Chương 103: Believe It!
"Out with it, Jiraiya," said Tsunade irritably. "I doubt you're dropping by just to say hello, so just spill it, already."
Sakura, Naruto, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune and Tonton (the pet pig) were currently enjoying an early dinner at a local izakaya. Upon finding Tsunade's party, Naruto had summoned a red messenger toad to share their meeting place with Jiraiya— and the rest was history.
"What— can't I drop in on an old friend, for old time's sake?" said Jiraiya nonchalantly, taking a deep draught of beer and letting out a satisfied sigh. "So… now that you've met them, what do you think of these two?"
Jiraiya tilted his head towards Naruto and Sakura— who until now, had contented themselves with quietly nibbling their skewered meat while listening to the adults reminiscing about the old days.
"Don't change the subject," snapped Tsunade. "Whaddaya want from me?"
"Fine, then; straight to the point it is," said Jiraiya drily. "The Third's dead— Orochimaru got him. It's the will of the village that you return and accept the mantle of Fifth Hokage."
Sakura patted Naruto on the back— Jiraiya's announcement had surprised him so much that he had choked on a piece of roasted pig, which had gone down the wrong pipe.
'Whoops. Maybe we should also have tried to look surprised,' said Inner Sakura. 'Wait, stop— it's too late to do it now, you idiot…'
She had been too preoccupied pondering over other matters to pay too close attention to the adults' conversation, but luckily for her, Tsunade and Shizune were too busy being shocked to notice Sakura making strange faces.
Still, this was all very odd.
Going by canon, Orochimaru ought to have already shown himself, since night was already falling. But for some reason, he hadn't made his appearance yet. Was he scared of showing himself in front of Jiraiya with disabled arms? Or had some weird butterfly effect made it so he had never got injured at the hands of the Third Hokage?
"No way," Tsunade replied, before taking a sip of her beer. "I refuse!"
Sakura slapped Naruto hard in the back, and the piece of pork that had got lodged in his airways shot across the table— straight into Tonton's eager mouth, much to Shizune's horror.
"What!?" Naruto spluttered, hacking and coughing. "What the hell's going on!? At first, this trip was supposed to be about research, and then Bushier Brows-sensei told us to find this lady to cure Kakashi-sensei— so what's all this Hokage stuff about? And she even refused! What gives!?"
The Hidden Leaf was currently in a very precarious state. The village needed to show a united front to the world in these troubled times, and there was no better candidate than the Slug Princess to lead it. She was a hero of the Second and Third Great Shinobi World Wars, and she was the princess of the (now defunct) Senju clan, the granddaughter of the Leaf Village's founder, the First Hokage himself.
"See, Naruto?" said Jiraiya once he had finished explaining him these things. "This is a decision that comes from the very top— not like a lowly Genin like yourself would have much of a say about who gets to be Hokage, either way."
Naruto harrumphed, his ego taking quite a blow…
"The quality of your disciples seems to be dropping, Jiraiya," said Tsunade, with a little self-satisfied smirk plastered on her beautiful face. "I recall your last disciple being smarter and more eloquent… and not to mention, much easier on the eyes…"
"Well, that's not quite fair, is it?" said Jiraiya with a little laugh. "No one can hold a candle to the Fourth…"
"Come to think of it," Sakura piped up, deliberately trying to stir the pot, "I've seen the Lord Fourth's portrait in the Lord Third's office, and don't you think he looks an awful lot like Naruto? He's got the same spiky blonde hair, the same blue eyes… he's only missing the goofy grin, really."
The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees at the table, and Jiraiya's and Tsunade's smiles froze on their faces. Sakura had just touched upon a taboo topic!
"Ha… haha, you really think so, Sakura?" said Jiraiya, with a strained smile on his face.
"I really do," Sakura insisted. "Actually, I think he looks soooo similar to Naruto, that he could easily pass for his father!"
For some reason, the Third Hokage had decreed that Naruto's true lineage be concealed from him at all costs, claiming that some would stop at nothing to kill Naruto if they knew the truth. And if it hadn't been for Kushina's pregnancy being concealed from the village, someone would have been bound to guess the truth sooner or later!
"The Fourth never had children," said Tsunade, slamming her fist on the table, causing the plates to fly into the air. "He died young, sacrificing his life for the sake of the village."
Even though she did not approve of the Third's way of doing things, she was still trying to keep the secret going, for her late sensei's sake.
"You'd never catch me dead doing something like that," Tsunade continued emotionally. "Life's not like money— gamble it away, and you can never get it back, ever again. Take my grandfather and my grand uncle, the First and Second Hokage— they fought their entire lives for peace, but they just ended up dying along the way, having accomplished nothing. It's the same thing with Sarutobi-sensei… if he'd just retired when he was supposed to, he wouldn't have had to die a dog's death!"
Sakura gave Naruto a sidelong glance— he looked like he was about to explode.
"Who'd ever want to be Hokage?" Tsunade drawled. "Only fools, that's who."
Naruto roared in anger, attempting to jump onto the table and lunge at Tsunade, but Sakura pulled him back by the scruff of the neck, sitting him back down in his seat.
"Lemme go, Sakura!" Naruto shouted. "Girl or not, I'm gonna sock her good!"
"Well, look at you," said Tsunade mockingly. "What's got you so mad, hmm?"
"Unlike you," Naruto snarled, "I actually wanna become Hokage someday— and I will, because it's my dream!"
For a split second, two faces seemed to overlap with Naruto's in Tsunade's mind— those of her former lover Katō Dan and her younger brother Nawaki. They had both once dreamed of becoming Hokage… and they had both died before they could make their dreams a reality.
"Laughable," spluttered Tsunade, but as she looked away from Naruto's face in order to dispel the images that had arisen in her mind, she ended up locking eyes with Sakura.
Sakura's eyes were clear and devoid of doubt— having watched the anime to the end (though she had skipped a few filler episodes along the way after learning of their existence), she knew for a fact that Naruto would become the Lord Seventh!
"What about you?" said Tsunade, as she struggled to get a grip on her emotions. "I suppose you want to become Hokage too, I suppose?"
"The spot's already been claimed," said Sakura in quiet determination. "Naruto might not be the strongest or the smartest, and he sure as hell isn't the hardest of workers ('Oi!' exclaimed Naruto.)— but he loves our village, and he believes in its potential— which is more than I can say for you, Lady Tsunade. He hasn't stopped talking my ears off about becoming Hokage ever since we met, so, yeah— I know he can become a splendid Hokage... Believe It™."
Looking at Sakura's calm and confident expression (and at her heavy breasts), Tsunade suddenly felt like she was looking at a reflection of her past self. Once upon a time, she too had encouraged the two boys she had loved most to follow their dreams… and what good had come of it?
Tsunade couldn't allow a young maiden wearing that kind of expression to experience losses like hers… Sakura didn't deserve to suffer the kind of heartbreak she had endured, so in Tsunade's opinion, it was better to dash Naruto's and Sakura's dreams now, so that they could live to regret them!
"Now I see. So that's what you were up to, bringing these two along with you, Jiraiya," Tsunade hissed. "Well, I can tell you right now that it's not gonna work! Shizune, come!" And upon saying so, she stormed out of the izakaya, followed by Shizune and Tonton… leaving Jiraiya to pay the entirety of the bill.
…
Dazed, Naruto couldn't tear his eyes off of Sakura. He had shouted to the rooftops countless times that he would one day become the Hokage, but other than Iruka, nobody had ever explicitly told him to his face that they believed he could do it…
'Whoops,' said Inner Sakura, completely oblivious to Naruto's feelings of attraction towards her blossoming into love. 'I think we might have buttered it on a bit too thickly…'
"Yeah, no dip…" Sakura told herself glumly.
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