First of all, THANK YOU! Reviews seriously, seriously, seriously, seriously make my day… They are the best encouragement a person can get! I love you guys so much! BTW, Happy New Year!

The Weekend: I know it has no action YET… I'm thinking about changing the genre to romance, then action, but I'll wait a couple of more chapters since I'm a hopeless romantic :P. Anyhow, just wait for Team Naruto to come in properly, I will bring in some action. And by the way the chapter under Chapter 1 is actually the Prologue, in case you haven't noticed. The chapter classified under Chapter 2 IS chapter 1. Also, I know Akira is overused and I know I'm an idiot for using it, but I don't want to change it now, and it just came up in my head y'know? Everybody makes stupid mistakes… :)

Chapter Two:

To say that Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto was nervous would be an understatement. Naruto was in panic-mode. He was getting late for the stupid announcement, and he had no idea how he was supposed to dress.

His knight in shining armor came in the form of Hinata, since Akira wasn't home.

"Naruto-kun!" She called from downstairs, "Please hurry up!"

"Hinata!" His voice was strangled, "Can you come up here please?"

Smiling patiently, the almost-eighteen-year-old kunoichi dressed in simple lavender tank-top on black pants went upstairs to her boyfriend's bedroom.

"Hai?" She asked, sticking her head in.

"Do you have any idea what I'm supposed to wear?" Naruto asked.

Hinata laughed softly, "Just dress in your normal clothes, Naruto-kun. Your jonin outfit. It's just your heritage that's being announced."

Gulping, Naruto nodded.

"Now hurry up." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Naruto rushed, grabbing his outfit, going to the bathroom, showering and changing, combing and drying his hair before picking up his weapons pouch.

"Ready?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her waist and smiling at her.

Blushing faintly, she reached up and kissed him warmly on the mouth.

"Ready." She replied with a smile.

With a flash, they teleported to the spot where Naruto had placed a Hiraishin tag in Tsunade's office.

"Naruto! Good, you're here." Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief, "I need to talk to you privately."

Hinata nodded, "Good morning, Godaime-sama. Naruto-kun, I'll be waiting outside."

She gave him a kiss for good luck and then went outside.

When Naruto turned around, his jaw dropped open. He stared wide-eyed at the object Tsunade held. It was a white robe, red letters on the back proclaiming 'Hokage Candidate', and orange flames licking the bottoms of the sleeves, and the bottom hemline of the robe.

"F-For me?" He pointed to himself incredulously.

"You see any other Hokage Candidate here?"

Naruto, gulping, took the robe and slipped it on.

"You look exactly like him." Tsunade gasped, "Exactly like him."

Naruto smiled, "Arigatou, baa-chan."

Smiling softly, Tsunade nodded, "Stay behind until you get my signal, okay?"

"Hai."

They walked outside, and Tsunade stepped out to face the crowd.

"Villagers of Konoha, I have gathered you here to discuss two matters of great importance. One is concerning me, as the Godaime Hokage. As a certain brat insists on reminding me repeatedly, I am not fooling anyone with my youth anymore. I may still be beautiful…" Tsunade smirked despite the snickers, "But I am no longer young. In a few more years I will not be good enough to handle an entire village. Thus I have chosen my successor to be the Rokudaime Hokage."

"But before I announce the name of my successor, I must reveal an S-Class secret concerning the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato."

"When Minato was yet a young boy, a girl from the Uzumaki Clan was brought into this village from Uzushiogakure. She was brought to Konoha to be the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-tailed Fox, and after a while, formed a close friendship with Minato."

"Soon after the Third Great Shinobi War, Minato and Uzumaki Kushina got married. This marriage was kept secret due to Minato's dangerous status in the shinobi world."

"The seal withholding the Kyuubi weakens when its female jinchuuriki is in labor. Thus, Kushina was taken to a remote place away from Konoha, where, guarded by trusted ANBU, she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. However, a certain villain who was defeated a few years ago somehow got to know of this and arrived at the scene. He released the Kyuubi and set it on the village."

"Minato battled Uchiha Obito, and then when he couldn't defeat him, had no choice but to rightfully entrust this task to his newborn son. He decided to seal the Kyuubi in his own son, dying in the process, but planned to have Kushina with the little boy. But the Kyuubi tried to attack the little baby, and both Minato and Kushina took the fatal blow. Minato sealed his and Kushina's life force as well as the Kyuubi inside his few-hours-old son, entrusting that he would be seen as a hero, and would have friends to share his burden when his parents could not."

"This baby is now the eighteen year old jonin you all know as Naruto. He was given his mother's last name to protect him from his father's enemies."

"And he, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, is the capable shinobi I have chosen as my successor and the Rokudaime Hokage."

Naruto took that as his cue and stepped out amidst the applause and cheers from the crowd.

When his audience calmed down, Naruto spoke.

"I stand here today in front of you all, fighting back tears, because when I shouted my dream of becoming Hokage before I even became a genin, I never realized that this dream could come true, and that how big a burden this coat and hat is."

"I wanted to become a Hokage because I was a brash, ignored, mistreated and immature brat. Because I craved acknowledgement. As I grew up and learnt what being a shinobi was, my reasons changed. I wanted to become a Hokage to protect my precious people, and the village I live in."

"I didn't realize, that becoming Hokage, I would not only have to put my life on the line, but the lives of my closest friends as well. My father sacrificed his life, the life of my mother, and the only hope his son had of a normal and proper childhood to protect his village. Every day as a Hokage, I would have to hand out B-Rank, A-Rank, S-Rank missions to my loved ones, not knowing if they would return."

"Then, after I came back from my three-year training mission and after my mentor died, I realized that being the Hokage was probably the hardest and heaviest burden a person can bear. I realize now, that I want to become Hokage to protect my village, and my loved ones. From war, from bloodshed, and from the cycle of hatred. I want to become Hokage to bring peace to the shinobi world."

He took a deep breath and stared at the crowd earnestly, "My name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto and I promise to be the best Hokage you have ever known."

"DATTEBAYO!" The villagers yelled together, and Naruto's eyes brimmed over.

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and bowed, "Arigatou, mina."

He entered Tsunade's office and felt two slender arms wrap around his neck.

He smiled down at Hinata, "Hey."

"Congratulations." She wiped his watery eyes with a thumb, "Still choked up?"

"Do you blame me?" He retorted with a soft smile.

"No." She kissed him softly, "I love you."

He smiled at her, "You have a mission, right?"

"Hai." She pulled away, blushing.

"You'll be back by tomorrow, right?" Naruto asked immediately, concerned despite the fact that he had asked Tsunade to give her a mission that would enable her to return by her birthday.

"Hai, I'll be back by then. No parties, right?" Hinata asked nervously.

Naruto nodded, chuckling, "No parties."

"Good."

"Ahem." Tsunade coughed subtly.

Hinata turned around, a light blush dusting her cheeks, "Gomen, Hokage-sama."

Hinata walked over to Tsunade's desk.

"Baa-chan…"

"You have to meet your genin team at the Academy training ground tomorrow." Tsunade told him.

"All right. Anything else?"

"No."

"See ya then."

And he jumped out of the window.

Surprisingly, he had quite a crowd outside, waiting outside.

"Shikamaru! Choji, Ino, Kiba, Shino, what are you guys doing here!?" Naruto asked.

"Congratulations, Naruto!" Ino cried.

He spent half an hour with his friends, receiving congratulations etcetera.

"Who's going to be your advisor and secretary?"

Naruto smiled, "I've thought it out."

Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome."

Naruto laughed, "Caught on, have we?"

Shikamaru glared at Naruto.

"Oh, come on. It'll keep you out of missions."

"What a drag." Shikamaru groaned.

"Anyways, guys, I gotta go." Naruto grinned, "Got a team to spy on."

"A team to spy on?" Ino repeated.

"Yeah, I wanna get to know my team." Naruto explained, "So I figured, why not go see them train and all?"

"Since when did you get so smart?" Ino asked.

Naruto shrugged.

"Oh, by the way…" He turned around to face her, a grin on his face, "What's up with you and Sai?"

"M-Me and Sai!?" Ino stammered, blushing, "Nothing!"

"Come on… you think he's cute." Naruto shrugged, "And he calls you 'hot blonde' or something, right?"

Ino blushed, looking away.

Naruto laughed, "See ya guys later!"

He flashed away.

'All right, let's see what Team Naruto's got…'

Naruto was surprised to find more of him in his team.

Katashi had unusual fierceness and determination for a boy his age; Naruto suspected that his sister had a lot to do with his determination. He was also highly competitive, knowing more ninjutsu than anyone in his class. Unfortunately (Or fortunately for Naruto; he didn't want to be outsmarted by his students) he hated studying and had no interest in anything theory-related. Hanako was very good at taijutsu, being speedy and light on her feet. She also wielded a thin and a little shorter-than-average sword that Naruto guessed she had gotten recently. He guessed her creativeness and expertise as a prankster had a lot to do with her spur-of-the-moment moves. Fumio, despite being quiet and timid, took insults very seriously and was brash and reckless to the point where it could be called suicidal. He also had—Naruto heard from Iruka—unusually large chakra reserves. Nowhere near as large as Naruto's, but definitely larger than the average shinobi.

Shaking his head as he walked down to Ichiraku's, Naruto formulated ways to make them improve. Katashi's love for solitude, he guessed, would be the hardest. The other two's problems would be easier to solve.

It was as he sat down that he realized he needed to talk to Hiashi.

"Kuso!" He cursed under his breath.

"What is it, Naruto?" Ayame asked.

"I had to go see Hiashi-sama."

"I heard he's very busy today."

Naruto thought for a moment, 'Yeah, I guess I'll get the ring before I officially ask him for his blessing. I don't want my ass kicked for not being prepared.'

Next time: Team Naruto gets together, aaaaaand… Hinata's birthday (Sorry, I'll TRY to make it less fluffy {fluffy; lol!})