"Look, Simba. Everything the light touches is our kingdom. A king's time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here and will rise with you as the new king."

- Mufasa, The Lion King

Two pictures lay side by side, the straight faces of young teammates staring back at the Hokage who really didn't want to have to pick only one of them for such an important position. On one hand, she wanted the boy to follow in her footsteps because she knew he would lead with a gentle, but efficient sort of power. On the other, the girl was smart, incredibly strong, and fiercely dedicated to everything she set her little heart upon. And ultimately, more mature. Her decision would not be an easy one, nevermind quick.

"I don't mean to rush you, Tsunade-sama, but you've been staring at those photographs for three hours now," Shizune carefully said. "Forgive me for interrupting, but have you made your decision yet?"

Her eyes flicked between the two photos until she forced herself to close her eyes and blow out a long, calming breath. She had to choose before she could allow herself to be second-guessed. This was the decision she'd been dreading since she'd been named, and she hadn't even known one of the two candidates at that point. All she'd known was that one day, she'd have to pick someone young and far less experienced to replace her, and that day had arrived more quickly than she was comfortable with.

"I've chosen," Tsunade sighed.

She pointed her finger to the photograph of the person she'd selected, and at the gesture, Shizune broke into a grin and said, "Great choice! I have faith that your decision will benefit the village!"

"Yeah, yeah." The Hokage set away the pictures in the top drawer of her desk, setting the one of the boy on top before shutting the drawer and letting darkness close in on his whiskered face.

"Sakura-chan?"

The medic breathed out and exasperated sigh but maintained her outward calm composure. This had to be Konohamaru's fiftieth question, at least. It wouldn't have been so bothersome had his inquiries been relevant to the situation at hand, but mostly all he wanted to know was what it was like to be on a team with Naruto and if she'd ever seen behind Kakashi's mask. Which she had, but she wasn't about to let some scrawny little brat know what her old sensei kept hidden so well, even if all it had taken to get the man to remove the damned piece of cloth was a eighteenth birthday and a sloppy, drunken kiss.

She absentmindedly fiddled with his monitor and asked, "Yes, Konohamaru?"

"I know I'm sick and all, but do you think I could maybe go out and train tomorrow?"

A smile lightened her bored features and distracted her from once again checking her watch. At least he was showing some sort of concern for his condition rather than denying its existence like he had when he'd first come in for treatment. "I'm afraid not," Sakura replied, turning away from the machines to face him. "You've already got pneumonia so your immune system is shot. It would be ill advised to let you go out and get yourself beat up. You might catch something else. Or worse, Udon might be able to defeat you in your weakened state!"

She watched as his face crinkled up around his nose in an expression that clearly stated, No, Udon certainly would not be able to defeat me. But the boy kept those thoughts to himself, instead voicing the less playful, "But if I stay in this hospital any longer, I don't think I'll ever get to be as strong as Naruto!"

He would bring up his yellow-haired counterpart again, wouldn't he? Sakura dared a glance at the clock and allowed herself to cheer up when she realized she would only be obligated to stay here with him for two more minutes. She wasn't quite sure why her shishou had cut her hours nearly in half and decided to let her off work early that day, but nobody would find her complaining. It was only just beginning to get dark. If she rushed home, she would be able to see all of her weekly soap instead of only managing to catch the tail end of its second nightly run.

"Konohamaru, Naruto has a hideous, nine-tailed demon inside him programmed for demolition and murder," she stated matter-of-factly. "All you've got inside you is medication and seventeen of Moegi's homemade onigiri."

"They were good!" he defended.

Sakura nodded her silent agreement, but when all he did was stare angrily back at her, she deflated and gave in. "Tomorrow, I'll take you out for some fresh air. But no training until you can go at least a full minute without coughing."

Konohamaru inhaled in preparation to shoot something back about how he could go days without coughing if he wanted to, but he was interrupted by his own loud, repetitive hacking as his system tried to rid itself of his lungs. She nudged a glass of water that had sat untouched on his nightstand all day closer towards him and retreated towards the door.

"Goodnight, Konohamaru."

He wheezed, "'Night, Sakura-chan."

On her way out, she flipped down his lightswitch. Once outside, she took a moment to watch bemusedly as he chugged the entire glass of water before burying himself beneath his crispy, white bedsheets and curling into a comfortable ball. He was going on eighteen these days, but he still acted the same way he always had as a child. In fact, it made sense that he was always whining about wanting to be more like Naruto - the two of them were already near carbon copies of each other.

With a smile still gently touching her lips, she turned away from his door and began to weave through the loose crowd of staff and patients milling about the hospital. Just a few more steps and she would be out the door, on her way home to enjoy her favorite television series for the first time in what felt like decades.

That beautiful, clear glass front door held its arms out to her as she sped up her pace to meet its embrace faster. In a few short seconds, the fading daylight would set a peachy glow on her face and the cooling air would banish the stale oxygen of the hospital from her lungs. A grin broke out across her features, so tight and wide it brought her eyes closed, and ultimately prevented her from seeing the obstacle that stepped in her way at that last minute.

She stumbled back after she bumped into a warm, cushiony barrier, confused and disoriented and trying to recall when they'd installed a wall made of heated pillows directly in front of the entrance to the facility. When she lifted her eyes to stare at this new structure, she found that it was not, in fact, a wall, but a pair of pale, heaving breasts that glared back at her. Bringing her gaze up further, she was met with the incredulous stare of the owner of the aforementioned rack - a blonde woman who was looking none to pleased with her apprentice's antics.

"Tsunade-shishou!" Sakura gasped. "Forgive me. I-" Catching the Hokage's expression, she knew that the only explanation her superior would be accepting at this time would be something along the lines of I tripped and landed face first in your chest because I'm too stupid to walk. This, however, was not the type of phrase that Sakura wanted to come out of her mouth, so she opted not to try and explain herself out of the situation and instead only sighed, "Sorry."

"I would recommend watching where you're going next time," Tsunade blandly suggested.

"Yes, of course," Sakura agreed monotonously. "I was just heading out. I'm off early tonight. Thank you for that, by the way."

"You're welcome." A faint smile touched the blonde's lips for a brief moment - it was not often she was shown gratitude for her rare nice gestures. Her cross and often brash demeanor usually left people intimidated, even when she was doing them a kindness. So intimidated, in fact, they figured a silent retreat would be better than to risk a single 'thank you'. But her face soon fell when she recalled the reason she had cut Sakura's hours that night in the first place. "Unfortunately, I didn't let you off ahead of schedule for you to go home, drink cheap liquor, and fall asleep on your sofa while watching some crappy soap opera."

Sakura contemplated the pros and cons of pointing out that her shishou had been the one to introduce her to the series in the first place, but she figured she'd better play it safe and not test Tsunade's temper this evening. So instead, she shrugged and said dismissively, "They'll replay it again eventually. Was there an assignment for me?"

"Not an assignment. But there is a talk I need to have with you."

The older of the two women pushed open the door to the building and gestured for her student to follow as she lead the way outside and towards the tower that held her office. Sakura tailed her obediently, though her inner self died a little bit when they passed her housing district. The woman ahead of her rambled on about irrelevant subjects like the weather and a pair of shoes Shizune was trying to convince her to buy probably because they wore the same size while Sakura kept sparing glances back towards her apartment complex, weighing the pros and cons of booking it and snuggling down into her cushy sofa with a mimosa and a brand new episode of her favorite show. Even better, she could disappear into Kakashi's apartment coming up on their left and make him watch it with her and possibly indulge in a bit of love-making before bed. But was it worth the beheading she would surely receive the next morning?

Probably not.

She grumbled and slouched as they passed his building and continued on through the village's streets until they reached the administration tower. Though she could make it through the facility blindfolded, her shishou still lead the way, tromping up a tall flight of stairs and taking the familiar route to her office. When she took a not-so-familiar turn, Sakura was habitually heading the opposite way, fully expecting to be lead into Tsunade's workplace. When she noticed the blonde was no longer before her, she stopped in her tracks and blinked, then turned and jogged to catch up and say, "Have you forgotten the way to your own office?"

"We're not going to my office," was the only reply.

They ventured up another flight of stairs and came to a wing that Sakura had never been to. In fact, she'd never gone higher up than the floor where Shizune and Tsunade worked, so she kept close to the other woman to avoid getting lost in the labyrinth of hallways until they came to a dead end. Or so it seemed, until they came closer to the opposing wall and the outline of a discreet, hidden door became visible. There was no doorknob and no lock. In fact, there were no other indications apart from the line that suggested anything would be on the other side of the wall except for maybe insulation, piping, and electrical wires. But when Tsunade pushed against the door, it gave a resounding click that echoed down the empty hallway as it came unlatched and swung open, letting in a rush of cold, night time air.

They stepped out onto the rooftop and the light up there was more bright and more orange due to their increased proximity to the sun. But as that light slowly faded while Sakura faithfully stood beside her mentor and her leader in wait of the conversation that was coming - one she was sure to dread and would probably drown with alcohol by the time she managed to get home - the lights of the village below began to flicker on, one building after another, and by the time the sun had set, you could hardly tell the light had left for all the glowing that radiated from below. It made her head spin to think she'd never been up here before. Maybe because she had a slight fear of heights and had never thought coming to the top of any tall building was exactly a good idea, but the view was so beautiful at this time of night, she would have thrown all phobias out the window if she'd known about it. The yellow streetlights and the green and blues of the decorated, lit insides of the buildings and facilities on the sides of the street all mixed together to cast a lovely glow on the people milling about on the sidewalks, going about their night without a second glance or thought towards the two women who watched them from above.

"This is amazing," Sakura found herself sighing before she could close her lips.

She was prepared for Tsunade to chastise her for speaking out of turn and for indulging in such trivial pleasures when they had something of great importance to discuss, but she never did. The older woman only smiled, the slightest upward tilt at the corners of her mouth, and agreed, "Yes, it is."

They stood side by side in silence for awhile longer before Tsunade informed her student, "Take a look around at the lights below. As far as they extend, that is the entirety of Konoha's territory. The lights may become sparse the farther you look from the center of town, but our borders only end at the last speck of light."

Sakura had always known there was some sort of strategy behind the placement of the tower they currently stood on, but she had never once tried to think on what that strategy might be. Here, where she could see the same lights Tsunade was talking about, it was clear to her. The tower was not directly in the center of the village's land, but placed in such a way that every light within their territory could be seen from the top and no lights from another came into that expanse below.

"From up here, I can observe everything that happens in this village. If just one of those lights goes out, no matter how far from this tower it is, I'll know as soon as I come up here," Tsunade explained. "I don't consider myself a ruler, but a leader. And to lead, I must know the land and the people I am leading. This is my post."

"That makes sense," Sakura mused. Then, as she realized her shishou was in a much lighter mood than she'd originally assumed, she dared to add, "But I don't see how this was more important than my soap."

Tsunade laughed lightly. She gave no in depth explanation as to why she had dragged Sakura away from her weekly show. She didn't even wipe the smile off her face when she dropped the bomb on her student. Didn't even make eye contact with her. She just continued to stare out at the vast expanse of land as she said, "This is your post now, too."

The words sat lingering in Sakura's mind for a moment, confusing her as it ticked away like a clock, and when the it struck midnight, the bells went off in her head. "You mean... I'm being appointed as some sort of... watch dog?"

Tsunade laughed. "No, we have other watch towers for those people. This is a special one. Only the Hokage can watch from this tower."

A light gust of wind blew Sakura's long hair into her face. When blowing at her bangs to push them away did nothing, she gathered her hair up into one concentrated point at the back of her head and secured it there. It was still long enough to brush against her chin, but it no longer obstructed her vision of the brilliant lights below. "I think you need to take another few years to think about this," she sighed.

"I would, but unfortunately, I don't have another few years to spare." Sakura arched one thin eyebrow, though she kept her face tilted down at the specks of gold hundreds of feet beneath her. Tsunade asked, "You're familiar with some of my... more dangerous techniques?"

The younger of the two brought her hand up to rest underneath her chin and she turned to face her superior with a look of confusion upon her face. What in the world was she going on about? Tsunade had a lot of "more dangerous techniques" in Sakura's opinion - most of them included bashing skulls and tearing up concrete, but she couldn't decipher how any of those had an effect on Tsunade's well-being. Well, there was one...

Sakura's brow flew upward and her eyes focused in on the purple diamond-shaped mark in the center of her shishou's forehead. Could she possibly mean...? "Oh, no," groaned Sakura.

Tsunade gave an amused chuckle, and her student couldn't help but wonder how the blonde could be so lighthearted at a time like this. "Don't worry. I'm not immediately concerned for my life. However, as its span has shortened significantly, I can only hope for ten years at the most. And I need to find a replacement. Just in case."

Sakura's eyes narrowed. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. The initial shock she'd received after hearing that Tsunade's life was slowly coming to an end had worn off for now - no doubt it would come back to haunt her later, most likely in her sleep - but there was still something so terrifying about the way the Hokage discussed it. As if it didn't phase her at all. As if the fact that she was probably going to die before her apprentice had learned everything there was to teach. She would be gone before Sakura's thirty-fifth birthday. "How can you talk about this so lightly?" the pinkette asked.

"Death is a natural part of life." Tsunade shrugged. "Yes, it's a shame that mine is coming to an end earlier than would be ideal for this village. That said, I need to make a choice with their best interest in mind."

It hadn't been an easy choice, and she'd known in the back of her mind that Sakura wouldn't be too pleased about the outcome, but she had to make it work out. She had her reasons for choosing her apprentice - most importantly, she had a good head on her shoulders and would rule diligently with the right motivation. But she had also been around Tsunade long enough to know how it was done. She was perfect for the role, but her next words did not come as a shock to the blonde.

"What about Naruto? Being Hokage is everything he's ever dreamed of and he's a lot stronger than I am-"

"It's not all about who can kill the most enemies." Naruto was strong, and determined, and he had the motivation that Sakura lacked. He wanted it, and he would put the authority to good use - no doubt he would do anything in his power to bring a higher level of peace to the shinobi world. The problem was, he wasn't quite as logical as Sakura was, and he was nowhere near as settled. Whereas the girl spent most of her time either in Tsunade's office or working in the hospital, Naruto was always taking the most dangerous missions and when he wasn't traveling, he was finding other ways to get into trouble within the village walls. With that in mind, the correct choice was obvious. It would have to be Sakura for the time being. "You've got your head screwed on tighter than he has. Your mental strength far surpasses his."

Sakura's head started to shake from left to right in such a subtle way, you could only tell by the trembling of her ponytail. "Tsunade-shishou, I'm only twenty-two. I can't be Hokage. And I can't do that to Naruto."

"I'm only sixty. I shouldn't have to worry about the prospect of a sudden death, but here I am, appointing my apprentice as my successor." Again, she spoke lightly of the situation at hand and emphasized the statement with a slow shrug of her shoulders. "Life is full of surprises."

"You'll have to find someone else."

With that, she turned and made to re-enter the building through the hidden door. She'd had enough. Was Tsunade crazy? Sakura was barely legal. She could hardly lead her life properly, let alone an entire village. How Tsunade had come to choose her of all possible candidates - Kakashi, Shikamaru, Naruto for goodness sake! - was beyond her. While she was well aware she had no choice in the matter, and while she knew going home and taking a long nap wasn't going to change anything, she needed to get off of the rooftop.

"Sakura!"

She gritted her teeth and let a small grumble slip through her lips when Tsunade caught her wrist before she could get more than two steps towards the door.

"This is non-negotiable," said Tsunade.

I know that, Sakura wanted to say. But she knew if she added anything else, she would only be getting deeper into it with her master. No doubt it would end in a loud, violent argument during which many walls would get torn down. She didn't have the heart, nor the energy for that at the moment. So she settled for narrowing her eyes in her best 'I-really-really-hate-you-right-now' glare before she tore herself out of Tsunade's grasp and left, slamming the door behind her.

"You can't run away from your problems!" Tsunade shouted, knowing full well her warning could be heard through the walls. "Believe me, I tried it."

TBC