“Sasuke. I need you on other missions for the sake of the village. That’s … That is very much an order as Hokage.”
“But I don’t have to obey it,” Sasuke told him. “I’m not an official shinobi. I work with you because I want to.”
“Don’t give me that!” A vein popped up on Naruto’s forehead. “Which is more important—the future of the village or my life?!”
“Your life,” came Sasuke’s immediate response. “Without it, we can’t protect the future of the village. Whatever you say, I’m going to do what I think is best.”
“Anyone want tea?” Sakura held up the teapot to interrupt their bickering.
“Please.” Shikamaru put his cup forward.
Kakashi followed suit. “I’ll have some too.”
Pale green liquid spilled gently from the spout and swirled around as it filled the insides of the teacups.
“. . .”
Naruto narrowed his eyes sharply like a fox and glared at Sasuke. Not to be outdone, Sasuke glared back with an equally powerful stare.
“Okay, I’ll go to the Land of Redaku first and poke around,” Kakashi said slowly, holding his steaming cup of tea in both hands. “If I need help, I’ll send a hawk. It won’t be too late for Sasuke to come then.”
“Right.” Sakura nodded and reached for a strawberry daifuku. “Sasuke, you can watch Sarada and Boruto train for the first time in a while.”
Neither Naruto nor Sasuke said anything, but simply continued to glare at each other in the small space lit with the wavering fire.
Shikamaru let out an annoyed sigh.
The next morning, after getting the Seventh Hokage’s seal on his papers for an out-of-country mission, Kakashi set off for the Land of Redaku.
Naruto was too busy—and too frustrated by his illness of unknown cause—to wallow in guilt for dispatching Kakashi. Between attending various meetings in multiple locations, he also finished off the mountain of paperwork on his desk. In the afternoon, he received a report on the Anbu’s investigations, followed by a discussion of how to address the suspicious movements of international agencies. Should their response be urgent? Should they act even without concrete proof? The meeting took them into the evening, and though it was heated, they eventually settled on maintaining the status quo and remaining vigilant. By the time Naruto returned to his office, the sun had long set. As he began his slow review of proposals for the new curriculum at the academy he sucked down a tube of nutrient jelly instead of eating actual food. Then Shikamaru walked in.
“You’re still here?” he said casually, an open laptop computer resting on one arm. “Any episodes today?”
“Not a one,” Naruto replied.
The truth was, there had been one, just this afternoon. Fortunately, he’d been alone in his office, and it wasn’t too severe, so he’d locked the door and waited for it to pass while he curled into himself.
“Yeah?” Shikamaru closed the door behind him. “Rejoice, Naruto. I got a note from the institute. Said they’re making progress deciphering that text.”
“For real?!” Naruto leaped to his feet.
“Shizune joining the deciphering team’s been huge. Shock and awe. They’ve gotten four whole lines in a single day.”
“Gre—”
Four lines? That’s it?
“Okay, you don’t need to be so obviously disappointed,” Shikamaru said. “Those four lines had a ton of info in them. When he visited the Land of Redaku, the Sage of Six Paths apparently stayed at the astronomical observatory opened by this astronomer called Jean-Marc Tatar. There’s a real possibility that he recovered from his illness while he was there.”
“Whoa! And?”
“And? That’s it.”
“Come on …” Shoulders slumping, Naruto dropped back down into his chair. “Well. That is a step forward at least!” He forced a smile onto his face.
“Yup. A step. It might feel small, but you should be happy about it.” Shikamaru pulled a nearby garbage can toward him, spread his legs, and sat down. “I sent a hawk to let Master Kakashi know. Although we should still have him head for the capital first, like we planned. And then … about the assassination attempt in the Land of Kizahashi. It seems the would-be assassin Aze Yanaru killed himself.”
Naruto scowled at this.
“In the end, we didn’t get any intel from him about who was behind it,” Shikamaru continued with a hard look on his face. He tapped at the laptop to bring up an email. “The Land of Kizahashi investigation team sent a list of questions for the Seventh Hokage. Stuff like, ‘Do you have any enemies?’”
“Whaaat? I’ve got way too many of those, believe it.”
“Right.”
As the Hokage, Naruto was in a position which made it inevitable that he would have at least a few enemies. As the peace continued and memories of the Great Ninja War faded from hearts and minds, there were people, even among the villagers of Konoha, who spoke venomously behind his back, saying things like “A hero of war is basically a murderer.”
“The fact that he deliberately targeted you at that meeting might mean someone from Kizahashi was involved,” Shikamaru said, frowning in annoyance. “There are sparks flying between the two countries over the price of gas, right?”
“So it’s about Kizahashi gas?” Naruto asked, arching an eyebrow.
“The folks in Kizahashi don’t like how the institute is developing new energy sources with Land of Fire funding. They won’t be able to keep going if demand for their gas drops.”
Naruto frowned.
It was true that the Land of Kizahashi had sent a number of petitions (read: pressure) to put a stop to the development of new energy sources. The reason given was that it would “disrupt the current economic balance.” But markets naturally fluctuated, so this was a ridiculous “reason.”
It wasn’t as though Naruto wanted to diminish the economic power of the Land of Kizahashi. But the Land of Fire couldn’t depend on other countries for energy forever.
“The director of the institute’s looking pretty sketchy. Some people are wondering if he wasn’t the ringleader behind the assassination attempt.”
Shikamaru launched a web browser and brought up the institute’s official homepage. A photo of the director was on the page introducing the organization. He looked high-strung and wore glasses.
“Kanhen Furieh. Director of the institute and physicist specializing in energy. He was born in the Land of Kizahashi and studied in the Land of Fire as a special student during the time of the Sixth Hokage.”
“Meaning he could come study in the Land of Fire because Master Kakashi put up the money,” Naruto said. “So then why would he have a grudge against us?”
“It’s possible his love for his country might be stronger than his debt to us,” Shikamaru replied, tapping his laptop’s keyboard. The screen switched to a list of shinobi affiliated with the village of Konohagakure. “Don’t know if Furieh’s in it, but at any rate, it’s a fact that the assassination was planned. Probably a good idea to send a team to the Land of Kizahashi to investigate. It’s too difficult a mission to give to a genin, so I was thinking we put together a team with Konohamaru and Mira, a couple others—”
“No,” Naruto said firmly. “Send Sasuke.”
“You sure?” Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “As long as Sasuke’s here, he’ll tend to me and this sickness. But I need him working for the sake of the village. No one else can do what he does.”
“If that’s your decision, fine. Are you going to notify him about it?”
“No. You tell him, Shikamaru. Like always.”
As if waiting for this break in their conversation, someone knocked at the door.
Without waiting for a reply, Moegi poked her head in and called to Shikamaru. There was a message from the institute.
“I get it, Naruto. I’ll tell Sasuke,” Shikamaru said, and then left the Hokage’s office.
In the end, Naruto didn’t leave the office until the late evening turned into the wee hours of an early tomorrow.
“Aah … I’m wiped.”
The mere touch of the night breeze on his skin felt rejuvenating, which also revealed how exhausted he was. The world in darkness was a soothing balm to his eyes, which had been staring into the glare of a computer screen all night.
He dragged his feet through the old city, and seven faces abruptly popped into view on the other side of the power lines.
Hokage Rock.
He hadn’t been up there in a while, and he was seized with the sudden urge to see the view from the top of the rock again. So he whirled around and changed direction. He couldn’t use chakra, so he scrambled up the rock using his hands, sat on the stone face of his father, and looked out on the old city.
A sparse night scene dotted with the lights of houses here and there.
This modest sight was Naruto’s pride. Beneath each and every one of those gentle lights was a person, and it made him happy to think about them eating supper or taking a bath with hard-fought security. This village was at peace. No one feared an invasion or attack from another nation, there was no threat of food scarcity, and there was no fear that a father who left home on a mission wouldn’t come home again. In this tranquility, Master Kakashi laughed and told him old stories about Obito and Team Minato, and Sasuke took Sakura and Sarada to visit the graves of his family. Even as they carried their sad memories with them, they continued to move forward bit by bit.
He wished he could have shown this world to his mom and dad. And to the Pervy Sage. And Pain. And Neji. And Zabuza and Haku. To think that the village of Konoha could be this peaceful.
The truth was, he wanted all of them in this world too. How amazing it would have been for all of them to smile at each other and say, “We’re so lucky we get to live together in peace.”
He wished they were all still alive. He’d had enough of people suffering and dying. Naruto wanted to bring peace to the village. That was why he’d set out to become Hokage.
The one who is accepted by all becomes the Hokage—Naruto had always worked for the sake of everyone else but himself. He wasn’t so great at having anyone do anything for him.
But whenever anyone was watching his back, they were Naruto’s shield.
“. . .”
Naruto stood up and looked down at the nose of the Fourth, a little higher up on the face than was his own. At some point, he had gotten older than Minato was the day he was killed in the line of duty. Even now that his dream of being the Hokage had come true, Naruto’s ninja path was unchanged.
To never twist his own words.
To keep fulfilling his dream of protecting the village as Hokage.
But to do so, he had to be strong.
“I really gotta do something about this.” He tried talking to himself, but even he could tell his voice was lacking spirit.