Okay, so I ran out of Hokage's that I can really write about. The first, second, and fourth are just really hard to write and I don't enjoy writing them either, probably because I have problems with how konoha was "founded". Then I had an idea. An awful idea. I had a horrible, awful, wonderful idea. Who says that the Hokage has to be powerful enough to destroy a village with a flick of his wrist? I do not own Naruto, DAMNIT!

Iwa was burning. This wasn't anything new. In fact, Iwa had been burning for three days. It had started with the walls, which had been reduced to molten glass by the constant fire jutsu shot at it by the surrounding army. On the second day the fire spread inward and began lighting the defensive structures aflame. On the third day the fire had reached all of Iwa, though it was redundant. All of the oxygen on the inside of the city had been used to fuel the monstrous flames. It's inhabitants had been dead since day one.

The fire wasn't about killing. It was about showing the rest of the world what could happen to anyone of them that opposed their Kage. Everyone from daimyos to shinobi recognized his power and bowed before his banner. As it was supposed to be. It had been a long and treacherous road, surrounded on all sides by death and suffering, but in the end it had been worth it.

"My lord."

Kage turned and stared at the shinobi kneeling behind him. His black hair was short and held out of his face by his headband. Every part of him was bland and normal, from his flack jacket to his sandals. The only distinctive thing about him was the scarf that went all the way down to his feet.

"Yes Konohamaru?"

"He's here to see you," the not-so-young Sarutobi said. He never looked Kage in the eyes.

"Send him right up," the ruler said. He didn't bother to acknowledge his shinobi disappearing in shunshin, and instead turned back to watch the rest of Iwa's immolation. The fight to get to these walls had taken three months and the casualty list was far longer than he was comfortable with. He had accomplished his goal, but the cost...

"Was it worth it?"

Kage turned his head briefly and glanced at the shinobi he hadn't even felt approaching. His shaggy blond hair was just long enough to shadow his eyes. The black flames along the edges of his red haori danced in the breeze generated by the very real flames several hundred feet away.

"Victory at any cost. That has always been our creed. Have you changed your mind Naruto?"

The jinchuriki walked up next to the man who was the emperor of all the elemental nations. He snorted and stared at the walls of flames in facination.

"That isn't what I meant. I could have easily taken this town. There was no need for you to bring in the entire army just to squash one las bug." His slitted blue eyes cut into the plain brown ones of his counterpart. "What was the point? Many of your men are dead or dying. This expedition has cost your empire a lot more than just money or man power. It's taxed the entire continent. Why?"

"Because, old friend, I needed to make a point," Kage said, turning to face his companion fully. "If I just had you come in with the Juubi every time I had a problem then the people would lose faith that I can lead them as well as I say I can. This isn't just a war for land or power. It is a war for the hearts and minds of every man woman and child on our continent. With this victory I cement their faith in me, and with that faith I can set my sights beyond our shores without having to worry about an uprising or a rebellion."

the two most powerful men in the elemental nations turned and continued to watch a once great city burn to the ground. The fire was so hot that even the great stone tower of the Tsuchikage had begun to melt. All around the pair the flurry of activity that all armies generated continued on. Soldiers ran to and from their commanders, delivering messages and doing patrols. The only island of calm in the entire mess was Kage's tent.

"There's something that has been bothering me for a long time," Kage said after several moments of silence. "Why did you support me? I had always thought that it was your dream to become Hokage. Why did you help me take it from you?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the fire and remained silent. He idly stretched out a hand towards the towering flames in the distance. For a moment they remained as they were, dancing back and forth as great towers of destruction and death. Then they curled up, high above the city, then out. They stretched and contorted until a giant fist of flame hovered over the ruins before crashing back into it.

"Because I made a promise," Naruto said. His friend turned away from the spectacle that had been made and cocked and eyebrow at the blond demon container.

"What kind of promise could have made you give up your dream? Better yet, what kind of promise could have made you give up on your peace loving ideals and kill so many people?"

"The Juubi helped with the killing."

"It influenced your mind?" Kage asked, alarmed.

"No, not at all. I did that on my own. When I tricked Madara, and twisted the Gedo Maizo to seal all of the bijuu inside me, all I was thinking about was saving the people I loved. The amount of power it gave me though..." Naruto paused, his head falling, "it was beyond anything I had ever experienced. At first I was happy. I thought to myself 'now I can protect everyone'. Then Sakura was killed, and I just willed her to come back, to be with me again, and she was alive. I could bring any human back from the dead, whenever I wanted to. When I realized that, when I realized that I was more or less a god, humans just started to seem so, insignificant."

"And your promise?" Kage pushed.

"I promised my sensei, Jiraiya, that I would bring peace to the world. When I started losing touch with humanity, I realized that I couldn't do that. How could I save the world when I wouldn't even really care if it all burned? After all, I could just remake it later. I needed someone else to bring order to this world. I chose you."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Naruto said. He chuckled and turned away from the flames. "And you, Shikamaru? What made you want to take up a job that was so work intensive, when you are such a lazy ass, hmn? What drives you to conquer like you do?"

The Nara looked at the ground and smirked. The light from the Iwa pyre illuminated the bags under his eyes and made the gray hair at his temples glow. Wrinkles crinkled at the corners of his mouth.

"The challenge. It's taken me forty years to take control of this continent. All of the provinces are at peace. I have learned more doing this than I ever have from any other endeavor in my life. Next time it will go much quicker, and the time after that even faster, and when there are no challenges left," the smirk fell and the older man looked to his eternally young friend, "I will give it to you to lead. Perhaps having to worry about the problems of so many lives will ground you a bit, make you more human."

"Is that your prediction, Mr. master strategist?" Naruto said, a smirk tugging at his lips and twisting the four, thick blue possession whiskers on his cheeks.

"Don't be ridiculous," Shikamaru said, walking towards the entrance of his tent, "trying to predict you is far too troublesome."