Hokage's work

During his lunchtime Arashi snuck out of the office and went to examine the remains of Naruto's house.

His lips turned into a thin line when he saw what remained of the house his son had lived for all his life. Coming closer Arashi saw he was not alone – another figure with familiar white hair was walking around the ruins.

"Arashi-sensei," Kakashi turned around.

Yondaime nodded and joined him.

"Any clues?" he asked.

Kakashi shrugged.

"I don't know. Nothing special. It was really a hurricane but about the cause…I just don't know."

"Give me some space," Arashi asked coming closer.

"Hai," Kakashi nodded moving behind him. "May I?" the last question was said in such a childish manner that Arashi couldn't resist a smile.

"Of course you may," he answered. "You don't know this jutsu and it could be useful to learn it. Again, you can notice something I can't."

"Ok," Kakashi put down his mask a little revealing sharingan.

Arashi made a bunch of seals and explained.

"Chakra goes to the fingers, get it?"

"Yes," Kakashi nodded.

"Kage kioku no jutsu (shadow memory)," Arashi breathed out and a small version of hurricane appeared in front of him crushing the remains of boards.

It lasted for a few moments and then little hurricane disappeared and expression on Arashi's face changed into a gloomy one.

"This jutsu…" Kakashi came closer.

"Yes, it performs the jutsu that had been performed before, a small version of it using the memory of this place," Arashi explained.

"So it wasn't a simple hurricane," Kakashi concluded.

"No," Arashi nodded. "I think I saw this technique a long time ago."

Kakashi looked worried.

"Could it be?"

"There is a high possibility," Arashi nodded again.

"What shall we do?" Kakashi asked him.

"I shall ask Tsunade to cancel all Naruto's missions outside Konoha," Arashi said. "Kakashi, I wish you to find several ANBU who you trust the most. They should follow him anywhere when he's outside my house. Of course he shouldn't know about it. I'll prepare the assignment."

"We don't know their goal," Kakashi said looking at the remains of the house.

"Well," Arashi joined him. "It looks rather obvious."

"Or they just want us to think that way," the white-haired jounin concluded.

"Anyway, if they are in Konoha and nobody noticed them…" Yondaime sighed. "We'd better prepare for the worst case scenario."

"Yes," Kakashi nodded.

Naruto was walking along the streets all worn out. Three D-missions in a day – Tsunade-baachan was really unstoppable. He caught himself on the thought, he didn't remember where Yondaime's house was. Was it eastern side… or western one?

"Hello, baka!" familiar annoying voice greeted him.

"AA!" Naruto turned back. "Blondaime!"

Yes, it was the one and only blond hokage in Konoha wearing his robe and smiling widely.

"Looks like you forgot where my house is," he concluded.

"No way!" Naruto shouted. "I'm just…yes…just walking around the village."

Arashi cocked his head.

"Of course, and you think I believe you," was written in his expression.

"Well, anyway," he decided to give up on this topic. "Let's go to Ichiraku's" and looking at Naruto's uncertain face added. "I'll pay. I'm the Hokage after all. Hokages must help their subordinates."

"That's cool!" Naruto shouted and headed to his favorite restaurant. Arashi just followed him.

"Yondaime-sama, Naruto!" Ichiraku was glad to see them both. "Up for another ramen challenge?"

"No," Arashi laughed. "Today we have just come to eat some ramen."

"That's ok. Wait a couple of minutes then," the restaurant's owner nodded.

"Why do you come here?" Naruto asked when the ramen was brought and they began to eat. "You cook ramen perfectly!"

"Not better than here," Arashi answered. "After all Ichiraku was the one who taught me to cook it."

"Really?" Naruto looked shocked. Yondaime was full of surprises.

"Why?" he asked when the first wave of wonder moved back.

"Well," Arashi smiled remembering something. "It was long time ago and I wanted to impress somebody with my cooking skills badly."

Naruto smiled. It seemed very suitable for Yondaime to do such a thing.

"Was this person impressed?" he asked.

"Nah," Arashi sighed looking into his plate attentively. "It appeared that she didn't like ramen at all."

Naruto laughed and caught himself on the thought that now maybe for the first time since they first met he felt completely comfortable with the 4th Hokage. It was like sitting with some friend.

"Maybe I should give up on this sexy-no-jutsu plan after all," he thought.

"Naruto!" he was distracted by afamiliar voice from somewhere behind him.

"Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino!" he smiled greeting his friends.

"How are you?" Shikamaru began and stopped noticing the Hokage. "Oh, you are busy."

"Actually I thought about leaving," Arashi nodded to the empty bowl. "Naruto, are you staying here?"

"Yes!" blond genin smiled.

"Ok." Yondaime took a piece of paper and quickly drew a plan there. "Here is the path to my house. Don't get lost," he said. "North is here."

"I know," Naruto growled taking the map.

"Just for sure," Arashi smiled and said to restaurant's owner. "I'll pay at the end of the week as usual, ok, Ichiraku? Include Naruto's expenses into the list too."

"Of course, Yondaime-sama," came an immediate reply.

Arashi nodded and headed towards the door. At the doorstep he turned and looked at Naruto.

The blond genin looked back.

"Don't be…" Arashi began and stopped in the middle of the phrase 'don't be late' – he decided it sounded too parental. "See you later," he quickly corrected himself and went outside into the fresh air of Konoha's evening.

Shikamaru took the Hokage's seat and sat at Naruto's side. Ino and Chouji joined them.

"What is it like?" Ino began. "To live with the Hokage? Is his house really big?"

"That's rather big," Naruto shrugged. "It's too big for one person."

"Yondaime is scary," Ino continued. "How aren't you afraid to live with him?"

"Scary? Him?" Naruto laughed. "He's one of the funniest people I've met in my whole life!"

"Funny?" Shikamaru stared at him. "I think it's not the proper word to describe him. No, he's not scary. He's calm, stern, the real leader."

"He likes ramen a lot," Chouji said looking at the empty bowls Arashi had left.

Naruto shook his head in amusement. Here, all of them said different things about Yondaime. It looked like they weren't talking about the same person.

"Which of them is the real Hokage called Arashi?" he wondered.

"By the way, nice suit," Ino smiled to him.

Naruto blushed a little. It was unexpected to hear such a sentence from her.

"It suits you well," she added a second later.

"Thank you!" now Naruto's grin became wider. "I think I'd better keep it forever like Yondaime said," he thought.

"You have been on mission, haven't you?" he asked. "Tell me, was it interesting?"

"Well, it wasn't bad," Shikamaru nodded. "We were…"

Naruto entered Arashi's house sometime in the late evening.

"I wonder, is Blondaime already asleep?" he thought but then noticed there were lights in the office downstairs.

"Will he be angry if I go in?" Naruto wondered. "I'll try…" and with this thoughts he opened the door.

Arashi was sitting and reading some scrolls.

Naruto looked around the room. Books….scrolls…they were everywhere – in the bookcase, on the table, even on the floor. The dark brown, wood furniture looked really good in here.

Yondaime raised his head eyeing the unexpected visitor.

"Didn't lose your way this time, baka?" he smiled.

"AAh!" Naruto shouted. "I didn't but it was really difficult with such an awfully drawn map." With these words he parried Arashi's expression.

"You never lose, do you?" Arashi smiled to himself.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked coming closer. There were different scrolls and it looked like Yondaime is trying to divide them for some reason.

"I'm reading mission requests," Arashi explained. "Then I decide which rank the mission will be."

"I see," Naruto nodded. "So that's how it's done. That's interesting. Can I…" he stopped not quite sure if he should continue.

Yondaime understood him without words.

"Take the chair and sit down here if you wish," he told him. "I'll show you how it is done."

It took a moment. Naruto sat nearby his eyes shining with eagerness.

"The main rule you should keep in your head," Arashi began to explain remembering Sarutobi's advice who taught him this long ago. "You should be focused on this. A lot depends on it. If you're mistaken and choose different rank for the mission then your own people can be hurt. They won't be prepared for such a difficult mission."

"Yes," Naruto nodded. He remembered his first mission too well. Beginning with "C " rank it appeared to be "B". Sasuke…he almost died there…

"There are a lot of different conditions for dividing the missions into ranks. First you read the mission description and try to understand what is hidden behind the words. Sometimes those who make requests don't write all the truth. You should keep your mind open and try to understand the real situation. Such as…" he pulled out one of the scrolls. "Have a look at this…"

Naruto took the scroll and began to read it. Hard concentration reflected in his features. Now he didn't look like the boy who always tried to be the biggest prankster in all of Konoha. He really put all his effort into understanding it.

"You really want to become the Hokage," Arashi smiled to himself. "But do you know this job isn't as nice as you used to think about it? I'll tell you…one day…about hard choices you have to make, about things you should sacrifice, but it won't be today. I don't want you to give up on your dream, Naruto."

"Well," Naruto finished reading and sat with expression full of thought for awhile. "According to all the conditions it looks like "C" rank mission."

"Why did you decide this way?" Arashi asked.

"Look…" blond genin pointed to the scroll. "They say about probability of robbers at the road. So it can't be "D". But robbers aren't that bad. They are not shinobies after all. So it can't be "B". That's how I think."

"Close enough," Arashi nodded. "But it's "B" apparently."

"Why?" Naruto looked surprised.

"Look at the last sentence," Arashi pointed out. "They talk about some unfriendly shinobies' village not so far from the road."

"AAh!" Naruto shouted again. "I didn't notice it! It was written in such a distant manner!"

"That's what I'm talking about,' Arashi smiled. "Always look attentively."

Naruto stared at him with eyes full of eagerness.

"Can I?" he asked. "Make another try?"

"Of course," Arashi nodded smiling widely.

An hour or so passed.

"Well, it looks like you are getting a grip on it finally," Arashi concluded. In the last 15 minutes Naruto didn't make a mistake, perfectly dividing the scrolls. Truth to be told these missions weren't difficult to interpret. But the last one…it was a pain in ass.

"That's "B"," Yondaime made his verdict.

Naruto took the scroll examining it closer.

"No," his brows came closer one to another. He was thinking a lot. "Something is really wrong. Look, in the beginning they talk about one place…to the end its name changes. There are two variants. The first is they don't know what they are talking about. The second is they try to confuse us. Then the hidden stone village is somewhere near, am I right? The word 'competitors' is here… so there is a high possibility of clash between shinobies. What we have – not very much information, an enemy's village nearby, and very difficult landscape. It's an "A" ranked mission."

Arashi was surprised. Such an analysis from this boy, and was he right?

"You are right," he finally had to admit. "It's an "A" ranked mission."

"Yes!" Naruto shouted. "I'm right!" He jumped out of his seat full of joy, ran a little, and finally turned around accidentally crashing into a photo standing on the little table sending it to the floor.

Arashi moved really quickly. Using his jutsu he caught it a few centimeters from the floor.

"Nani?" Naruto turned around not understanding what has just happened.

"Huf," Arashi breathed out putting it at its place again. "Please, be more careful next time."

"I'm sorry," Naruto told him in a small voice. "I…"

His look fell onto the photo and he froze in his place.

She was an angel. She was very beautiful. Naruto thought she was the most beautiful girl he had seen in his lifetime. Dark hair contrasted with red lips and blue eyes with long lashes to make the picture completely out of this world. Naruto felt himself beginning to blush. But why in the world did he have a feeling somewhere in his heart that she was familiar to him that he had seen her before. He just didn't know.

"Who is she?" he didn't recognize his voice. "She is…so…beautiful."

Yondaime's look froze somewhere near the photo as if he was remembering something. He breathed out a sad smile.

"She is…was…my wife."

"Your wife?" Naruto was surprised for a moment but finally it dawned on him. A big house…two offices…He…Yondaime wasn't going to live alone!

"Where is she now?" he couldn't believe his courage.

Arashi's look became uneasy.

"She died," he finally managed to answer trying not to look in Naruto's direction.

"Dead," Naruto repeated to himself. How did it happen? Who was she? Thousands of questions were floating in his mind but he couldn't find any way to ask.

"I'm sorry," he said not knowing why.

"That's ok," Arashi's voice tried to be emotionless but it cracked in the end. "It was…long ago."

He closed his eyes for a moment. For him…in his life only a month and a half had passed. The wound in his heart was too fresh and no matter how well he tried to hide it he just couldn't manage with the pain.

"I'll go to bed," Naruto moved to the exit. The friendly happy moment was broken and he felt really uneasy.

"Good night," Arashi nodded continuing looking at the photo.

Naruto nodded and went out of the room. He closed the door and for a moment just stood unable to move trying to cope with this feeling. Why…just why had everything inside him screamed that he should return and say something to make Yondaime feel better? Why it was so hard for him to see the 4th sad?

Naruto shook his head. Sometimes he really didn't understand himself. He made a step then another one and went to his room.

"I wonder, what kind of couple they were?" a strange thought came into his mind and then he fell asleep.