Day 1
(*Night before Finals*)
It was another late night of doing paperwork for the aged Hokage. He took a paper from 'unfinished' pile.
'Payment approval for the paint renewal, in the corridor on the second floor of the Hokage Tower' he mentally recalled the details of the corridor from few days ago, when he was there last. It was not too bad yet, but it would be bad for their image if important clients saw it. He put his signature and then pressed the Hokage seal with a 'chunk' sound.
He put the page into 'Finished' pile, before reaching for the next piece of paperwork.
'Return to light active duty, after medical leave' the form was generic, but on top of the form was attached a sticky note with name 'Hyuga Hinata'. Tiredly standing from his desk, Hokage went to the shelf with short ninja files. With practiced motion, he found the file he was looking for and went back to his desk.
'Hyuga Hinata, age 12, Genin' following it were quick summary of her biography, team, skills, mission performance and current status. It was just 2 pages with a photo attached. The full files were stored in archives, this was just a quick, cheat sheet for Hokage's use. He could hardly be expected to remember all 12,000 active-duty shinobi of the Leaf.
Quickly skimming over the file, the Hokage recalled the preliminary match. The kunoichi was not bad. Unfortunately, they couldn't have two Hyuga's in the finals, so she drew a short stick, and had to face her prodigious, older cousin.
He was about to sign her form, when the doors to his office banged open.
"Hokage-sama, there is an emergency" said one of his ANBU. Crying internally at another missed night of sleep, he put Hinata's form back into 'unfinished' pile before leaving with the ANBU.
While Hokage was away, his secretary delivered another batch of paperwork for his approval. The majority of it went underneath the 'unfinished' pile, but there was some 'important' paperwork, that was placed on the top.
When Hokage returned an hour later, from the scene of murder of Hayate Gekko, he was very tired both emotionally and physically. 'How could a Jonin of Hayate calibre be murdered within the village walls, without raising alarms?' he would have suspected Orochimaru, but the scene was wrong, it wasn't his student's style.
Looking at his desk, he spotted a file in his work area. He hated leaving half-finished paperwork. Reaching the file, he quickly skimmed it. Then took top form from 'unfinished' pile, wrote 'Hyuga Hinata', placed his signature, and Hokage seal with familiar 'chunk' sound.
Then he placed the form into 'finished' pile and cleared his work area, before retiring for the night. It was already 3am, and he has to be back by 6am, so there were still a few hours of sleep he could catch tonight.
(*Shinobi Council after invasion*)
"It is clear that Konoha needs a strong Hokage in this difficult time. It is time to end soft politics of Hiruzen. Look where it got us."
"Having you as a Hokage is the last thing Konoha needs, Danzo" replied Jiraya.
"And you will make a better Hokage, Jiraya?" asked the elderly man back.
"I have no desire of being Hokage, and my spy network is too important for the village" he replied.
"Why didn't your network warn us of the incoming invasion?" asked another elderly man.
"I don't know Homura-san, but I am going to investigate. There is no way something this big, should have slipped through" answered concerned Sannin.
"Troublesome, we should just wait on Sandaime-sama's latest backup Hokage wishes" suggested the Jonin Commander of Konoha Shinobi Forces.
"You know as well as we do Shikaku, that Hiruzen haven't put anyone for the position in the last 10 years. He always left it to this council to decide who will be in command, if anything were to happen to him" responded another of the village elders.
"Be that as it may, it is correct procedure to follow in the current situation" head of Yamanaka clan supported his lifelong friend.
"It is just a waste of time" commented Danzo.
Just then, the doors to the chamber opened and ANBU entered the chambers, loaded with folders of paper.
"Apologies for the delay Honorable Council. We had to triple check the paperwork to ensure its validity" he said with a bow, before starting to distribute the folders to each member of the Council.
"No way! He actually nominated someone?" asked surprised Jiraya.
As each member of the Council opened the file, there was a deadly silence in the chamber for over a minute, finally broken by the head of Akimichi clan.
"There is no way... is there?" he asked, shooting concerned looks at Shikaku.
"Troublesome" and faceplant into the table was his response.
"Sensei..." said Jiraya, as he slapped his hand over his face.
"Hiashi?" elder Koharu asked the head of Hyuga clan.
Hiashi couldn't even blink, as he stared and the photo of his eldest daughter. Raising his head to meet eyes of everyone at the table, he has only one thing to say "I had no idea".
"Jiraya-sama, your body language suggest that you may know more than you are letting on" suggested head of Aburame clan.
As attention of the whole council turned to him, Jiraya could only sigh.
"Hours before the invasion, Hiruzen-sensei said that he had a bad premotion, and asked if I would consider becoming a Hokage. When I refused, he said that: 'perhaps it is time, for younger generation to show their will of fire'. Afterwards, he asked me to help his successor, if anything were to happen to him."
There was another minute of silence as everyone in the room started to digest, that perhaps this assignment wasn't as random as it seemed at first.
"Sparrow-san, when and how was this paperwork filled?" asked Shikaku, after lifting his head from the table.
"The paperwork had been filled in last night. According to ANBU on protection duty, the Sandaime-sama had been studying the ninja profile of Hyuga Hinata for about 10 minutes. Then he was interrupted, and went to the scene of murder of Hayate Gekko. About an hour later, he returned to the office and spend another 5 minutes studying the ninja profile, before filling in the backup Hokage form. It was the last piece of paperwork that Sandaime-sama completed" he recited the investigation summary.
"Crap..." was the only thing Jiraya could say to that, feeling the wind shift in the room.
"We are not seriously considering going ahead with this, are we?" asked Asuma Sarutobi, the son of deceased Hokage.
Danzo has been caught flatfooted by his rival's move. He was going to push for his own nomination, and failing that, for Senju Tsunade. Being away from village for over 10 years, in addition to numerous bad habits, she would have been weak Hokage, easy to replace when situation was right. However, the more he thought about current situation, the more he liked it. 'Mediocre Genin as Hokage? What could be easier to manipulate?'
"Hiruzen did have an eye for a talent, where no one else saw it" he said with a slow nod, putting his support after the Hyuga, making Jiraya's eyes narrow in his direction.
"My son Shino is her teammate, and he has expressed high opinion of her character and skills. It would be illogical of me to dismiss his observations" added Shibi.
"Kiba also has only positive things to say about her" added offhandedly Tsume, who was uncharacteristically silent this meeting.
Normally, more than half of the council should agree on the nominee. However, with Sandaime's personal recommendation, it would take over two thirds of the council opposing, to overturn the candidate.
After another few minutes of council members thinking of the information, and looking over Hinata's file with fine comb, trying to find what Sandaime saw, elder Koharu decided it was time to vote.
"I believe we are ready to vote" she looked at other council members before continuing "everyone in favour of Hyuga Hinata becoming The Godaime Hokage?" looking at raised hands, she turned to the ANBU.
"Sparrow-san, please fetch Hinata-sama for us" she finished.
(*Few hours later*)
"Urgh..." she slowly arose.
"Ah, you finally awake" she heard vaguely familiar voice.
This made her freeze, and slowly open her eyes searching for the source of the voice. In just a few seconds, her eyes landed on the big man with white hair. "J-Jiraya-sama?" she slowly sat on the sofa she was lying on "G-g-gome-nasai..." after few minutes of silence, she finally gathered enough courage to ask "W-what h-happened?"
"You fainted..."
"Oh..." head down, fingers poking together.
"When you were told you are Godaime..."
"Oh..." head up, eyes wide.
"It is true, you know. As of few hours ago, you are Konoha's newest Hokage" he told her with sympathy.
As the girl sat and processed the information, Jiraya watched her from the corner of his eyes. Her file didn't give her justice, she was a mess. The elders were going to eat her alive. Which was probably why they voted in favour of her in the first place. 'What the hell were you thinking sensei?' he silently asked. He brought her a few days of time to adjust, before the next Shinobi Council, but as he saw her in person, it was hopeless.
It was, perhaps, 30 minutes of her poking her fingers, stealing glances at him, opening her mouth and then backing down, before the girl gathered enough courage to speak.
"A-ano... w-what do I do?" she asked with a lost look.
"Aha, eager to start, are we?" he asked enthusiastically. He may think it was hopeless, but he promised his sensei to help the successor, and he was going to do his best.
The girl jumped a bit at his enthusiasm, but eventually nodded with a blush, while poking her fingers.
"Well, for starters, let's get you into your work chair" he indicated the Hokage's chair. As he looked at the chair, a pit of sadness developed in his stomach. He would never see his old sensei sitting in that chair again. The girl was a bit reluctant to get near it, probably still believing it to be some sort of elaborate joke. Not that he could blame her. It felt like it to him too.
"Hmm, you would need taller chair" he said, watching just her head poking over the desk "and don't forget The Hat" he placed it over her head and watched it sink all the way to the tip of her nose. "Yes, The Hat will also need some adjusting."
"This office is where 90% of your work as Hokage will happen" he started to explain her duties.
"Most of the ruling over the village is done via paperwork" he continued.
"This here, is unfinished paperwork, that you need to read through" he indicated a thick stack of papers, making her eyes widen. He didn't want to scare the kid, so other 3 identical stacks were left with a secretary, to be delivered as she worked through it.
"There are many ways you can handle the paperwork. Most of this you are likely to just approve as is. Sometimes, you may want to change some details, in that case, you can still approve it, just write down what you want changed first" he explained, he waited for her nod of understanding, before continued.
"If you want to do some big changes to the request, you would need to write down what you want to change in it, and then reject it. It will go back to administrative staff for rework, and edited version will come back to you at some later date. Now, as Hokage, you can simply say NO, don't be afraid to do that. If you disagree completely, then you can outright reject the request. Normally, about 20% of the paperwork get rejected, so it is expected" he looked at her to make sure she understood.
It was perhaps the most important lesson for her to learn with the Elders. There were sure to be tons of unreasonable requests, in addition to the normal flood of unreasonable requests. Administrative staff filtered out most of it, but Hokage still had to deal with good amount of it.
"Now, there is Hokage Seal. Every piece of paperwork you complete, you need to sign, and then place the Seal on top. Only Hokage is allowed to use the Seal. Once you are done, you should place the finished paperwork on this side of your desk. Your secretary will come periodically, bringing new paperwork. He or she will also take the completed paperwork, back to administration for processing" he explained.
He could see the girl struggling with all of the information, but being Hokage was not easy. She had to get used to it, - fast.
"Most decisions you will have to make, will be easy. To take this mission or not, to use blue or red pain, etc. However, some may be much harder, like alliances, trade routes, diplomatic stances with different countries and villages. Those decisions will be hard for you to make on your own" if the girl looked overwhelmed before, she was drowning now, realising the scale of her power and responsibilities.
"This brings us to the first piece of paperwork for you. Appointing Hokage Advisors. Those are people you can trust to give you good advice, and help you make big decisions" he said while putting the top form in front of her.
"Those are the Advisors that Sandaime-sama used" he pushed the list of 3 village elders in front of her. He may not like the elders. They may manipulate Hinata for their own ends, but they ran the village for few decades now. They would keep Konoha going for few more years, while Hyuga adjusted and matured.
Those who didn't know Hinata, would assume that due to her soft disposition, she could be pushed to do things their way, but they would be wrong. Hinata would never use Caged Bird Seal on members of her family, no matter how many times she was lectured by her father or grandfather. She would never hit her younger sister, for the entertainment of Elder's, even at the cost of position of Hyuga heir. And she would sure as hell not 'stay away from that delinquent'.
So, when she was very obviously pushed into selecting people she didn't know as her advisors, she wouldn't go for that either. However, it was true that Hinata didn't like conflict, but what many people didn't know, was that she disliked conflict in all of its forms, not just in physical fighting.
For example, when she wanted to buy a hoodie, she asked her father for it, and he gave her a very long lecture about appropriate dressing attire for the Hyuga heir. On the other hand, when she just added the hoodie to the list of items to be purchased by her clan, it was overlooked, and once she put it on, her father just shot her some disappointed glares. See, less conflict.
Therefore, rather than argue about the advisors with the Sannin, she quietly put her own list of names on the form, while Jiraya was looking out of the window. If he didn't know about it, he couldn't scream at her for it, and there will be one less conflict!
Hearing the familiar 'chunk' sound of the Hokage seal, Jiraya turned back to the young Hokage.
"All done?" he asked, after getting a hesitant nod as the girl slid the paper to the 'finished' pile. He gave her a smile and a nod in approval.
"Hare" he called and the ANBU appeared kneeling in front of the startled Kage. "Please take the form for processing and summon the Hokage's Advisors" he instructed, after which the ANBU grabbed the finished paperwork and disappeared. Seeing a little scared look from the girl, he decided to reassume her, as well as do a bit more lecturing, while the old fossils got here. No doubt, they were already expecting the summon somewhere.
"No need to be worried. As the Hokage, you will have anywhere between two and five ANBU within hearing distance at any time. They are here as both your protectors, and as messengers, when you need to summon someone on short notice. Feel free to call on them if you need help, have some questions, or need something done" he explained. His explanations seem to have helped some, but knowing that you were observed 24/7 by the ANBU, may take some time to get used to.
(*With Naruto*)
Team 7 has been assigned cleaning duty at the stadium. After full day of hard work, Naruto worked up quite the appetite, and there was only one place that could fill the black hole that was his stomach.
"Old man Teuchi, Ayame-nee-chan, your best customer is here!" he shouted into the stand as he walked in.
"Ah Naruto, done for the day?" asked the chef.
"Uhuh, Kakashi-sensei just let us go."
"That's good, you are working too hard. Now what would you like today?"
"Three Miso Ramen please!" Naruto responded quickly, knowing it would take few minutes to be ready, before continuing their banter.
Naruto was just finishing his fifth bowl of ramen, when he was approached.
"Are you Uzumaki Naruto?"
Naruto turned around and came face to face with an ANBU. "Yeah?" he asked confusedly. While he spent a lot of time around Hokage-jiji, he rarely saw, or interacted with members of ANBU. Just thinking about his Jiji brought his mood down.
"Uzumaki Naruto. The Godaime-sama have nominated you as one of the Advisors. Congratulations. Please, follow me to the Hokage Tower" said the ANBU, before turning around and walking away.
"N-Nani?! Godaime!?" shaking off the stupor, he dropped money on the counter, before running after the ANBU. "Wait, what the hell is going on?"
(*With Kurenai*)
Team 8, much like every other Genin team in the village, were involved in post invasion clean-up. Being tracking team, they had been assigned part of the nearby forests to clean. They were mainly collecting weapons, disabling traps, and gathering information about fighting in this area. Teams of Chunin had already collected bodies for autopsies and burial.
"Good job Hinata, on spotting this faint body print" praised Kurenai.
"By the position of the print, we can assume, that ninja has fallen from that branch" indicated Shino, with his Kikaichu building an arc in the air of projected trajectory. "My Kikaichu are not detecting any chakra signatures at either location" he finished his part.
"Kiba?" she asked
"The imprint is from #17, but I can also faintly smell #43? What do you think Akamaru?" he asked his partner "Woof, woof" he took another sniff "Yeah, you may be right it is #37, it is very similar to #43, they may be related" he finished, before slowly moving to the branch Shino indicated.
"Yeah, #17 has been here, but I don't smell either #37 or #43. Akamaru smells #26 here, but it is too faint for me to pick up. Down here" he showed about meter lower on the tree trunk "bark has been cut by shuriken passing by, thrown by unknown smell so #78?" he finished.
"Very good team, now look for the next location of interest" she instructed, as she wrote down and marked on map all of her team findings. With enough information, it may be possible to recreate the fighting that took part in this area, as well as to learn about skills of those who participated. It would be passed to strategy division later, to analyse for useful information. It was also great practice for teams like hers.
"A-ano, K-kurenai-s-sensei" moments after her student's alert, she felt the new presence, before an ANBU dropped in front of their team.
"Apologies for interrupting your mission" he said to her, before turning to one of her students.
"Are you Hyuga Hinata?" he asked her charge.
"H-hai" she stuttered nervously.
"Hinata-sama, you have been summoned to Shinobi Council. Please grab my hand" he said, extending his forearm to her.
Before her charge could disappear, she had to ask the ANBU "Is it going to take long?"
Who titled his head to a side, thinking, before responding - "unknown".
Kurenai gave an encouraging nod to Hinata, and watched her disappear in a Shunshin, then turned to remainder of her team.
"We should continue under assumption, that Hinata will be gone until the end of the mission."
True to her word, Hinata was still nowhere to be seen hours later. Once she dismissed her team, she went to meet up with Asuma for dinner. It most definitely was NOT a date, they simply met up now and then to discuss their teams. She was a new Jonin, and needed some guidance from someone with more experience, that is all.
"So Asuma, are you going to tell me what you have been smirking about whole evening?" she asked him for the hundredth time.
"Nah, it is funnier this way" he responded with that unsufferable smirk.
That is when, for the second time that day, she saw ANBU approaching.
"Are you Yuhi Kurenai?" a female ANBU asked her this time.
"Yes" she responded. From a corner of her eye, she could see Asuma's smirk widening, the bastard knew what this was about. As he was taking another shot of sake, ANBU continued.
"Yuhi Kurenai. The Godaime-sama have nominated you as one of the Advisors. Congratulations. Please follow me to the Hokage Tower" she shot a stink eye to Asume, who was too busy coughing the sake out of his lungs to notice. Perhaps he didn't know what this was about after all, if his reaction was anything to go by. 'Her? Hokage Advisor? What in the world?'
As Kurenai left with the ANBU, Asuma could only shake his head. Checking his watch, he had to whistle '6 hours in the office, and Chibi was already making waves', he didn't think elders would be very happy with this development.
(*With Hyuga Hanako*)
Hyuga Hanako was a branch member of Hyuga clan. In her younger days, she was a successful kunoichi. In addition of being a Jonin, she had also served as an ANBU, for about a decade. However, during Kyubi attack, she got too close to the beast, and her chakra network got all screwed up.
It ended her ninja carrier, but also prevent her Caged Bird Seal from functioning correctly. The main family were worried, that it may not seal her eyes, if she were killed. She has been under, unspoken, village arrest ever since. It is not to say that she was defenceless, even in her old age, without use of chakra, she could give any Chunin run for their money.
She still could use her chakra, if she really tried, but it required a lot of efforts, and it was not very reliable, as it would just refuse to work altogether, some times. Due to her unique position, she was often drafted to babysit main branch children. She was strong enough to protect them, if necessary, and the spoiled brats couldn't threaten her with her Seal. Unlike all other branch members, she could dish out punishments for misbehaviour, without fear of recuperations.
During the invasion, she was in the Hyuga compound, watching children of the Hyuga's, who went to watch the matches. It was first time in years, that she got an opportunity to bash some heads in. If those Sound bastards thought that it was all you can take eye buffet, she was happy to prove them wrong, with efficient brutality.
Next day, she directed clan children to do some mess cleaning in the compound, left after the fighting. At the same time, majority of adults in the clan were also involved in heavier cleaning, withing and outside of the clan holdings.
In the evening, she retired to her humble house. Her husband died during Third Ninja War. Her children were already adults, and had their own families, only coming occasionally for visits. Therefore, there was not much for her to do, other than attend her small garden and read a book in her backyard. This is exactly how member of ANBU have found her this evening.
"Are you Hyuga Hanako?" he asked
"I am" she responded without any discomfort.
"Hyuga Hanako. The Godaime-sama have nominated you as one of the Advisors. Congratulations. Please follow me to the Hokage Tower" this only caused her to raise her elbow 'Advisor? Heh, at least better than watching some snot nosed brats' she put her book away, then followed the ANBU to meet Godaime.
(*Hokage office*)
While they waited on Advisors, Jiraya prepared himself to play some politics bullshit. There was a reason why he didn't want any position of power within the village 'Damnit!'
Meanwhile, Hinata was bracing for the screaming and lectures that were soon to follow. Running different arguments in her head over and over. Not that she would argue, she learned early on, that trying to justify herself only let to bigger conflict and longer lectures. It was mostly for her own good, so she felt less of a failure.
Surely, with Naruto-kun at her side, she couldn't mess this thing up too badly. Kurenai-sensei was very kind to her, and knew a lot about ninja stuff, so could help her with that aspect of being Hokage. Hanako-obaachan had looked after Hinata since she was very little, and had that wisdom to her, that only old people seem to have. She was also the grandmother figure in Hinata's life, that her blood grandmother could never fill, with her cold demeanour.
It was, perhaps, 15 minutes later, than intercom into the office turned on with a bit of static, before voice of the secretary was heard.
"Hokage-sama, your Advisors are here" she said, seeing that Hinata didn't know what to do, he decided to show her.
"I am sure you have used radios on mission before, this is very similar, you just press this button and talk" he shown her. Then pressed the button and said "Send them in Tsuki". Only moments later the doors burst in with more power that he would have expected.
"No way! You are the Hokage Ero-Sennin?" Naruto burst into the room and dramatically pointed finger at his face.
While Jiraya stared at his godson with confusion, two women entered behind Naruto at more sedate pace.
"I swear to Kami, if you chose me as Advisor just so you can ogle Jiraya, I will lock you in genjutsu you will not be able to break out of" told him Kurenai, behind her was another woman that he hasn't seen in a while.
"No words or message in years, and now I am suddenly your Advisor, is that it, you pervert?" Hanako told him.
For a minute, his brain refused to work. Then with a sinking feeling in his stomach, he sharply turned his head to the little Hyuga, who had only her eyeballs sticking over the desk, hiding. The others in the room followed his look.
"Is that you Hinata? Are you also an Advisor?" Naruto bounced to the startled from sudden attention Hinata.
"I cannot believe Ero-Sennin let you sit at his desk. Can I try, pleeeeeease?" he pleaded, bursting her personal bubble and sending her face thermonuclear. With a dazed look, she got out of the chair, and Naruto promptly jumped in her place. He was just as short as her, so his face was also just poking over the table.
"Oh, oh, oh, and The Hat" he pointed, making Hinata retrieve it for him with a massive blush.
"There you are Hinata, we were worried for you, when you didn't return after the meeting" said amused Kurenai, watching the reserved girl interact with her hyperactive crush. This reminded Hinata, that there were more people in the room, other than Naruto and her.
"A-ano, g-gomenasai Kurenai-s-sensei..." she spent a few moments trying to come up with the appropriate explanation "I-I fainted..."
As this played out, Jiraya had tears running down his face. 'He was so-so-soooo going to get blamed for this. Danzo may even try to assassinate him, again. Damn! Time to do some damage control'
"Naruto! You idiot! Get out of Hokage's seat! And put down The Hat" he screamed.
"What is the big deal, you cranky old man!" Naruto responded, while reluctantly putting down the hat and getting out of the chair. Jiraya massaged his temples, he was starting to think, that Elders and their politics were not that bad.
"Hanako-san, Kurenai-san, Naruto, - allow me to present to you the Godaime Hokage, Hyuga Hinata" he announced, as seriously as he could. The reaction he got was very similar to what he assumed the Shinobi Council members looked like, when they saw who Sandaime nominated. He was too busy freaking out, at the time, to pay attention.
True to his nature, Naruto was first one to recover. "Nani! No way! You are a Hokage Hinata? I am sooooo jealous" he fired in quick succession, before spinning around and pointing at Jiraya. "Thats it Pervy-Sage, stop being so lazy and train me! How am I going to become Hokage, if you are always peeping at the girls, and never train me?" he shouted
"Heh, I know I said you will make an excellent leader one day Hinata-sama, but I didn't expect you to make a grab for power quite so soon, or quite so high" joked Hanako, making her adopted granddaughter blush and poke her fingers in embarrassment.
"H-Hanako-obaachan..." she weakly protested.
In the meanwhile, Kurenai was running through every genjutsu dispelling techniques she knew off.
After getting over her initial shock of the identity of the new Hokage, Hanako gave the room a sweep.
"Wolf-san" she called, and an ANBU with corresponding mask faded in from a wall, there was startled cry of "So cool!" from the Uzumaki boy, but she ignored it.
"Yes, Hanako-sama?"
"I take that Hinata-sama has a standard Hokage protection details?"
"Yes, Hanako-sama" he confirmed.
"Tsk, please remind the Commander, that Hinata-sama, technically, is still a Genin. Additionally, we don't know how many of the invaders decided to stay and blend into the crowd. Therefore, I would recommend to double the protection details" she explained. The ANBU bowed to her in understanding, and disappeared to pass the message to the ANBU Commander.
"G-gomenasai..." apologized Hinata 'she was such a failure, who couldn't even protect herself'
"Don't worry about it Hinata-sama, none of your predecessors were Kage at 12 either" she dismissed the girls apology.
"Now, should we look at some of that paperwork Hinata-sama? I imagine, that after all of that fighting, there will be a lot of really important decisions to be made."
"H-hai"
Hanako watched as Hinata rushed to her new chair with determination and grabbed the top piece of paperwork. Normally, the Kage would be the one leading the proceeding, but they normally were Jonin, with a lot of leadership experience as Chunin and Jonin. Hinata didn't have any of that, she had only ever followed orders and directions. Hanako would have to easy her into the leadership role, once life and death decisions were handled.
"A-ano... I-I don't know what m-most of this is?" Hinata asked with her head down in embarrassment, the determination from a moment earlier, gone.
Hanako walked over and took the piece of paper. Giving it a brief glance, she nodded with understanding.
"It looks like list of healing herbs. As you can imagine, there are more injured ninja in the village at the moment than normal. Hospital would have some herbs in storage, but it wouldn't last. You would need to write down some missions, to go and get more of those herbs, before they ran out" she explained to her granddaughter, whose head raised with wide eyes. Only now realising that there were lives in her hands.
"A-ano... h-how do I do that?" Hinata asked with determination, she hated seeing people in pain, and hospital running out of medicine, was as bad as she could imagine.
"Firstly, you need to know what each of those herbs are, and where they grow. You cannot send just one team to gather this all. Some teams may be able to get 5 or more of these herbs, but some may be able to get only one. There may be some herbs, that are too difficult or too expensive to get, but we will get to it in a moment" she explained and watched as Hokage and Uzumaki were both following her explanation.
"On that wall over there, you see a lot of books and files. It is where Sandaime-sama kept all of the important information to help him with the paperwork. I imagine, there would be a florist atlas in there, somewhere, that should have most of the information you need. If not, then you can always make request to administration for clarification, but it would be much slower" she explained, and watched as the children dashed to the wall and started searching for the correct book. She refused to help them any further, as Hinata would need to get familiar with that cache of knowledge.
"Hmm, some of these herbs sound familiar, I think Anko planted some of those in the Forest of Death" said Kurenai, after studying the list for a while. The mentioning of the forest made both teens shudder.
"Hinata, do you want me to run the list by Anko?"
"H-hai, Kurenai-sensei"
"Be back in a few" she said before leaving with a newly written list.
"Hey, hey, hey. I think I saw this one on the training ground 32. I trained there sometimes while we were in the academy, hehe" said Naruto while scratching the back of his head.
"Do you want me to send a clone and look for it Hinata?" he asked uncertainty, trying to follow example of Kurenai. Hinata was technically his boss now, and he didn't want to screw up.
"H-hai, thank you Naruto-kun" she responded with a massive blush.
It took close to 2 hours, but in the end, Hinata approved the request list with a few notes. Few herbs couldn't be retrieved, due to high cost and risk. For another 2 herbs, they didn't find any information on, so asked for clarification. For the rest, there were 2 B-rank, 12 C-rank, and 5 D-rank missions that she had to write down.
"Don't forget to add the notes to the atlas Hinata-sama, so the next time requests like this come up, you will have all of that information available" reminded her Hanako-obaachan. Despite her cramming hand, from all the writing, Hinata couldn't be happier with the progress that was made 'maybe I can do it!'
As it all happened, Jiraya stayed silent and observed from the corner in wonder. 'Did the girl pick good Advisors after all? There is no way the Elders would be even half as useful. Perhaps there is something to sensei's choice. Even Naruto is pulling his weight, despite his eyes glassing over periodically.' Despite it being 10pm, he watched the Hokage reach for next piece of paperwork.
"A-ano..., who is T-Tsunade-sama?" she asked, making Jiraya wince, knowing what was coming.
"Ah Tsunade-hime" he said dreamily, inserting himself back into the group.
"As in Senju Tsunade of Sannin, the best medic in the world with the biggest ra... haha" he trailed off after receiving glares from the females present.
"C-can you ask T-Tsunade-sama to help in the hospital J-Jiraya-sama, there are l-lot of people only she can help."
"Can't do, sorry."
"Oh..."
"Tsunade-hime haven't stepped foot into Konoha for close to 15 years now... haha" he said scratching the back of his head.
"Umm..., s-should I write a mission to bring her?" the girl asked, making him wince as he imagined the result of that... disaster.
"Heheh, I don't think it is such a good idea. Tsunade-hime swore to never set foot into Konoha again, and even if you can convince her to return, she is very good in covering her tracks. It would take me a month to just find her" he told her with sympathy. "You can as well just reject that request."
"Oh..." the girl answered, while glancing at the request with look of sadness. Then, rather than reject the form as he advised, she slid it sneakily near the pile of 'unfinished' paperwork, while keeping her head down and not meeting his eyes. 'There was that disobedient girl from before, again.' He massaged his temples. He was getting too old for this shit.
"A-Ano, h-how much money does Konoha h-have?" asked Hinata, at receiving the vague hand gesture in direction of the files, she went looking for the information.
"Nani! 300 million Ryo to repair the village walls!" exclaimed Naruto after looking at the next request himself.
"It does seem a bit much" agreed Kurenai, getting a look at the financial tally for the wall repairs.
"Hmm, those stone blocks price should be lower, if we get them in bulk. The delivery costs also seem inflated, even if it is 1000 kilometres to bring them here" added Hanako.
"Half of those missions could also be a D-rank, I doubt than all of them need to be C-rank" said Kurenai, as she read down the list.
"A-ano, Konoha only have j-just over a b-billion Ryo in bank. W-With additional 10 b-billion in debt" added Hinata, after finding the correct records.
"That is not good, Konoha couldn't effort such expensive repairs Hinata-sama. You would need to reject this proposal and have them come up with more economical solution" suggested Hanako.
Hinata started to write down suggestions against each line, like 'get bulk discount', 'too expensive', 'D-rank', etc.
Then suddenly Naruto exclaimed "This is such a bullshit!" Making Jiraya wince, he was kind of expecting it for a while now. Naruto and paperwork didn't mix at all, he was person of action, Jiraya was impressed he could hold it in for as long as he did.
"A-ano, w-what do you mean N-Naruto-kun?" asked startled Hinata.
"This is for The Village Wall, right?" he asked, getting nods he continued "and it is going to be outside, in the weather, right?" more nods. "Then why would you use Hitsuyaga's T43 paint? It is like super expensive, and it will last 3 years at most, and you will have to re-paint it then again!" he exclaimed with wild gesticulations.
"O-Oh...?" asked confused Hinata
"Yeah, if you want to use outside paint, you better off using Tatsuki's B14 paint. It would easily last 5 years, maybe even 7, and costs half. If you really want it to stick, you can add 3% of the Kagoshi's weather proof glue A44B. You would break a kunai, before you can peal that mixture off a stone, believe me..." he trailed off, lost in painful memories.
"It is true, that wall needs to be repainted every 3 years or so. However, isn't Tatsuki's paint a lot more vibrant? It may not be a good fit, to keep the wall discrete" countered Hisoka
"Well, if you want less vibrant colours, then you just add another half of percent of lamp oil to the mix, and a dash of Lemon juice" countered Naruto. "What?" he asked noticing the looks everyone was giving him.
"How, exactly, do you know all of that?" asked Jiraya, he had a bad feeling about it.
"Heheh, funny story" said Naruto in embarrassment, while scratching the back of his head. "Iruka-sensei and Jiji kept making me clean-up, after pranks. So, I had to figure out the best paint mix for max effect, but something that wasn't too hard to clean up" he retold with a lot of pride.
"Heh, I think we should add a mission for Naruto-san, to mix the paint for the wall. You and I will also need to sit down, and make a guide on different paint mixes. Then, Hinata-sama can add it to the Hokage's information shelf" suggested Hanako, getting a nod of agreement from everyone present.
When all of the corrections were added to the wall repair paperwork, Jiraya decided to interfere, before Hokage could start on next agenda.
"I think it may be enough for today. It is close to midnight, and it was tiring day for all of us. We can get back at say 8am tomorrow and continue?" he suggested, and got a general agreement from everyone, except for the new Hokage, who looked at the tall stack of 'unfinished' paperwork.
"A-Ano, a-arigato for all of your h-help. I-I am going to s-stay a bit longer."
Not wanting to discourage the girl from making her own decisions, Hanako had to agree "Very well Hinata-sama, but remember, tired ninja is?" she asked.
"S-Stupid ninja" finished Hokage. Clearly, she had heard that saying many times before.
"I-I will just do s-some r-reading ahead" she reassumed her grandmother, who nodded in agreement.
"Man, I am beat. See you tomorrow Hinata" waived off Naruto and left. Others followed him soon thereafter.
Alone in the office, Hinata reached to the next piece of paperwork. It was an hour later, than a member of ANBU decided to let himself be known. The Hokage was nodding off, and clearly struggling in making any more progress on the paperwork. All sheets joining the request for Tsunade, in secondary 'unfinished' pile.
"Hokage-sama" he bowed, seeing the girl focus on him, he continued "if you wish to rest, there is a bedroom with bathroom attached" he indicated to the correct door. "Sandaime-sama spent most of his nights here. I will inform your clan that you will be staying here, if you wish."
Hinata was startled by the ANBU once again 'How could I forget, that they were here, watching me?' Then she remembered her grandmother's parting words. After processing what the ANBU told her, she had to agree, it was crazy day. Rest would do her some good, and she was not making any progress on her own anyway.
"H-Hai, arigato ANBU-san" she bowed, then went to the information shelf. She took short ninja files for the Sandaime Advisors, from the list that Jiraya-sama gave her earlier, as well as Tsunade's, for light reading. She had to start learning who were the important ninjas in the village, so she could ask them for help, when necessary. Then she went to the bedroom to get some sleep.
(*With the Elders*)
Soon after the newest Hokage fainted, which was expected in hindsight, the Shinobi Council broke off the meeting. The village elders decided to retreat to the elder's chamber, and discuss new realities of Konoha, while waiting on their summon by the Godaime.
It was 2am now, and they ran out of things to talk about hours ago. For the last 3 hours they sat in silence, staring at opposite walls and occasionally glancing at each other.
Finally, Danzo had enough. With a tired movement, he got up, pushing on his walking stick.
"I think I will be turning in for the night. Jiraya better have a very good explanation to this" he said, nodded to his colleagues and left. The other elders followed him soon thereafter.