#Senjutsunade; KonohagakureKakashi; Hatake Kakashi; Senju Tsunade; Godaime; Part I Timeline; Writing Prompt; Naruto; In which Kakashi is a me

[konohagakurekakashi]

Writing Prompt: Kakashi's views/musings on Tsuande's early days as Hokage.

[Writing Prompt Accepted-Thoughts on a Leader]

'A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, when his work is done and his aim fulfilled, they will say- we did it ourselves.' Said datum never rang more true than for that of the Hokage, a Fire Shadow, looming over both his enemies and his subordinates as both a wise, firm regulator and a potent power of military cogency for his daimyō. It was something Kakashi understood since the simple age of four, something all Konoha shinobi and civilians understood; which is why though the position was respected, it was never coveted once you were past your ambitious Genin phase and the weight of the ninja profession finally sank deep within your very fibres and roughages.

For all intents and purposes the Professor and Minato-sensei was all that Kakashi has ever known in the form of a leader and both served as his paradigm and daily reminder that though he might be at the forefront of the mission rankings--he would never be a real leader in comparison--a fact that he was generally content with and accepted, for he was fashioned to follow orders to the letter, not give them. It was proven on his very first mission as a Jōnin and remained unremitting in his failures to break through his former Kohai’s walls, his charges’ hatred and self-misgivings or to keep his sensei’s legacy safe from the missing-nin (Akatsuki, Jiraiya-sama called them) so intent on the young Jinchūriki’s capture.

In his sorry state, head throbbing due to the effects of said former Kohai’s dōjutsu and Tsunade-sama’s earlier prodding. It was crystal clear that he lacked Sarutobi-sama’s astute way with words or the Fourth’s insight and Fūinjutsu skill. Should he have had either perhaps things would have gone differently, if only by a margin. A bitter sigh before a hand rose to rub at his pulsing lid, the action willing away the many thoughts coiling within his mind, as well as the incessant sobbing of both Gai and the nursing staff seeping across his threshold. It had been exactly four days since the Sannin made her unexpected return and pulled him from the miasma left by the Tsukuyomi. Since then the Hatake’s surroundings have been fraught with nothing but noise-The kind that Icha Icha Paradise could not drown out.

Another sigh, before Kakashi shifted within his stiff hospital sheets, lone hue flittering towards the lit hallway upon the sound of a chair leg splintering against a far-off wall. Testing the stretch and ripple of his muscles, Kakashi floundered, before bare feet slipped onto tile; his mind drifting to the induction ceremony looming just around the corner and what it could mean for Konohagakure no Satō. Kakashi has after all known the Senju for most of his existence and knew first hand that if he did not possess the qualities of his former teacher, then neither did she possess the former qualities of hers. With a torrent of apologies resounding about the hospital, Kakashi murmured a low ‘gomen’ of his own, before he stepped towards the window, his shadow spanning ahead of him as if eager to disappear into the night and away from all the ruckuss. Settling on the idiot excuse of Mnr Ūkki being cold, lonely and in dire need of a proper bedtime story; Kakashi followed after, effectively cutting his stay short and not feeling the least bit repentant for the water pitcher that was sure to expire due to his empty bed.

The next time the Hatake fixed his calculating gaze upon the form of the the Kunoichi, it was from his slumped position behind Kurenai and Asuma. It was a bright balmy day, despite the fact that the village was still in its reconstruction phase and the Sandaime has just been laid to rest. The Many shinobi gathered about him had their own gazes fixed upon the Hokage Tower as the Godaime finally lifted her hat of office. All of their hues though strained with the effects of the Chūnin Exams also ignited with a hint of optimism, of expectation and the Hatake felt his fingers twitch within his pockets and his lungs constrict--Because despite his cynical views on the shinobi system and the acidic bite of fear that that inherent optimism, that Will of Fire will one day be snuffed out; he couldn’t help being somewhat optimistic himself, even as the Kunoichi’s lip twitched and her russet stare hardened into one of determination once she pitched the Hokage Hat into the soft breeze and over the sea of her clamouring soldiers.

Maintaining that sliver of optimism was an entirely different undertaking, however.

Tsunade was not a conventional Hokage, her brash actions and talent for stepping on toes cementing the silver-haired Jōnin’s earlier assessment. Where Sandaime-sama was always cool and collected and prepared to listen to the grievances of his council and his subordinates; Tsunade in turn was quick to anger, her vast travels having done nothing in dampening her passions. Kakashi had it on good authority that the administration budget had all but doubled due to a constant lack of office furniture and accessories and he knew from being the intended target of one too many medical journals that she did not tolerate his ‘grievances’ and what he thought of as his ‘endearing’, little habits. Yet it remained a pleasant surprise when he almost walked in on one of the Godaime’s impromptu meetings with her council (more than three hours late for his own mission briefing) and found her to be unchanged in her beliefs and adamantly refusing to be swayed by the advisors' stern warnings. Though he respected them as one would respect anyone of age and skill, the Hatake could never accept the council’s rationality and the way they seemed to act on things behind the Professor’s back. He well remembered the way Danzō tried to veer him into betraying the Third and his two avid supporters were on the vanguard of those vetoing against him keeping Obito’s eye after the events of Kanabi. So it was only natural that Kakashi chose the slanted nook below the Hokage’s window as his favourite reading perch from thereon after. --Birds of a feather, hmm.

It was also from that sunny perch, the tiles warm and chiselled beneath his sandals, that the Hatake came to know that even though the Medic held none of the traits he came to associate with that of a Hokage, she instead held a plethora of other peculiarities he now welcomed in that of a village leader. The Senju for one was fiercely loyal to her subordinates and their dreams, evident by her unwillingness to label his student turned avenger a missing-nin despite it being the logical course of action, electing instead to put her faith in the capabilities of the younger generation time and time again. She never begrudged her Shinobi for missions gone awry (a notion which would have been welcomed in the time of his father) and rather showed genuine relief each and every time they came back from a mission alive and in (relatively) one piece. She was more than adapt in seeing underneath the underneath and knitted their skins back together on more occasions than he cared to contemplate--but it was her uncanny ability to push her militia past their usual capabilities and into avant-garde scenarios altering dangerously from the usual pairings and team formations, to obtain the best of outcomes for that of her village. She did not care and at the same time cared too much. Her near abysmal buckets of empathy rivalling even that of Naruto and reaching far past the borders of the Fire Nation to that of smaller settlements and the rival nations alike.

Yes the Godaime had her fair share of unhealthy customs, but as Kakashi made his way through the deserted twists and turns of the village, calloused fingers wound tightly about the ankles of one of Tsunade’s many debt collectors who managed to sneak into the village as a tatami merchant, Kakashi was hit with the sudden, jarring realization that the Kunoichi was more his leader and Hokage than that of Minato-sensei with his impossibly short tenure, or that of the infamous Professor combined. Taking a moment to tilt his head back and peer up at the hoary glow of the moon, the Hatake affirmed with a low grunt in his throat that he would follow any and every order from the last Senju even if it meant demeaning his skills to that of a watchdog. Not so much due to his duties as a Shinobi of Konoha (Kakashi was nothing if not a loyal, effective tool) but because he really wanted to.

Despite the lethal flick of her fingers and her persistently loud persona, Kakashi believed that she was adamant in carrying forth the First’s Will of Fire, Obito’s will- and despite her custom to lecture him on immaterial things and avoid some of her more dismal duties as a Kage, Kakashi knew that she was someone Rin looked up to and would strive to be like, had she still been alive. So it was with little effort that the Hatake heaved the groaning loan shark up and into the guard booth manned by Izumo and Kotetsu, a low chuckle barely concealed as a cough cutting through the chirp of crickets as the two Chūnin spluttered and rolled sideways to avoid the desperately flailing limbs. Trusting the two to take out what remained of the trash; Kakashi then proceeded to head back the way he came whilst thumbing at the ragged ends of the IOU rumpled within his holster. The past was in the past. Comparing the living to the deceased would bring him nothing, least of all answers. The best that he could do was to pull his weight and hope that everything else would fall into place. If it meant changing his Paradigm to that of the Godaime—well, he could live with that.