"What if...": Tsunade stepped down?
Characters: Tsunade and Naruto Uzumaki, (mostly Iruka's POV), Hatake Kakashi, other
timeline: post-war (at least 2 years later). The New Hokage

The streets in Konoha were exploding with colors and people, churning like some sick kind of energetic, rainbow sake, Tsunade mused to herself. No, she wasn't drunk–not yet–but just looking at the crowds had never made her feel such mixed emotions. Though she could justify each emotion with understandably logical reasoning, it was all giving her a headache and probably bad when it came to the natural aging process. Not that Tsunade cared. She would always look young- such was the beautiful price of being a formidable kunoichi who happened to hold the title of Hokage. Oh, excuse me, who used to hold the title of Hokage. Now about that sake...

Tsunade shook her head, there was plenty of time for that later. Years had gone by since Sasuke's exile and Tsunade knew Naruto was…well, a lot of things since Sasuke couldn't be here on this day. "Well, I suppose there's no helping that," Tsunade muttered.

She breathed in the warming spring air. It was the perfect weather for a festival–not too warm and not too cold–and the sun was out. Almost symbolic. Glancing at the angle of the sun, Tsunade spun on her heel and entered the building, giving a bemused nod of acknowledgement to the pink-haired Anbu guarding the door. The former Hokage reveled in the familiar rhythm and percussion of her heels creating music that echoed off the walls of the mostly empty building.

She sped up slightly when the targeted doorway came into sight and, without bothering to knock since the brat inside wasn't stupid enough to not notice her presence, her blonde pigtails disappeared with a click of the door.

Iruka watched the bustle of the festival from the safety and shade offered underneath the eaves from the second story of a motel. Today was indeed a very special day, a day that would probably go down into the history books after it appeared in newspapers, of course. Naruto's former sensei and "nii-san" zoned out, back to the day Naruto had battled it out with Tsunade. He hadn't been able to watch with the others because of his responsibility as a sensei, but Yamato had kindly and patiently related a summary of the events that transpired. The battle had taken place in a mostly secluded forest, not too far from where Sasuke was exiled, and had lasted, surprisingly, less than twenty-four hours.

Iruka grinned at that. Tsunade had been wise to place restrictions and rules. The battle could have lasted several days if she hadn't. There had been a point system –something about landing a certain amount of hits. Needless to say, those two had created something of a historical landmark.

"Yo."

Iruka didn't move. Sometimes it was just better not to. That, and he didn't want to attract unnecessary attention.

"Did you ever think this day would come?"

"The day that Naruto becomes Hokage or the day I start talking to a ghost?"

A soft chuckle. Iruka could just picture a single, sideways half-moon watching the festivities with him. "So. What brings you round?"

"You could say that this entire field day is unnecessary. I don't need to appear to you while I'm here. I don't even need to be here to know."

"Nostalgia, then?"

"Something like that."

"Gai misses you."

"I can imagine." There was something in the tone of Kakashi's voice that made Iruka imagine an uplift in navy cloth. A sort of wry smirk.

"Iruka-sensei!" a group of children ran towards the shaded rooftop.

"Oh? Is that Kurenai's kid I see?"

Iruka resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm sure you know."

Kakashi's laughed and his voice began to fade. "Well, I'll see you around."

"Mm." Iruka pushed off the sturdy wood and jumped down and into the crowd. "Hey, kids. What's up?"

"Is it really true that Naruto-san was one of–

"I have cotton candy–

"I challenge you to a duel– "

"Calm down you three. Where is Shikamaru-sensei–…"

Before Iruka was pulled away by his antsy students he glanced back to the eaves, able to briefly catch a glimpse of a haze before it disappeared completely.

Author's note: This chapter is much much shorter than the rest of my ideas, but I realize that my update is late as it is and I might as well post it. This experience exploring "what-if's" has made me consider writing a complete story, so that's part of the reason this is such a late update. Thanks for reading!

When I wrote this story a year ago, there was no expectation that Sasuke would be a candidate for Hokage. (I barely changed what I wrote.) No matter what though, I don't think that that would be supported by...anybody. I also considered changing the ghost's identity to Jiraiya's and also change Iruka's POV into Kakashi's or Tsunade's POV. I just didn't bother. I don't believe that Kakashi will be dead when the series ends, but again, this is a "What if" scenario.

to clarify what Tsunade's "plan" was in the last chapter, was to get Naruto to status of jounin and possibly make him join Anbu for experience. He's already the hero of the war, and it would be cool if he was the first Hokage to not technically reach chounin or jounin level, I chose to take this route.