A/N: I would like to thank everyone that added this story to their favourites and follows as well as everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
I'm going to become the strongest shinobi in the world and I will prove to them that a girl can become Hokage.
Naruto clenched her hands against her shirt, blue eyes fixated at the portraits of the Hokages that had come before and after the Third Hokage. All four of the previous Hokage had been men with not a single female photo clinging to the wall. Her blue eyes lingered on the Fourth Hokage, tracing the appearance of the man who gave his life to kill the Kyuubi.
The Third Hokage stared at her, dark eyes darting from her to the windows and then to the photo of his successor and predecessor. The Fourth Hokage has the same hair colour as me. As soon as the thought came, it faded in Naruto's mind as the old man took out his smoking pipe from his drawer.
"How was your first day back in the Academy, Naru-chan? How is your new teacher?" The Third leaned back and looked down at her, lips curled into a smile and Naruto forced herself to smile. Hiraoka-sensei was fired for some strange reason and the school replaced him with Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei.
'Tell me your dreams.' She didn't actually have a dream but people had been staring at her and Naruto couldn't stop herself from shouting out the first two thoughts to the whole world. I thought it would impress them. She curled her lips into a scowl and the Third Hokage looked out at the window, his hands making some strange hand signs.
Naruto thinks it was like the Third Hokage had a secret language to himself because the hand signs looks nothing like what they were taught in school. I wanna make my own language. It would be a good way to communicate with Hinata-chan and Sasuke without the teachers knowing what they were talking about.
"Did something happen today in school, Naru-chan?" Naruto jerked her head up as the Third Hokage leaned forward, brown eyes boring right into her own blue eyes. She chewed on her bottom lip and thinks that the Hokage wouldn't want to hear about her issues. She didn't want to tell him but he was the Hokage and he would be able to tell her if she was wrong.
"My classmates are mean and stupid."
The Third raised his eyebrow, lowered his pipe and pressed his lips into a thin line. "Naru-chan, why do you say that?"
"Because they say I can't ever become Hokage because I'm a girl!" Brown eyes widened and Naruto puffed her cheeks before fixating her eyes onto the photos of the various Hokage. Her eyes lingered the most on the First Hokage and then it flickered to the Fourth Hokage. "Those assholes says a girl can't ever become Hokage because they are weak."
She grinded her teeth together, lips curled into a scowl and Naruto folded her arms against her chest. She hopes and prays the Hokage would tell her that a girl can become Hokage…that she can become strong. What was the point of being stronger than the average seven-year-old if no one believed in her? For a brief moment, the slight coldness in the Hokage's eyes faded, replaced with warm eyes.
Sometimes Naruto thinks that the Third was torn between hating and loving her.
(She understands when she turns twelve that even the Hokage was human and that he also allows his own grief to cloud his own judgment).
"Naru-chan, do you think my daughter-in-law is weak? Or even Mikoto?" The Third tapped his pipe against the table, brown eyes focused on her. Naruto tilted her head, eyebrows scrunched together before she shook her head. The Third smiled at her, looking at her like he was proud of her. Her heart swelled up and like always, she begin to explain her reasons.
She longed for him to continue giving her those looks.
"Mikoto-obaachan is a jounin, right? And Jounins are just below you in ranking," Sarutobi smiled and brown eyes twinkled with mirth as Naruto bobbed her head. "Kotone-obaachan works in ANBU, doesn't she? Sasuke tells me that only the strongest shinobi works there."
Sarutobi frowned and Naruto wondered if she said something she was not supposed to say. Wasn't she supposed to know Kotone-obaachan work in ANBU? Sasuke knew Itachi worked there. He always boasted about it whenever they played together. But then again Mikoto-obaachan scolded Sasuke for telling me this? She nibbled her bottom lip.
"How do you know Kotone work in ANBU?"
Naruto blinked. "I saw her mask lying around when I was trying to help her catch Konohamaru so he can take a bath. Also, Sasuke told me that Itachi has an animal mask too…"
"You shouldn't always jump to conclusions, Naruto." Naruto rubbed the back of her neck as the Third Hokage twirled around his pipe. Brown eyes flickered to the outside, lips pressed into a thin line and one eyebrow raised like he was communicating with someone. Tilting her head, she looked out at the window but saw only the green trees.
"Okay," Naruto knitted her eyebrows and tilted her head. "But that doesn't answer my question, can a girl become Hokage?"
"I don't see why not," The Third Hokage answered. "As long as you have the Will Of Fire and the desire to protect the village then you can become Hokage. Those two things are just as important as being strong."
Naruto smiled but her smile faded into a thoughtful look as blue eyes locked on him. "So if you think girls are strong and can become Hokage then why do almost all my classmates think differently?"
The Third Hokage blinked and then tilted his head as his hand lowered his hat. Naruto could never read his emotions when he did something like this. Was he surprised by her question? Did he like her question? Does he think it was stupid? Even when Naruto turned fifteen, she still doesn't know why he did that.
"Most of your classmates come from civilian families that are merchants," The Third lifted his head up and inhaled. "Civilian families don't see things the way a shinobi does. They look down in the strength of a female and take pride in the strength of a male. A true shinobi, no a real man, will know better and will respect a female, kunoichi or not."
Well that answered one question but Naruto has so many questions buzzing through her head.
"Then how do you know if a shinobi respects you as a kunoichi?"
In that moment, the door slid open and an elderly lady charged in. She looked like she could be the same age as the old man in front of her, but instead of having the laugh lines of the Third Hokage and a smile like him, the woman had an ugly scowl on her face. Sarutobi blinked and look at the clock, slumping his shoulders and a tight smile playing on his lips.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen, did you forget we have a meeting?" Her voice was sharp and her eyes looked at the Third Hokage like he was a troublemaker that needed to be punish. She blinked at the sight of her and the old lady smoothed her expression.
Sarutobi shook his head. Liar. Naruto tilted her head and looked at the elderly woman with her lips curled into a tight smile. The old woman gazed at her with eyes that held neither hate nor sympathy. Only indifference and curiosity leaked through her eyes.
The Third Hokage flickered from the old woman and then to her. "Naru-chan, I would like you to meet my former teammate and my advisor Koharu. She will be a better person to answer your question, because I can give you only the perspective of a man."
"And do tell me what is this question that you need a woman's perspective," Annoyance leaked out of the woman's voice and Naruto could guess she was not happy about the fact that the Third was late for his meeting. But the Third should have tell me that we have to do it in another day. She nibbled her bottom lip.
"Young Naruto wants to know how she can know if a shinobi respects her as a kunoichi?" The Third curled his lips into a smile. "Her classmates taunted her for her ambitions of taking this old Hat away from me."
Koharu looked at her and Naruto blinked when the elderly woman walked towards her, those dark eyes lingering on her blue eyes and the whisker marks on her cheeks. No smile decorated her face but her eyes did not look at her like she was a joke. Naruto thinks that the woman might respect her because Iruka and Mizuki didn't give her the same eyes.
"Maybe there is some hope for the next generation of kunoichi," Koharu mused as her eyes fixated on her and her blue eyes. "Don't let a bunch of males tell you what you can and cannot do."
Naruto felt her lips twitched and Koharu tilted her head, eyes lingering on her and then it flickered to the Third. Naruto doesn't understand why the Third Hokage looked like he wanted her to bolt out of here or why he seemed uncomfortable with that look. Naruto feels happy because finally there was a female who tells her to not bow down to a male.
"Lady, how do I know if a man respect me as a kunoichi?"
This was the only time that Koharu would give her those warm eyes and when Naruto looks back at this day, she wonders if Koharu say those words because she was a fellow kunoichi or because she was a weapon.
"When he takes you seriously in a fight and doesn't even try to hold back," Koharu answered with her eyes fixated on the Third Hokage. "You know he respects you when he has absolute confidence in your strength and doesn't try to coddle you."
Years later, Naruto fully comprehends her words but it was not Sasuke that showed her this. It was not even directed at her when it happens…if anything she was just a bystander to the match.
"The final match of the first round! He was kind of famous in Middle School! This isn't the face of a regular person! From Class 1A: Bakugou Katsuki! He's going against the girl that I'm rooting for, from class 1A: Uraraka Ochako!"
Cheers erupted from the stadium as Present Mic's voice echoed throughout the stadium. Naruto leaned forward, her fingers twirling around the popsicle stick that she brought while Hatsume did her advertisement game with Iida. The coolness and the tangy taste of the orange made Naruto sigh as her classmates glanced at each other. From right beside her, Midorya tapped his feet and on the other side, Todoroki pressed his lips into a thin line.
Both Bakugou and Ochako walked out of the opposite ends of the tunnel. Both teens had their eyes flashing with determination and Naruto flickered her eyes to the camera, before glancing at Jiraiya. Her mentor leaned against the wall, lips pressed into a thin line and eyes focused on Bakugou.
"If you're gonna withdraw, do it now," Bakugou declared. "You won't get off with an ouch."
Ochako stumbled back but she regained her bearings. The girl grinded her teeth together, clenched her hands into a fist and knitted her eyebrows together at the boy. Naruto's fingers danced around her popsicle stick, lips pressed into a thin line. He has no plans to take it easy on her. Her lips twitched slightly and Todoroki glanced at her.
"You are excited." Todoroki leaned his body forward, mismatch eye flickering to her as their classmates shifted in their seat. His tone seemed almost surprised but the girl did not smile.
She nodded. "It is definitely going to be better than that 12-minutes advertisement that we were forced to watch."
Iida flinched and hung his shoulders at the reminder while Midoriya patted his back as he raised his eyebrow at her for reminding their class president about how he was tricked into being a walking advertisement. Don't get her wrong, it had been entertaining to watch but that was no match. She sighed and rubbed her chin. If anything it felt like one of those annoying advertisement videos that she could never skip.
"I really thought she was being sincere," Iida grinded his teeth and shook his head. "How was I suppose to know she would use me?"
Naruto twisted her head. "You coulda ask me what type of person she was in order to think of a strategy of how to beat her."
Iida looked horrified by her suggestion while Midoriya sighed, shaking his fluffy green hair and Todoroki just raised his eyebrow at her. What? It wasn't like I wouldn't tell him that Hatsume was a girl that is willing to do anything to get her inventions to be noticed. She leaned back with her hands clasped behind her head and blue eyes locked on her two classmates.
"Oh Midoriya-kun, what was the strategy that you planned for Ochako?"
Naruto twisted her head and focused her attention on Midoriya, who flinched at her unwavering eyes. He should have been focusing on his match against Todoroki, not thinking of helping Ochako. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but something stopped her from telling him this. Maybe it was the fact the two teens were close and that Midoriya never had proper friends till he came here.
"Do you have a plan for your next match?"
Midoriya blinked and flickered his eyes to Todoroki, green eyes hardening slightly while her friend avoided those green eyes. He pressed his lips into a thin line and stiffly nodded his head, causing the blond-haired girl to nod in satisfaction. She flickered her eyes from Uraraka to him.
"What was the plan?"
"Kacchan is strong," Midoriya took out his burnt notebook from his bag and handed it to her, but Naruto shook her head. If I want to defeat Bakugou then I'm going to do it by my terms. He sighed and he handed the burnt notebook to Iida. The teen flipped through the pages, eyebrows reaching his hairline as he took in the various notes that Midoriya has.
"He isn't just strong," everyone swirled their heads at her and Naruto fixed her eyes on the quiet, raging boy down in the arena. "He is also determined to win the whole thing."
Midoriya nodded and took his notebook from Iida's hands. Green eyes seemed locked on her as if silently asking her if she knew the lengths that Bakugou would go to win. She bobbed her head, taking a couple of deep breaths and stared down at the two students.
"He can use the blasts from his explosions to move around in the air," Midoriya's hands trembled and a hint of admiration leaked into his voice. "But if Uraraka touches Kacchan and uses her Quirk to make him float then she would have the upper hand."
Naruto sighed. "That's all good and all but there is only one problem with your plan…Bakugou isn't that predictable. He is smart and he is going to make sure that it will be impossible for her to touch him."
Sometimes I don't even know if you could define Bakugou as a genius or just an asshole that works extremely hard to get to his goals. She nibbled her bottom lip and remembered that even though he was smart enough not to have to study the subjects for hours end like her, her classmate would spend hours studying. Nothing about Bakugou says he doesn't work his ass off.
The way he used his Quirk showcased it.
"Start."
"Withdrawing isn't an option!" Uraraka declared for the whole world to hear. Brown eyes hardened as the girl charged straight ahead, arms flying ahead of her and Bakugou narrowed his eyes at her. Cheers erupted from behind Naruto and she wondered if it could be heard from outer space. The blue eyed girl locked eyes on her fellow blond classmate. He swung his right hand and Ochako narrowed her eyes, crouching down.
Bakugou swung his left hand, explosions crackling off the palm of his hand and orange flames flew straight at the brown-haired girl. He really does learn quick. She flickered her eyes to the opposite side of observation booth, where her mentor stood. Dark eyes looked at Bakugou with a troubled expression as if he was seeing someone else battling Uraraka.
Her mentor pressed his lips into a thin line.
"Don't underestimate me!" Ochako's voice boomed throughout the stadium as the black smoke disappeared to reveal that her classmate substitute herself with her jacket. She did something I would do. Naruto nodded as blue eyes drank in the furious eyes of her classmate, who seemed ready to give it her all when it came to this match.
Even though there is a clear difference in their battle skills, Uraraka doesn't have any plans to give up.
Whimpers and cries echoed throughout their class both as Bakugou continued to fire explosions after explosions at the girl. Naruto just leaned forward, lips curled into a smile and her hands gripped the rails that separated them from the arena.
Ochako continued to charge after him with her hands swinging at him. Naruto narrowed her eyes and tilted her head when her classmate pressed her fingers against the broken slabs of concrete flying out in her direction. Poking her tongue against her cheek, Naruto lifted her head up and blue eyes widened at the sight of the growing broken concrete slabs floating from above the sky.
From right behind her, Jirou whimpered. "I can't watch this."
If you don't watch her then you are disrespecting the performance that Uraraka is giving for us. Pale skin and bloodied lips flashed before Naruto's eyes and the girl tightened her grip against the rail. She inhaled and exhaled, ignoring the knitted eyebrows thrown her way from Todoroki. Watch her fight.
Ochako gasped as dark smoke clouded over Bakugou, almost like it was making an invisible, floating black wall between them. With his red eyes flashing through those dark clouds, his hair looking wild and his teeth looking sharp…well her classmate looked like the devil that was ready to finish her off. He doesn't realize what Uraraka plan to do.
"Stop the match!" Someone from the audience screamed as Uraraka panted. Whispers broke out and boos began to be chanted throughout the stadium. It was not just from the heroes but also by some of her classmates, who looked furious in the way that Bakugou was fighting the girl.
"Man, he is being harsh with her." Kaminari declared. "If it was me, I would have gone easy…which was what I did with that Tokage."
Asui raised her eyebrow. "She destroyed you in thirty seconds flat because you were more distracted by her looks then winning the whole thing."
Several of their classmates nodded in agreement.
"Isn't he going too far?" Another person in the audience yelled, jumping out from his seat with eyes looking down at Bakugou like he was the scum for not going easy on her classmate.
"Hey! How can you say you want to be a hero!"
More and more yells were being thrown at Bakugou and finally a red-haired man jumped up from his seat. His green eyes seemed to be filled with irritation as his friend, right beside him, shook his head and looked almost faintly amused at what was about to happen.
"This is a battle between two kids that are inspiring to be heroes!" His words hung around the stadium like an echo and acted as a reminder to everyone in the stadium. He darted his eyes to the various heroes, hands clenched into a fist and green eyes fixated on the two battling teens.
No one said anything and only stared at him. Several eyes grew large and whispers soon broke out as they gazed at the red-haired hero. What is the big deal about him? Naruto nibbled her bottom lip and glanced at her various classmates. Almost all of them blinked at the sight of him while a few looked wide-eyed at the sight of him, as if they were not expecting to see this man to be here.
"I can't believe it!" Midoriya took several deep breaths as his hands clutched his notebook like it was his lifeline. Green eyes sparkled with excitement as their fellow classmates gawked at the sight of the hero."Uzushiokage is actually here."
"Has anyone ever fought a villain and care about gender? When it comes to a good old-fashion battle, gender doesn't matter."
Another hero from the second stand stood up, eyes looking at the hero with irritation. "It is clear to everyone that there is a difference between their abilities! Heroes are also supposed to be compassionate! He is bullying her!"
Uzushiokage narrowed his eyes. "We are seeing two different things then, because I see a boy that is respecting his opponent and her desire to win."
"Respect?" The hero snorted and Naruto grinded her teeth while Midoriya shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Her classmates hung their heads, hands clenched into a fist and a pair of elderly eyes flashed right in front of her eyes, along with the soft-spoken words of the Hokage.
'When he takes you seriously in a fight and doesn't even try to hold back'
That was how a kunoichi defined as respect because they were trained to fight. It was how any fighter would define as respect but these people refused to see it in that way. Naruto grinded her teeth as her classmates and the other audience members stared at him with eyebrows knitted together.
"Yes, he respects her." Uzushiokage declared. "If he didn't respect her then he would throw her out of here. But he didn't do it and do you know why? Because he acknowledge the fact that the girl still has a desire to win. Do you see that girl crying for mercy? Or do you see a girl that is determined to show her capabilities and worth to the world?"
Silence hung around the audience as whispers broke out at the words spoken by the young hero. Blue eyes stared at the hero, taking in the way he seemed to be so relaxed and how his eyes seemed to be dripping with poison at the comments thrown by his fellow heroes. Taking a deep breath, Naruto turned her head away and scanned the crowds.
Naruto was not focus on Bakugou and Uraraka's fight nor were her eyes focused on the red-haired hero. No, her eyes focused on Ero-Sennin and how he seemed to be staring at the hero like he was seeing another ghost.
First it was Bakugou and now it is that Uzushiokage. What the hell is happening? What isn't he telling me?
That was the only thought running through Naruto's head.
"If you are going to tell me like those Heroes that I should have taken it easy on her then shut the hell up."
Naruto slipped her hands into her pockets, blue eyes fixated at her scowling classmate as Present Mic announced the line-up for the second round of matches. The two of them stood in front of the waiting room's door and for the first time in years, the blonde thinks she could understand her scowling classmate.
"That would have been an insult for both you and Uraraka," Naruto said quietly.
Her classmate scowled and stared at her. His red eyes seemed to be fixated on her bright blond-hair before falling down to her eyes and then it landed on the whisker marks decorating her cheeks. For a brief moment, her hand reached up to touch her whisker marks but she held herself back.
"I always give it my all when I fight my opponent." He focused his eyes at her and finally asked. "Why are you here if you aren't here to scold me."
Naruto pressed her lips into a thin line, her hand rubbing the back of her neck as she wondered if her words would give him a bigger head. Would he act so arrogant when she say those words? Or would he just dismiss her words and decide to repeat his declaration? Naruto didn't know but her classmate deserved to hear these words from her.
"I guess I wanted to thank you," he blinked his eyes and raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean thank you for not underestimating her."
Bakugou scowled. "You think I'm like those side characters in our class? Or those heroes? Why the hell would I go easy on her because she was born a girl."
"Because boys are usually shitty little shits who think a girl can't fight better than a boy."
The blond-haired boy looked at her for a good couple of seconds, lips pressed into a scowl as his eyes focused on the wall behind her. He curled his lips into a scowl, leaned back against the wall and then looked up at the wall like he was remembering something. The blond-haired boy darted his eyes to her.
"Then they probably don't have a mother and a grandma that would beat the shit out of them for not respecting a woman and her desire," Naruto blinked as Bakugou flickered his eyes at her. "The Old Hag always made it a point that I know that a woman can be just as strong as a man, and will scream at me for even thinking of going easy on a girl."
Naruto quirked her lips and stared at the scowling boy. Silence hung between them as blue eyes took in the way that her classmate seemed to hunch his shoulder. She rubbed the back of her neck and waited for Bakugou to say something but he said nothing. Instead he just turned his body around and in that moment, the image of his mother flooded into her mind.
"Your mother looks scary as hell," Bakugou twitched and Naruto stared at him. "I saw the two of you in the supermarket one time…and you have her looks and personality."
Bakugou clicked his tongue. "Better I have her personality then my old man. He was too much of a whimp to tell her no."
Naruto felt her lips twitched and she tilted her head at him but he doesn't look at her. He doesn't even smile at the small snippet of information that he told her, only having a scowl and she wondered if there was a reason he did not like his father's behaviour. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she took a deep breath.
"Maybe your father just really love your mother."
Bakugou snorted. "He tried to break up with her but he chickened out because of her personality. How the hell he ended up marrying the Old Hag was a mystery."
He is just like Shikamaru when he complains about his parents' relationship and the bastard has a crush on Temari, who acts similar to his mother. She bit her tongue from making a comment because they were having one of those days when they could be friends. This was probably a boy thing since this was the second boy, she knew that complained about their parents' relationships.
"He could have always find a way to break up with her, if you want my opinion…I think he saw a side of her that maybe you can't see," she nodded. "Maybe when you find someone that you like then you would understand."
Bakugou scowled and folded his arms against his chest as red eyes looked at her. The constant chatter of the audience and the laughter of their classmates seemed to bounce off the walls, but Naruto see the easy dismissal from her classmate's eyes. She took a deep breath and blinked when red eyes now looked at the walls.
"I have no time for that bullshit," Bakugou snorted. "My goal is to be the number one hero and I won't be distracted by those things."
Naruto nodded and pressed her lips into a thin line, blue eyes seemed fixated at the scowl playing on his lips. Déjà vu is right. She ran her fingers against her ponytail, detangling her hair as her classmates clicked his heels and took a couple of steps forward. She doesn't know why she does what she does, but maybe his fight with Uraraka resonated with her.
Or maybe it was the words of the past that made her do this.
"Bakugou," her classmate stopped walking and blue eyes stared at his board shoulders. "I dislike you but it is my respect for what you did and your desire that makes me tell you this."
The words hung over them and Bakugou twisted his body around, eyebrows raised at her as if daring for her to make a comment. He looked at her like he knew what she was about to say because his eyes seemed to glow red with irritation. She took a deep breath, calming down her trembling arms and blue eyes focused on him.
"You won't ever reach the top spot with a shitty attitude," she allowed the harshness to leak into her voice and the blond-haired girl gazed at him. "You do know who you act like at times, don't you? Your behavior is a lot more like Endeavour then you want to admit."
Bakugou pressed his lips into a thin line and red eyes flared with another emotion that Naruto could not read. It might have been disappointment that she would say this but it was more likely he was annoyed that she would remind him this.
"I won't become like that asshole," he declared. "I won't ever do something that shitty."
A sigh escaped from her lips. "And what if you don't accomplish that goal? What would you do? Would you do what he did to his family?"
He clicked his tongue and shoved his hands against his pockets. Red eyes seemed focused on her as if he knew another reason that she might be concern. He shook his head and a snort escaped from his nose like he found something funny about her words.
"If you want to give me a wake-up call then don't even bother, Uzumaki." She blinked and he looked her straight in the eyes with a scowl playing on his lips. "I might not have the same personality as Deku or even that Half and Half Bastard but I know myself and how I was raised…I will never allow myself to become like that."
It was one thing for him to say this but actions always spoke larger than words.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think about this chapter.