"To truly believe in democracy, you need only see everything else"

"What would you like to be when you grow up, Kiko?"

A warm feeling enveloped me. The feeling of safety, joy, and the reassurance that this man was someone who could protect me, who could shoulder the burden of my life. At that moment, I knew from my heart that I could trust this man and I could leave my worries all to him. For a moment I wondered why I believed in the leader of a military dictatorship, who stood against all the values of my western education, so implicitly, but that thought was quickly banished. After all, how could he be wrong? It was an impossible thought, of an impossible leader.

At that moment, I knew the Will of Fire. How shinobi could put it all on the line and make the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the village. Because the Hokage was the village. He embodied every ideal that the posters talked about. At that moment, I knew the Hokage. His deep caring and love for the people of Konoha shined through his eyes. His desire to lead the village through trial and tribulation with his guiding hands resounded through his soul. At that moment, I understood why betrayal was looked down upon so much by the books and the villagers. How could anyone make the foolish decision of fighting against such strong, mighty leadership?

All thought I had about revolution, escape, disappeared in an instant. All thought I had about the cruel nature of the shinobi system, condemning generations of children to merciless death and slaughter evaporated. Every observation about the cult of personality and propaganda that echoed through every book, story, tale that the caregivers at the orphanage fell to the side. Every one of the twenty-five years of wisdom that I had obtained in a previous life seemed insignificant and meaningless. It was like a god had descended from the heavens to imbue my mind with divine knowledge and revelation. After all, how could a cult of personality truly be a cult, when every single one of the bits of propaganda was true? In fact, the propaganda was really understating the glory and wisdom of the Hokage. Nothing could compare to the euphoria of knowing that such a godly, powerful being was not only watching you, but on your side.

At that moment, I knew. I knew that my plan to escape Konoha as a civilian merchant was silly. Actually, it was more than silly, it was downright horrifying. How could I even consider not serving the glorious, spectacular village of Konoha? How could I not lay down my life to serve the interests of the grandest place I've ever seen, in all of my twenty-nine combined years of life? I almost tried to tell the Hokage on the spot of my betrayal, but some part of me suppressed that for a moment.

For a second, that part of me started pointing out the absurdity of the situation. How I had just thrown out every ideal that was central to my worldview in a matter of seconds. But that was silly. Sure, maybe I did find it somewhat scary that I had just abandoned the notion of democracy with such a cavalier attitude, but I had just realized a greater truth. The Truth of the Hokage. The logical side of my mind rang out in protest, wondering just what had stricken me, but that voice grew weaker by the minute. As the "logical" side of my brain (could it really be logical if it questioned the Hokage?) finally lost control, I began to answer the Hokage's question.

"I want to be a Kunoichi and protect the village!" I exclaimed cheerfully. I knew from the bottom of my heart, mind and soul that this was the right answer, the only answer I could and will ever give.

"That's wonderful, Kiko-chan! In that case, we'll set you up with your own apartment, and enroll you in the next class. However, are you confident in your decision? Protecting the village is no small thing," the Hokage said, wisdom dripping from every syllable.

"Of course! How could I live my life if I didn't follow the Will of Fire, Hokage-sama!"

"Alright, Kiko-chan, I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the ranks."

I almost squealed. The Hokage himself said he'll be looking forward to my future kunoichi career. This was unequivocally, one of the best days of my life.

It would only be later, several days later, when Kobayashi Kiko realized that day was unequivocally, one of the worst days of her life.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was a busy man, but he always had time for his orphanage visits. However, there was a reason for that. To his advisors and the clan heads, it was a frivolous use of time that could be better spent managing the village. It probably contributed to how Danzo thought of him as a weak, peace-loving old man, but he disagreed with Danzo on a number of things. Educational philosophy was one of them.

Danzo, that old warhawk, thought shinobi should be emotionless. Living vessels for the usage of chakra. Nothing more than mindless bodies to complete the mission objective. Hiruzen knew that was nonsense, because in reality, a shinobi's finest tool is his emotions. A shinobi's finest tool is his dedication to the village, or in other words, the Will of Fire.

So, it was a quite straightforward step, really, to visit the orphanages. Chakra was a curious thing, and it was malleable. Yang Chakra was somewhat more understood than Yin Chakra, thanks to the progress in biology that Orochimaru spearheaded, but Hiruzen had found some tricks with Yin Chakra throughout his lengthy life. As a kage and the God of Shinobi, his chakra reserves were truly monstrous, his Yin especially so, considering his declining health. So it should really be no surprise that his chakra could easily overpower that of clanless orphans. And children, especially clanless children without the extra development clan heritage bought them, were impressionable. Their minds were weak, susceptible to manipulation.

Of course, he was no mindwalker, and if they were not powerless no-name orphans, he likely couldn't even bring about any permanent changes. He never sought to rearrange minds or change them drastically, and he likely couldn't. No, he was merely showing them the path of the Will of Fire, giving them the motivation to rise above and make something of themselves. He was doing them a kindness, if you really thought about it. It was one of his nicer hobbies, giving some of the orphans a chance to rise above there standing.

He was looking forward to seeing what Kobayashi Kiko could achieve.

AN: In Sound Judgement by NegativeAperture inspired me to finally write out this idea I've had for a while. Check it out, it's a truly wonderful fic.