A sort-of special chapter! This one's centered in future times, with Naruto and co.

Mariko, Tobirama, and the crew are mentioned, of course. (WHY is this story turning into NOT Mariko-Tobirama-centric?!)

Oh well.

Disclaimer-ttebayo: Naruto's not mine. Seeing as this timeline doesn't work either. -shrugs- oh well. I can't help going back into old chapters and seeing pictures of the Hokage...there's one where Hashi's wearing something like a head wrap? LOL Hash, WHAT is on your head? XD And they all look super-serious, too.'

...this is what happens when I have no work, and it's a half-day of school. (3 chapters, lol)

Chapter 17: Future - Photo Albums

Naruto failed to notice the presence of the 5th Hokage as he sifted through her old family photo albums, located on a shelf in one of the Hokage Tower's older rooms. It was an old office, with musty couches and the portraits of the Hokage up on the far wall. Naruto had sniggered at their stoic faces and serious sort-of frowns. When he became Hokage, his portrait would be one of him smiling. (He also wondered what in the world the First was wearing on his head; was that a bandanna? Besides that, the Second's headgear was cooler than Captain Yamato's, the Third looked young, and of course, his father, the Fourth, was super cool. And then there was Granny…)

The young Jinchuuriki flipped open the album, taking his time looking at the faded, colorless photos of the First and his family. As time progressed, the pictures attained slight bits of color along with the usual white-gray-black tones. The moment Naruto flipped to the First Hokage with his granddaughter is the one Tsunade chooses to make herself known.

"I see you found a picture of me with my grandfather," she notes, smiling at the boy's stunned reaction. He stammers, babbling incoherently first at her unexpected appearance, and at the new information. If his whiskers had been real, they would've twitched in confusion.

"You…the First?"

"Yep. I'm his granddaughter," Tsunade said rather proudly. "How do you think I got that necklace? The one you destroyed, by the way."

Naruto continued staring at the picture. Tsunade chuckled as he continued to flip through the album, forgetting to close his gaping mouth.

"Is this…?"

"My grandmother," Tsunade informed him. Naruto grinned.

"Uzumaki Mito, huh? My mom told me about her." He saw the faint glow of red through the shades of gray, and admired the smile on both the Uzumaki's and the First Hokage's faces. He also noticed the diamond on her forehead, which Tsunade seemed to share.

Flipping the pages, passing through time, he came to the point of the Second Hokage's time in the office.

"Huh. So that means the Second is your great-uncle?" Naruto mused.

"That's right. He was a funny guy," Tsunade recalled. "He and Jiraiya got along real well." She laughed, remembering. "He called Jiraiya weird things like Cotton Ball Head, or Cotton Boy, but his favorite was Snowflake."

Naruto snickered. That Pervy Sage? A snowflake? Cotton ball, he sort of understood, but he thought relating his old master to a delicate piece of snow was a bit of a stretch.

"Apparently, I always asked a lot of questions," Tsunade told him. "Jiraiya would bug him all the time, and Orochimaru just wanted to learn all the jutsu in the world."

Naruto grinned and turned the page to see the Second toting Jiraiya in one arm, Tsunade on his shoulders, and Orochimaru by his side. Off in the corner, was a figure Naruto thought seemed rather familiar, but couldn't put his finger on it. He glanced up at Tsunade, but the woman was too absorbed in the picture. It was then that the portraits of the Hokage caught the boy's eye, and he matched the old man to the young one in the picture.

"No way, is that the Third? That old man?!"

"Believe it or not," Tsunade smiled. "He was young, too."

"No way! He doesn't even have his beard yet." Naruto laughed. He browsed a few more a pages, and pointed at the blue-haired girl next to the Second. "Who's this?"

"My great-aunt."

"She looks like she's our age…well, like she was, our age." Naruto studied the picture. The girl must've been just a few years older than Naruto and his group at that time, and pretty small, too. Either that, or the Second was tall. Maybe both.

"Aokami Mariko, from the land of Hurricane. It still exists, you know. It's just under Kirigakure's rule. They used to be Whirlpool's neighbors."

"They have really blue hair."

Tsunade smiled at this. She was about to show Naruto her great-uncle and -aunt's children, but Shizune burst through the door and yelled at her for slacking off. Something about the amount of paperwork, and the council meeting, and finally a third thing that Tsunade didn't want to do.

"See what you have to look forward to, Naruto?" she asked, ruffling the blonde's hair. Naruto just grinned.

"Tsunade-sama! The four past Hokage are rolling in their graves, watching you procrastinate like this!" Shizune exclaimed, frustrated. Tonton the pig snorted a few times, amused. Tsunade glanced at the portraits of her predecessors, alongside her own. Solemn, stoic, serious sort-of frowns. Glancing at the pictures of the First and Second, and even the Third, she shook her head. Those were just photos, not the faces she remembered.

A smiling Hashirama, always accompanied by Mito. Her favorite thing had been Mito's cookies and Hashirama's stories. In fact, she enjoyed helping her grandfather procrastinate, because he sure didn't want to do all that paperwork either. He was always happy to see her when she bounced into his office, all smiles.

"How did you and grandma fall in love?" was her favorite question. She'd heard the story at least twenty times, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Even a random story of how Hashirama tamed a tiger was the best afternoon pastime.

The Second Hokage, her great-uncle Tobirama. At first glance, serious and intimidating, unless you caught him in a moment where he just had to make that funny comment. Tsunade remembered him as a funny guy, her favorite uncle, the one that used to pinch her cheeks and let her ride on his shoulders when he had the free time. Her favorite aunt, Mariko, who bought Tsunade her first dress when she was a teen. They had gone shopping for hours, that day, whilst Tobirama prepped Cotton Snowflake Jiraiya to ask her to the dance.

Eventually, Tsunade learned that she could bother her uncle and keep him from paperwork as well, without getting yelled at.

"How did you and Auntie fall in love?" was one of her many questions.

Then her teacher, the Third. Old man Sarutobi, who smiled at everyone, even Orochimaru. Tsunade sighed. He'd handed over his job, only to get it back. Old Hiruzen Sarutobi, who died fighting both his teachers and his student, and ultimately left the hat to the one the councilors would choose: Tsunade. She thought of Naruto's father, who looked just as somber and formal as the rest of them. She remembered meeting him, though, as well as the hot-headed Kushina. Naruto was a perfect mix of their personalities.

Finally, herself. Maybe not so much of a frown, after all. In fact, Tsunade liked to think that it was a sort-of smile gracing her lips in that photo, immortalized alongside the rest of Konoha's legends. Maybe it was a representation of the times; when Naruto became Hokage, as was his dream, he would smile to show the peace that had graced her grandfather's, her great-uncle's, her teacher's, and Naruto's father's village.

"Maybe not rolling," Tsunade said to Shizune. "More like laughing."

"And why is that?" Tsunade's aid was already flustered, what with the Hokage's antics driving her nuts. One minute, in the office, the next, she was gone. Like she had pulled an Akatsuki and disappeared in a vortex.

"It's not like they never procrastinated, either," Tsunade chuckled. She turned to Naruto. "Don't ever procrastinate, Naruto!"

"No worries, Granny. I'll have Konohamaru do it, ttebayo!"

Tsunade shook her head and left Naruto to flip through the volumes of her past. He didn't get far, though, seeing as Sakura yelled his name through the window, accompanied by the rest of the Konoha 11 plus Sai.

"Hey you, let's go!" Kiba called.

"We've got barbecue to eat!" Chouji added, waving.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, ttebayo," Naruto exclaimed, leaving the book and leaping out the window. A wave of dust followed him, and the group started coughing and yelling at him again.

Later, Tsunade picked up the album and set it back on the bookshelf carefully, leaving it snug between two others. It seemed like Naruto hadn't gotten past Tobirama and Mariko's second child. That's all right. He didn't need to know that their son would go on to have a child with the same white hair as Tobirama, whom they named Sakumo. It was too bad he hadn't seen pictures of Dan or Nawaki, either. Tsunade supposed that she would show him, some time, just to let him see the faces of those whose dreams he carried on.

" 'Because becoming Hokage is my dream'…" Tsunade took one last look at the pictures, always keeping an ear open for Shizune again. "Was that your dream? I suppose it was only Minato's dream, eh? The rest of you…just got the role."

She knew, of course, that they all had the same Will of Fire, though. Looking out the window, watching the workers finish up this district of Konoha, in its tedious rebuilding. The Hokage Tower had been reconstructed, its belongings mostly reorganized and gathered.

"I bet you were rolling in your graves when this village was crushed, weren't you?" She thought of the expression her grandfather must have had, the poor guy.

"What would you do if I became Hokage?" a young Tsunade had once asked.

"I would be very happy," he had told her with a smile.

"And Tobirama-oji-san?"

"He would cry. With happiness, of course." Hashirama laughed.

"What if…the village was destroyed?" Tsunade continued.

"Tsunade, don't talk like that," the First scolded.

"But really, Grandpa, what would you do?"

"I would rebuild it, of course."

Somewhere up above, Hashirama laughed.

"I guess all those questions come in handy at some point."

Be thankful for all the questions you ask - they may help you in the end.

(Teachers tell you to ask questions, but when you ask the supposedly stupid questions, they yell at you?)

Thanks guys, for all the reviews! You make my day. This story isn't even that great -cry forever-

Uh. BACK TO TOBIMARIKOOOOO -flies away-