The Reluctant Rokudaime

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its characters. Copyrights go to Viz Media and Kishimoto, et cetera, et cetera.

Chapter 1

Whispers.

They were the first indicator that something was up. Naruto should have known, he should have listened, but he didn't. The situation had changed after Pain's assault on Konoha. Naruto had received a hero's welcome. Cheers, celebrations, exuberance. Children had run up to him in the street with parents smiling proudly and adoringly at them and him, so much so that Naruto just couldn't help but lower his guard and be swept up in the attention.

His people had finally acknowledged him, treated him as the hero the Sandaime had told him he was and were seeing him for the proud Uzumaki shinobi he was, instead of the so-called monster their grief led them to believe him to be. In the light and radiance of positivity that Konoha poured onto him, he ignored the odd whispers in the shadows. After all, they had always been there.

Ever since he had been a child, the villagers always whispered about him. No matter the time of day, whether it was midafternoon or the crack of dawn, men and women always seemed to glare and speak in hushed tones wherever he went. Naruto had learned to ignore them, brush away the negativity laced within the haunting words that reached his ears. If he paid attention to all of them growing up, he might have ended up like Gaara had, or worse, Sasuke; better to be an insane murderer than an emo prick in Naruto's opinion.

Of course, Naruto should have noted the oddness of the whispers. With the recent defeat of Pain and the sheer adulation the villagers felt towards Naruto, the quiet conversations were wrong. The entire village was swept with utter confidence and adoration towards Naruto and not even his most profound naysayers were unaffected. Not only did he defeat an enemy that could resurrect his minions, one that laid waste to nearly the entirety of their home, but he had, albeit indirectly, resurrected thousands upon thousands of deceased victims. No one could deny his existence or begrudge after such a feat.

Not even the Yondaime's defeat of the Kyūbi could measure up to his son's achievement!

In the wake of his actions, the whispers of the townsfolk, many of whom had ran up to him to express their gratitude whilst he sifted through the wreckage, were out of place. The numerous jōnin that gazed at him sharply, assessing him, instead of the typical wariness or exasperated fondness that so many had recently displayed, should have triggered alarms inside of his head.

It was only when a widely known career genin, who really should have been promoted to jōnin by now, had come up to him and patted him on the shoulder approvingly did he begin to suspect something. The man's accompanying words definitely served to raise his guard.

"If I had a vote, you'd have mine, kid."

The blonde stopped at those words and watched him as he passed by. The words would be meaningless if anyone else had spoken them, even if it came from a Clan Head, but it was different when that particular man spoke them.

Maruboshi Kosuke, despite his old age, was a career genin. It wasn't too odd to see a man of his age stay at such a low rank, but Kosuke was different than the others. He had skill, wisdom, knowledge, and experience in such surplus that there were jōnin that occasionally deferred to him, genin or not. The man had turned down numerous promotions, ranging from chūnin all the way up to Hokage, even if the latter was partly in jest; the Sandaime would do anything to be free of that pesky paperwork.

With a comment coming from such an esteemed man, one that ranked unofficially with the Sandaime's teammates, the orange wearing teen felt the need to investigate.

He followed the man to a ramen stand, Ichiraku's, coincidentally. Of course, when the man patted the seat beside him with a casual glance over his shoulder in the blonde's direction, it didn't seem quite so coincidental. With a sheepish grin on his face and a nervous scratch of his cheek, Naruto took the seat.

"So, what did ya mean about the vote?" Naruto blurted out, unable to hold in his curiosity. While the man had always been kind to him, even telling him some awesome stories of shinobi over a bowl of ramen in his Academy days, he had never seemed so proud of him as Sandaime-jiji after he had graduated.

"Hmm, you say something?" the man said with a cheeky smile.

Naruto's eye twitched a little at the response. The old man just had to emulate his one-eyed sensei. It was a growing trend among the Konoha population to annoy the blonde by acting like his infuriating jōnin sensei. They learned very quickly not to do so to his pink-haired teammate; her temper was almost as notorious as her shishō's and no one was going to risk stoking it.

"Maru-jiji," Naruto groaned, earning a chuckle from the man beside him.

"As a fellow genin, I had to try it at least once. An old man has to at least try his hand at a trend so…hip and cool as that," Kosuke said with a grin, enjoying the blonde's dismay.

"Jiji, come on! What's with the vote thing? Did I get a promotion or something?" Naruto inquired, fidgeting in excitement at the thought. The prospect of ranking up was something he definitely desired, even if it was just to chūnin. All his friends were technically his superiors and they liked to tease him about it mercilessly, especially in the beginning. That reminded him of how he still needed to get back at his teammate as she was the worst; Sakura enjoyed it far too much and he needed to bring her back down before her ego got too large.

"Something like that," the older genin replied, waving loftily to appear mysterious while covering his amusement of holding something over the young man's head.

It wasn't often that one could truly peak Naruto's interest, especially with a piece of unknown knowledge. Naruto had learned early on that information was vital and always seemed to know things that he shouldn't, a fact that served to frustrate both Kosuke and the deceased Sandaime. The numerous heart-attacks the brat had almost induced for both men over some of the tidbits that he had let out was rather alarming. Teuchi was still always annoyed whenever he saw an Anbu mask, no doubt a reminder of the disruptions to his business from years past, but that was a story for another day.

Naruto was suspicious and wanted to say more, but Ayame-neechan had brought out his order of miso ramen with extra pork. Ramen would always hold priority in his heart, unless a time-sensitive mission came up that needed his attention. Not even Kakashi would dare to be late to something that could endanger lives and the jinchūriki had applied a circumstance to his beloved ramen. By the time he was done with his order, which consisted of three bowls with extra vegetables, something that his Baa-chan had bribed the Ichiraku family to always add to his meals, the famed Eternal Genin had disappeared.

After a moment of swiftly searching his surroundings, something that totally didn't make him look like an idiot, no matter what Sakura-chan said, he resigned himself to not knowing and shrugged it off.

Besides, there was work to be done. He had only followed the elderly genin because he was on a break from helping search the ruins, so he brushed away his curiosity and went back to his day.

III

It was when he had been helping a family of three, a mother and her two children, search their home that he had been let in on the gossip that the townsfolk, particularly the jōnin, had seemed so interested in when an Anbu operative dropped down. The kunoichi's sudden appearance next to a civilian family caused them to jump in shock and Naruto to whirl around at their gasps with his right hand by his kunai holster.

"Naruto-san," the cloaked woman spoke, her mask the visage of a sparrow. "Your presence has been requested for an urgent matter."

After a moment of wary searching, he shifted his attention to the family. He walked over to them, a quick glance to the mother was enough for him to know that she understood the suddenness of his departure, but her children were not as understanding.

"Kimo-chan, Hiro-kun," Naruto said, kneeling down to get their attention when they pouted a little in confusion at the sudden arrival of Sparrow. "I have to go now, super-secret shinobi stuff." His grin and conspiratorial whisper earned a giggle from the six-year-old girl and a shy smile from the four-year-old boy, who tried to hide it behind the stuffed animals in his hand, both of whom were different colored toads. "But, don't worry, I'll still be here to help you search for Sir Scratch-a-lot and your stuff before the night ends. I did promise, didn't I? And Uzumaki Naruto doesn't break his promises!"

The blonde had jumped up with both of them in each arm and spun around boisterously, earning joyful laughter from them. The mother had looked on with an amused smile, though Naruto was able to detect the hint of sadness and regret directed towards him. He put them down soon after and went straight back to their home and continuing his previous search.

The mother's brows furrowed at the seeming dismissal of the Anbu and turned to look at the woman, only to find the kunoichi had disappeared. The blonde caught her eye when she turned back in confusion at his presence and sent a wink her way. Naruto turned back around after that and encouraged the children to help search, stating that because he was only a clone, and much more fragile, they would be his temporary teammates/helpers, an opportunity the children jumped at; everyone wanted to help the brave and powerful hero that saved their village.

A distance away, the same blonde and the Anbu Sparrow were leaping across rooftops, or whatever high point they could find in the village ruins.

Sparrow studied the whiskered teenager as the duo made for their destination. While the woman may have been confused by the blonde's disregard for the Anbu, along with her disappearance despite her request, she was not. The kunoichi had caught onto Naruto's trick, a quick Shadow Clone formation with an accompanying Substitution technique.

Despite the simplicity, she was impressed. Or, perhaps it was because of its simplicity that she was so impressed. Not many could form a Shadow Clone so quickly, without seals nonetheless, and replace themselves with it.

Similar strategies were employed by numerous shinobi in combat, but they usually involved a distraction as a precursor for both the formation of a clone and the subsequent replacement. To be able to do both without some sort of obscuring opportunity so quickly, not to mention without smoke, was extremely difficult. Very few could do such a thing, with only Uchiha Itachi being able to do so as effectively as Naruto was able to.

That wasn't the only reason Sparrow was so keenly analyzing the youth with astoundingly unruly hair, nor was it the only thing she noticed about him.

When he had spun around at her sudden appearance, his hand had hovered over the kunai holster strapped to his right thigh. With his wary gaze and twitching fingers that occasionally flicked over the ring of the kunai jutting out, he appeared to reach for his weapon at a moment's notice. It made it appear to the enemy that he was unarmed and would need a second to retrieve the blade before he could use it. An enemy could take the misinformation and underestimate him, believing themselves to have a slight advantage over the blonde.

Of course, it was all a trick, a clever deception. Her Byakugan allowed her to see the hidden kunai that he had tucked within his other arm's sleeve, ready for use without the small fraction of time one would need to draw the visibly holstered blade. It would have worked on an opponent without the dōjutsu, but not her.

"I don't recall you being able to Substitute with a clone that was created at a distance so seamlessly," Sparrow stated as she pulled up beside him.

Naruto was able to pick up the implicit question in her words.

"I didn't only train in senjutsu in Mt. Myōboku," Naruto replied, continuing when he saw her turn to look at him. "There were daily restrictions on how long I could train in senjutsu; newbies can accidentally end up like toad statues, like that one body of Nagato's, so Fukasaku-sensei had me work on my other abilities while also teaching me Frog Kumite, or as he called it, Toad Sage Fist."

His expression soured a moment after, but he smiled at her for noticing his improvement.

The Anbu collectively didn't care about many things outside their mission directives, but Naruto was one that most, if not all, cared about to some degree. They had a fondness for the youth, stemming from his always having a guard detail from the day of the Kyūbi attack. Every operative had, at one point in their career, been tasked to guarding and watching over him, making sure that any who bore animosity towards the child was kept contained to themselves. Whether it was something as simple as overcharging him or denying him service at any establishment or as extreme as assaulting him or trying to kill him, they made sure to protect Naruto as much as they were able to.

While the Sandaime did his best for the boy, it was the Anbu that looked after him every day. He was as much their child as the Sandaime's.

From the assignments to watch over him in the orphanage, ensuring that no one dared to outright abuse him, to laughing at the various chūnin and jōnin that were sent to chase after him in his pranks. Hell, they were even present during the mission in Wave, one of the main reasons that Kakashi, a former Anbu Captain who had been aware of their constant presence, had even entertained the possibility of continuing that C-rank turned S-rank.

As such, they were informal with him, relatively speaking. They did little things for him that they could get away with, like mentioning his progress, when they could. They had all seen him grow from being a lonely and neglected orphan to the powerful shinobi that he had become.

It was also why they were so tolerant of his antics, such as twirling around the kids and replacing himself with a Shadow Clone. Though, that was rather heartwarming, if Sparrow was honest with herself, especially as she had already made note of the numerous Shadow Clones he still had running around the village, helping whoever they could to recover from the attack.

The fact that no one had died, at least not permanently, because of Naruto's actions made them proud of the blonde, proving many right to have placed their faith in him as they were wont to do.

It was also for that reason that she had a devious smirk behind her mask when they arrived at their location. As much as the Anbu forces loved the blonde, they still held a grudge for all the pranks the brat had set off in the Anbu Headquarters when he had once found it.

Oh, this is going to be so much fun, Sparrow thought to herself.

III

As Naruto approached the closed doors of their destination, he shuddered a little. The slightly creepy aura that the kunoichi leading him made him slow his pace, just to set a little distance between the two. Hopefully she wasn't one of those women that were still mad at him because of his perverted techniques.

Those two techniques were effective, and he just didn't understand why they were so angry. Couldn't they see how well they worked? He was even working on a female-oriented version, one that was horrifying to practice but was sure to be effective.

Noticing Sparrow setting herself on the outside of the door, he shoved away those thoughts and prepared himself. He didn't know what he was needed for and he couldn't allow himself to appear weak in such a time. It was with that thought that he opened the doors and walked through.

Upon entering the room, he noticed that he had the room's immediate attention. It was filled with important adults, all either of jōnin rank or some sort of nobility, aside from three elders. Two of them were Sandaime-jiji's teammates, Homura and Ko-something, he never could remember her name.

The third elder was someone he had never seen before, a man with bandages swathed around one of his eyes and arms, a crossed scar on his chin. He wore a stern expression as he leaned on his cane, one that made the other occupants shy away from him, but he matched the description of a man Sandaime-jiji had warned him away from, Shimura Danzō.

Sweeping his eyes around, he spotted two others that he recognized. The first stood out quite obviously to him, what with his spiky white hair and the nonchalant singular eye with his headband covering his sharingan. Despite what seemed to be a serious meeting, his sensei still had his precious Icha Icha out, though his eye flickered up to him with something that seemed to be a mix of amusement and a hint of regret and fear before he returned his attention to his book.

The second man was the Jōnin Commander, Nara Shikaku, though Naruto never saw the man in his official capacity, only aware of him as Shikamaru's father. The Nara seemed to be annoyed, a subtle glare sent towards Danzō, but his eyes held a strangely calculating look when he noticed the blonde. There even seemed to be a bit of hope concealed within the man's eyes, though his expression remained mostly blank.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Genin of Konoha, yes?" a voice asked from Naruto's left.

The voice belonged to a man of nobility, based on his dress and stature. He sat at the head of the table and had an intricate fan he used to cover his face. His expression was slack, looking quite bored, and the casual tone of the man's voice seemed to back up the man's image. The dull look in the man's eyes seemed to coincide with the uninterested impression he gave off, but Naruto wasn't fooled. He could spot the slight sharpness of interest within, one that set him on edge.

"Hai," he replied with a nod, eyes glancing at the Hokage's advisors. They mouthed the word 'daimyō', something he gratefully received before he looked back at the man. "Daimyō-sama."

The man hummed pleasantly as he raked over the jinchūriki's appearance slowly, the man's eyes assessing him, judging him; for what, Naruto had no clue, but the man's face was inscrutable and bland, providing him no help in discovering what it was he sought.

"Um, Daimyō-sama," Naruto said hesitantly, eyeing the people in the room peripherally for any indication to help him. The man lightly fanning himself hummed for him to continue when he paused, though his eyes kept scanning him. "Why exactly am I here? I was pulled away from helping our home's citizens to recover what they could from the wreckage only because the Anbu said I was needed for an urgent matter."

The Daimyō quirked an eyebrow and haughtily said, "Is not answering your Daimyō's request an urgent matter?"

Naruto took a moment to look at the man incredulously, ignoring the slightly pinched expressions of the Sandaime's teammates. "Konoha was attacked, most of it was leveled by an S-rank terrorist; I think helping the citizens of Konoha recover from this horrific attack is more important than meeting some stuffy noble, Daimyō or not."

He knew that responding like this was rather rude, not to mention disrespectful, and it would most likely get him into trouble, but Naruto was not going to bow to a man's overinflated ego. He had to deal with enough of people with similar attitudes, but quite a few of those people were shinobi with some measure of power and skill, unlike this man. He felt no compunctions ignoring the warning looks of the two elders that tried to silently advise him otherwise.

The Daimyō narrowed his eyes for a moment before he snapped his fan shut and laid it on the table before him, threading his fingers together as he leaned forward and hid his mouth behind the steeple his hands formed. "I see."

He paused for a moment, eyes finally returning to Naruto's face, observing him intensely. "The reason I asked you here was because I am receiving some conflicting reports. As such, I have called you here so that I could hear the truth of this matter from the man responsible for defeating the one who laid waste to this village."

Naruto blinked at that. All the man wanted was his report? The thought didn't seem to make much sense to him, though he supposed that considering the current Hokage was indisposed, the only one with real power over the entire village at this point was the Daimyō, who allowed Konoha to exist in Hi no Kuni, and bestowed the Hokage the authority over the village.

Still, he was a tad uncertain and the nearly unnoticeable nod he received from Shikamaru's dad in his peripheral vision eased him; he wasn't sure if the Daimyō had the proper security clearance to hear the details of everything that went down but Shikaku's nod gave him permission to speak freely.

So, he did. He started from when Fukasaku noticed that the messenger toad left behind in Konoha had died, signaling something was wrong in Konoha, and went on from there. It was better, he'd learned since the first missions taking D-ranks, that reports should include only the facts that he was aware of, no information that he did not know for certain that was acquired secondhand, unless it affected his performance in the mission.

Sandaime-jiji had not been impressed by his inaccurate descriptions of Sasuke's participation during one particularly bad Tora retrieval mission.

Throughout his tale, the listeners were stunned by his actions, though the shinobi in the room kept their expressions as blank as they could. Naruto wasn't exactly sure why they seemed so surprised, and proud in Kakashi-sensei's and Shikaku's case. Their view of him seemed to rise quite a bit, which he couldn't help but be feel uneasy about.

Eventually, he arrived at the part where he headed off towards Nagato's real body, and how he listened to Nagato's life story.

"Let me get this straight," one of the Daimyō's men, he had to be as Naruto didn't recognize him from the village and seemed to self-important, interrupted him, his voice incredulous, "you were in this, this Sage Mode, your empowered state that you could only maintain for a short period of time, but instead of attacking and finishing off your enemy, you listened to this terrorist's life story?!"

While the man was shocked and unbelieving, no doubt thinking his actions were idiotic, Naruto was unrepentant. The numerous people who seemed to share the man's opinion of him, including some of the shinobi in the room, especially the man swathed in bandages did little to deter him when he addressed them, though he did see the odd look that fell over the Daimyō's face.

"Let me guess, you think I'm an idiot for doing nothing when I was so close to him? You think I should have just finished him off?" Naruto asked, though it came out as more of a statement, in the direction of the man, though he looked around the room so that the others knew he was speaking to the whole room, not just the incredulous man.

While the Daimyō's man nodded, it was the bandaged man that spoke, his voice grave and oddly hypnotic. "That is exactly what you should have done. It is the shinobi way to end an enemy as soon as possible; to not do so would give them the opportunity to attack you once more."

Naruto was not impressed. "You're Danzō, right?"

The man's lone eye narrowed slightly before he nodded.

"Right, you know, there are parts of Nagato's story that I cut out," Naruto said pleasantly, eyes staring at Danzō. The man didn't react in the slightest, though Naruto supposed he wouldn't, what with being the man that brainwashed Sai to eliminate emotions and all.

"Why would you do that?" one of the Daimyō's men asked, bewildered. Homura's expression spoke of disappointment, one that his teammate, Koharu, he now remembered, mirrored, while Shikaku just stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Well, it would be unbecoming to take a terrorist's accusations of one Danzō Shimura seriously," Naruto said casually, his eyes squinting while his grin stretched wide enough to almost split his face. "I mean, it's not like the man ever had an unauthorized group of shinobi comprised of kidnapped orphans, some even from Konoha's shinobi clans, all brainwashed and loyal to him with a curse seal on their tongues that stopped them from implicating him in any crimes, one of which caused Nagato to switch his group's stance of peace through defeating opponents and understanding one another rather than mercilessly slaughtering them with extreme prejudice due to some paranoid fear that all treaties, alliances, and friendship are merely lies and not to be trusted."

Naruto could practically feel the discomfort of the room, no doubt many looking at Danzō oddly in this new light. After a brief pause, Naruto opened his eyes, his grin falling away as he gathered his expression to be as serious as possible as he stared at Danzō.

"This shinobi way that you speak of is a mindset of a time long past," he said, watching Danzō closely, unmindful of the others in the room. "You think that peace can be attained by oppressing others? That the bonds of friendship are worthless, that only slaughtering your enemies is how you stave off the enemy?"

"Well, you'd be right," Naruto said, pausing to take in the room's shock. The room's occupants certainly didn't expect him to agree with such an idea, so much so that even his sensei had looked up from his book to level a shocked and confused look at him. Though, he could see that Danzō's only reaction was the narrowing of his lone eye, suspicious of his agreement.

"While I attended the Shinobi Academy in a time of peace, there was a saying one of our teachers once said," Naruto continued. "'The only good enemy is a dead one.' The man wasn't wrong. An enemy can't hurt you if their dead, can't invade you or come at you for revenge later on. But the thing is, what are you going to do about his family, his friends?"

The room remained silent despite his posed question.

"Every enemy, shinobi or otherwise, has a family, a mother and a father, sisters, brothers, maybe even kids of their own, not to mention their friends. They're going to feel the void of the enemy's death, and it will undoubtedly turn to hatred, so what are you going to do when they come for vengeance? Kill them also?" Naruto asked, turning his gaze around the room so to direct the question all that were present. "How many bodies will you leave in your goal to suppress your enemies? How much blood will you spill?"

"Did you know that my father was the Yondaime Hokage?" Naruto said after a pause, smiling at the surprise of those in the room, whether it was surprise of finding out that bit of information or surprise that he knew it was irrelevant. "I didn't know, not definitively, until I encountered him in the seal. He left behind a bit of his chakra as a failsafe in case the seal failed for whatever reason. I have wanted to know all my life who my parents were, what happened to them, whether they loved me or not, but all Sandaime-jiji ever told me was that they died in the Kyūbi Attack on the day that I was born."

"The Yondaime slaughtered an army of Iwa-nin, sacrificed his soul to the Shinigami in an effort to seal away the Kyūbi into me, leaving me an orphan to possibly never know where I came from because those who knew parents' identities were afraid that I would be killed in revenge for those who hated my father," Naruto said, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Tell me, Danzō, how has your method worked so far? How has having a hand in Yahiko's death, Nagato's friend and brother in arms, the reason he chose to use his considerable might to crush Konoha under his heel, worked so far? How has making Kabuto, Orochimaru's most loyal shinobi and formerly one of your most talented shinobi, kill his own mother worked for you?" Naruto said, eyes open as he stared at Danzō. "Oh, I haven't forgotten about that little tidbit. Jiraiya-sensei had been sure to tell me exactly how that man had gone unnoticed for so long, as he had been trained by you."

The room was silent as Naruto waited for a response from Danzō, who remained silent as well.

"Yes, Danzō, your shinobi way is sure to protect Konoha, but it will always contribute to the chain of hatred that such bloodshed will leave behind. So, I chose another path, one far more difficult, one that you were much too weak to tread upon, after all, taking an enemy alive is always easier than killing one, something the Academy was sure to highlight," Naruto said with a sigh. "It wasn't easy, the man had killed my sensei, my godfather, and I wanted revenge. I had to fight my own hatred towards the man, but the thought of becoming just like him, the knowledge that Ero-sennin wouldn't have approved of me killing him despite all that he's done and wouldn't want me to continue to spread hatred in the world, helped. In the end, it was my conviction to do just that, to vow to end this chain of hatred that covers this bloody world of ours, was what led to Nagato remembering his and Yahiko's original goal and sacrificing himself to bring back the lives he took during his assault on Konoha as his final act to redeem himself."

"Tell me, Danzō, if I had killed Nagato, how many of Konoha's people would still be dead?" Naruto said. "You seem to have forgotten that it was because the Uchiha and the Senju had put aside their differences that Konoha was formed. It was because of Uchiha Madara's friendship with Senju Hashirama that this village was formed. It was because of the Nidaime's killing of Madara's brother that led to the man that was able to fight as our Shodaime's equal, who was in a league of his own, that he defected and tried to kill the Shodaime. It was paranoia and fear of the Elemental Nations that led to the destruction of Uzushiogakure in the Second Shinobi War, Konoha's closest ally and who assisted in helping found our own village. It was because I refused to kill the current Godaime Kazekage that instead of war with Suna, we reaffirmed our alliance and have become closer than we had been before the joint invasion between Suna and Oto."

"You may preach what you want, but the truth is, you are too set in your ways to acknowledge that the things you have done in Konoha's name would have disgusted your sensei, the Nidaime," Naruto said, crossing his arms before he delivered his last lines, ignoring the glare that Danzō was sending his way. "You can take the easy way out if you want, but I refuse. I swore to fulfill my sensei's dream, a world where we can all understand each other and choose peace over meaningless bloodshed, and I'm not going to let a fossil like you ruin that all because you were too stubborn to listen to reason and let go of your own pride."

The room descended into silence after that. Danzō still glared at him, but the others were slowly coming out of their shock and looking at him in a different light. Some clearly believed he was naïve, others seemed to approve, and a few were caught in between, such as Homura and Koharu, who were struggling to come between the two.

Naruto reassured himself that his speech was worthwhile as Kakashi-sensei looked at him with pride shining in his eye. He chose to focus on that, soaking it in so that his conviction remained strong in the face of his superiors in the room he just told off announcing Jiraiya's dream.

The silence was broken by the Daimyō, who started to chuckle. His laughter grew in volume until the room was filled by it, causing a few of his people to throw in a few nervous chuckles of their own, though the confusion on their faces clearly spoke of their reticence of the act.

Eventually, the laughter died down, and the Daimyō looked up at Naruto, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "It has been sometime since I have encountered someone as virtuous as you, young man."

"Uh, thanks?" Naruto replied uneasily, unsure of how to take the man's words. The ruler didn't seem to be mocking him, but that didn't mean he didn't think poorly of Naruto for his views. "That's a good thing, right?"

"Good, very good," the Daimyō affirmed with an easy smile. "Well, I've made my decision. By my authority as the Daimyō of Hi no Kuni, I select you, Uzumaki Naruto, as the Rokudaime Hokage. I expect you to lead this village well, Naruto-kun. Well wishes on your villages recovery. Know that you have my support in whatever you need to restore Konohagakure no Sato, you need only request it and we will work so provide a solution."

With that, the Daimyō stood up and sauntered out of the room, only pausing to pat the dazed blonde's shoulder, a mischievous smile on his face, before continuing on his way.

When the blonde had finally processed the Daimyō's words, he came to with a jolt and turned his head around frantically. "Wait, what?!"

Noticing the man had already departed, he turned to those still in the room. He noticed that Danzō had disappeared as well, but the advisors were still present, along with the Jōnin Commander and his sensei.

"What did he mean? I can't be Hokage, Tsunade is still alive!" Naruto said frantically to the advisors.

"She is currently indisposed and unable to lead," Homura began.

"Thus, you were chosen to lead the village in her stead," Koharu finished.

"But, but, I'm too young! What about Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto said, stuttering a bit before he pointed towards his sensei, who seemed to be in the middle of trying to leave the room before his student had brought the attention back to him. "He's stronger and smarter than me! So is Yamato-taicho!"

"Actually, you are the strongest shinobi in the village. Remember, I died against Pain while you were able to defeat him," Kakashi said to his student, still not meeting his eye as he focused on his book.

"You're still smarter than me! A Hokage has to be smart and wise, like Jiji was and Baa-chan is!" Naruto said, his voice a little hysteric.

"Well, you were the one that taught Tsunade-sama to believe in the Will of Fire again. Plus, you gave a very compelling speech. If that isn't Hokage material, I'm not quite sure what is," Kakashi said, blithely ignoring his student's rather intense stare.

When Naruto opened his mouth to speak again, he was interrupted by the other remaining occupant of the room.

"You know, I would've expected you to be more…happy about this. Weren't you the one who always boasted about becoming Hokage one day?" Shikaku said, eyes narrowing slightly.

Naruto fidgeted a little at the inquisitive and sharp look the Nara sent him. It reminded him exactly why the man was the Jōnin Commander, despite the lackadaisical similarities he shared with his son.

"It's almost like," the Jōnin Commander spoke again, his stare sharpening as he continued, "you don't want to be Hokage. But that's ridiculous, right?"

The teenager could only meet the man's eyes for a brief moment before he tore them away. Instead, he chose to glare at his sensei. The man may seem like he was unaffected, but Naruto could see the slight sweat forming on his forehead, just below his hairline. The more intensely he glared, the sooner the man would crack; it was inevitable, he just needed to keep up his glare and the jōnin would fall apart.

Unfortunately, before that could happen, the advisors coughed to gain his attention. After a few coughs, the first few he was studiously ignoring, the blonde very reluctantly tore his gaze away and focused on the two elders. They spoke once they had his attention, however little of it they had as they could see him wanting to turn back to glare at the white-haired man.

"You are the Hokage, whether you like it or not, it was the original purpose of the meeting before you arrived," Homura said, earning an odd noise from the whiskered shinobi.

"Numerous candidates were already discussed before that. It was a tie between Danzō, who had already spoke his piece before you arrived, and you, who the Daimyō requested to see in order to get a measure of your character. You were chosen, as such, you may now begin your work, which there is much of in the wake of the attack," Koharu cut in.

"The Hokage Tower has been repaired and the necessary paperwork is being sent to the Hokage's Office," Homura picked up.

"Your office," Koharu interjected, a stern look on her face as she narrowed her eyes at Naruto, ignoring the constipated expression on his face.

"Run along, Hokage-sama. The village won't fix itself," the bespectacled man finished.

Naruto couldn't stop his face from twisting, a sour expression firmly set.

III

Naruto's sour expression remained as he had robotically left the room. The expression never wavered as he approached the Hokage Tower, not even when others greeted him on his way. He just ignored them, the expression seemingly stuck on his face as he made his way through the ruins of the village.

His village, quite literally now. The thought only twisted his face further, his cheeks and eyelids occasionally twitching, earning bemused and concerned looks from those around him.

When he reached the office doors, there were two chūnin guarding the entryway, both of whom raised their hands to stop him.

"Sorry, Naruto-san, only the Hokage and her assistants can enter," one of them said.

The blonde paused at that. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his face slowly returning to a more neutral expression. When he finally opened his eyes to address the two, he wore a strained, and rather twitchy, grin.

"I'm the Hokage," Naruto replied, his voice cracking in a way that hadn't since he gotten through the beginning stages of puberty.

The chūnin looked at him doubtfully, along with a hint of concern at the odd expression and off voice. Noting their reaction, an Anbu appeared behind him affirmatively. After a moment of disbelief and two pats on the shoulder in congratulation, they opened the door and left.

When the blonde didn't seem to enter even a minute after the chūnin left, the Anbu shoved the young man into the room.

Naruto stumbled a little but when he righted himself, he turned back and sent a nasty glare behind him. Sparrow's only response was the shaking of her shoulders before disappearing into the shadows.

He huffed and turned around, walking around the desk.

Despite her disappearance, Naruto could still sense her, along with the other three operatives in the room. They may be great at stealth, but they had nothing on the prankster, especially after the hellish training he had on Mt. Myōboku. Despite not being in Sage Mode, he was still able to boost his normal sensory skills far beyond he could before.

The desk was covered in piles of paperwork. Each pile had a distinct purpose, with one containing mission reports, others building permits and documents for repairs, and on and on it went.

Naruto knew the system well enough to recognize the purpose of each pile and sheet of paper. As soon as he sat down in the chair, he remorsefully grabbed a sheet of paper closest to him and began the grind. Better to get it done now than to do it later. He pretended to not notice the snickers he heard around him as tears leaked from his eyes, continuing to slowly work his way through the stacks of paper. The Anbu were always kind to him and there was no way that they would get some sick pleasure out of the situation. He would continue to believe that for his sanity's sake.

It was an hour later, when he had mechanically worked his way through a quarter of a pile, when the doors of the office opened. He glanced up, hope shining in his eyes for a distraction, only to be let down when the secretary, a shy green-haired young woman in a purple dress that he'd spoken to a few times, walked in. Accompanying her were the two chūnin who stood guard, both of whom were carrying a stack of paperwork.

The sight made his lower lip quiver a little while fresh tears formed, threatening to spill from his eyes. The secretary noticed his expression and sent him an apologetic look before she scurried out of the office, chūnin in tow.

Gazing at the two new piles on the desk with a blank look, Naruto couldn't help but curse in his head.

Despite his proclamations, he had no desire for the job. It was just something he said to bolster his confidence and earn some amusement out of the others. Seriously, the job was hell, he'd seen enough of his Jiji's workload as a child to swear off the position.

He'd been lucky enough to dodge the bullet once when his Jiji died. The old bastard had written in his will that he wanted Naruto to be his successor, something that nearly caused the blonde to have a coronary.

Luckily, the whiskered teenager knew where his Jiji had kept the more…exotic blends that liked to smoke. The advisors were reluctant to believe that their teammate would make such a mistake because he was high, but the combination of his age and reputation, along with the suggestion that one of the Sannin would be a better fit, helped them along.

Unfortunately, his luck hadn't granted him another escape from the position.

Even in the face of his fate, Naruto was not one to let things go so easily. He knew that a vote would be held among the Jōnin soon enough, in two months if he remembered correctly. He would wager on that to get him ousted from the seat.

With a quick flick of his hands, seven clouds of smoke burst in the room. When the smoke cleared, all the newly created clones looked at their seated creator with a grim expression. They all nodded and set in motion.

Four of them brought up seats to the desk and started to separate and organize the piles of paperwork. When they familiarized themselves with their tasks, they got to work on completing their share.

The other three were going through the bookshelves in the room, combing for law books and other village-specific manuals. Their job was twofold, learning the inner workings of the village and how it is run so that Naruto can actually do the job of the Hokage properly, as all that he had gleamed from the numerous meetings with the Sandaime on how to run the village was rusty, and to find a legal loophole to escape the hat.

While the clones worked, Naruto rested back in his chair, lightly massaging his temples to stave off the headache and alleviate the strain on his mind. It was a much-needed break, as dealing with the paperwork was truly a hellish experience for someone such as himself. He had never been good at sitting still, except meditation for senjutsu as he recently learned, and coupled with having to something so monotonous as paperwork, as part of a job he didn't want, was rather taxing.

Of course, he wasn't one to sit idly without doing something. He was forming a plan to get back at those who cast the position on him. The first would have to be Kakashi.

His bastard of a sensei was in the room when they were sifting through the Rokudaime nominations. The responsible thing for the white-haired jōnin would have been to acknowledge his student's defeat of Akatsuki's leader but make note of his student's brash personality and inexperience; it would have been enough to eliminate the possibility of him receiving the hat, while possibly even earning him a field promotion.

But the bastard didn't do that!

No, instead, the one-eyed asshole had supported the nomination! It was quite obvious he had as the man couldn't even meet Naruto's eye. If he had tried and failed, the man would have looked apologetic and said as much, but the shame of not doing so was evident by his inability to look his sensei's son in the eyes.

The bastard even had the gall to argue Naruto's assertions! His inexperience, his personality, his strength, and his intelligence were valid arguments against his nomination, but Kakashi-sensei had dismissed them casually, as if they weren't as glaringly obvious!

As the newly-instated stewed in his anger against his sensei, the Anbu worked hard to suppress their laughter at the sight. All those in Anbu knew that Naruto had no desire to be Hokage. His declarations attesting against that fact were part of a running campaign stemming from a tradition that the Sandaime had accidentally leaked to the child.

If one were to trace the traits of the Hokages and the Hokage candidates through history, they would all show a rather glaring, but well-hidden, fact: none of the Hokage truly wanted to be Hokage.

The Shodaime had no desire in running the village, as he was looking forward to spending time relaxing with his wife, Mito. He had been so disinclined to the position that he had put it to a village vote, including both the civilians and the shinobi, absolutely sure that the Uchiha Clan and their allies would select Madara. When he had won, he had been dismayed, reluctantly taking the position only when his wife had been displeased because of his desperation to avoid the job.

The Nidaime, surprising considering how different the two were, felt the same way as his brother. He did not want to lead the village. He was content to help his moronic brother whenever possible while he raised a team of shinobi and taught them all he knew. He had considered teaching at the Academy but had deemed that it was too low-level, considering the advanced knowledge and experience his specialties required. It was only when his brother had died on the job and noted him as his successor that he had taken the position. The fact that he chose a young chūnin before willingly sacrificing himself to the Kinkaku Force when he could have just used Hiraishin to get the hell away only served to exemplify his disdain for the job.

The Sandaime did not want to lead the village either, evident with the number of times he had tried to retire, not to mention loud protests when the Nidaime selected him as his successor. Not only did he try to get Hatake Sakumo to take the job, he had constantly pestered Jiraiya and Tsunade for the position. He was actually quite close to nominating Tsunade's ex, Kaito Dan, only for the man to die shortly afterwards.

He had gotten lucky when Minato accepted the position, though he had to wait until the end of the Third Shinobi War as Minato was quite insistent on that before he took up his duties as the Yondaime.

Of course, he had to take the hat again when the Yondaime had died, which led to him trying to get numerous shinobi to take the position, including Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui, Hatake Kakashi, Maito Gai, and even his students, but they had all declined.

He proved himself to be a rather crafty old man when he had subtly taught Naruto the basics of how to do his job, going so far as to write him in as a successor and using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to take seal away the Edo Tensei Shodaime and Nidaime when the Nidaime had left clear instructions on how to reverse the technique. Naruto assumed the Sandaime wanted to lock himself away in the Shinigami's stomach so as to ensure he couldn't be brought back by Edo Tensei in the slim chance that someone was desperate enough to do so and make him take up the position. It was an unlikely scenario, but Naruto could understand the man's paranoia.

The Godaime obviously felt no desire to take the position, only doing so because Naruto had worked his magic on her. She had even stated to her advisors that she was just a stand-in until Naruto could take the seat. Naruto felt a little bad at deceiving her, but better her than him.

The only exception to this was the Yondaime Hokage. He had been made the Hokage because he genuinely wanted the position and worked hard to one day take the seat. That he died so early into his reign was an omen that only those who didn't want the job were truly meant for it.

It was even believed that those who wanted the position never actually got it. The best examples of this were Kaito Dan, who died before he could take the position, Orochimaru, who turned out to be quite a sinister individual, and Danzō Shimura, no need to elaborate there.

It was because of this that Naruto declared so boldly that he would take the Hokage's hat when he desired the exact opposite. He believed that by being so loud in his (false) desire for the position, he would never get it. The incident with Sandaime's Will only reinforced the belief that he needed to convince everyone that he wanted the seat in order to avoid it.

Unfortunately, the reverse happened, and he was made the Rokudaime, something that irked him quite a bit while bringing immense joy to the Anbu.

The reason the Anbu knew of the falsehood was because they were in the room when the whiskered youth had proclaimed to the Sandaime his plan to ensure he wouldn't be tasked with the position.

Naruto's break was cut short when one of his clones cleared his throat.

"Yo, boss. We need to send for builders to fix up the village," one of his clones said.

Shaking off the last of his angry rant about his backstabbing sensei, he glanced up as his eyes squinted in consideration. "Have you sent a letter to Wave? Tazuna should be able to help."

"Yessir, boss," the clone replied as he took went to the task.

"Also, send out one to Koyuki-hime. We are allied with Snow, right?" Naruto said.

"No, our relationship with Snow is more a sort of friendship than anything else," one of the clones doing research stated.

The original frowned at that. "Well, send out for help anyways. See if we can enter into a treaty or something with them."

The clone working on the letter to Wave just nodded as continued his work.

The original returned to work alongside his clones. The clones had made a list of things that needed to be done aside from the paperwork, most of it a result of the attack.

With a glance at the rather lengthy list, he called in his secretary, Shiori-chan, if he remembered correctly, and began organizing it by priority. He had quite a few meetings he would need to schedule, and it seemed like it would be a long day.

III - Author's Note - Word Count: ~8.8k - Published 3/18/2018

Yo! Newbie writer here. This story came from the idea that maybe Naruto didn't actually want to become Hokage. He had to have seen how stressed and overworked the Sandaime probably was while growing up and possibly decided that he didn't want to be stuck with all that, especially considering that every Hokage aside from the Sandaime seemed to have died young. I'm not sure where I'll go with this, whether it'll be a lengthy story or just a handful of chapters, but I'll let you know when I find out.

Also, I have no clue when I'll update again, I'm a slow and easily distracted writer so it might be in a month, it be in a year, who knows, not me!

Until next time, don't die.