ii.

On Thursday, "Haruno Sakura" became many things. Officially, she became the youngest Kage ever, the first female Kage ever, and also the first one to ever attain such a title without receiving formal basic ninja training whatsoever. Publicly, she became the Sandaime's apprentice and a "candidate" for Hokage.

Because if you had the chakra control necessary to shatter every single bone in the average person's body with a poke, did you really need any sort of training from a master at this point?

In other words, Tsunade was so awesome she broke the system just by existing.

Which also really sucked ass, because that meant she was going to resume her duties as Kage as usual, which meant all the clerical stuff that came with it.

In the Sandaime's own words, 'why send her to the Academy when she was infinitely more useful in the Hokage's office, dealing with the workload generated by the village daily'?

And Tsunade hated working in the office. Hated work, period.

.

.

"...Zzzz...ghhh...urgh..."

Gravity ensued, and Tsunade ended up faceplanting on the cold hard wood.

"Ngh, I need a drink."

After picking herself off the floor and climbing back onto the chair, she blearily eyed the desk, and the stacks of folders she'd tried reorganizing last night.

In her expert medical opinion, the table had to be infected with some kind of super-cancer. Because every time she sat down in front of it, she felt like how a vulture looked. Up in its face region. It's so gross that Tsunade didn't know whether she was sick because of how gross it was, or because she was just sick. Yes. She seriously needed that drink. It was the only logical cure.

As if on cue, Hiruzen entered the office.

"Oh my, Tsunade-chan! Where did you get that? Underage drinking is a big no-no, even if you are a Kage. I'll be confiscating this now."

"Dammit, sensei! You hypocrite! You think I'm going to do this paperwork sober?!"

Tsunade made a wild grab for the sake bottles, but she was still half asleep and it was four in the morning. Hiruzen chuckled dryly and simply patted the top of her head in a patronizing way.

"Come, Tsunade-chan. We need to pick up the Fire Daimyo's latest correspondence."

"Sensei, can't you just order those chuunin standing in the hallway to pick it up? I could get just a few more minutes of beauty sleep in...!"

"Nonsense, my new apprentice," argued Hiruzen as he dragged the unruly little girl out of the office. Now that they were in public, he effortlessly switched to calling her 'Sakura'. "The weather is perfect for a short walk around the village."

The moment they stepped out of the tower, he cleared his throat and prepared to give his student some sage advice about being a Kage. "You know, Sakura-chan. A lot of people come up to me and ask 'what's it like being the greatest shinobi in Konoha?' And I don't really have an answer for that-"

Tsunade rolled her eyes and grudgingly kept pace with the old man. "I think I know where this lecture is going."

"-Which is a lie, I actually do. It's kind of like being the juiciest red apple in a trash can full of flies. Except instead of flies, it's the villagers. And instead of an apple, I'm a ripped warrior. I'll never forget the time I was saving these children from a fire, and then one of the Inuzuka clan's alpha dogs just bursts out of nowhere, getting mad about nothing. So I did what every self-respecting master of combat would do; I karate-chopped it right in the frontal pouch region."

As the pair plodded along, several early morning risers - both civilian and shinobi alike - greeted the Sandaime respectfully. Tsunade was peripherally aware of their curious whispers and stares regarding her presence. In a couple of hours, most of Konoha would learn that Sarutobi Hiruzen has taken on an apprentice.

Hiruzen coughed. "Inuzuka dogs have frontal pouches. By the way."

Tsunade took in the nostalgic sight of the morning sun washing over the buildings and streets. She saw villagers, both young and old, getting ready for another day. Her village. Her people.

She smiled.

"Never doubted your wisdom for a second, sensei. By the way."