middle index cross,

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Technique)" Naruto shouted, and soon, five clones popped around the blonde, lunging at the men in every which way they appeared. Naruto then leaned his body forward grabbing the tree branch that he stood, used the arm strength of his left hand to lift his body upward and kicked the branch, jumping straight up.

One of his clones dashed towards his opponent, Fuuma Shuriken drawn, the clone evaded a horizontal sword slash by doing a baseball slide. Once the clone had gotten past the swipe, it used the blunt part of the Fuuma Shuriken and rammed it straight to the man's knee, crippling him. As the man fell, the clone grabbed the sword by the hilt and stabbed it down on the ground. The man fell down as the clone chopped the back of his neck.

"Who are you people!? Why are you after me!?" The blonde shouted. One of the men said,

"Don't feign your innocence, scum! How many more blood of innocents will you spill in order to get what you want!? We, the Hanya clan of Wood Country shall avenge the deaths of our clansmen!"

A clone had quickly caught the blade swipe sent at him. The clone blocked it with his Fuuma Shuriken as he then slid the flat part on the sword, quickly hitting the man by the throat. The man gasped for air, as the blunt part of the folded shuriken was jammed to his neck. Making him step back and stumble down.

"Damn you… Danzo!" He said between gasps, the clone's eyes widened.

"I'm not Danzo, I am Uzumaki Naruto! Naruto! Don't mistake me for that old crone!" Naruto shouted as another clone flipped in midair, punching the man by the gut, hitting the solar plexus.

The man gasped for air as he fell down, knocked out.

"Are you not the Hokage!? Then you must be Danzo!" One of the remaining men said. Naruto shouted, "The Hokage isn't that mad man, I'm the Hokage!"

Naruto shouted as he dodged a blow that would have decapitated him. As he outstretched his right foot and gave sweeping kick, the man lost balance, as Naruto shouted,

"Fuuma Shuriken: Windmill Mode!" Naruto said as he flung the spinning projectile straight to one of his attackers, impaling the man on the shoulders and pinning him to one of the trees. Naruto then flipped the sword away from the man as he blocked a sword straight at his face catching it with his bare hands. Naruto then asked, "Why are you still attacking me!?"

"Silence! Die, scum!"

With that two people came at him drawing their hands together and intricately woven their seals together. "Katon: Endan! (Fire Release: Fire Bullet)"

"Fuuton: Reppusho! (Wind release: violent gale palm)"

Cursing under his breath, Naruto dodged to the side, bringing out two kunai and flinging it towards the two men. As he ran for cover. The combined Jutsu razed and incinerated anything in its path.

The men were parried the flung projectiles with their swords. But was surprised when the kunai had burst into smoke.

Kakashi seemed surprised at this.

'He let two Kage Bunshin perform Henge and turn into Kunai? Since when…'

It suddenly hit him, when Naruto had summoned his shadow clones, he was surrounded with them from all sides earlier; the clones couldn't have been noticed since the smoke had surrounded the blonde.

"Hokage-sama thinks two steps ahead of his opponent." Gai commented and Kakashi nodded.

Just then, Naruto emerged from the smoke, dragging two unconscious men by the collar.

The one impaled on the tree was about to extract the offending weapon from his shoulder, but Naruto stopped him by pressing his hand on his uninjured shoulder and said, "Don't move. You'll just open your wound further."

"Just kill me now! You think that we'll quit just because you left us to live?" Said the man, Naruto didn't move as he stared at the man that was glaring daggers at the man.

"No, I don't… But I don't want the people that you love to come after me either." Naruto said, the man froze but snarled at Naruto, "I've already lost my family from Konoha! Letting me live is only a hindrance!"

"DON'T YOU WANT TO LIVE!?" Naruto had cut off.

"DON'T SAY THAT YOU'D PREFER TO DIE JUST BECAUSE YOU FAILED AT SOMETHING!"

Naruto said; his anger seething as he punched the stump behind the man.

"You think this is supposed to make you feel better!? You think having an eye for an eye is the proper way to solve things!? You aren't God to decide to end the life of people that barely even know you!"

The man, rose defiantly and seethed at the young Hokage "You say that your people are innocent! Don't you dare play as the unsung hero in this! It's Konoha's fault that my wife and children are dead! All because of Danzo!" The man retaliated, Naruto replied as he held the man by the collar,

"And you're going to do the same thing as he did!? Killing innocent people left and right? Did you ever think just for a moment that you were probably on the same level as him? What was it, again? Scum!?"

The man stopped; his grip on Naruto's hand loosening, as Naruto continued, "If you want to be another Danzo then I won't hesitate to kill you, that way, I'll have stopped an evil worse than mine!"

"Then why don't you kill me?" This time, the man's voice was an audible whisper.

Naruto replied, "I'm giving you a choice. Do you want to live and search for a brighter future? Or seek revenge and die a miserable death?"

This time, Naruto's free hand was holding a kunai; a sudden surge of information entered his mind, telling him that the remaining three members were incapacitated.

The man never thought something like this would happen, he had thought that he was prepared for death, prepared to face Danzo to his doom as he swung his sword, but this person stopped him, made him realize just how foolish it was to throw his life away, his reply was an audible whisper, Naruto said, "What's that? I can't hear you! Speak up!"

"I said, I want to live!" The man shouted as he cried in his answer. His wife… His children… They were never going to come back… The times where his nightmares had plagued him every night, eased only by the liquor that had been his company and his remaining clansmen. They were all that he had left, and if they die, that verge of sanity in him will vanish like a flickering match, for he will have nothing left, not even alcohol can douse that pain.

As Naruto had retracted the Fuuma Shuriken from the man's shoulder, the throwing star returned to its folded form and Naruto wiped the blood away. Satisfied with the man's answer, he knew, shinobi may have been trained to kill and to treat death as normal as possible. But the fear of death was still there, it still lingers in the heart of all, even shinobi, trained and dedicated his life in that field for years, fear death.

The man sat on the ground, as he cried and cried out. Holding his head with Naruto turning his back on the man, walking away.

"Hokage-sama… We should…"

"Its fine, Gai-sensei, leave them… They've learned their lesson." Naruto said as they walked away. Gai was surprised by Naruto's decision to leave them be. Kakashi wasn't however.

"This is the Hokage that had trained under Jiraiya, Gai. Have you ever seen such a boy that could do that to his enemy?"

"I've only heard rumours but… This is the first time I saw him do it. It's as if Kami himself willed inside him…" Gai was astonished to say the least never had he seen someone as unique as Uzumaki Naruto. Jiraiya-sama had stated once that he treated the lives of every human being as precious; he would often light candles when he got home to pray for the souls that he had tragically ended. Naruto was the opposite of that when he was a child, to Naruto, what was most important to him back then was his existence, acknowledgement. Desperation often lingered in Naruto's mind as a child, he looked on in the village with a mere complacent and hated expression, he wasn't opposed to killing back then. Kakashi knew that his first and only kill was Sasori's spy, Yura, who Naruto had driven his Oodama Rasengan (Great Ball Spiralling Sphere) at the said man's chest, tearing blood vessels and cardiac muscles apart. And although Naruto had ended his training with Jiraiya back then, Kakashi saw Naruto's expression as that of regret when they had camped the night before they saw Gaara.

Kakashi had wondered how much change Jiraiya influenced on the boy and the boy to Jiraiya.

"Oh yeah, Kakashi-sensei, I have to talk to you about something. I don't appreciate it when you revise my whole letter to the Princess of Spring country and chucking in a copy of the movie of Icha Icha Paradise to be signed." Naruto mentioned looking at his sensei with a scowl on his face, forcing Kakashi out of his reverie.

"Mah, don't make a big deal about it, Naruto. And thanks for letting her sign my copy!" Kakashi said kissing the movie copy of his favourite series and placing it back in his pouch.

"You know what just happened!? Koyuki sent me a letter and talked dirty to me! And since it was a letter, I didn't know if she was teasing or if it was the real deal! You just opened a can of worms in front of my face sensei! The worst part is you made it with MY seal of authentication!" Naruto answered.

"You worry too much, Naruto. For one thing, if she ever did those acts to you, she'll be labelled a cradle robber. Of course most of the female population older than eighteen in Konoha already consider you jailbait now."

Naruto stood agape at that, WHAT!? Then that means all those girls squealing at him earlier were…

Kakashi chuckled under his mask and said raising the pitch of his voice, mimicking a female's, "'Oh, Naruto-sama was so cool back there!' 'He's so sexy!' 'Would he father my babies?' Or so I've heard."

"Ah… Ah… Ah…" Naruto could only say, not finding his voice to speak in the matter,

"I think you just broke him, Kakashi." Said Gai. Kakashi chuckled further,

"Oh come on, it's as if Jiraiya-sama never taught you anything about women."

Naruto, finding his voice to speak again, "There wasn't anything to learn but to view women's anatomy while staying hidden before they kick the crap out of you."

Naruro shivered as he ran down memory lane, the misadventures with the Toad Sage were memorable on his part. Mostly because he had more than once ran away fearing for his life from the crowd of women that were carrying weapons sharp enough and threatening them to get them "fixed". Jiraiya had stated once that he'll get used to the challenge eventually as it could also serve his training in speed and stealth. The fact that Naruto could run so fast was partially thanks to Jiraiya, and partially to Tsunade, who had been Jiraiya's inspiration when they were kids to get the hell out of dodge when the time called for it.

As they spoke often with Kakashi's amused tone, Naruto's embarassment and Gai's outbursts, they got closer and closer to Iron Country. Snow began to fall gently on the ground. Naruto and the rest saw the giant gaping maw that ran on three different directions. The landmark seemed intimidating as well.

"Naruto?"

Naruto turned around finding the source of the voice.

Naruto saw it was Gaara.

"What are you doing here?" The red head asked,

Naruto grinned at that, grabbing the red quadrilateral hat from his back, he placed it on his head and asked, "That answer your question?"

Gaara seemed to smile at this, Kankurou and Temari looked astonished, Kankurou more so.

"I suppose it does." Gaara mentioned with a smile. Indeed it was a surprise to see Naruto become Hokage so soon; he had heard reports that Konoha was invaded by Akatsuki's apparent leader, Pein. What was surprising though, was the fact that Naruto was the one to legitimately take the seat. He had heard bad rumours of the Hokage being a man that had ruled the Black Ops of the village, notorious for numerous secret deals and genocides outside of Konoha. Seeing Naruto becoming Hokage had put Gaara's mind at ease and dispels such rumours going abound in the Ninja World.

Naruto commented, "Wow Gaara, you grew your hair a little."

"Yes, the works of being a Kage can be quite bothersome. That and I supposed it looked fitting for me." Gaara commented. Naruto merely rolled his eyes.

"There must be some mistake, there has to be!" Kankurou shouted, all the while Temari was smirking at her brother, oh yeah she always did love being right!

"Oh, there isn't one, dear brother. Do you really think Kakashi-san would be Hokage if he didn't carry the hat?" Temari asked, sneering at her brother who was grumbling as he rummaged to his wallet and handed over a Hundred Ryo bill.

"What's going on?" Asked Kakashi, curious at the banter between the sand siblings.

"Temari and Kankurou had a bet to see if there was a Kage close to my age. Temari won." Gaara simply mentioned.

"Ah, a simple game of luck eh? Then my bet to you Rival Kakashi; is that there is a woman for a Kage who is nearing middle age and is concerned about not finding the proper husband!" Gai exclaimed, Kakashi already on autopilot said, "Hm? You say something Gai?"

"KAH! Kakashi, you and your hip ways always manage to get on my nerves! That is why you are my eternal rival!" Gai shouted

The wind blew, the people were already moving ahead. Gai's head bowed as he could feel that he was ignored with his speech.

Gai soon dashed back again to the group that had ignored his speech and saw that Kankurou was chewing something, Temari asked while laughing wearing a new pair of shoes and holding her sides due to her fits of laughter.

"So how's the shoe, Kankurou?"

Kankurou replied in a deadpan voice in the middle of his chewing, "Like athlete's foot."

That earned him a kick in the shin.

To be continued…

And, the final draft has been placed. Took me a while to finish this, had a lot to do this weekend and had been renewing legal documents left and right. Thanks to Rokudaime116 for being my BETA reader.