The three teens left Naruto to study, and were on their way back to their homes. Hinata was smiling with satisfaction as she glanced back at Neji's astonishment. Kiyoshi was going home and thinking over his plans for his future in Konoha.
Hinata patted the blond boy on the shoulder, "Kiyoshi-kun... what happened between you and Neji?"
Kiyoshi understood the reason for the question perfectly well; Hinata had always known him to be a cheery person, and the show he pulled on Neji didn't seem like the Kiyoshi she knew. "He was rude to me when I first came here, and looked down on me as if he was more worthy of life than I am. You have no idea how much that angers me."
Hinata didn't understand, "But there have been so many people before that looked down on us, I've never seen you as angry as you were with Neji."
"That's because I knew that if I had become pissed off, a fight would start. Besides, most of those people started the fight and died by my hand. I have no anger towards them, just pity."
"What about the Lost Soul army?"
Kiyoshi remembered the uncalled prejudice he faced back when they met the army of lost families. "They were scared of me, but they had every right to be. Most of them knew about my clan."
Shock passed through the girl's face, "Did you find out something about your clan?"
Kiyoshi put his hands in his pockets and looked down. "Yeah."
"That's great!" smiled Hinata, "Did you find out who your parents were?"
Kiyoshi didn't look up; he kept his face hidden from Hinata. "Yeah."
Hinata was becoming edgy with anticipation, "Well... are you going to tell me?"
The longhaired blond boy didn't say anything, just kept walking. Hinata's smile faded, she ran around him and crouched to look at his face; it showed nothing but sorrow, Kiyoshi found something he regretted searching for. "Kiyoshi..."
"I don't want to talk about it right now, I'll tell you later." replied the teen, walking around Hinata.
Hinata was sorry for bringing it up, but she had no way of knowing the consequence of doing so. "God damn..."
Neji watched Kiyoshi walked away, then turned to Hinata. "What happened to his clan?"
Hinata stood back up, and headed back home. "They were slaughtered."
The boy's eyes widened, he looked back and forth between Hinata and Kiyoshi who were walking away in opposite directions. "What the hell is going on around here? Where did this guy come from?"
Naruto was sitting in the Hokage's library alongside several clones, all reading books on diplomatic matters, history and economics of Konoha. He yawned; this was the most boring work he had ever done. Naruto summoned another clone to slap him awake.
"Finished!" said one clone, putting a finance book away on a shelf.
"Then disappear." replied Naruto, not lifting his eyes from the book in his hands.
The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke, making another one exclaim "So that's what this means! I didn't understand this one bit without finance!"
Naruto smiled, his mind training was paying off. Before, if he were to study these books, linking the information together would be impossible. Especially if he had many clones studying the books at the same time, everything would become hectic and unorganized. "Thanks Kiyoshi..."
Tsunade's eyes filled with tears as she observed the big pile of documents on her desk. She sighed and picked up the one on top, examining the pointless information. If these were missions, she would have fun matchmaking them with the village's ninja. But these were useless reports on landslides and victims of muggings. She crumpled the paper up and threw it at the window in anger, making the glass shatter. "Who keeps putting this garbage on my desk?" screamed the Godaime for the whole village to hear.
Shizune rushed in, "What's wrong, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade slightly turned her head to look at her assistant with a crazed eye, "Tell me, why are there no missions anymore?"
Shizune, terrified by Tsunade's profile, replied, "I-I-I don't know, Tsunade-sama."
Tsunade calmed down and walked over to the coat hanger. "I'm going to the library to calm down, I'll be back soon," said the Godaime, putting on her coat and leaving the office.
Kiyoshi lay on his bed, remembering the clue he found earlier in September. "How do I stop the third transformation?"
Many years had passed since the slaughter of the Joukei clan; the owners of the legendary ability of foresight. From what Kiyoshi gathered, the clan was mercilessly slaughtered because of their lack of submission to a higher order.
Kiyoshi couldn't understand the spiciest logic behind the whole affair. A tear brewed in his eye, he quickly wiped it off, "Hikari... I'll have to tell them soon..."
Neji listened to the story of the summer's mission, taking in everything he heard rather intensely. "Hikari died?" whispered Neji, wide-eyed.
Hinata nodded, "Kiyoshi is emotionally and mentally unstable because of that, I've seen him talk to himself. But he's a good person never the less, he watches out for Naruto and me. Without trying to be, Kiyoshi is like a father to Naruto; the matured Naruto you saw in the library was Kiyoshi's doing. Cut him some slack."
Neji sat back in astonishment, to think that the blond boy he just met was not only a fierce warrior, but also the reason behind Naruto's maturity and Hinata's relationship with him, was overwhelming. "Why? What are his motives?"
Hinata shrugged, "I don't know, he's always quiet about everything that relates himself. If you don't trust everyone's opinions, then take Tsunade's word on Kiyoshi's loyalty to Konoha."
Neji frowned, "Hinata... you know I'm just being careful."
"Well stop it! He's a good person, and wouldn't hurt a fly unless he really had to!" exclaimed Hinata, "You're hurting him."
Neji decided to drop the conversation, "Fine, let's get back to your problem."
Hinata had almost forgotten why she dragged Neji around the village in the first place, "What do you think of Naruto?"
The boy sighed, "I need to sleep on it, all of this is very sudden."
Tsunade yawned, walking through the long hallways of doors. "Stupid architects... putting a library so far away from the Hokage's office..." mumbled the Godaime.
Naruto and his pack of clones had gone through many sets of books, with countless more ahead of them. But Naruto already organized everything in order to get a better and clearer understanding of the contents.
"Finished!" exclaimed a clone, put the book back on the shelf, and disappeared.
"Done!" exclaimed another and did the same.
Naruto was a bit disappointed by the fact that he had never studied before; he had so much catching up to do. Yawning, he observed several rows of books he already went through that day, he couldn't have had such success if not for his ability to clone himself.
Tsunade barged in, making several clones blow up in smoke, the rest tumbling in all directions. "What the hell is going on here?" yelled the pissed off Godaime.
Naruto flinched; he had forgotten to get her approval to use the library. "Hey, Baa-chan..."
She looked down at him, "Naruto! Have you been studying jutsu without supervision?" roared Tsunade.
He crawled back a bit, "No, I haven't!"
Tsunade calmed down a bit, "Then why are you here?"
Naruto stood up and brushed himself off, "I was studying. I'm very sorry I didn't get permission to use the library though."
"You didn't answer my question."
"I'm studying diplomacy, history and economics of Konoha," replied Naruto.
This calmed Tsunade down completely, "Why?"
Naruto grinned, "I won't give up trying to become Hokage just because I'm matured."
Tsunade lifted an eyebrow, "I think maturity and the desire to become Hokage are two opposite things. Get your facts straight."
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind," sighed Tsunade, "How much have you learned today?"
Naruto started picking up the books that his clones dropped when Tsunade entered. "Most of these, and those three rows," replied Naruto, pointing at a nearby shelf.
Tsunade's eyes widened, "Come with me," said the Godaime, leading him out of the library and through a long hallway.
Naruto summoned several clones to finish reading the books, and followed Tsunade out the door. "Where are we going?"
"I have a job for you."
"What kind of job?"
"One with good pay and experience."
Naruto didn't understand, but followed the Hokage through the building. The knowledge of Naruto's disappearing clones flowed through his mind as the two ninja entered Tsunade's office.
"What's the job?"
Tsunade opened her desk and took several books out. "Read these, I'll be back soon. I need to verify something," replied Tsunade, leaving the room.
Naruto observed the books; they were all Hokage's handbooks, involving updated information on the diplomacies of the surrounding countries, horribly mutilated financial statements, ninja lists, citizen lists, categorized reports on various missions, and so on. Naruto shrugged, summoned several clones and started reading.
Naruto became more and more tired with each clone's completion of his task; his body was itching to get some exercise, but his mind was yearning for some sleep.
Shizune entered to find Naruto with a small pile of Tsunade's books. "Naruto! What are you doing?" screamed the assistant, rushing to grab the books away from the teen.
"Tsunade said she had a job for me, and then she left me alone to read these Hokage files," yawned the blond boy.
Shizune calmed down, "Are you lying?"
Naruto shrugged, "Do what you want, but please wake me up when she comes back."
She watched Naruto in silence, as the teen made himself comfortable on the floor and fell asleep. "He's not kidding... Tsunade really did offer him a job. What on earth is she thinking?"
"I'm tired! I need a vacation!" screamed Tsunade.
"What you're asking us to do is very unsanitary," replied one of the senators.
Tsunade wouldn't have it from them. "I don't care! You know perfectly well that he'll make a great replacement!"
"You have to consider the safety of everyone in the village."
"What on earth are you talking about?"
The senator slammed his palms on the table, "Making him Hokage is out of the question!"
Tsunade stood up, "I'm taking a break whether you want me to or not, and just whom are you going to replace me with? That pervert Jiraiya will sink the village into the ground with his pornographic novels, and I don't think you want to do any work yourself either," smirked the Godaime, "Who are you going to replace me with?"
The other senator put her hand on the man's shoulder to calm him down, "Alright... have it your way."
Tsunade lifted an eyebrow; she knew there would be a catch. "Name the conditions."
Shizune was trying to shake Naruto awake, when Tsunade entered the office. "Tsunade-sama! Is it true you're giving him a job?" exclaimed the woman.
"Yeah."
Shizune's eyes widened, "Tsunade-sama... what did you do?"
A rare smile crept across the Godaime's face, "I'm going on vacation, and I'm taking you with me, Shizune."
"You didn't..."
"I convinced the senate to let me leave Naruto as a temporary Hokage."
The news was heavy on Naruto when he woke up. He found that reading the Hokage files was very unreasonable on his behalf, but never did he expect to become a temporary replacement of the Hokage. In just one day of studying for that matter. It was like a dream come true, but in a very possible sort of way. He didn't know how to react, so he didn't; he just stood there and pinched himself for half an hour, watching Tsunade pack up.