Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I just borrow the characters for my pure enjoyment.
AN: Sorry about getting this chapter out so late (better late than never right?)Thanks to all the people who reviewed the last chapter (I apologized for not getting back to all of you; it was very much appreciated though.) Hopefully I'll get back to being able to update every week now that I have the school/work situation under control. Thanks for being so patient. In any case, here it is…
The Lessons a Hokage Needs to Know
Chapter Eight-The Haruno Clan Party
Naruto was awoken simultaneously by the beeping of his alarm and the frantic knocking at his door.
He turned and looked blearily at his alarm clock. Seven forty-five. A.m. In the morning.
He silently groaned before grabbing a discarded shirt and pulling it over his head. No way was he going to appear half naked in front of those girls again. No way!
He opened the door (fully clothed) and looked out at his guests, prepared for anything the day might throw at him, or so he thought until Shizune (who was there along with Hinata, sakura and Tsunade) thrust some papers into his face.
He glanced warily at the title. A test.
This time his groan wasn't so inaudible.
His life was just so unfair.
Naruto jerked his head up at the sound of something being slammed, followed by the sounds of muffled conversation that were being emitted from his room.
Naruto frowned at the next question on the test in concentration. 'What are the three basic forms of conversation and how are they commonly introduced into the fundamental flow of regular dialogue?'
Naruto flipped to the next page of his eighty question test and saw questions along a similar line continued there too. He frowned and looked back at the first question again and got to writing, trying to ignore the sounds that were coming from his bedroom with alarming regularity.
"So Hinata," Sakura broke the silence in the room. "What's been going on between you and Naruto lately?"
Hinata looked up from the two shirts that she was examining and glanced backwards to her fellow Kunoichi. She tilted her head in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Sakura slammed the top drawer of the dresser with a bang and started rifling through another one instead. "What's been going on between you two? Like with dates or training or anything?"
Hinata looked down with a blush. "Well, everything's been fine."
Sakura raised an eye-brow at the Hyuuga heir. "Just fine?"
"Well…." Hinata ducked her head. "He has been kind of distant lately. He seems distracted on our dates and when we train together too."
Sakura looked at Hinata, stunned. "With you too?" She said with an incredulous note tingeing her voice. "So he hasn't even told you either?"
Hinata looked at her in alarm. "Told me what?"
Sakura closed the next dresser drawer with a snap and sat down on the bed to tell the hyperventilating Hyuuga about what everybody had been observing in Naruto's behavior in the recent weeks.
Naruto stood up and waved the test in the air triumphantly. "Done!"
Shizune grabbed it in mid-wave with lightning fast reflexes. "It's about time."
Naruto just sat back down and pouted, which caused Tsunade to hit him on the head on principle.
Naruto pouted harder.
Hinata looked at Sakura, trying to comprehend all that she had just been told.
"So…" Her voice shook slightly. "Naruto hasn't told anybody what he has been doing?"
Sakura shook her head. "Not at all. It has everybody puzzled really."
Hinata considered all the facts for a minute, and then looked back at Sakura. "Does Lady Hokage know?"
Sakura glared at Naruto's bed covers. "She must. But she's not telling anybody anything either."
Hinata was just about to say something else when Tsunade appeared in the doorway.
She cocked an eye at the apparent laziness of the two ninja. "So do you girls have Naruto's outfit picked out yet?"
The two Kunoichi jumped from the bed with a start and the room was suddenly filled with frantic movement. Tsunade just looked at the clothing flying all over the place with amusement.
Sakura, Hinata and Tsunade emerged from Naruto's bedroom just in time to see Naruto cringing under the rather frightening gaze of a ranting Shizune. The three women approached the pair cautiously and finally learned what had Shizune uncharacteristically upset.
"…didn't study at all!" Shizune swiped the papers in her hand at Naruto's head like a blade and Naruto barely avoided a massive paper cut by hastily backing away.
That didn't seem to stop the Hokage's assistant because she just took three steps forward and started haranguing the unfortunate blond again.
Sakura and Hinata just looked at each other confused. Sakura turned to her mentor.
"Tsunade-Sensei," She asked cautiously. "Why is Shizune-San yelling at Naruto?"
The Hokage just looked at the two fighting people in front of her (or rather Shizune was fighting. Naruto looked like he was trying to curl up into a ball and fade into the wall) and tilted her head.
"You know Sakura, that is a good question." Tsunade addressed Shizune.
"Shizune, why are you yelling at Naruto?" Tsunade asked with an edge of curiosity in her voice. Shizune answered by throwing Naruto's balled up test in the Hokage's general direction. Hinata caught it and handed it to Tsunade who took one astonished look at it before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter.
This further confused the two young Kunoichi, so Sakura picked up the wrinkled paper herself and blinked, as did Hinata when they both saw the score that he had gotten. Eight.
The two looked at each other and couldn't help laughing themselves.
"So…so…"Sakura gasped out between breaths. "Why was Naruto taking a test anyway?"
Tsunade immediately stopped laughing, as did Hinata. Shizune, Tsunade and Naruto exchanged uneasy glances between themselves.
Tsunade got up off the couch and crossed over to the pile of clothes laid out on the kitchen table.
"So girl's" She put a smile on her face, "What say that we get Naruto dressed, shall we?"
It didn't escape Sakura's or Hinata's notice that their question hadn't been answered.
Naruto looked down at his clothes nervously and soothed out the wrinkles in his shirt once more. Tsunade slapped him the side of his head resentfully. "Naruto," she whispered quietly under her breath, "Stop it!"
Naruto glared at the floor but didn't say anything in retaliation.
"Hmm…" Tsunade breathed under her breath. "I just don't know." She turned to her oldest apprentice. "What do you think Shizune?"
Shizune got off of the couch and circled Naruto once in a predatory way before shrugging. "I think he looks fine." Tsunade still looked unconvinced so she turned to the Hyuuga Heir.
"What do you think Hinata?"
Hinata looked Naruto up and down and shrugged as well. "He looks fine Hokage-Sama."
Tsunade turned to her youngest apprentice. "Sakura?"
Sakura shrugged as well. "He looks absolutely fine Tsunade-Sensei."
Tsunade clucked her tongue and gave Naruto another once over before relenting.
"Alright. I guess it really doesn't look that bad."
Naruto ran a hand once more over his blood-red shirt and got another slap on the head for it.
Tsunade turned to the assembled women on the couch. "Well if we all agree on how he looks, then let's go over what will happen at the party."
Tsunade forced Naruto into one of the kitchen chairs and grinned. Naruto shuddered at the look all four Kunoichi shot him.
Naruto stood outside the house with Tsunade and Shizune. He shuffled his feet slightly. He felt so out of place. He smoothed the wrinkles out of his shirt once more, and then ran a hand through his, gelled,formerly unruly hair, only to get a sticky hand as a result. He grimaced and was about to wipe his hand on his pant leg, but a sharp pain in the back stopped him. He glared at a smiling Tsunade. Shizune bent down to his ear.
"Naruto, don't fidget!" She hissed threateningly in his ear before ringing the doorbell to the house that they were standing in front of.
The doorbell was answered almost immediately by a smiling red-haired man. He proceeded to greet the three newcomers to the party.
"Hokage-Sama" He bowed to Tsunade, "Shizune-San" He bowed to Shizune too, and was about to do the same with Naruto when he stopped, apparently finally registering who the last person in the little group was. Naruto gritted his teeth silently and the tension between Shizune and Tsunade rose about three levels. To the man's credit he recovered very quickly.
"Uzumaki-san" He waved the three inside the house were faint music was coming from. "Welcome to the Haruno clan party." The three executed a quick series of bows and entered the house.
The moment they entered everyone in the room the noise level plummeted to nothing and every eye in the place seemed to find Naruto. Naruto felt frozen in place by all the eyes. All seeming to accuse him of various things.
His eyes were darting rapidly over the room, his well trained shinobi senses already telling him the he was in a very bad situation, and his survival instincts trying to calculate the easiest route of escape. His willpower was the only thing keeping his feet rooted to the floor. Well that, and the hands that both Tsunade and Shizune had wrapped, tightly, around his upper arms.
There was a smattering of movement in the back of the crowd and suddenly a man and woman, (both of whom he recognized as being the Haruno clan representatives on the council), emerged and bowed formally to the group of three. "Hokage-Sama, Shizune-san, Uzumaki-San. Welcome to our humble party." The three bowed to the two elders (Naruto only after being elbowed in the ribs by both the women attached to his sides) and the two led the three further into the house.
After that little show the music was slowly started up again and people went back to doing their previous activities, albeit a little more cautiously and quietly than before.
"Were sorry about that." The female elder apologized almost as soon as they were out of earshot of most of the room. "That really was supposed to go better."
Tsunade let out a sigh that she had been holding back and turned to the two. "Obviously." She turned to Naruto. "How are you holding up Naruto?"
Naruto unclenched his tightly furled hands and turned to the Hokage.
"I've been better." He glanced around at all the red and pink haired people currently occupying the room and turned back to Tsunade. "Is this going to happen at every party that I have to attend?" he asked anxiously.
"Most likely." Shizune answered from his right. "We've made no secret of the fact that you would be attending these clan parties…"
Tsunade interjected into the conversation herself. "Your friends were informed about it, for instance."
Shizune took up the dialogue again. "However, we have conveniently left out that fact to the majority of the population in Konoha."
Naruto's eyes widened and he looked like he was about to yell at the top of his lungs so Tsunade clamped her hands around his mouth and made a shushing noise.
"Naruto, we did this for two reasons." Naruto gave her a questioningly glare and she let go of him.
"One is so that we can get an accurate reading about what people really think about you." Naruto grumbled under his breath about that. Tsunade ignored it completely.
"And the second is so that you will get used to how most people will react around you as Hokage." This time Naruto's grumbles were tinged with what could be taken as a question or two. Tsunade grinned and poked him in the side.
"What was that Naruto?"
Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and re-phrased his question.
"I said, what was that about people reacting this way to me as Hokage?"
"Well, even you must have noticed how people have reacted to you over the years." She didn't wait for a response to her rhetorical question.
"Anyway, like has already been said most people still have a stigma about you, even after all these years, and Naruto, I'm sorry, but being Hokage really isn't going to change their attitude all that much."
"Huh?" Naruto said, shocked.
Tsunade nodded. "Uh huh. That's one lesson that you're going to have to learn almost right away. Being Hokage might force them to listen to you and carry out your orders, but it doesn't mean that they have to like you or even respect you. And a lot of them aren't going to thanks to the Kyuubi."
Naruto looked glumly at the ground at the harsh reality that had been spelled out for him about his chosen dream job.
Tsunade put a comforting hand around his shoulder. "Just think of it this way Naruto. Winning these people over will be just one more step on the road to becoming Hokage."
Naruto nodded but didn't say anything more.
Sakura found the group not too long after they had arrived.
"Tsunade-Sensei, Shizune-San, Naruto." She bowed to the three before gesturing to the two people who were following behind her.
"Everyone, these are my parents."
Naruto glanced over the two in surprise. These two weren't what he had in mind when he thought about parents. The two adults studied Naruto intently, before Sakura's mom greeted him.
"Uzumaki-San. Welcome to our home. Sakura has told us so much about you."
Naruto balked under the kind gaze of the woman and blushed slightly. Another elbow to the side brought him back the present and Naruto executed an awkward bow.
The red-haired woman laughed. "There's no need for that Naruto." She took him by the shoulders. "May I call you Naruto?" She didn't wait for his response as she led him away from Shizune and Tsunade. "As long as you've been my cherry-blossoms teammate we should be practically family by now. However, this is the first time that I've met you so you have to tell me about yourself." Naruto stared at the woman; clearly flustered by the attention Sakura's mom was giving him.
"Oh dear." Tsunade said as she watched Naruto and Sakura's mom disappear into the crowd.
Sakura just let out a breath of air at her mother's antics before striking up a conversation with Shizune. Sakura's father turned to the Hokage.
"So Hokage-Sama how is his training progressing?"
Tsunade looked at the semi-retired ninja and smiled. "Fine. It's going better than I had expected actually."
"Do you think…?" Sakura interrupted the two mid sentences.
"What was that about training?" she looked anxiously between the two.
Sakura's dad and Tsunade both looked at Sakura with a strange look in their eyes.
Sakura's dad (having been informed about his daughter's recent obsession with Naruto stalking. Almost as worrying as when she developed her 'Sasuke watching' obsession, though not quite) took his daughter by the shoulder.
"Sakura, that information is on a need to know basis only. It is classified as an s-class secret." He said comfortingly while giving her shoulder a squeeze.
Tsunade sighed silently as she examined the undeterred look upon Sakura's. So the Naruto stalking continued.
Naruto looked around at the people surrounding him on all sides. He could almost feel the steady thrum of conversation that was following in his wake. He saw people hastily avert their eyes when he turned his head in their direction, and if that group in the corner wasn't actually following him around the room, then he would give up ramen right here and now.
"…uto, naruto…Naruto!"
Naruto hastily turned back to the lady situated on his side as she took to shaking his arm to get his attention.
"Huh?" He blinked confused blue eyes at Sakura's mom. "Oh. I'm sorry Haruno-Sama, I wasn't paying attention."
The woman laughed at his blatant apology. She patted him on the back.
"Oh, Naruto-Kun, come on, let's get you back to the elders. They wish to speak to you."
Naruto gave her a curious look in response.
The female Haruno matriarch circled Naruto, looking him up and down like as if she was examining a piece of meat.
Naruto turned too, keeping her face at the front of his vision.
All the others in their party were lined up against the walls of the empty room that he had been led into for this meeting.
The woman stopped examining him and gestured for him to sit down.
She looked him over carefully with faded jade eyes. "Uzumaki-San, as the Haruno representatives on the council that governs this great village of Konoha, We would like to give you this gift."
The male Haruno elder turned from the cabinet that he had been rummaging through and handed an ornate box decorated with images of springtime on it to a confused Naruto ceremoniously.
Naruto gripped the delicate looking box on both sides and looked around the room uncertainly. Tsunade caught his eyes and nodded her head slightly, gesturing to him that he should open it.
Naruto undid the lock with fumbling hands and peeked inside. He lifted out a scroll and a wrapped package, inside of which was an assortment of dried leaves, flowers and grasses.
He saw Tsunade smile out of the corner of his eye and Shizune let out a relieved sigh.
Naruto continued to stare at the odd items that were present in his hands before a foot nudging into his leg reminded him of what he had to do. He hastily put the package of vegetation and the scroll onto the floor in front of him and bowed to both the elders until he was practically nose to nose with the wooden floor.
His voice shook slightly as he got through the words that he had memorized on the way over here as fast as possible.
"Haruno elders, I thank you for accepting my nomination as the next leader of this village, and promise to do all in my power to protect it." He picked up the scroll with his left hand and held it straight out in front of him.
"I will use my wisdom to govern wisely."
He picked up the bag of leaves and repeated the movements that he had done with the scroll.
"I…" He tripped over the words slightly before taking a deep breath and plugging onwards. "I will always remember the spirit of the forest and stand as firm as the trees that keep this village from harm."
Naruto put the box back in front of him and took out a small dagger. He put the scroll and the bag back in the container and pressed the dagger into his hand until he was bleeding. He put the dagger, still stained crimson from his blood, back in as well before closing the lid with a snap and re-locking it. The box was lit for a moment as it accepted his blood as its new seal.
Everyone waited for the glowing to die down before the male elder walked back over, picked up the box and put it back into the cabinet.
After that was done, both elders stood in front of Naruto and intoned together, "Naruto Uzumaki, we accept your blood and verbal promises and guarantee that you will have the Haruno vote when the time comes to decide who the next Hokage will be." Both elders bowed simultaneously then looked at those who were present in the room.
"Well, I think it's time to return to the party, don't you?" Tsunade asked the room at large effectively ending the moment. The two elders opened the door and exited without another backwards glance, leaving Naruto to sit by himself in the middle of the room.
Tsunade put a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.
"Come on Naruto, Let's get back." She cocked her head towards the door. "You haven't had a chance to dance with Sakura yet."
Naruto gave her a gentle smile before getting up.
So that's that. Again, sorry about how long it took me to get it out. Anyway, review and let me know what you think. Thanks! KG.