Who's the Boss?

My answer to Perfect Lionheart's "Missing Hokage" challenge

Tsunade, sitting in her chair at the head of the Konoha council room, blinked. Her expression was one of mild confusion, as if she had just heard something that couldn't possibly be factual.

"Would you care to repeat that, Koharu?" she asked, a dangerous note creeping into her voice.

"We, the council of Konoha, hereby banish the genin Uzumaki Naruto and strip him of his ninja rank, for the crime of harming the last Uchiha during the retrieval mission."

Tsunade blinked.

"No." she said firmly.

"I'm afraid you don't have any authority in this matter, Hoka-URK!" Koharu suddenly found herself suspended by the neck several inches above the floor, courtesy of Tsunade.

"I'm the Hokage, I tell you what to do, not the other way around. My grandfather founded this village, and one of the rules that he laid down was the absolute authority of the Hokage over the active ninja forces. Nothing to do with my ninjas is outside of my authority."

By now, Koharu's face was turning blue, her ancient hands struggling to pry the Slug Sannin's iron-like fingers from her neck. Tsunade's hard chocolate eyes bored into the panicked gaze of the ancient advisor's. With a smirk, Tsunade dropped the Sandaime's old teammate to the ground and took her seat once more.

"Let's not hear anymore of this foolishness. Let's move on to the next item on the agenda, if no one has any objections?"

Danzo, a contemporary of the Sandaime, stood up, his face a mask of calm. "Hokage-sama, not to be rude, but the Sandaime did write certain laws giving this council the power to deal with errant shinobi as we see fit. This has been the way things have operated for the last thirty years."

Tsunade frowned.

"Not anymore. No matter what temporary powers Sarutobi gave you so that he have help governing Konoha in his old age, they were just that; temporary. I am hereby revoking all powers of this council as they relate to active duty shinobi. You will have to content yourselves with managing the budget and similar tasks from now on."

Chaos ensued, as everyone in the room tried to speak at once. Homura, Koharu, and Danzo were all up out of their seats now, yelling frantically. Tsunade narrowed her eyes. She had had enough of this nonsense. A chakra-enhanced fist slammed into the marble desk she sat at, pulverizing it into rubble with a loud crash.

There was silence.

"Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, Danzo… Will you accept my decision?"

Danzo glared at her. He knew that if he bent to such a forceful and public display of dominance then his reign behind the scenes would basically be over, along with any chance he had of becoming Hokage.

"I cannot accept this," replied Danzo. Homura and Koharu both nodded their agreement. Danzo intended to continue his speech, but he was suddenly interrupted by an inhumanely strong punch to his check which crushed his heart instantly. As he fell to the ground dead, the Third Hokage's former teammates staggered backward in shock. It only took two more blows to end their lives as well.

Wiping the blood from her right fist, Tsunade sent her gaze around the room, meeting eyes with the shocked clan heads and civilians silent in their chairs.

"Does anyone else think that they are above the Hokage?" she asked.

No one spoke.

"Good. Shibi, could you please read me the financial reports for this week?

The Aburame clan head stepped over the body of Sarutobi's former teammates and picked up the slightly blood-flecked sheaf of papers. He took his seat and began to read.

&-&-&-&

Author's Note: A fun little one-shot. I like the idea of Perfect Lionheart's challenge, except that Tsunade seriously lack the cajones. I mean, she's definitely the strongest person in Konoha when she takes office, barring possibly Jiraiya. Why does she let those old fogies walk all over her? My Tsunade certainly won't. Peace out.