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The Lessons a Hokage Needs to Learn

Prologue: Day of Destiny. Or Lesson Zero.

Naruto sighed and looked up at the wooden ceiling of his bedroom, and then he closed his Cerulean colored eyes and thought back on the activities of the day.

It had all started off ordinary enough. He had woken up, made himself some ramen, then met up with Sakura and kakashi Sensei for some team training, seeing as Tsunade-baa baa had decided that their team needed some serious R and R after two straight months of A through C ranked missions.

'Ah Well' thought Naruto, 'At least that leaves me more time to see Hinata.' Naruto started thinking about the date that the two had gone on after his team's training session. It had only been lunch at Ichiraku Ramen (Of Course) but these days any time they had together was precious, what with all the rebuilding that Kohona was having to do, not only within their own borders, but also with the other hidden villages that were scattered about.

Nowadays, all the former rookie nine (now mostly chunnin and Jounin) were being kept so busy, running missions and re-establishing relations with the rest of the world that if they saw each other twice within the same month it could almost be considered a miracle.

Naruto opened his eyes and gazed at the paper that was clenched in his right hand. It had been delivered by a suspiciously downtrodden Shizune only two hours beforehand.

Naruto, please report to the Hokages office at nine a.m. tomorrowAnd that was all it said. 'This letter is almost too formal; I wonder what's going through that old hag's brain, making me an appointment without telling me what she wants to see me for.'

Naruto closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift off. Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

NARUTONARUTONARUTO

Tsunade gazed over the rim of her Sake bottle at the blonde haired boy, no she corrected herself, man standing at attention in front of her desk. 'Where does the time go' she had to question herself as she looked the young man over.

Naruto sure had aged well over the last couple years. He was now at the impressive height of six feet two inches and had ditched his orange jump suit for shinobi appropriate black pants and a black shirt, over which he placed a reddish-orangish jacket. His Hitai-Itae was strapped proudly around his forehead.

Naruto had also, in the intervening years, developed a quiet manner that almost didn't sit well with people when they compared the twenty-three year old to the twelve –year old that had almost not managed to graduate from the ninja academy for the third time. 'Ah well, war will do that for you.' Tsunade set down her sake and cleared her throat.

"Naruto!" She drew his wandering attention back onto her. "In deference to the hard work that you have done over the last year, and with permission (finally!) from the council of elders, you have been selected as a candidate for the Rokudaime Hokage." The wild-eyed look on the blondes whisker scarred face made Tsunade wish that she had a camera handy to take a picture of it.

"Your joking right, this is a joke. Please tell me this isn't a joke." Naruto bit out in a shaky voice, his eyes suspiciously wet. His dream, she was offering him his dream after so long.

Tsunade shook her head, and taking pity on the shell-shocked man, walked around the desk and made him sit down on one of the folding chairs that she had in supply. She took his hand and squeezed it hard.

"No Naruto, this isn't a dream. However," Tsunade felt Naruto tense beneath her fingers, she could almost see the blonde's thinking, there was always a catch where he was involved.

"However, before we announce the decision to the rest of the village, and your friends," she said with a warning tone in her voice, "we, that is the council and me, have decided that you need some instruction."

"Instruction?!" The incredulous shock was audible. She punched him in the head to make him shut up.

"Yes, instruction. From now on, in addition to your regular duties with your squad, you will come here when you're available and receive lessons from me, Shizune, and Jiraiya. And until we deem you ready, you are not to tell anyone that you are receiving these lessons. Is that understood?" Naruto visibly wilted beneath her hand.

"But, But…" He couldn't get the words out he was so consternated.

"I'm sorry Naruto,' She said in a soft-soothing voice 'but it's for the best really, just think how shocked your friends will be when they find out all that you've been doing in order to achieve your dream. And you get the privilege of telling Hinata yourself."

Naruto looked up at her with wide bright eyes, glanced at the clock on the back wall, then jumped out of the chair with almost super-human motion. "Shit, Hinata. I was supposed to meet her for a date twenty minutes ago." He raced for the door.

Tsunade hollered after him "Naruto, report here tomorrow after your team training." She heard him cursing all the way down the stairs. 'And then again,' Tsunade thought as she sat back down and picked up the sake bottle, 'it's good to known not everything is changed so easily.'

NARUTONARUTONARUTO

So that's it. I was reading some Naruto fanfiction and this idea worked its way into my head. I've read the fan fiction, but seen very little of the actual anime and read pitifully few of the Manga so if anything's glaringly wrong, review and let me know. Also review and tell me what you think a hokage needs to know. I need ideas to continue. Or just review in general. Many Thanks. KG