Chapter 30
Tsunade meets with the elders
Lady Tsunade had been pacing in her office for over an hour thinking about her plans for retirement. She couldn't believe she would be laying aside the dreams of her brother and Dan, but Hokage had never been her dream. She was a strong leader and led the village through a difficult time in its history, and into the strongest revival effort it had ever seen. It was time, and she would be happy to step aside and let new leadership continue. She felt confident in Kakashi and knew that he would be the best candidate to replace her.
There was a knock at the door and then two people stepped inside.
"Elders, thank you for seeing me today," she motioned for them to sit down "I have a matter that I need to discuss with you." She began.
They both took a seat and waited for her to continue. Both of them didn't care for Tsunade very much, but they respected the way she ran the village.
"I know that we haven't exactly seen eye to eye in the past," she started, "but everything I've done, I've done to protect this village. I want to make preparations to retire." She announced.
"But the village is in the rebuilding stage, the people need a stable leader," the older lady scoffed "you can't be serious Tsunade."
"I am," she added "but I do have a request, maybe a condition,"
"You plan to set the village aside and dare make a request from us," the older male yelled at her.
Tsunade stood up, afraid she was going to lose her temper. This request was too important to blow.
"I request that Hatake Kakashi replace me as Hokage, and I have no plans to set the village aside." She braced her hands on her desk as she explained "Just as my sensi did before me, I want to retire young to prepare the leaf village to have enough leadership in the event of a threatening situation. I feel that only Kakashi would be qualified enough to resume this position. He would have great support from the villagers and new leadership could help the revival." She finished.
"We will need to discuss this, but it sounds well thought out," the older lady considered.
"And my condition…" Lady Tsunade began before she was cut off
"I thought Kakashi was your condition," the older man questioned her
"No, he is the only logical choice for my replacement, that's merely a fact." She continued. "My condition is that while Kakashi is Hokage he train Naruto as his next apprentice to replace him when the time comes."
The elders gasped and looked at one another "But he is still so young, more time will be needed before we can decide who the 7th Hokage will be. Whether we agree or not, you still plan to step down, so what is the difference if we consent or not?" she added.
"If I remember correctly my sensi was the same age when he became Hokage. Naruto is the only one with the strength to protect our village, you've read the reports I've sent over," she stated matter of factly.
"Yes," the older man answered
"If you do not consent, I will go to the fudal lord myself and request this, and I will tell him I do so because my wishes were not honored by the village elders." Tsunade added. She had met the fudal lord on several occasions and she knew she had only to ask and he would grant whatever she wanted.
"Now we get to it 5th Hokage," the man said in a grumpy tone. "We either give you what you want or you will do it yourself. You love to circumvent the process, don't you."
"I see no reason for you to refuse me in the first place," she sat down in her chair again, "This would be an incredible show of strength for our village, you must see this," she added.
They both stood up to go, "We will have to discuss," the lady added, "You will have our answer when we are ready." She said with a disgusted tone and nodded her head as she left the office.
Lady Tsunade let out a sigh and started to prepare a letter to the fudal lord as plan B.