Grey clouds hovered above the Hidden Leaf Village, darkening the village that was already dark and drowning in despair, having just lost their beloved Third Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had fallen in battle against the Fourth Kazekage and several of his Elite Jounin, having teamed up on the old man who could only rely on his own battle prowess. He died taking down all of his enemies with him, including Rasa. That day was a devastating disaster for Konoha, but as well as Sand.
Suna was severely crippled, having lost several Elite Jounin as well as around four-hundred Genin, Chunin, and Jounin. Two-thirds of their military was lost on the day of the invasion, most of the damage was dealt by none other Naruto Namikaze, who was said to have heroically defeat over a thousand men in battle.
And now was the funeral for Hiruzen Sarutobi as well as several other shinobi who have fallen in battle, with everyone in the village standing in front of the memorial that was carefully put together, everyone dressed in black.
Standing next to Naruto was Konohamaru, trying to fight tears. Naruto noticed and placed a comforting hand on the boy's head. "It's okay to cry, it's natural, don't let anyone tell you differently."
Tears began flowing silently down Konohamaru's cheeks, hitting the ground as more droplets of water rained down from the sky. Everyone took turns walking to the memorial, paying their respects and leaving a single flower on the casket of the Third Hokage.
Naruto vaguely remembered that this was the same setting for when his father and mother had died. Soon, it was Konohamaru's turn as he walked up the memorial alone, tears blending in with the rain as he looked at the picture of his grandfather.
"I'm going to miss you, grandpa." He said with a choked up voice before hurrying away, not wanting everyone in the village to see him break. Then, Naruto went up the memorial and stood there with his hands in his pockets, having already placed his flower.
"Thank you for everything, old man. I'll never forget you for as long as I live." He finished before walking away from the funeral, heading straight to Memorial Stone, where no doubt Hiruzen's name was now placed.
He was too slow.
He vanished in a body flicker and appeared right in front of the stone where his eyes trailed across the stone, reading the names of those he has lost in his head.
'Rin, Obito, Mom, Dad, little sister, Izumi, Itachi, Fugaku, Mikoto, and now Hiruzen. Everyone from my past besides Kakashi is dead.' Naruto thought bitterly. Everyone he cared about is dead.
Now he had new people precious to him, and he would not allow them to die. He refused for them to fall like his past did, he would do anything to save them.
"Naruto Namikaze?" An Anbu said, appearing next to him. She wore a cat mask and had purple flowing hair. Naruto knew her as Yugao Uzuki, but he would not call her that while she was on duty.
"Is it time?" She nodded. "Thank you Kitten."
"It's Cat." She stressed. Naruto smirked, a shadow of a smile on his face.
"It's funny watching all of you Anbu squirm while trying to act professional. Oh well, have a nice day I suppose, don't work too hard." Naruto said before disappearing.
Yugao cursed under her breath as she stood up fully, looking at the memorial stone herself.
Hayate Gekko
The name read like a curse, plaguing her mind. She shook her head, she could wallow in sadness off duty, not right now. Many people were hurting, not just her.
Naruto walked into the Council Chambers where everyone was waiting for him, all of the Clan Heads as well as the two remaining Elders of the village, Koharu and Homura. He took his seat.
"Sorry, I was just wondering in my own thoughts, forgive me." Homura and Koharu nodded at the man's apology before they began the meeting.
"We must determine what to do about Suna's betrayal. Their attack killed our Hokage as well as destroyed millions in property damage as well as kill several of our own shinobi."
"Don't you think they've been punished enough?" Shikaku Nara said with an eyebrow raised. "I mean, they were already the weakest of the Five Great Villages and now they're crippled to almost irreparable damage of their own military."
"Are you saying we do not punish them?" Tsume Inuzuka shouted, slamming her hand down on the table roughly. "They attacked our home! Killed our Hokage! They ravaged our village and broke our peace treaty! They need to be dealt with now before they decide to attack again!"
"Sorry Shikaku," Chouza Akimichi said sheepishly. "But I agree with Tsume. They cannot go unpunished."
"I think we need to focus on ourselves before we get into another war," Naruto suggested. "We need to rebuild as well as elect the Fifth Hokage. Besides, I agree with Shikaku, their forces won't recover from this devastating blow for years if not decades."
"Naruto is right," Homura said, surprising everyone in the room. "We need to focus on our own construction. We need to get the Fifth Hokage up and running so we can handle other things like promoting Chunin as well as recognizing everyone's bravery during the invasion."
"Oh? Are we voting on the next Hokage?" Inoichi asked. "Right now? I'm all for it, but I feel like it's a bit too soon. The funeral was just held today after all. . ."
"You may be right," Shikaku began. "But we can not just wait out of respect for Lord Third, we need to move forward, it's what he would've wanted us to do, and the quicker we do this the quicker everything can return to normal and then we can discuss what to do with Suna. Does that sound agreeable to everyone?"
Everyone nodded at the Jounin Commander's words, respecting his opinion and agreeing with it as well. "Okay then, do we have any suggestions?"
"I nominate Jiraiya of the Sannin," Naruto immediately said. "Lord Third would be proud to leave his student his legacy." Murmurs of agreement from the council could be heard, but Shikaku shook his head.
"Sadly, before we came to this meeting I ran into Jiraiya-sama. He already told me he would refuse if he were offered the hat, saying he had more important things to tend to like his spy network as well as his research." Naruto felt a bead of sweat drop from his forehead at the mention of research.
"What about Kakashi Hatake?" Chouza suggested. "He's Lord Fourth's student and has the years of experience under his belt. He's led squads of Anbu on several successful missions with minimal casualties." Shikaku nodded.
"That sounds favorable actually." Naruto shook his head then, getting everyone's attention.
"I'm afraid I know he'll decline. Kakashi is lazy and has no motivation to become Hokage. I bet if we were to approach him with the offer of Hokage he would turn it down in favor of reading Jiraiya's pervy novel."
"True enough," Shikaku said with a small groan, pinching the skin on his forehead where several lines of stress had formed. "Any other suggestions?"
"What about Naruto?" Homura asked, gesturing towards the blonde who sat in his seat, shocked. "He's been in the shinobi world for more than a decade and more than half of that was him as a Jounin. He's led very successful missions and all of his Genin performed admirably during the Exams, proving he has the leadership skills to qualify for the Hokage seat."
"Homura-san," Naruto said, red as a tomato, embarrassed as all of the Council members were sizing him up, looking at him from head to toe. "I'm not sure. Why not Shikaku-san? Surely he has better qualities than I!"
"That may be true, but truth being is that I have no motivation to become Hokage. Besides, Lord Third often boasted about your abilities and calls you the strongest shinobi Konoha has ever had, and seeing what you did during the invasion, it's easy to see why he believed that."
"I'm not sure. . ." Naruto trailed off, but he couldn't keep the grin from coming across his face. "But if everyone agrees, I'll take the hat for now and see if it fits."
"I'm not so sure," Tsume began, getting eyebrow raises from everyone. "No offense, Naruto, but you often prioritize a small group of people over the well-being of the village as a whole. If you remember, you did indirectly threaten all of us in order to keep Sasuke Uchiha out of the CRA. . . Besides, I'm also beginning to question your mental state as well. You're known to react quite violently when put under large amounts of stress, and the title of Hokage comes with very much stress."
"Are you implying that I'm insane?" Naruto questioned. Tsume shrugged.
"No, but I'm not ruling it out either. There are many layers to your entire being Naruto Namikaze, and after all that you've lost, all that you've been through, you've never seen a therapist once. The stress of losing the ones you love can change someone for the worse if not given a proper outlit."
"I have a solution," Shikaku began, standing up. "Why not have Inoichi prove that Naruto is in a mental state of that being the Hokage. If he passes, Naruto becomes the Fifth Hokage, and if he doesn't, we move onto the next valid candidate. Are these terms acceptable for everyone?"
Everyone nodded their head, agreeing with the Nara. "Okay, Inoichi, do your mind probe thing." Inoichi moved his chair so he was sitting right in front of the Namikaze, a nervous look on his face.
"Is the Kyuubi going to try anything?" He asked in a worried tone. Naruto shook his head.
"Kurama is alright now. We're friends him and I, and you are also my friend, Inoichi. A friend of mine will not be harmed running amuck in my mind." Inoichi let out a sigh of relief before making the proper hand seals.
"That's good, well, let's get this over with." And with that, he was in.
Inoichi appeared in Naruto's mind and was greeted with a sewer. Walking in inch deep water, Inoichi began taking notes of the blonde's mind, seeing how he was in a large network of sewers. He then turned and walked down a black tunnel with a flickering light at the end.
"Get out." A voice that didn't sound like Naruto's at all. "You are intruding into my territory, leave."
Inoichi rose an eyebrow. "Are you the Kyuubi?"
"I am much older than that mass of chakra. I will not repeat myself, leave before I enter your mind." Inoichi rose his hands in surrender.
"Fine, I'm leaving. I'm just trying to evaluate Naruto Namikaze's mental wellbeing in order to determine if he can take the Fifth Hokage position." The voice chuckled darkly.
"I changed my mind, you are permitted to wander as you like, but I can save you the trouble of walking if you wish. . ." The voice trailed off. Inoichi wasn't sure if he liked the tone of the voice. "Actually, now you don't have a choice." A pair of Sharingan eyes flashed as they met Inoichi's eyes.
Inoichi stood from his chair, knocking it over as he took several steps away from Naruto, a look of pure terror plastered on his face, sweating profusely, a shaky hand pointing at the blonde.
"H-How are you s-sitting there like nothing has happened?" He spoke accusingly, fear evident in his voice. "How can you sit among us with the thoughts that course through your brain!?"
"Explain Inoichi," Shikaku said quickly. "What did you see?"
"Naruto Namikaze has multiple mental disorders including but no limiting to PTSD, multiple-personality disorder, and a lack of empathy for those who do not concern him. He has suicidal thoughts often, almost every other day and wishes to stand on top of everyone and bring his own form of twisted peace to the shinobi world which includes something that can only be considered genocide."
Naruto stood up abruptly. "I've never thought of exterminating entire villages in order to accomplish peace!" He defended himself.
"Maybe not directly, but deep down you realize that its a possibility. You wish to force peace on everyone and rule everything and become a dictator. That's why you train so harshly, you're greedy for power so you can defeat anyone that can stand in your way!"
"It's not true!"
"Yes it is!" Inoichi yelled back. "You enjoy murdering those who hurt your friends even the slightest, you massacred over a thousand people with a grin on your face, the amount of blood you shed didn't even faze you! You hate those who negatively affect you and are prone to anger and react in violence! You are not fit for the hat and frankly, I do not believe you are fit to be a shinobi either."
Naruto froze in place as everyone's gaze switched to him, eyeing him like he was some type of monster, like he wasn't human! "Stop it," He said weakly. "Just leave me alone."
"I declare we vote on whether not Jounin Namikaze is fit to stay as a shinobi." Inoichi shouted. "Those who vote yes, raise your hands!" Naruto's eyes widened in betrayal as he collapsed to his chair.
"Please, I just want to be happy. . ." He whispered. Shikaku was visibly frowning as his fellow clanheads began raising their hands in favor of kicking Naruto out of the shinobi roster. His gaze then looked to the blonde who was visibly shaken by the events that had transpired these past few minutes.
First he was going to become Hokage, then he was about to lose his career as a ninja. He shook his head, it wasn't right. He wouldn't do this to Minato's boy, he wouldn't do this for the same man that Hiruzen had looked at like a grandson. He couldn't.
"I have a counter offer that benefits everyone." He suggested, getting the attention of the council while Naruto still sat their frozen in his seat, unable to process what had just happened. "Let's lay down the facts. . .
"Naruto Namikaze is a resource we cannot lose. Not only is he the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, he is also the strongest shinobi we have without using the demon's powers. I suggest we do not make him Hokage and we give him a mission that's not really a mission, but more of a trip." Naruto's eyes widened as his gaze turned to Shikaku.
"Naruto, you said Sasuke Uchiha was a bit of a flight risk and showed signs of wanting to leave the village in pursuit of power in one of your latest reports, correct?" The blonde nodded. "Then how about you take Sasuke Uchiha on a training trip, explore the shinobi nations as well at he world around them. Train him, give him power and experience while also working on your own mental health. I suggest the training trip to be at least two and a half years, though three years would be more profitable seeing as how it gets both of them away from the stress of the village so they can focus on themselves.
"Is that something that would interest you, Naruto?" He asked politely. Naruto thought about it for a moment and nodded slowly.
"Yes. . ." He whispered.
"And does the rest of the council agree with these terms? This is the best case scenario of this whole fiasco. This way, Sasuke Uchiha remains loyal to the village and our most powerful asset remains a shinobi and gets the mental help he requires."
Everyone agreed, even Inoichi who had calmed down a bit. "I will be willing to give several books on how to get your mind under control and in the state you wish it to be, which is hopefully healthy."
"I appreciate it, Inoichi=san." Naruto replied quietly once more.
"Then its decided, Naruto Namikaze will take Sasuke Uchiha on a training trip that last at least two and a half years in order to keep the Uchiha loyal to Konoha as well as work on his own mental health." Naruto stood up and bowed.
"We will depart as soon as possible, thank you all for your generous decision." And with that, he vanished.
And done. How was it? Good? Bad? Tell me!
Anyways, yeah.
Til next time my lil demons!