Woohoo, I actually managed to finish this chapter before Saturday!
Hey everyone, I hope you're doing well despite our current situation. I have nothing but best wishes for your health and safety to whoever reading this. It's us humans vs this new virus, so please practice social responsibility and remember keep your empathy intact for others.
On with this story, we've jumped five years ahead of the time in the previous two chapters with them being 17. I hope you would enjoy this chapter as well. I'm slightly apprehensive about how this chapter would fare in your eyes; I hope it isn't disappointing. I had spent my time trying to figure out how to go about with this chapter and arranging the chronology of the scenes.
I really appreciate all the responses I'd received from the chapters before this! Thank you. If you'd like to keep up with what's up, I'm updating my profile pretty frequently with status updates!
Enjoy.
Being a Hokage was never something he had considered since he took his first step as a ninja in the academy. For years as long ago as the time of the First Hokage, the title earned by the strongest ninja in the village was a dream, an inspiration to many Konoha ninjas as young as five.
But not him. It just wasn't his thing. He was the type of guy who simply worked from the shadows and away from the limelight. Or at least that was what he would have preferred.
Cooped up in the confines of the Hokage Tower with piles and piles of paperwork to accompany him was excruciatingly dull. Just why…why would anyone aim to become the strongest to only sit in a chair all day?
Hatake Kakashi leaned his head back against the chair, his body sliding into a slouch as a silent sigh escaped through his mask. A wince rippled across his face at the familiar protests of his joints and muscles.
It was absurd how he was receiving more body aches from sitting in a chair than roughing it out on the battleground. Ah, how nice it would be if he was lying in the shade of a tree reading his favorite orange novel right now.
His whole body was practically itching with the urge to jump right out of the window behind him to satisfy this wistful urge.
Lazy grey eyes flitted down to the stalk of blond hair across his desk.
One more year. He just had to bear for one more year before he could throw his duties to Naruto and flee from this suffocating tower. Or even earlier if Naruto could complete his Hokage training — doubtful though, Kakashi eyed his successor.
Right before him was the savior of the shinobi world. The Child of Prophecy. The one who had ended the Fourth War years ago and brought peace.
He was all that.
But he was still very...Naruto. The energetic, loud prankster who had the attention span of a three-year-old.
A side of Kakashi's lips twitched in annoyance.
Tsunade had handed him the duty to show Naruto the ropes of being a Hokage after Sakura left on a two-year-long mission so that she could do her duties as the acting head medic till the kunoichi was back.
Once Sakura returned and was done with her one-week break, he could hand Naruto back to the retired Hokage. He didn't mind training Naruto on the ground, but oh god, training Naruto in things that involved books was an absolute nightmare.
Every time the loud blond came in for his Hokage training, he would either be nodding off or fidgeting and squirming in his seat like an overgrown child. There was no in-between; it was either this or that.
Today, he was committing the latter.
Blue eyes carelessly skimmed through the pages, flying through the pages whether or not he had understood any of its content. Clearly seated on the edge of the chair, an index finger continued rapping lightly against the wooden surface of the desk, almost falling in the same rhythm as his bouncing knees.
At this rate, it was going to be more than a year— Kakashi exhaled another sigh, eyes drifting to his desk's drawer where he kept a bundle of rope.
Perhaps he should just bind Naruto to the chair afterall-
"Ahahaha, what an interesting book!" The book was slammed close with a heavy thud.
Kakashi returned his gaze to the blond with a raised eyebrow. Interesting? The last time he read that book, he nearly dozed off.
Who knew running a village needed so many laws? Some did not even make sense! Thank god, he had made changes to them!
"Since I finished it already, can we end this now?" Blue eyes sparkled, the way they used to when Naruto demanded to be taught a new 'super duper awesome' technique back in his genin days.
Naruto's bright gaze darted over to the clock. She was coming back today and on her letter; she had expected to arrive about now — his lips were tense, resisting against a forming grin threatening to break his poor imitation of a serious face.
"Oh really?" Kakashi cocked his head skeptically.
Orange-clad knees went up and down even quicker now, fueled by impatience.
"Yeah yeah, definitely!"
Kakashi's eyes flickered over to the clock as well.
Amusement drew a small smile behind his mask and a knowing look shone in his dark eyes as he returned his attention to the eager knucklehead who looked like he was about to slip off his chair.
Perhaps he should greet Sakura at the gates too.
"Alright, I'll let you off this time." At a second thought...Nah, he wouldn't want to be a third wheel. Plus, she would be reporting to him anyway. "Send my regards to Sakura as well."
The grin won. "Will do, Kaka-sensei!"
The chair was hastily dropped back to its spot against the wall. Sandals slapped noisily against the floor, the door flew open and swung close with a dull thud.
So much for a ninja.
Kakashi sighed.
Maybe he should go find a shady tree now.
Whoever thought the old design of the Hokage tower wasn't good enough to stay and thought sealing up all the windows and installing a glass dome on the roof was a better idea made a big mistake.
He was almost sure it was the smelly geezers in the council who approved the design; they sat their butts down slothing around with their cigarettes and bitter teas all day anyway!
Impatient, loud steps echoed down the winding stairs down the Hokage Tower. His short blond hair atop his black headband rustled wildly in his haste to get to the gates.
He had missed her terribly. The two years without Sakura was strange. It was like a big part of him went away with her.
As cheesy as that sounded, it was true.
His daily routine usually involved dropping in at the hospital to eat lunch with her, hanging out at her apartment with Sai and occasionally, occasionally Sasuke too. She would also drop by his with a meal and proceed to nag his ear off about almost every single thing - something he was sure his late mother would be so relieved about...But he loved it! It was nice.
It had been dull since she left for the mission.
Sai and Sasuke weren't bad company except one always quote weird random things from books and always stuck to his paintings, and one was a jerk.
Sai was his old clueless self who had seemed to have officially changed Naruto's name to 'Dickless' in his head. And somehow, that jerk Sasuke seemed to have taken a liking to that name too, switching up with 'dead last' whenever he felt like it.
Then there was Hinata—
Naruto skidded to a halt with a stunning realization, nearly falling the rest of his way down the steps if not for his hand which flew out and planted itself onto a nearby wall.
His face fell with a groan.
Shit, Hinata...he forgot.
A hand reached up to run through his hair in frustration. Over the span of these recent years, visiting Neji's grave with the Hyuuga mistress had somehow integrated into his life.
Today was that day again.
He had been visiting it on his own all along ever since the war ended but there was something about what Hinata said- "The two people he saved... I'm sure Neji-nisama would be happy to see that we are doing well." -that stuck with him. He didn't know what exactly but doing this with Hinata just fell into place.
Perhaps he could…
Naruto peered out the window beside him thoughtfully as he nurtured a forming idea in his head.
A single lithe figure dashed across the sandy terrain with a silent grace almost like a cat.
The harsh rays of the afternoon sun felt almost too scalding against her back. The bottle in her bag had barely a few drops left to quench her parched throat. Her hair, despite her numerous attempts to keep them secure in a high ponytail, kept slipping lower and getting stuck to her neck or the back of her arms, no thanks to the layer of sweat she was practically coated in.
Two years had been a long journey spent away from home. The aches and sores ran deep enough to be felt in her bones - she could ease them away but wasting her chakra was not wise if she wanted to make it back to Konoha as fast as possible.
The route through the desert was familiar so she knew she had about less than an hour more to go if she didn't falter.
Her eyes squinted against the passing wind momentarily. The humid warm breeze blowing against her sweaty skin was too brief for her to relish in it.
She could feel the protests of her legs underneath, begging for a break ever since she left a teahouse about two hours ago. The hard glint of resolve in those green depths showed her refusal to succumb to her tired limbs. Long, slims legs continued to work at a constant speed, bounding toward the forest ahead.
Her unfazed thoughts churned on about how things were before she left for this mission two years ago.
Ever since the Fourth War, the villages had been on amicable terms and truly like she had wished, peace. Everything in Konoha had been running well. Life was as usual as if the world war did not occur. The shambles that the war had left of the village was built up with some changes, not much to require adaptation.
At twenty, the head medic position was bestowed on her by none other than her master, Tsunade who deemed her ready to take charge of their healthcare system.
However, not even three months into her duty as the head medic, she agreed upon taking part in setting up the Shinobi Health Alliance or now known as SHA. As much as it was honorable to be elected as one of the head advisors for the growing organization, there was a lot of traveling required between villages.
As for Sasuke, after four years of considerably 'light' punishment for his crimes due to his significant role in winning the war, he was given back active status and chosen to be a part of a newly formed special ANBU unit, with special permission to scout outside the village. Of course, there were a lot of protests against this but this decision stood strong.
Meanwhile, the village was under the protection of Hatake Kakashi the Sixth Hokage while Naruto was being guided by Tsunade herself in preparation for his ascension after their sensei.
But there was a problem.
Not everyone was exactly...agreeable about the appointment — she found out a day short of her departure for the mission.
Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to find out more about the issue as she had to head out first thing in the morning. There was nothing but nagging worry and frustration that she had to be away while Naruto had to deal with the mess.
It astounded her how there could be people who are against the idea — while he might not be the brightest ninja, his actions should have demonstrated his potential to be an excellent leader for the village!
There wasn't much about the issue written in the letters Naruto sent to her. She could only hope that he had soothed the resistance by now.
A refreshing wall of cool air rushed against her face as she broke through the first line of trees into the vegetation, finally leaving the barren land. Her hair and the dull cloak draped over her fluttered wildly in the burst of wind as she pushed off a branch and shot forward in the gusting wind through the well-used forest path.
She was a red blur flying through the dense forest.
The fast-approaching all-too-familiar wooden gates grew a grin on her face, and she knew she was home.
It was good to be back.
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