A ninja must see underneath the underneath

Chapter 40 - Hound and chicken

After several months, Kakashi really got the hang of being Konoha's Hokage. 

He gained more insight into how many shinobi's he had available to disperse on missions, and he had studied their credentials and abilities. For the newly rebuild shinobi Academy, he had created a renewed curriculum that focussed more on tactical approaches and the values of teamwork. He wanted team members to not feel envy or jealousy towards each other, but to discover the value of friendship and support during a battle. Finally, he had also made changes regarding the lives of the Konoha shinobi, who now had two days off each week, except for when they were on longer missions. Then they were allowed to save up their free days for later use. 

As it were, he had also made several appearances at the newly build districts of Konoha where he gave motivating speeches that were met with applause and enthusiasm. He promised them a better safer life, and he kept his promises. Whenever he found the time, he tried to help re-build the damaged parts of the city.

Being Hokage had proved to be a lot of work but he got used to it faster than he had thought. The hardest part however was finding the time to stay in shape himself. Even though he was Hokage now, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before Naruto would take over and he would have to fulfill the role of an elite shinobi once more. With that in mind, Kakashi tried to find the time to train at least once a day. Naruto often had to stay behind at Hokage tower to study up, or to finish his internship work, which was mainly guided by Shizune and Tsunade. This often led to Kakashi training either alone or with Gai. In a way, he felt sorry for the blond teen, who despised sitting still and studying, but he knew there was no way around it, not if Naruto ever wanted to become Hokage.

At the end of the day, both shinobi would talk about what they had done or learned. Sometimes they would talk during dinner or during a sparring match and sometimes even while playing with Kakashi's Ninken. Today, they were both just hanging out on the couch. Kakashi laid down with his head propped up on the edge of the couch. He was holding Naruto close to him, while reading from an Icha Icha book. The young shinobi was telling him a story he had learned about the third Kazekage, the leader of Sunagakure, who was supposed to be the strongest Kazekage ever. Each day it became clear to Kakashi that Naruto had learned a lot of new stuff. Mostly by listening to stories Tsunade told him. The boy didn't seem to remember much about things he had to read. Kakashi was relieved to notice that the blond seemed to become even keener on becoming Hokage than he already was, despite the lessons he had to go through.

The following day, Naruto was allowed to attend a meeting Kakashi had with three shinobi from The Hidden Grass Village, Kusagakure. Naruto remembered that the village was allied with Konoha, and they worked together quite well. They had an agreement to exchange local economical products, but they also aided each other with missions or even temporary shinobi exchanges. Kusagakure had recently lent Konoha some shinobi in order to speed up the rebuilding process. Konoha had shown its gratitude by taking on some missions Kusagakure had to offer, while also sharing some information they had received through spy work.

Today, the Hidden Grass Shinobi had come to ask the aid of Konoha's Hokage with a different matter. Several of their shinobi had fallen deathly ill with a new poison developed by the neighboring Hidden Rain village. Their healers had not been able to produce an antidote, which is why they had come to request aid from Tsunade and her pupil Sakura, who were well known for their healing abilities and their knowledge of poisons. Today they would talk about the terms on which Konoha agreed to aid in the research.

Naruto had to do his very best to stay concentrated. He was only allowed to observe the meeting and take notes. Not being allowed to intervene or weigh-in proved to make the whole scene quite tedious, though one thing did pique his interest. He found it curious that Kusagakure was allied with Konoha, and yet the meeting didn't seem to reflect friendship or kindness at all. Both parties remained very distant and distrusting.