Chương 68: Hokage

Shin walked Naruto home. They talked the whole way, and by the time they reached his door, Naruto had shaken off whatever had been weighing on him — back to his usual self, as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, Naruto," Shin said.

"Why do you want to become Hokage so badly?"

"Why?" Naruto scratched the underside of his chin with one finger, tilting his head back to look up at the sky. He thought about it.

"Because being Hokage is incredible." He threw his arms wide in an exaggerated sweep.

"The Hokage runs the whole village. Protects the whole village. Everyone trusts them, respects them — they're the person everyone looks up to most. I want to be that person. I want everyone in the village to acknowledge me." He jogged a few steps ahead of Shin, turned around, and pointed at himself with one finger, grinning. Shin went quiet. He couldn't get his head around it — all the contempt Naruto had swallowed, all the wounds he'd taken, and he still wanted this? It wasn't just returning good for evil anymore.

It was something else. He exhaled.

"Work hard," he said.

"I believe you'll make it." Naruto's grin stretched wider. He nodded, hard. The Inuzuka compound. Tsume sat cross-legged on the tatami, arms folded. Shin knelt in front of her.

"This late?" Her tone was level. He knew she'd been worried. Afraid something had happened to him.

"I ran into someone on the street. Sōen Kuriyama. I stopped by her place for a while." Sōen Kuriyama? Tsume's expression shifted — she hadn't expected that answer.

"Kuriyama... she's your cousin, isn't she." Shin nodded.

"That girl lives alone." Tsume let out a breath, the worry leaving her.

"Bring her by sometime. She's welcome here."

"Untie." A pause.

"Can you tell me about my father?" She looked at him for a long moment, then turned away. Her expression was complicated.

"You really want to know?" Shin thought of what Danzō had said to him earlier that night. Whatever the man had told him, Shin wasn't fool enough to abandon the people beside him for it. He had asked before — more than once. She had turned him down every time. The room settled into silence. The lamp threw light across Tsume's lowered face; her eyes were half-lidded, something behind them she wasn't showing. Kuromaru lay to the side and cracked one eye open at the two of them, then went back to his doze.

"Your father..." A long time passed before she spoke. Her voice was low, unhurried.

"If he hadn't died, he would probably be the Fifth Hokage right now." Shin's eyes shifted at that. Tsume raised her head and looked up at the wooden ceiling.

"If he hadn't died..." she murmured, more to herself than to Shin. A short laugh — whatever was packed inside it, he couldn't name.

"If he hadn't died, things would be very different. During the Third Shinobi World War, he was the strategic commander of the Land of Water front. His rank was on par with Orochimaru's, one of the Sannin at the time." Shin had heard of the Sannin. Three legendary shinobi, all students of the Third Hokage.

"That kind of position isn't just handed to someone because they're capable," Tsume continued. Her voice held something tired in it.

"Shikaku, over on the Land of Earth front, never rose above military advisor. Your father led the village to victory on the water front. At the time, there was almost no shinobi in Konoha who didn't respect him."

"But that reputation may have been what cut against him." Her voice steadied. She spoke as though describing something that had nothing to do with her.

"He was pushed out of the center of Konoha's power and had no choice but to step back from the stage. He didn't even seem to mind." A pause.

"Big heart, that man." Another short laugh — mockery, or self-mockery. Both, maybe.

"For some people, your father was everything a Konoha shinobi should be. The living heir to the Will of Fire. For others, he was simply in the way." She looked at Shin.

"Your mind works ahead of most people your age. You should be able to tell which people are which."

"Untie." Shin didn't address what she'd said.

"If my father had already been pushed out of the center of power, why would he have become the Fifth Hokage?" She blinked. She hadn't expected that question.

"The Fourth Hokage was still alive then."

"The Fourth Hokage..." Shin turned the words over. He didn't know much about the man — only that he was a hero, that he had given his life to save the village. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Standing next to the Fourth, whose name was everywhere at the time, your father would have been outshone. And the two of them were close — Tsukasa wouldn't have competed for the position."

"Then the Fourth sacrificed himself. If your father had survived, he would have been the natural choice for the Fifth." Shin nodded.

"The Hokage..." He thought of the Third, the one time he had seen him. He thought of Naruto.

"Is it really that significant?"

"The Hokage is the most powerful person in the village," Tsume said.

"They govern it, protect it." Her words were almost the same as Naruto's had been.

"If you're Hokage, you can do anything, can't you..."

"Not anything." Her tone was dry.

"There are limits. They're a leader, not a king." Leader... king...... Lord Fujino. Why did you want this country so badly...

"But the Hokage is still the most powerful person in the village." Tsume watched him as she added it.

"Danzō has done everything to get that seat. He's not suited for it." Her expression cooled.

"Not everyone can be Hokage. If they could, the position wouldn't have sat empty this long, with the Third coming back out of retirement to fill it." Still nothing from Shin. He knelt with his head down, eyes half-lidded.

"... What kind of person is suited for it?" he asked, after a long silence.

"Hard to say." Tsume frowned, working through it.

"Strong, capable, dedicated to the village. Maybe something else too — personal force. The kind of presence that makes people follow. When the Fourth was alive, your father may not have been the right fit. Later, he might have been — but he was gone by then." She exhaled.

"Am I suited for it?"

"What?!" Tsume's eyes went wide. Her arms dropped. She stared at him as though he had said something genuinely impossible.

"I mean," Shin said, raising his head at last. His face was still. His eyes gave away nothing — the kind of depth that kept everything too far down to read.

"I'm going to become Hokage."

"He actually said that?!" Shikaku Nara rose to his feet, staring at the two of them. Tsume nodded. Shikaku and Shibi looked at each other. Shibi could see it in Shikaku's eyes — the delight, not quite hidden. It wasn't hard to understand. If Shin became Hokage someday, it would benefit everyone around him, and not just because of the connections Tsukasa Takami had built. Shin's classmates — Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino — were likely to be leading their own clans one day.

Having Shin as Hokage fit better than anything they could have planned for.

"He wanted to graduate early, didn't he?" Shikaku's mouth curved. A quiet, certain smile.

"Then let's make that happen. If Shin intends to become Hokage, even Danzō can't stop him." A shuttered attic somewhere in the village. Hayate paced outside the door, jaw tight. Inside, Yugao was finishing the final portion of the jonin assessment. There was nothing he could do from the hallway; he just wanted to know how it was going. After a while, the door opened. Yugao stepped out, looking worn around the edges. Two shinobi in green flak jackets followed her out.

"Yugao." Hayate crossed the distance and reached out to steady her arm.

"How did it — koff — how did it go?" She glanced at him and gave him a look that meant stop worrying.

"Yugao Uzuki." The woman in the flak jacket kept her voice professional.

"We'll submit your assessment report as soon as possible. Pending final verification of your file, assuming no discrepancies, you'll be confirmed as jonin." Then she let the official tone drop and smiled.

"Congratulations."

"Thank you." Yugao gave both of them a nod. The two jonin turned and left. Yugao let out a long breath.

"You worked — koff — you worked hard, Yugao. Koff." Hayate smiled beside her.

"More exhausting than the combat portion," she said.

"And some of those questions were bizarre." She smiled too.

"But it's done. So none of it matters anymore."

"Come on. Sensei's waiting." An izakaya.

"Cheers!" Yugao, Hayate, Sōen, and Yamamoto raised their glasses together. Sōen's glass held fruit juice.

"To our Yugao, newly promoted to jonin!" Yamamoto's smile reached his eyes.

"Thank you, Sensei."

"Really something, at your age." He shook his head in admiration.

"Her accomplishments are going to leave mine far behind."

"You're too generous." Yugao refilled his cup.

"With Yugao to look after Sōen, I can leave in peace." He sighed.

"I head back to the border in a couple of days."

"What — already?" Yugao and Hayate said at the same time.

"I'm stationed out there permanently. Coming back to the village at rotation is basically just leave." He waved it off.

"If you miss me, come visit me at the border." The table went quiet. The mood dipped.

"Come on, tonight's a good night." Yamamoto tapped the table lightly.

"It's only a separation. Not a final goodbye. There's no need to act like it is."

"Yugao, just take care of Sōen for me." He looked across the table at her.

"This is my fault — I couldn't be there for all of them. Aoze and Sekkai... they just died like that." The names landed. Two teammates from Sōen's old squad, lost on a mission. Sōen had gone quiet. Yugao wrapped an arm around her and drew her in.

"I understand, Sensei." Yugao looked up at him, steady.

"I'll look after her."

"I know you will." He smiled.

"One more thing — now that you've applied for the right to lead your own team, you'll need two more students," he went on.

"You can choose from available genin without assignments, or from fresh Academy graduates." Hayate glanced at Yugao. She was quiet for a moment. She was thinking of the task Danzō had given her.

"I'd like two fresh graduates from the Academy," she said.

"Newly minted genin are interesting to work with, but they're not easy." Yamamoto smiled — he had more than enough experience to know; Yugao and Hayate were proof of that.

"Stop by the school when you get a chance. The graduating class still has a few days left on campus, and as a prospective instructor you can apply for specific students — though some are already spoken for. The top student this year is from the Hyuga clan, by all accounts. That placement will have been settled long before you asked." Yugao felt a wry twist in her chest. Her students had already been decided for her. Other than Sōen, she had no real say in the matter.

"I'll go take a look in the next day or two," she said. The Academy. It was between classes. Shin and Kiba and Shino were clustered with some of their classmates, talking. Shin's mind kept drifting, but he listened to the small talk passing around him and threw in a word whenever it seemed called for. Iruka appeared in the doorway. Several students who noticed him went quiet immediately.

"Shin!" The group around him stilled. Shin stood up.

"My office. Come by." Iruka beckoned once, then left. Shin and the others exchanged glances. He got up and headed for the office. Iruka's office. Shin stood in front of the desk. Iruka pulled an envelope from his drawer and set it down between them.

"Read it yourself." Shin picked it up with mild curiosity and paged through. The first several sheets were his Academy file — grades, assessments, test scores. The last page was different. Fifth-year Academy student Shin Takami: academic performance and practical results consistently exceed graduation benchmarks. All measured competencies have met the thresholds required of a shinobi. Student additionally demonstrates the comprehensive aptitude — in conduct, judgment, and character — expected of a shinobi.

This application is hereby submitted to approve early graduation. Recommended by: Shikaku Nara. Stamped across the bottom in red: APPROVED. The Hokage's seal. Shikaku Nara... Shin stood still, holding the page.

"You really are the best student this class has had," Iruka said from beside him.

"In every area — you've been performing at genin level for a while. I can't believe you're actually graduating early." Iruka meant it. Shin was the finest student he'd taught in all his years at the Academy — top of the class academically, genuinely kind, easy for his classmates to like, the kind of student who made a teacher's job feel worthwhile. And now he was just... leaving. There was a feeling Iruka couldn't quite find a name for.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Shin bowed.