Fix.
Chapter 2
"Leadership is the capacity to translate vision
into reality."
Naruto left the podium as soon as he was comfortable enough to move under the weight of the thousands of pairs of eyes. That was rather soon, because he was developing an appetite for lunch that coloured his perception of time.
"Hello, Uzumaki-san."
Naruto, startled after closing the door, hit his head on the wooden entrance on reflex.
"Ow... hi?" The man that scared him was old, and only vaguely familiar. He was covered in bandages, had brown hair, one arm in a sling and a cane in the other.
Naruto rubbed the new bump on his head, holding in a wince.
"My name is Danzo Shimura. I used to be the third's-"
"Cat," Naruto said. The Anbu appeared in front of him, a different cat this time - a male with brown hair - and he noticed Danzo's questioning gaze. "Relax, I'm just hungry," Naruto explained. "I need some ramen, maybe half a dozen bowls, whatever the special of the day is. If Ichiraku's isn't open, figure something out... now, what did you want Danzo-san?"
"I..." he seemed surprised.
"I haven't eaten today, sorry," Naruto said, somewhat sincere. The bump on his head had already gone down, so he comfortably leaned against the door. "I probably have a schedule to keep, so if you could..."
"You do not," Danzo said smoothly, "I inquired prior. I am here to see the new hokage for myself."
"Well, I'm here..."
"Why are you so willing to commit to war against the sand?" The question was abrupt and searing in intensity.
"Huh?"
Danzo frowned. "You are the opposite of Hiruzen, you are not what I expected out of his apprentice. The most glaring difference is the attitude regarding war, and I think your willingness to cause one is unfounded and uncultivated."
"Well, I-I mean-"
"I approve."
"What?" Naruto said. In truth, he wasn't sure he could have given the man's question a logical answer. "Well, that's... good. What do you do again?"
Danzo glanced knowingly towards the shaded corners of the room. "I produce Anbu."
His tone sent shivers down the blond's spine. "You train Anbu, huh?" Naruto asked, he didn't even want to consider the possible repercussions of 'producing' a ninja.
Danzo nodded slowly. "In a way," he answered, "my division was never officially established." He tapped his cane against the boarded flooring, and half a dozen plainly masked shinobi - dressed in the same cloaks as the Anbu often wore, but without a standard uniform - appeared behind the old man, kneeling similarly to the way that the Anbu did to Naruto. "As you can see, the end result is similar."
Naruto frowned. He and the third had their disagreements - they weren't the same person, after all - but he always had his reasons. "Why not?" he asked, crossing his arms. "Why didn't the old man let it through?" This was a lot less casual than it'd seemed from the get-go. Acting on a whim, he clicked his fingers and his three-man protection detail (usually four, but Cat was off getting ramen) appeared neatly around him, standing at attention and facing the room's other occupants stiffly.
Danzo didn't so much as flinch, expecting as much. "The third disliked my methods, but you and the third are different men, are you not?"
It was a gamble, then. Naruto disregarded the assumed 'I did it anyway' with a shake of his head. Somehow, he knew that whatever the man was doing he'd keep doing regardless of what he said. "I guess I'm just gonna ask this again. What do you do?" if the man was secretive enough to continue with his organisation even without the third's permission, then it was unlikely Naruto would get a full explanation, and he knew he should take any answer he gets with a sprinkling of salt.
"Primarily, I adopt promising children that don't have homes," Danzo answered, "occasionally, I may invite certain promising individuals that do have families, with permission. I teach them my personalized curriculum and train them to exceed their peers. The individuals in my employ are strong, Uzumaki-san. I would be elated to have the permission to expand my forces in order to help you with your endeavours. War is something I have taken part in, and researched extensively." Danzo bowed slightly.
Honestly, in a bit of a weird way Naruto kind of liked the man. He gave orphans a home, after all - and more shinobi was more shinobi. "This is all kind of sudden..." Naruto murmured, "what makes your training better? You didn't answer my question about the third, by the way."
"The third didn't like my methods, and I will not explain them to you."
"...Thanks."
"You're welcome, Uzumaki-san."
"...Right. How many shinobi do you have?" Naruto asked. There couldn't be too many if the third hadn't put a stop to it, right?
"I have a few hundred individuals trained sufficiently enough to at least compare to the standard chunin," Danzo explained. "They are sprinkled within your employ, for the most part." Seemed like Danzo had gone for the 'honesty is the best policy' school of thought. Naruto doubted he was so open to the third.
"That seems dangerous," Naruto muttered. "Let me guess - they'll take your orders over mine?" Danzo didn't deign to respond, so Naruto sighed and muttered something derogatory under his breath. "Alright," he said, glancing across the line of kneeling shinobi behind the old man, "not a single cat, huh? Okay then. All of you, get up. Stand. Rise now."
Hesitation. One or two of them shifted fractionally, but recovered their position quickly. A nod from Danzo, and they smoothly stood, their cloaks covering their stances.
Naruto was also hesitant, but he wanted to give the man a chance. "Well, it won't be the first time I let someone else handle the whole 'ordering people around' thing. Do you have papers for me to sign?"
The man's first obvious sign of emotion crossed his face, a slight smile. "I do."
"Alright," Naruto said. He looked to his left, "Cat! Get me a pen," he looked to his right, "Squirrel! Order a couple hundred nicely decorated Anbu masks." He was now left with one guard.
Both quickly returned, and Naruto was given a cute little pink pen with a fluffy feather on the end. He gave Cat an odd look, but didn't comment.
"Thanks. Let me see those forms, Danzo."
"Of course, Uzumaki-san. Rest assured that in return, I will do my best to offer advice and support in the wars to come." Danzo pledged.
"Wars, huh?"
With a bowl of steaming ramen in his hands, a feline Anbu visibly tailing him holding another several, and Ino-something leading the way, Naruto journeyed underground.
"I like miso," Naruto said, picking masterfully at the noodles with his chopsticks. "Keep it up, Cat." As they travelled further beneath ground, the artificial lighting grew more prominent, and the amount of shinobi they walked by increased in volume. The ramen was especially nice because it combated the cold down here, and he'd sent the third's haori to a tailor (via Cat) to get the kanji for 'godaime hokage' printed on it, which ultimately had the effect of leaving him less covered than usual.
"Hokage-sama?"
"Hokage-sama."
"Hokage-sama!"
That was more or less all he'd heard as he descended down the floors of the torture and interrogation headquarters. It had a nice ring to it, and Naruto didn't personally believe it would ever get old. Ino's dad finally directed him away from the staircase and across a hall.
"He's just behind here," Ino-something said, knocking on the door. Across the top of the door were printed the words 'Volatile Prisoner Containment.' Someone from within opened the door, moved out of their way and bowed when she saw Naruto.
"Hokage-sama."
"Hey," Naruto said, nodding back. "He doesn't look comfortable," he noted, looking at the large one-way mirror decorating the far wall. Suna's jinchuuriki sat on the other side, locked into a thick metal chair which was itself locked into the concrete ground. "I'm going in, then."
"I don't think-" Ino's dad tried to say something, but he wasn't having it.
"I'm the one that beat him," Naruto reminded, "and look at him - poor guy is all locked up. I bet he can hardly breathe."
Ino-something didn't bother responding to that, but instead took his leave. "Until you need me next, Hokage-sama."
"Bye Ino."
He left with a grunt, and the room's other occupant laughed, a woman in a chunin's uniform with brown hair and plain features. "His name is Inoichi, Hokage-sama."
"Oh, thanks!" Naruto said. "Knock if someone comes for me." He quickly made for the door to Gaara's cell.
"Of course, Hokage-sama - but first," Naruto halted, "I think you should know something."
"Yes?" Naruto asked.
"The ichibi's container, well he's... how do I put this?" she muttered, "he's insane."
"Oh," Naruto said, "I know."
Opening the locks made sounds much too loud and out of place for the otherwise quiet room, and Naruto passed through the doorway and into the much colder room with haste.
He could feel the redhead's gaze as soon as he entered his cell, and he heard as the chunin closed and locked the door from the outside.
"Yo... Gaara. Cool place you have here."
He received only a glare in response. Bad pun, then.
"You alright, dude?" Naruto sat down on a plain iron chair - the only other piece of furniture in the room - and leaned forward. Step one, he should probably try to make friends with him.
"Why are you here?" Gaara asked. His voice was distorted, gravelly, and he had the look of someone completely defeated and frustrated.
"Well, I... uh..." Naruto coughed, "I was just... wondering a couple things, y'know? We're both jinchuuriki, you know that much, right?"
Gaara nodded - as much as he could with his neck in a vice, anyway. He wasn't a fan of talking unnecessarily, apparently. That suited Naruto fine. He probably should've given this more thought before he came in, though.
"The sand haven't even bothered asking for you back." It was a lie, but it still incited little response out of the redhead. "They don't like you very much, do they? My village didn't like me much either, they still don't, really."
The redhead cocked his head, though it had little effect as chained up as he was. "They made you hokage, why?" Evidently, he'd noticed the robe and drawn the correct conclusion.
Tapping his knee, Naruto chuckled blandly. "I'm not really meant to be hokage, I mean... I was nominated as the..." the blond cringed, but shook it off. "The old man made me his successor a little early. You know how it is."
"They have acknowledged you." Something unpleasant coloured Gaara's tone.
"W-well, not really." Memories of the unpleasant response his coronation elicited swept through the forefront of his mind. "They're not very happy, but that's how it is for us, being a jinchuuriki." The blond leaned back in his crooked, uncomfortable chair and crossed his arms. "What's it like for you, in Suna?"
The captive hummed a short, low tune. "I enjoy it. The people fear me." A ghost of a grin skirted the redheads jaw.
Naruto blanched.
An interested curiosity etched its way across the redhead's face. "You force the nine-tails, do you not?"
"I do," Naruto nodded.
"I would never control my mother," Gaara said, aghast.
"I need the power."
"For what?" Gaara asked. If Naruto was more inclined to trust his hearing, he would say the jinchuuriki sounded excited.
"I don't know," Naruto shrugged. In truth, he didn't have any real and developed motives - at least not yet. "I just need it. Why do you need to be acknowledged?" Naruto would have several answers for the question, but hearing Gaara's own motives could only prove useful and interesting.
For a moment, Gaara remained silent, likely weighing his choices. When it finally seemed that he wouldn't be receiving an answer, the redhead nodded.
"I just want to live, to be alive."
Slowly, Naruto nodded. "I underst-"
"No," Gaara said. "You don't. You're acknowledged."
"Gaara-"
"According to the Sand, I'm not alive. I am not a person to them, but a weapon; I am their biju, their tailed beast. I can only prove my existence with death. Attacking my captors is my proof that I am alive, that I'm not some mindless weapon. You will not take that away from me."
Naruto leapt to his feet. "Woah, woah, nobody's gonna take that away from-" he paused, quickly reconsidering, "actually-"
"I am alive," Gaara's blunt tone was terse and aggressive. If he weren't so constrained, Naruto would be doubting his safety.
The blond nodded. "You are alive, but so am I." He crossed his arms, "do you see me killing people?"
Gaara squinted.
Naruto sighed. "Well, you've gotta kill for the right reasons, you know?"
He nodded. "To prove my existence."
"...I'm not getting through to you, am I?" Naruto muttered. "Look," he lent his hand, as if the redhead could shake it, "come and follow me around for a few days. You'll get it."
"You mean to release me?"
A nod, and Gaara wasn't sure how to respond when he heard someone step in behind him and release his binds.
"Thanks, Cat." Naruto coughed into his hand, raising the other one for a shake. "Let's try again, first impressions are important. I'm Naruto Namikaze, Godaime Hokage."
Released of his binds but still suspicious, the confused jinchuuriki stood, raised his own hand and they shook. "Gaara."
He'd heard that most other villages lacked surnames - but even the hokage's son? He shuffled that knowledge away for later.
"I'm going to Suna, Gaara. If you truly want to kill people, would you like to come and kill more of your own? To truly make a name for yourself, and draw the acknowledgement of the Leaf?"
"I'm not sure I understand." While it didn't seem that the redhead was completely against the idea, he didn't seem terribly happy about it. But then, he was just in captivity. Naruto wouldn't be very happy either.
The blond waved off an Anbu to get the poor kid some water, and tossed an arm about his shoulders.
"The Leaf loves everyone who protects them, and everyone who fights for them." The blond allowed himself a fierce grin, "the Sand attacked us, so I'm taking the Leaf, and I'm going to kill them, take every little scrap of land both Suna and the rest of that shitty country has, and then-" he clapped the redhead on the shoulder, "-we'll gain some crazy acknowledgement out of it. You in?"
For just an instant, Naruto thought he saw the most devilish smirk cross the jinchuuriki's face, but the next instant he seemed just as conflicted as before. The blond shook his head, confident he was imagining things, and-
He was interrupted by a knocking, the door to Gaara's cell opening, and then by an Anbu kneeling beside them.
"Hokage-sama," they said, "your teammates are waiting for you outside of your office."
Ah, right. He'd specifically told the receptionist that he wanted to talk to them and to warn him when they inevitably came to visit.
"Thanks Cat... I'll be there eventually," Naruto nodded. "Say, you're about the right size... do you need that mask? That cloak too?"
The Anbu in question reared back in vain.
Naruto left behind the spluttering chunin and utilized cat-transport to shunshin back to his office. After carefully relaying instructions to Gaara - who was apparently willing to do as told for now - the redhead hid auspiciously behind a bonsai tree in the corner of the room. As he was probably hungry, Naruto allowed him one of his last bowls of ramen.
"Alright," Naruto placed a fresh bowl of ramen on the desk - the Anbu had so kindly been using a minor katon ninjutsu to keep it warm - and cracked open a new pair of chopsticks. "Let them in."
The large doors guarding his sanctuary slid open with a groan befitting their extravagant size. On the other side, Naruto spied familiar members of team 7 and team 10, sitting about a row of rather comfortable looking couches outside in the waiting room.
"Where the hell is my loveseat?" he grumbled, leaning back and muttering curses beneath his breath. His office contained two couches - one along the wall to his right and one to the left, but they didn't look nearly as comfortable as the couches outside of his office. "Hey everyone! Come on in." They did so in surprisingly short order.
"Hokage-sama," Shikamaru said, bowing before his desk. In fact, that seemed to be all it took for all of the other genin to bow too, even Sasuke. That was both uplifting, and more than anything else, surprising. It was also slightly terrifying.
Naruto noticed some interesting glances towards the bonsai tree in the corner, but he paid it no heed.
"Hey," Naruto greeted, waving the arm that wasn't using chopsticks. Yes, he was eating - he'd been on the move ever since his speech, and his brain was in too preoccupied a state while inspiring Gaara to dare eat more than a single bowl. "So, I'm hokage now... what else do you need to know?"
The genin spluttered obscenities in response.
"What do you even mean you're hokage now?" Sakura asked.
"How are you hokage? Your speech was terrible, by the way," Sasuke said.
"The speech was hilarious," Ino softly rebuked, "but why didn't you tell me about it last night? Well, I guess it was pretty awesome finding out like that..." Ino said, earning herself some looks, of which she ignored.
"You met last night?" Chouji asked, amusement colouring his tone.
"Naruto visited the hospital," Sakura explained sourly. The boys 'ah'ed.
"He did?" Sasuke asked, glancing pointedly at the hokage.
"You were sleeping," Sakura said, waving off his question.
Sasuke frowned, "why didn't you wake me up?"
Meanwhile, Naruto just watched and listened as they bickered amongst themselves. If nothing else, it gave him time to eat, and he was already half-way done with his last bowl of ramen.
"So!" Naruto said, interrupting Sakura's blushing response, "how is everyone? There are seats, by the way."
Chouji helpfully dragged the far-away edge of the couch to his right further in, until it was parallel to Naruto's desk, and the genin sat on it - it was easily big enough for all five of them to squeeze in together.
"I guess that works?" Naruto said, wondering if he was meant to be offended by people moving stuff in his office. Maybe? He'd have to ask Cat about it later.
"Thanks Chouji," Sakura, Ino and Shikamaru said. Chouji grinned in response, a slight red dusting his cheeks as he sat down and continued to snack on his potato chips.
"So," Sakura said, "...jinchuuriki."
"How does it make you so strong?" Sasuke asked.
"Why was it a secret?" Shikamaru asked.
"Want a chip?" Chouji asked.
Ino remained silent, seemingly satisfied with the other questions.
"Uh..." Naruto muttered, "okay. Sakura; yeah, blame my dad. Sasuke; because I'm stealing all of the kyuubi's chakra. Shikamaru; the third hokage did that so that I wouldn't grow up around misunderstanding children. Chouji; yes please." Naruto was given a chip, and Chouji was given a high-five. "Very cool."
Naruto swore he heard something from the bonsai tree. Why on earth would that be?
"It didn't really work did it?" Shikamaru observed. Naruto shrugged in response, nothing to add.
"Namikaze," Ino said abruptly, "that's another thing. Your dad is the fourth hokage, doesn't that mean you're in his will or something?"
"Uh," Naruto said, "I haven't checked yet? I don't think he had a will."
"As next of kin, you should get your parents belongings regardless," Shikamaru said. "You should check that later."
"Will do."
"Is that why you were always late to the academy?" Chouji asked, "because you were training with the third hokage?"
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. He winked, "good observation."
Sasuke looked oddly pleased. "When are we going to war with Suna?" the Uchiha asked.
Seeing as it was Sasuke asking, Naruto took a moment to slurp on some of his noodles. "Um," he swallowed, "the third's funeral is tomorrow, and then the day after that - well, Shikaku's still organising everything, but as far as I know that's when we initiate."
"Can I come?" Sasuke asked, a spectacular glint in his eyes.
"Sure," Naruto said, rather amused. He wasn't actually that surprised, a lot of shinobi made their fame during times of war (which honestly sounded right up Sasuke's alley) - but this war would probably be over so soon that most of the shinobi involved wouldn't even have that opportunity.
"How many shinobi?" Shikamaru asked, "on either side."
"That's a good one," Naruto muttered. "We lost almost a thousand shinobi when the sand invaded," all the genin collectively winced, "..and the sand/sound coalition lost ten thousand. Don't be too surprised, we knew they were coming-" he noticed their looks, "well, the chunin, jounin, the hokage and I knew they were coming - and we had so much time to set up in advance that it's honestly pretty fucking sad that we lost so many people."
It hit Naruto that he was a bit disconnected. He frowned, noting that while the genin flinched, he hadn't. Something for later.
"So yeah. It's being organised, we'll probably..." he leaned back in his chair - which was extremely comfortable, by the way - and counted in his head, "...send ten thousand back."
"That's dangerous," Shikamaru stated, narrowing his eyes speculatively.
"Your dad's organising it all," Naruto said with a shrug. "You guys have any more questions? I kind of want to go visit Iruka after this."
They shook their head for the most part, but Naruto suffered through another few questions before they all left to go about their businesses.
Sakura, however, remained at the door as their friends departed.
"Hey, uh, Naruto..." she said, turning around and fidgeting with her hair.
"Yeah?" Naruto asked. He narrowed his eyes slightly and leaned forward. He hadn't seen this side of Sakura for a while, and he thought it was something she did exclusively around Sasuke.
Sakura muttered something under her breath as she steeled herself. "Do you want to go out on a date, Naruto? Just you and me?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"Huh?" What? He tried cleaning his ears out. "Call me crazy, but I thought you just-"
"You heard me."
"I, uh... um..." Naruto stuttered, leaning back in his chair and blinking repeatedly. He... honestly? He didn't have time. He wanted to talk to Iruka, he had another meeting with Danzo later, he wanted to help organise the third's funeral, he... the more he thought about it, the busier he realized he was.
Shit.
"I... can't." Naruto muttered, hanging his head in shame. "Trust me, Sakura-chan, I'm just too busy."
Sakura huffed, blowing a lock of hair away from her eyes. She waved off his response without seeming particularly bothered, "it's fine, I just had to know I tried, you know?" Sakura walked off the way the rest had, leaving Naruto to sit in silence.
"It's only because I'm Hokage, isn't it..?" he muttered to himself. He honestly only refused because he was too busy, and he did seriously like her, but maybe it was time to consider other options anyway? He was hokage now, which - as messed up as the thought was - kind of meant nobody was off limits, right? Ehh... he'd have time soon enough to think about that kind of thing, but it was a very awkward thought to make.
Right now, he just wanted to find Iruka. Danzo had been kind enough to offer the information when he'd asked, and apparently classes were on today despite his coronation, they were just scheduled for a bit later than usual.
Next stop then, the academy.
AN:
chunnin33: I'm glad you enjoy the premise!
AkabaneKazama: I'm suuuper glad you find it funny!
I'm very grateful to all the other reviews too.
I hope you find Danzo's response to this interesting. Naruto doesn't know a damned thing about the shit Danzo's pulled, like the attempted assassination of the third hokage, so he doesn't see any reason to distrust the man (except maybe his unwillingness to divulge information) and therefore just lets the man do as he pleases. Why not, right? If the man wants to help, then in Naruto's eyes; the man just wants to help.
Young and naive to a T.
Reviews, favourites and follows are very cool.