Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto or Sandman.
As he walks the paths of his garden, the oldest of the seven siblings turns a page in his book. Although his eyes are uniformly white, with no trace of pupil or iris, somehow he can still read the words that flicker and dance on the paper...
"But I've never made a speech before!"
"Well, surely you've written out everything you want to say and practiced it a couple of times, right?" Sakura tried her best to be reassuring. Catching sight of the look on Naruto's face, she said, "Right, Naruto?"
"Uh...well, not exactly..." Naruto grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.
"Idiot," Sasuke said in his usual disdainful tone.
"What do you mean, 'not exactly'!" A vein in Sakura's forehead was throbbing dangerously.
"Well, you know, I couldn't think of anything really good to say. Everything I tried sounded either really pretentious or really trite."
"...Since when do you know words like 'pretentious'?" This was Sasuke chiming in again.
"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," Hinata said encouragingly. "I'm sure you'll do alright."
"Aww, thanks Hinata-chan! It's really sweet of you to say that!"
Hinata blushed furiously, and Sakura got ready to catch her just in case, but the heir to the Hyuuga clan managed not to faint at Naruto's compliment.
"But Naruto-san!" Lee exclaimed. "Everyone in our village is waiting to hear your vibrant and youth-filled speech! You cannot disappoint them!"
There was a loud cheer from outside. "Naruto, that means the introductory speech by Kakashi-sensei is over. It's your turn now! What are you going to do?"
Naruto grinned at Sakura. "I guess I'll just have to wing it!"
Sakura gaped at him, Sasuke shook his head, Lee gave him a thumbs-up sign, and Hinata fervently wished him luck.
And Naruto walked out onto the stage.
The entire village had gathered in the plaza beneath the Hokage monument. Naruto was pleased to see Iruka standing near the front of the crowd, beaming with pride. Kakashi had retreated to the side of the stage, where he looked up from his book long enough to give Naruto a wink. Gai was grinning and flashing a double thumbs-up sign. Next to Kakashi, Gaara stood in his formal Kazekage robes, with his two bodyguards--Temari and Kankuro--by his side. Konohamaru was standing close to Iruka, and as he caught sight of Naruto, he waved and pointed enthusiastically at the new chuunin vest he wore.
Naruto stood at the podium, took a deep breath, and began.
"So, I was up all last night trying to think of something to say, but nothing really sounded right. I kept trying to come up with all these grand words that would really impress everybody. But the whole time, I just kept thinking about all the people who've been important in my life. I remembered Old Man Third, and Iruka-sensei, and Kakashi-sensei, and Jiraiya, and Old Lady Tsunade, and my teammates, and Neji-san and Lee-san and Gaara-san, and...I couldn't really think of any words grand enough to say how much all those people mean to me.
You know, when I was a kid, I wanted to be Hokage so that people would acknowledge me. I just wanted everybody in the village to say how great I was. But being Hokage isn't about that. It's about...it's about making the people who love you proud, protecting all the people that are important to you, and teaching the younger generation so they'll grow up to be just as good as you are. Maybe even better.
When the Akatsuki was coming after me, you guys all protected me, even though it was really dangerous. Iruka-sensei taught me that when somebody does something nice for you, you're supposed to pay them back for it. So, I'll do the same thing for you that you did for me. I'll protect this village and everyone in it, even if it costs me my life! Because that's what being Hokage means!"
As Destiny ran his fingers over the words, he experienced everything as if he were there in person. He heard the thunderous cheers, saw the tears streaming down Gai's face, saw the look of quiet pride hidden behind Kakashi's mask. He read the final sentence on the page:
And so it happened that Uzumaki Naruto became the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
And Destiny smiled.
A/N: Well, we're finally at the end. I really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it! This last chapter was the easiest one for me to write--with the exception of Destiny's inclusion, it's pretty much how I think the Naruto series should end.
Many thanks to everyone who's reviewed this story!