As the leaves rustled the blond man stood from where he was lazing against a tree. He heard the early autumn leaves crinkle.

He spotted the noise maker, a beautiful women. Who was just tall enough that he could easily rest his chin on her head. She flipped her light blond hair to rest over her shoulder, the movement made to draw gazes to her bountiful chest.

She silently strolled up to the man, the fallen leaves being uncharacteristically silent in her passage. "Glad you could make it, Dumbass." she said in a grumble. Apparently she is not happy having to go into the middle of a forest for the meeting she set up.

"Hay, Saggy-tits, why'd you tell me to come out here? Ya, know your office is comfier then here. Right?" His voice was rough, years of yelling in desperation having taken its toll.

"Yes, Numb-Nuts, my office is much better then here. But, I needed a place more secure then there to give you your next mission." While she talked, she reached into her cleavage and retrieved a scroll. Bound in red string, sealed with a dot of wax, her office stamped into it. She tossed the scroll to the him. " Here, read it quickly. I've got more important things to do to day, and if your quick enough i can even answer some of your dumb question before I leave."

"Ew, it's covered in boob sweat! What the hell Tsunade! I don't want your saggy tit sweat all over me! I can smell it from here! Do you even shower!" While extolling his discomfort, the man broke the seal, and read the scroll.

"Congratulations! You're a jonin now. Hurray." Tsunade lazily spun a finger in the air in celebration. "Your pay's been bumped up, your responsibilities are increased, and your superior officer has been changed to that of the jonin commander, Akamine Hitoshi-"

Naruto blinked in confusion at the new name, "Who's that?"

"He's the jonin commander since the Shikiku died. You haven't met him. He should be your direct superior. But, I decided that instead you'll report directly to me." Tsunade flicked her hair over her shoulders, " In all reality, you're not ready for promotion but, eh, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

As she said that another woman gracefully landed in the clearing. Her long platinum blond hair held up in a high pony tai with a curtain of bangs hiding the right side of her face. She wore a matching royal purple crop top and royal purple skirt that fell to her ankles, split don the middle with sport shorts underneath. She stood and cocked one hip to the side, confidant and alluring.

"Ino, here" Tsunade waves over to the girl, " while a chunin, is more competent at team leading then you." Tsunade rests her hand on a cocked hip, waiting for Naruto to respond with an asinine statement.

"OH, YA!" The boy roughly stuffs the scroll into his hip pouch, anger flashing through his eyes," How come! I'm super strong! And a JONIN now!"

Tusnade huffed and turned while raising an eyebrow at the girl, " See, this is what you'll need to deal with. When he comes back I expect him to be more… at least competent." Ino gave one definitive nod.

"Naruto," Tusnade turned back to her dumbass and whispered in a soft vulnerable voice, " Come back to me, I don't think I can handle loosing another." She walked up to him and softly pulled his head down so she could kiss his forehead.

Naruto stayed there reveling in the affection. He looked up into her eyes. "There's nothing, that'll stop me from coming back to you granny. Nothing." He stood head held high. he was head and shoulders above her now, a reversal from when he was a kid.

The leaves from the ancient trees around them fell, autumn was approaching and the world was preparing for is death. Falling leaves obscured the Hokage, and as they settled only two blonds remained.

Ocean blue eyes met sky blue eyes. Their last meeting was during the war, her father had just been vaporized by a Bijuu-Dama, and he needed her to relay a message to everyone that was left. Now here they stood, ready to go off on an unknown mission of unknown length. Ino looked up at the man, he was much taller then her. He was tall enough and his shoulders broad enough to easily hide her slim silhouette.

"So, what's the mission Ino?" Naruto asked as he walked towards his new team leader. Leaves that should be crinkling and crunching in his passing, did not. He reached into his hip pouch and retrieved his mission scroll, and passed it to the woman. "Says here leave and don't come back till your ready." He ran his fingers though his hair in frustration. " Like, what does that even mean? Ready for what? What is the mission? How long is the mission? I just got back! I just fought and finished a war! Now I'm being sent on some long-ass mission that I don't even know where we're going! What the fuck!"

Rage spent Naruto fell to the ground. Laying on his back he stared into the blue expanse of the sky. A cool wind blew through the clearing. Ino sat next to her subordinate. Pulling her hair from behind her and resting the long mane in her lap so the leaves wouldn't soil it.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Well, my mission," Ino started, she too looking off into the distance. Trying to keep watch for any unwanted observers, " is to make sure that you are actually ready for a leadership position. Cause, like, I don't think you've even ever been a team leader before, right?"

Naruto grunted and turned onto his side, leaves stuck to the back of his black and orange jacket. One of the last surviving gifts that the old pervert gave him. He propped his head on his hand as he looked at his new leader.

He remembered when she was younger. She was a hothead, like most young shinobi. She was the clan heir for the Yamanaka, which with her father gone, made her the new clan matriarch. She is obviously pretty, especially at 20. Her skin was flawless pale white, her eyes a large sky blue, and her long hair was the color of a summer sunbeam though an open window.

Ino glanced at him and continued," Well, the parameters for my mission are to let you take the lead around people, and then coach you through what you did incorrectly. Otherwise, when in private I make the final decisions, while you chose the preliminary course." She was twisting her long hair around her wrist, expertly avoiding the razer wire and needles hidden within. "What the Lord Hokage told me was that he has loads of contacts around the continent, make him go there and get some good will. " Ino slurred her speech mimicking a drunk Tsunade for that last part.

Naruto sat up, a thoughtful look came over him. He held up a finger to count on. "Well there's Wave Country, where I talked an enemy shinobi into committing suicide and had a bridge named after me."

"Wha..."

A second finger came up. "Then there's Spring Country, where I helped a movie star stage a coup to kill the Daimyo and place her in charge. I got a signed picture of her kissing me and everything!"

"Hold on."

Naruto raised a third finger, ignoring a sputtering Ino,"Then there's Demon Country, a spirit of human evil wanted possess a body and take over the world with a golem army. So destroyed most of the army and helped kill the ghost. And, after that the priestess that can see the future of when people die, wants me to make a kid with her." Finished giving a retelling of a small selection of his adventures, Naruto gave a nod and looked at the blushing girl.

Ino was utterly unprepared for the seriousness and shamelessness of Naruto telling her that a world leader wants to sleep with him. She looked back at the guy, his eyes boring into her own, waiting for her input.

"Um, Uh. I guess let's go to Wave first. Seems like that way your first diplomatic contact won't be with the leader of a nation. That way if you mess up, Konoha won't need to deal with strained international relations. Then, if you do well, we can head over to Demon Country… NOT TO SLEEP WITH THE PRIESTESS! But, so you can get better at talking to people in charge, and hopefully the priestess wont punish you to much for your mess ups." With a tentative plan formed Ino got to her feet, pulled out her map and compass and started to walk to wave.

She was unsurprised that when Naruto caught up with her, he wouldn't stop chattering.

This is going to be a long mission. Ino thought to herself as she tuned her superior subordinate out.

—

Tsunade walked back to Konoha. Well was was left of it. After being flattened and obliterated by Pain, and then the shortages from the war. There's only the scantest of actual buildings, and those are only for village critical functions. Unfortunately, the Hokage's office was one of the first building to be created. Apparently people didn't like waiting or having meetings in an unairconditioned tent.

"Ungrateful assholes." Tusnade continued her slow trek back to her unwanted position. "Can't wait for the brat to finally take this hat from me." She stopped and held her hat. She usually had it sealed in a small array hidden in the inside of her blouse. She held the cloth crown. The same one her mentor used for decades. The same one her grand father used. The same one her grand uncle used. And hopefully the same one a certain blond idiot will use… She could be talking about herself with that last one.

"How did I ever get talked into being Hokage." She mumbled into the cloth. It still smelled like the tobacco Hiruzen smoked, it still smelled like the fresh flowers her grandfather would grow for her.

"Why am I the last one." She could feel pressure behind her eyes. She was the last Senju. A princess of a clan lost to war and peace. Slowly whittled away through violence. Slowly broken apart through political marriages to other clans. She was the last pure Senju. There could never be another.

She was the last Sannin. A ridiculous title given to her team by a man they had tried to kill. A title denoting that they together were as strong as a man whom could rule a nation by his lonesome. He gave them this title not because they were his equal, no, the title was merely to denote that her team survived their retreat from a battle with him.

Her teacher was killed, by one of his students, her best friend. Then he was killed by his student. Then her other best friend, and eventual lover was killed by his student. Would Sakura kill her or Shizune? When would she finally be allowed to die, to go and be with the rest of her loved ones.

She thought of her last hope. Her little blond boy. A kid that if everyone didn't already know better, could be mistaken for hers. She loved Naruto, just as she loved her little brother, Nawaki. They were so similar it hurt to look at him sometimes. It was a good hurt, like she was viewing an alternate future where the world was actually a good place. The only difference between them being that Naruto had the power to back up his claims.

Why does she do this. She could have kept her dumbass in the village. She could have taken him as an apprentice, taught him the ways of leadership. How the village worked, how to navigate the internal politics between the jonin, clans, and civilians. How to village interacted with the outside world. It would have been difficult, Tsunade knows she's not a good teacher. But, she could have. Instead she sent him out to learn on his own.

She knew he needed to see how the world actually worked. How people see shinobi and him. She wanted her dumbass to spread his smile to everyone. Infect everyone with good intentions that the wars that destroyed her family, and every body else she cared about, would never come again.

She knew that it was a fantasy. Larger then even being able to see her Dan again.

Tears fall down her face. The genjutsu she applied perpetually to hide her age would also hide this. But, she wanted to world to know her sadness. She sent her sunshine away.

She was alone. Just like it should be.