Utatane Koharu prayed that she would be wrong as she ascended the stairs to the Hokage's office for the final time as a member of the Konoha Council. Her grave misgivings about electing a child to the position of Hokage remained. Still, she was one voice of sanity in a sea of madness that included Danzō, the entire Coastal Patrol Corps, and the Daimyo.

'The boy has one hope,' Koharu reminded herself. 'and that is for Jiraiya to keep the sharks and their interests from tearing the child apart.'

One would have to be blind to miss the fact that everyone saw Uzumaki Naruto as a potential puppet or bankroll. Danzō and the Daimyo were looking for a Hokage whom they could control through means of gratitude and flattery. The Coastal Patrol Corps wanted to have a positive face to present to Wave to keep legitimate trade flowing as they set up their smuggling ring. It was painfully clear that the Corps would try to use the fact that they had nominated the Hokage to get The Tower to sanction the illegal activity.

'I wonder if the boy will be wise enough to exploit that ring for the good of Konoha. Or, will he have too much of his mother's moral certitude?'

"Gah!" Naruto's voice cut through the stillness of the dawn. "I don't think there's enough sugar in the Land of Fire for this!"

"Want me to get more?" A second Naruto asked.

"Yes! Oh! Get some of those cinnamon roll things Hinata talked about. They sound pretty good," the first Naruto voice ordered. Koharu was trying to pinpoint the location of the multiple 'Hokages' given her memory of the office's layout and her own experiences in the field.

"Hokage-sama," Koharu announced with pained neutrality. "May I enter your office?"

"Koharu-san?" Naruto asked. "Uh, sure!"

The Konoha elder bowed as she entered the office. "Thank you, Uzumaki-sama."

She had directed her thanks to the Naruto sitting behind the Hokage's desk. There were four other Naruto's in the office. 'Kage Bunshin no doubt...'

"I'll never get used to people using that honorific," a clone to Koharu's left said as it worked on organizing a stack of paper into various smaller stacks. Her eyebrow quirked as a letter from a merchant near the border with Stone was put into a stack labeled 'Pointless Ass Kissing'.

"Well, I don't have tea, but I have this 'coffee' drink Uncle Teuchi recommended… Would you like some?"

"Please," Koharu responded.

"Do you, uh, want anything in it? I tried drinking it plain and, whooooaaaaa, it was so bitter."

The elder smiled at the young Hokage. She still could not comprehend why the Jonin of the village and the Daimyo had catapulted Naruto to Hokage. Koharu had no ill-will or doubts that Naruto was loyal and capable.

He just wasn't ready to be Hokage.

"A tiny bit of sugar and some cream," Koharu requested.

Naruto got to work and handed the cup over. "Uh, here you go. I… was going to ask to meet with you later today. This is convenient..."

"We both know a Hokage cannot have someone in their council who openly challenged them as I did," Koharu said without ceremony.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I get why you spoke out. But you're right. It would be a bad look."

"The Hokage must cultivate an air of complete obedience," the resigning Councilor stated.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. He got the gist of what Koharu was going for. The language was just really stiff and formal. "How do you want to do this?"

"A formal letter, obviously. I will ensure that it is undated. That way, it will only come into effect once you are officially ordained as Hokage."

Naruto nodded. "No sense in letting the world know there's trouble at home. Fake it till we make it."

Koharu chuckled. "Ten years. In ten years, you would have been the exact person we needed for that seat."

"Thanks… I… I'm not turning down the job, but I kinda expected to get the hat in ten years too," Naruto confessed.

"Hiruzen always kept the best parchment in the left middle drawer," Koharu pointed out.

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "I haven't touched that drawer much. The paper is almost too nice to use!"

"Your predecessors both felt the same. Biwako-sama, Hiruzen's wife, bought the paper for her husband for official messages. I think it has been used four times," Koharu pointed out.

"Well… it'd be a shame not to use it. I think it'd also send a message? I mean, if I'm letting you use the paper… that would make people think this went well?"

"Clever, Uzumaki Naruto, clever," Koharu said with a smile.

Naruto handed over the paper and let Koharu craft her resignation. The letter took about an hour to write. As the last scratch of the quill faded into echoes, Naruto released a breath he hadn't known he was holding on to.

"Please tell me if this is satisfactory, Hokage-sama," Koharu requested. Naruto took a look over the letter. There was a lot of formal language that Naruto had trouble recognizing. He tried his best to use a trick Iruka-sensei had taught (or tried to teach) him back at the Academy. Naruto used context clues. Koharu was pretty much towing the Daimyo's unity line.

"This looks good. Is there anything else you need to talk about, Koharu-san?" Naruto asked politely.

"No, Hokage-sama. By your leave?" She finished with a question.

"Sure, have a good day. I hope that coffee was pretty good."

The soon-to-be-retired Elder nodded. "It was quite good. Goodbye, Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto watched Koharu leave. The meeting had been very intense despite how nice the old elder tried to be. Still, Naruto couldn't help but smile and feel extremely accomplished. That had been the single most Hokage thing Naruto had ever done.

It made his job all the more real.

Uzumaki Naruto and Utatane Koharu were not the only ones working to advance their interests, and the interest of those they represented, early on this particular morning. Two figures had slipped through the, admittedly shattered, defenses of Konoha. They were aided by one of the pair's intimate knowledge of Konoha's procedures.

"Are you feeling guilty? Or angry? Anything at all, partner?" The much larger man asked. His grin was predatory. The robed man's bloodthirsty smile was aided by his unusual physical appearance. The man's skin was grey and possessed the texture of sandpaper. A series of gill-like markings resided below his eyes.

It was as though a shark was pretending to be a man.

"I feel nothing but the desire to fulfill our orders." The man drew his response from a void of emotion.

The sharkman laughed. "So cold, Itachi-kun."

"Now is not the time to mention my name, Kisame," the infamous Uchiha Itachi chastised the former Kirigakure shinobi.

"Of course, we wouldn't want to ruin your grand entrance…"

Hatake Kakashi sighed as he sat down at the bar. The Hokage, his for… knuckleheaded student, had given him orders to rest and get a few hours of sleep between missions. He had completed the sleep part of the order with an excessive six hours. Now, he was sitting at a small shop getting his favorite salt-broiled saury and some miso soup. Sitting next to him, Kurenai and Asuma were chatting happily. The couple's good vibes were calming his worries about everything. Hatake Kakashi was worried about Naruto serving as Hokage, Sasuke's Cursed Seal, and Sakura's fears of being left behind and forgotten.

'And those are just my students. Never mind the border, Danzō moving openly, Orochimaru, and the Daimyo throwing his weight around…'

"Worried about your student?" Kurenai asked as she refilled her cup.

"Students…" Kakashi corrected. "Hectic couple of weeks."

Asuma took a drag on his cigarette. "Your ability for understatement is as legendary as your list of jutsu."

"I try to cultivate many talents."

"Impressive, Hatake-san," Kurenai teased.

After some silence, Asuma addressed the elephant in the room. "How will our new Hokage do?"

"I can say this for certain. Our Godaime Hokage loves the village completely. He will become a legend."

Kurenai and Asuma were taken aback by Kakashi's sudden passion.

"How will he react in a crisis situation?"

The grin on Kakashi's face was visible through his mask. "Let me tell you about our clusterfuck of a 'C' rank mission…"

Uchiha Sasuke sneezed as he walked through the streets of Konoha. He was already confused by recent events and the sneeze only added to that confusion. The main source of his confusion was the absence of Uzumaki Naruto from the streets of Konoha recently. Sasuke's hyperactive teammate had become a celebrity. Naruto wasn't one to let the spotlight pass him by.

There was also the fact that the Uzumaki probably wanted to challenge Sasuke to 'the real tournament finals!'

'I would like to see just how much Naruto has closed the gap,' Sasuke admitted. Naruto had been impressive against the Hyuga Prodigy and against Gaara.

Sasuke could worry about Naruto later. Besides, he was trying to find Kakashi. After asking for information on further developing his Sharingan, Sasuke could interrogate his Jonin instructor on Naruto's whereabouts.

An actual smile worked its way onto Sasuke's face as he caught sight of Kakashi. The moment passed very quickly. Kakashi and two other Jonin emerged from the small cafe with a grim aura surrounding them. A constant, low-level killing intent gnawed at his mind.

"Sasuke…" Kakashi's voice appeared from behind Sasuke. "This is dangerous. We need you to warn the Hokage."

"Hokage?" Sasuke wondered out loud. Coherent thought was burned away by an inferno of hatred. Two 'foreign' figures emerged from the cafe. "YOU!"

The taller of the two figures turned towards Sasuke and laughed. "Oh ho ho! It seems we have been recognized, partner."

"So we have…" The younger, and far more human-looking, hostile admitted. "It has been a while, Sasuke."

The world slowed to a crawl. Sasuke's focus became razor sharp. The increased blood flow to fuel his now active Sharingan sounded like a war drum behind his brow. "I...I will kill you."

"Not today," Kakashi countered gently. "Warn the Hokage."

Sasuke did not register anything that followed. The next memory he had was erupting from the river gasping for breath. 'How had Kakashi thrown me so far without me knowing?'

He quickly regained his wits and pulled himself to the surface of the water. Sasuke could hear the sounds of combat in the distance, but the cold water had cleared his mind. A shred of rationality had returned. Sasuke would inform the Hokage of that man's return and in the mobilization return to the battlefield. The Last Uchiha swore he would land the final blow.

'Yes,' Sasuke thought. 'It isn't what I planned, but the end result is the same…'

A second thought followed just as quickly. 'Wait...when the hell did we get a Godaime Hokage?!'

Uchiha Itachi was a legendary shinobi, despite his youth. He was quite possibly the most wanted criminal in the world and utterly despised in his own 'home' for his heinous acts of patricide and mass murder.

The Akatsuki member was also worried about the current battle.

It was not due to the level of direct opposition. The Uchiha was supremely confident that, alongside Kisame, the opposition could be swept aside. He did have to admit that Sarutobi Asuma had improved since his tenure as an ANBU captain. Itachi would have never expected the former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja to stand against Kisame as effectively as this. As he shattered Kurenai's genjutsu, he returned to his worry.

Konoha's reinforcements were not arriving piece-meal.

The commander of Konoha's shinobi forces was readying for a decisive blow. 'The Sandaime has passed, so who would be using such tactics? Jiraiya is rumored to be in the village, but this isn't his usual strategy…'

"Kisame. Prepare to move." Itachi ordered as if he was still an ANBU Captain.

"Oh ho! Is that worry I hear, 'partner'?" Kisame laughed as he swung viciously at Asuma.

Itachi, wielding the abilities granted by his Sharingan, managed to deflect a flight of shuriken thrown by Kakashi. "Prudence," the traitor Uchiha corrected. There was not much time. 'The hammer blow is coming. I didn't want to have to use this, but I have no choice!'

Expedience was far more important than any other concern at this stage in the battle.

"No one look into his eyes!" Kakashi shouted.

"Wha-" Kurenai started to ask, but the warning came a fraction of a second too late…

"Tsukuyomi…"

Uchiha Sasuke had not stopped running since he had gotten out of the water. A strong part of his mind was screaming for him to turn around and return to the battle against That Man. However, there was an equally strong pull towards the Hokage's Tower. The anticipation was palpable.

Could Sasuke convince the new Hokage, if there was a Godaime Hokage, to devote more resources to countering That Man?

It was an intriguing option. Sasuke, despite his burning hatred, had never lost his respect for Itachi's abilities. Sasuke's reviled older brother remained entrenched on a pedestal that Sasuke wondered if he could really ever reach…

The Hokage's Tower and Konoha's Academy loomed large as Sasuke sprinted towards his destination. There was no twinge of nostalgia as he rushed past the classrooms. His 'Rookie of the Year' meant little in the face of the truth of the Shinobi World. Sasuke remembered Haku and Zabuza, Yoroi...and beyond even those powerful opponents were monsters like Gaara, Itachi, and Orochimaru. The Academy had instilled the barest minimum of ability in the students. Rookie shinobi would survive the most basic missions. True combat…

Sasuke had experienced it.

'Whoever the new Hokage is, will they understand what it is like?'

This thought dominated Sasuke's mind as he pushed towards the Hokage's office. It was almost a defense mechanism to distract his thoughts away from That Man.

"Hokage!" Sasuke announced as he stormed into the office. "There's a situation!"

At least, his follow-up was on the tip of his tongue. The words were cut off by surprise at a peculiar sight. His teammate, Uzumaki Naruto, was staring angrily at the Hokage's crystal ball while an ANBU officer and Shimura Danzō were discussing the situation. He wasn't sure why the Hokage was letting Naruto in the office.

"Hokage?" Sasuke asked.

"I heard you the first time, Sasuke! Kakashi-sensei sent you here to tell me we're in a bit of a situation."

Uzumaki Naruto had said those words. That couldn't be true. There was no way.

"Stop playing around, idiot! I need to speak with the Hokage!"

"You are speaking with the Hokage, Uchiha-san," Danzō announced. "Show respect to Uzumaki Naruto-sama, the Godaime Hokage of Konoha!"

The silence was deafening. There was only one reasonable response to such a profound and shocking revelation.

"What the fu…"

"KURENAI!" Asuma roared as he tried to force his way past his enemy. His panic was folly. It was the barest of miracles that allowed the son of the Third Hokage to raise his trench knives to deflect the swing of the former Kirigakure shinobi.

"There's no genjutsu that Kurenai can't escape from," Kakashi hissed in disbelief and pain. He could feel his chakra burning away.

Itachi's face remained infuriatingly impassive. "There is one. Only those cursed with the Mangekyo Sharingan can wield it."

Kakashi wanted to spit in Itachi's face and yell a retort. That would be foolish. He had to press the attack. There wasn't anyone currently in Konoha who could counter a Sharingan wielder, much less someone with the mythical Mangekyo Sharingan.

'If only…'

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

A resounding crack echoed throughout the battlefield. Uchiha Itachi regained control of his chakra and his flight. To his credit, he acted as if nothing untoward had occurred. There was a slight wobble to his stance as the traitor rose to his feet.

"Itachi?" Kisame asked in shock. It did not take the shark-like man long to realize that whoever had struck Itachi had practically shattered his jaw. "Damn. Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu."

"Now!" A voice called out. Dozens of fire techniques were called out and collided with the wall of water conjured by Kisame. The steam rolled across the battlefield. For a brief moment, almost every combatant was blinded.

Almost was not all, however.

The Hyuga were unconcerned by something as trivial as steam. Through the Byakugan, the battlefield was as clear to their eyes as calm spring midday.

Kisame could barely react as a trio of Hyuga Jonin erupted from the steam and engaged him in taijutsu. He was skilled but against three Hyuga… Even the Monster of the Hidden Mist was being pushed to his limits. Kisame was forced to dodge. He knew that even attacking was a risky proposition. A master of Jūken could make their blocks a weapon capable of crippling an opponent.

"Son of a bitch!" Kisame snapped, literally in fact, at one of the Hyuga.

The Hyuga glared back at Kisame. "Rave all you want. It will not save you from Konoha's strongest clan!"

"I'm going to tear you apart. All that will be left of you is red!"

As the Hyuga battled Kisame, the second front was equally as intense.

"Yosh!" Might Guy exclaimed as he positioned himself in between a still comatose Kurenai, Kakashi, and Itachi. "I shall take the lead in battling this traitor."

Kakashi nodded. Guy had worked for years on developing a counter to the Sharingan thanks to the hundreds of spars he had with Kakashi. He also approved of the rare use of venom in Guy's tone. No one could doubt The Sublime Green Beast of Konoha's loyalty.

Itachi flashed a hand-seal. A trio of shadow clones appeared and one stepped slightly forward. "Kisame! Withdraw!"

The three clones charged. Though they were clones, each Kage Bunshin was still created by Uchiha Itachi. They were all very skilled and quickly locked several shinobi into fierce taijutsu fights.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Itachi had covered the escape with Bunshin Daibakuha. The two Akatsuki members timed their Substitution or Body Flicker without flaw or hesitation.

"He got away again," Kakashi hissed.

Might Guy scowled. "The traitor will not escape forever. He will be brought to justice for his heinous crimes."

"Attend to the wounded!" Hyuga Hiashi ordered. The head of the Hyuga Clan looked to Kakashi and Guy. "Hokage-sama will not be happy about this…"

Uchiha Sasuke had been standing next to Naruto watching the entire battle with an active Sharingan. Every moment was seared into his memory. Every movement Itachi made was bored into his memory. Sasuke knew his dreams would be haunted by constant analysis of every minute detail.

His family's ghosts called for nothing less.

There was another detail that cried out to Sasuke. His boneheaded teammate was absolutely not a bonehead at this moment. Naruto's eyes were hard and cold. Sasuke had never seen Naruto look that kind of intense before. The gambit to free Kakashi from Zabuza had been intense. The battle against Haku had been intense. Team Seven's taste of war in the Forest of Death had been just as intense. This was new. This, Sasuke realized, was also a bit terrifying.

"Danzō -jiji. Ero-Sennin." Naruto turned to the two fearsome and legendary elders in his office. "I want you to remove the bounty on Itachi's head."

"What?" Danzō and Sasuke asked in unison.

"Hokage-sama," Danzō counseled. "Are you sure this is a proper action?"

"Yes," Naruto declared. "I want to make sure that the other villages and bounty hunters have no reason to go after him. No one but Konoha is going to capture Itachi. He killed my shinobi today. He came to my village with some other missing-nin and declared war. I'm not going to rest until he's in the same ditch as Orochimaru."

"We'll talk about the details when you've cooled down a bit, brat," Jiraiya said gently. "It's not a bad line of reasoning, and we'll hammer things out later."

Naruto took a deep breath. "Thanks, Ero-sennin."

"I don't believe it," Sasuke huffed. "You even sound like the Hokage."

Naruto's anger evaporated for a moment. He had just been acknowledged by Sasuke! 'I can celebrate getting a leg up on him later,' Naruto thought.

"Alright. Danzō and Ero-sennin, make sure the wounded get to the hospital. I'll go personally check on the Daimyo. Let me know when the medics have cleared our wounded for visits."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Danzō and Jiraiya responded to orders.

Naruto watched his two advisors leave and turned to his best friend. "Yesterday. As soon as possible. Yes."

"What?" Sasuke blinked at the odd string of words.

"I was elected yesterday. I was going to tell you as soon as possible and yes, when we bring in Itachi you'll be the one to carry out his sentence."

Sasuke blinked. "You're serious."

"As I've ever been," Naruto groaned as he sat down. "Sasuke… that sucked."

"How? How was beating two S-ranked Missing-nin something that sucked?" Sasuke asked. He had a feeling, but something in his gut was telling him Naruto needed to spill.

"You know why," Naruto snapped. "We were up here watching. There was nothing we did to help."

"I think…" Sasuke chewed over his words carefully. "I think this is what Father said about the 'weight of command'. I'm not sure exactly what he meant when he told me, but this...seems like it."

"This isn't what I thought being Hokage was going to be like, Sasuke," Naruto confessed. "But I gave Konoha my word that I would make us the strongest and best village. I never go back on my word. It is my nindo, but…"

"We can't always get what we want," Sasuke cut Naruto off. "Sometimes, we get what we need. Was that counter-attack your plan?"

"Yeah, but…" Naruto tried to explain where it went wrong.

"But nothing, dumbass! Your people won. They would have probably killed both of them! The fact that only three Shinobi lost their lives against That Man and his toadie is incredible. You don't know how strong he is. The man I will kill one day was ANBU captain at thirteen. Konoha won and it was because of you."

"D-Did… you just… compliment me?" Naruto stammered.

"Don't let it go to your head dumbass."

Naruto laughed. "It's too late for that Sasuke."

The Godaime Hokage quickly grabbed some parchment and wrote down the date and time. "This will go down in Konoha's history, ya know."

"Maybe I should kick your ass and take The Hat!" Sasuke countered with heat. There was no venom, but a smile hidden in his voice.

"Oh hell no! I'm Hokage and I ain't giving it up! Here I was going to make sure you were fast-tracked to Chunin and put in charge of the my Police Force ASAP!" Naruto snapped.

"Come one, we can work out when to settle this after your meeting with the Daimyo, Hokage-sama."

Naruto started to laugh. It was infectious and even Sasuke succumbed. "You're on! And don't try to weasel out! I'm Hokage. I can make the spar mandatory!"

"Like I would back down from you!" Sasuke countered.

For a moment, the two forgot their troubles and the weight of their terrible responsibilities. This moment would save their souls one day.

Author's Note: Hey, look at what this is! Solvdrage updated something! ZOMG! Shorter chapter, but I'm working on a lot of other fics as well. I'll try to get some more updates out before the end of the Winter/Christmas holiday.

Thanks y'all!