Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21

Chapter 18

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Tsunade was waiting for him in the living room when Naruto got home. She stood up immediately. "Naruto, you didn't sign that scroll did you?"

"No. I was going to, but I realized I should talk to Ero-Sennin first." He put the dragon scroll on the couch. "Can you find him for me?" he asked as he plopped down next to the scroll.

"Sure—but, Naruto?"

Naruto looked up. "Hm?"

"Please don't throw temper tantrums in front of guests from other hidden villages," Tsunade asked, her expression stern, yet gentle.

"I didn't throw a tantrum. I walked out—and I'm sorry. It's just that..."

Tsunade put up a hand. "I know. You were disappointed."

Naruto nodded.

"Just try to think a little more before you do things." Tsunade closed her eyes in exhaustion. "Well, I'm headed for bed. Night," Tsunade said with a yawn as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Night," Naruto said with a smile, thankful that he hadn't gotten much of a lecture.

"Oh yeah," Tsunade said as she reached the entrance to the hallway, "Kakashi said he wanted to talk to you about something tomorrow morning so try not to go too far till he gets here."

"Okay," Naruto replied with a shrug.

Tsunade chuckled to herself as she made her way up the stairs. "Boy is he in for a surprise."

"You want me to do WHAT?!" Naruto asked in shock.

Kakashi chuckled warmly. "I want you to be my best man," he repeated.

Naruto was happy but also confused. "But why me? I thought you'd pick Gai-sensei."

Kakashi and Tomoyo settled down onto the couch in Naruto's living room. Kakashi sweat-dropped. "Because Gai would do something embarrassing."

Naruto frowned as he joined the couple on the couch. "But won't he be disappointed?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nah. I just told him I wanted you to participate so that you would have the courage to ask Hinata someday." He ignored Naruto's choking sound and went on. "Then he did his whole 'flames of youth'...thing," he said with an off-handed flick of his wrist.

Naruto snorted, then scratched the back of his head. "I guess I'll do it then," he said with a smile.

Tomoyo smiled and hugged her cousin. "Great!" She sat back up and frowned. "Now I just need to find a way to convince Anko-chan to be my maid of honor."

"You know Anko?" Naruto asked in surprise.

Tomoyo smiled. "Yeah. We were best friends when we were kids. Our parents introduced us, hoping I'd keep her in line." She snickered. "She corrupted me instead."

Naruto laughed but then his expression turned sympathetic. "Why'd she say no?"

"Well, she said yes at first but then I told her she had to wear a dress kimono," Tomoyo answered in a dejected tone.

Naruto thought for a moment. "What about Hina-chan or Sakura-chan?"

Tomoyo smiled. "If I can't convince Anko-chan I'll keep them in mind."

It was then that Tsunade came strolling into the room. "Hey, brat, if you wanna go say good bye to Gaara you better do it now."

Naruto's head snapped in his mother's direction. "What?!"

The Suna team was walking toward the main gates of Konoha when they heard a familiar voice call out to them.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled as he ran to them.

Gaara raised an eyebrow in interest. "Naruto."

"I didn't think you'd be leaving so soon," Naruto said as he stopped in front of his friends.

"We were only coming to deliver the scroll, not to visit," Gaara answered plainly.

Naruto's shoulders sagged as he breathed out a sigh of disappointment. "Oh, I forgot to say thank you yesterday. And...I'm also sorry...for acting the way I did."

Gaara smiled slightly. "I think we can forgive you."

Temari put a hand on her little brother's shoulder. "We should get going," she said with a warm smile.

"Do you guys mind going ahead for a minute? I need to speak with Naruto," Gaara asked.

Kankuro nodded. "Okay. Just don't take too long. See ya, Naruto," he said with a wave.

"Later," Naruto answered.

Temari stopped and looked over her shoulder and smirked. "Tell that lazy pain in the ass I said goodbye."

Naruto laughed. "You got it." He looked to Gaara. "So, what's up?"

"You won't make Hokage," Gaara said bluntly.

Naruto was immediately on the defensive. "Excuse me?"

"With your current maturity level you just don't have what it takes to be a leader," Gaara explained.

Naruto folded his arms angrily. "Oh, and I suppose you do?"

"Yes, I do. And the way you're reacting to what I've said only proves my point. If you can't even listen to constructive criticism without reacting like a child then how do you expect to lead an entire community?"

The gears in Naruto's mind suddenly began moving and he fell silent.

"Friends help one another..."

Naruto looked up. "Huh?"

"That is why I felt I had to say something. If you want to achieve your dream, you just need to grow up a little. It shouldn't be too hard of a task...for the guy who saved my life," Gaara said with a smile.

Naruto's face broke out in a smile. "Thanks, Gaara," he said, offering his hand.

Gaara nodded. "You are welcome," he said as he took Naruto's hand and shook it. "Goodbye."

"See ya," Naruto said with a cheerful wave. As he watched Gaara walk away he knew what he had to do—and he knew he wasn't going to like it.

Naruto walked slowly as he headed home. All this time he had only thought about the physical aspect of becoming a Hokage—not the mental. If Gaara hadn't said something... He looked up at his father's face staring down at him from the Hokage monument and his eyes became determined. "I'll make you proud of me."
Tsunade looked up when she heard the knock on the door of her home office. "Hai?"

The door opened and Naruto walked in. "Hey," he said, his face serious.

Tsunade looked at her son curiously and stood up. Something about him seemed...different. "Are you okay?"

Naruto took a calming breath and let it out slowly. He lowered himself to his knees and rested his hands on top of them, then bowed his head in respect.

Instantly, a dangerous glint flashed in Tsunade's eyes and they flattened down into a glare. Before Naruto could blink he had a kunai at his throat.

"Who are you?!" Tsunade demanded. "What have you done with my son?!"

"K-K-K-Kaa-san! It's me!" Naruto sputtered.

"Bullshit! My son does NOT bow to me!" Tsunade replied angrily. "Now I will ask you one more time. Where—is—my—son?"

"You told me never to go to bed angry!" Naruto suddenly blurted out.

Tsunade's grip loosened a bit. "What?"

"When I had that fight with Hina-chan. You told me never go to bed angry," Naruto said, praying he had just proven who he was.

Tsunade released her son and dropped her kunai. "You are Naruto." She hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry."

Naruto heaved a great sigh of relief. "It's okay. I guess kneeling was a bit much."

Tsunade released him and checked over his throat for cuts. She was pleased when she found none. She sat down on the floor. "So," she said with a nervous chuckle, "What did you want to see me about?"

"Can you teach me about being a Hokage?" Naruto asked, the serious look back in his eyes.

Tsunade blinked in surprise. "Really?"

Naruto nodded. "Gaara reminded me today that I need more than just strength—And I feel really stupid for not realizing it myself," he finished with a frown.

Tsunade's expression became sympathetic. "You're not stupid. You were just concentrating too hard on one aspect of becoming Hokage. It blinded you to everything else you need to do."

Naruto smiled.

"You know a lot of it will be boring, right?" Tsunade warned.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, but it's something I have to do," he said with determination.

Tsunade smiled. "Okay then. Come with me to the office tomorrow. I just hope it doesn't make you want to pick a new profession," she said with a laugh.

"Huh?"

Naruto walked along next to his mother with a spring in his step. He was excited to get a preview of what it would be like once he gained the title of Hokage.

When they reached the door to the Hokage tower the chuunin guard bowed slightly. "Hokage-sama, Naruto-sama," he said with a smile.

Tsunade smiled. "Ohayo." She walked on into the building and Naruto followed.

Once they were upstairs the receptionist greeted them as well. "Ohayo, Tsunade-sama."

"Ohayo, Nabiki. Do you have anything for me this morning?" Tsunade asked.

"Just the usual," Nabiki said, handing Tsunade a stack of papers.

"Arigato," Tsunade replied as she took the stack.

"Hey, Naruto-kun," Nabiki said with a slight wave and a big smile.

"Hey!" Naruto walked over to the desk. "Where've you been lately?"

Nabiki laughed. "Had a couple long missions. I'll come by and see you later."

"Don't need to. I'll be here all day."

Nabiki blinked in surprise. "You will?"

"Yeah. I'm learning about the job of Hokage today. I'm gonna watch Kaa-san," Naruto said proudly.

Nabiki snorted. "Then you're gonna be watching a lot of sleeping."

"I heard that!" came Tsunade's irritated voice from her office.

Nabiki chuckled. "I'll see you later."

"Hai!" Naruto replied. He then walked into the office and shut the door behind him.

Naruto was ready to shove a kunai through his skull just to escape the boredom. For two hours he had watched his mother follow a pattern of signing papers, sleeping, drinking the occasional cup of sake and arguing with Shizune over the evils of said sake. The pad of paper he'd brought with him to take notes was now covered in drawings of bowls of ramen and he was certain the clock was moving slower than normal just to torment him.

Finally, Tsunade looked at the clock. "Well, time to go hand out mission assignments," she said as she stood and cracked her neck from side to side.

"Thank GOD!" Naruto blurted out.

Tsunade looked at him and laughed. "Let's go."

Hinata's eyes widened a bit when she saw Naruto sitting next to Tsunade at the assignment table. "Naruto-kun, what's going on?"

"I'm learning about being a Hokage," Naruto answered with much less enthusiasm than he had when he'd spoken to Nabiki about it. He still had a small smile on his face though.

Hinata's confusion turned to happiness. "Oh! That's wonderful, Naruto-kun!"

Tsunade looked through her assignment list. "I'm afraid I only have a D rank for you three today," she said to team eight.

"But that's way below our skill level!" Kiba complained.

Tsunade eyed the young Inuzuka. "Well if you'd rather not make any money at all today..."

Kiba sighed in frustration. "Okay okay." He took the paper and team 8 walked away.

"Good luck, Naruto-kun," Hinata called over her shoulder.

Naruto smiled and waved.

Neji, Lee, and Tenten showed up next. "Here you go," Tsunade said while handing them a mission sheet.

Neji looked at the rank and an incredulous expression crossed his features. "But thi..."

"Don't wanna hear it," Tsunade said, cutting him off.

Gai's team walked away with only slightly less grumbling than team eight.

An hour or so later Naruto and Tsunade were back in her office. Tsunade had gone back to signing papers and Naruto had gone back to doodling on his pad of paper. After yet another hour had passed Shizune came in. "Tsunade-sama?"

"Hai?" Tsunade answered.

"The zoning director is here to see you," Shizune answered.

Tsunade groaned. "Send him in."

Shizune nodded her head and left. A moment later a man in a black haori and red pants walked into the office and sat down.

"Sakai-san, what can I do for you today?" Tsunade asked pleasantly.

The man sighed. "I'm sorry to bother you with this again, but the situation has gotten worse."

Tsunade frowned. "Did you tell them what I suggested?"

"Yes, and they still say that it is unfair."

Tsunade sighed and put her hand to her forehead. "Oh for crying out loud."

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade looked at her son with a thoughtful expression and then turned back to Sakai. "Sakai-san, would please explain the situation to my son?"

Sakai looked at her in confusion but shrugged and began speaking. "There is a company that would like to put in a new movie theater. It would be in an area zoned for business but it's also right on the border of a residential-only zone. The building they have planned is large and the people living in the houses near it say that it would look terrible and drive down their property values."

"What've you tried?" Naruto asked.

"Compensating them for the value loss, but they won't hear of it."

Naruto thought for a moment. "What if you disguise it?"

"Disguise the theater?" Sakai asked.

"Yeah," Naruto continued with a smile, "What if the theater looked like part of the landscape? Like with a genjutsu or something?"

Tsunade and Sakai looked at each other. "What do you think Sakai?" Tsunade asked.

Sakai put his hand up to his mouth in thought. "Hmmm. A genjutsu just might do the trick." He looked at Naruto with a pleased expression. "Thank you, Naruto-sama," he said with a slight bow of his head.

Naruto reciprocated the nod. "No problem," he said with a big grin.

Sakai stood up. "I'll be on my way then," he said to Tsunade.

"Good luck," Tsunade answered.

"I'm sure I won't need it, but thank you." Sakai then turned around and left.

Tsunade turned to her son. "Great job, kiddo," she said, beaming with motherly pride.

Naruto's smile could not have been any wider.

...TO BE CONTINUED

That was fun. Lol. Not a whole lot happened but I really feel this chapter got the story moving a little bit more.

If anyone is interested, I posted the first chapter of my original novel up on fictionpress dot net. My author name on there is the same. Serious critique is more than welcome seeing as how I'd like to publish it one day.

Charu-chan is working on a scene from chapter 1 of book 1 and has promised me it will be out by the end of this month. I've seen some rough sketches and let me tell you, the girl has out done herself. I can't WAIT to see the whole thing. :)

For anyone who didn't see it yet, I wrote a comedy Naruto one-shot. It's in my profile. Hope ya like it.

The next chapter may or may not be out this weekend I have a really bad chest cold so it's taking a lot out of me.

I've never seen anyone address the issue of Naruto learning about the less exciting part of being Hokage so I thought it'd be fun to try. Plus it's an important thing for him to think about.

See you guys this weekend...hopefully.