The administration building was always a busy place, so many feet and hands moving it was like a hive for the employees who buzzed around the network of the village. Each of them dancing to a specific beat, a specific partner, with a specific role all buzzed around their jobs and made sweet honey in their comb. They moved as if they were drones, no they were drones all them when they were on the clock. They were obedient like trained dogs and Shihouin made sure to feed them their biscuit treats at the end of the week. All of them so blindly faithful, nothing but drones and they didn’t even realize it. So sweet, he thought. Fetch, he thought and they caught, run he thought and they sprinted, speak he thought and they barked. Or were they still bees? Yeah they were, because if anyone tried to attack the hand that fed them they’d probably die in the process. Dogs and bees, an interesting concept.

For Shihouin, he trashed his paperwork and got up from his seat stretching his tall body backwards, cracking his long spinal cord as if he were to do a back flip. He leaned forward and touched his toes with his long fingers and leaned sideways, and to the other side. A few jumping jacks, no more than ten or twenty and his blood was flowing. He had a strange smile on his face, like some kid who had a stash of candy tucked away where mommy and daddy didn’t look. Nah, more like he had was some kid who knew where mommy and daddy's wallets were and when they were gone so he could stea—borrow a couple of dollars. Yeah, Shihouin smile was far from candy-sweetened innocence. He had the smile of a mischievous child.

Shihouin walked forward and gripped the shiny brass door knob and twisted tight, pulling the deadbolt away from its socket inside of the door and pulled open. A rush of slightly wet air blasted his face and in a moment he was before his very loyal dogs and bitches, which didn’t bother to look up from their work. Obviously because they were too busy filling up their honeycombs fill of that sweet thick golden labor he liked so much. He moved in a brisk pace towards the back doors, a lanky body made his head float above the honeycomb walls as he caught a few eyes from some of the bees who were not focusing on their work.

He pulled out his keys and fiddled with the set, flipping one key over another and another, looking for the match to the lock on the door. After finding a small key, he shoved it inside of the lock and shook a little bit and was finally able to turn it. A broken lock was one of the best security features if you knew how to work it yourself. It beat paying for a ninja to guard his secrets especially when everyone hated him like he was a red-head step child. He opened the door silently, looking down to a looming dark tunnel with an old yellow light that lit up the cobwebs and still silent long-leg spiders in the corner. Closing it behind him, he made his way briskly down the tall steps, watching his feet into his descent of darkness.

Each step on the cold broken stone hit lightly as he began to get quiet and smiled to himself again. This door had a simple lock on the handle. He turned the small metal lip of the lock to the left and unlocked the heavy concrete barrier. He pushed the swinging door open as it slid slowly across the dusty tiled floors into a special room. A special room which had been under everyone’s feet for a long time, lurking like a troll under a bridge. He pushed the door back with his back and flicked a switch, illuminating the place.

The old style fluorescent long light bulbs cased in hard plastic made that annoying hum sound and it took a while for them all to come on. They lit up across the one bedroom sized basement, lighting up the door to the other room and slowly racing across the place until the whole room was humming with inefficient electricity. Shihouin looked up and smiled with a bit of nostalgia because he hadn’t been here for a while. He laughed to himself as he looked at large dead cockroach in one of the light fixtures. Last time he had been down here it was alive and kicking, trying to escape.

The walls of the room had been painted and covered with poor gluing with all types of Konoha newspaper. Different journals and magazines and editorials and all that stuff that people who thought they were educated read. They littered the first wall heavily and then grew sparse as they hit the last two walls, only dotting them like benign leprosy. They were yellow too because they were so old, and they all dated at least from Shihouin's age as a boy up until some ones last year. They all had writing on them stuff that was hard to read because the papers were old, but you could tell he wrote them. If you looked up you could see the silver piping and air tunnels in the ceiling and you could see the wooden frame because it was unfinished. There were loose papers covering some spots and black wires ran across and they hung down from the ceiling and yeah they were live wires.

The floor was dirty, covered in water stains and spray paint, mostly the color red. There were some blues and yellows and greens from him playing around a lot with the space he had. A few of the tiles were broken or completely missing. Open and crushed boxes covered some of the tiles which had broken pipes underneath them and overall, the floor was pretty unsafe too. Everything in this room was the same way in the other empty room except for the fact that the walls and the floors were clean and safe if they could be mopped, but the ceiling was the same.

But what was really important was the fact that there was a large hospital bed down here, and some life support machines with an IV and other medical stuff. There was also a TV and a camera too, facing the bed. In the bed was none other than the woman who had been causing all of Shihouin’s pain. Well it wasn’t her fault, he was the one who had ordered her to be raped and water-boarded and beaten and almost killed. She was a vegetable and all she could do was scream, moan and blink once or twice for yes and no. It wasn’t like her body was a vegetable, it was fine. She didn’t have the hook hands and tight fingers like she had rigormortis, nor was her body skinny and shriveled. It was just like she was dead mentally, but not entirely dead, just like a vegetable. Shihouin stepped over cords and tubes over to her body and looked on her. He stroked the hair from her face as she woke up slightly from her slumber, moving from his hand. He reached over to a small wooden desk next to her and pressed two buttons. The flashlight on the camera came on and the camera turned on and so did the TV. It was that time again.

Shihouin bent down in front of the camera and adjusted it so it could focus. The tripod stand was exactly on her and he moved the little crank up and down to make sure it was at the perfect level. He pulled a small little cloth band out from the lower rungs of the tripod and put it around his head, strapping it to him as he turned another small camera on. The old cathode ray TV split into two parts one with the image from his camera on his head and the other with the image from the camera on the tripod. He was recording this. There was a stereo in the stand holding the TV up and he turned it on and some light music began to play in the background. You could hear the beat really well down here.

[Music]

Then things proceeded to get odd, really odd. Shihouin gripped the zipper on his flak jacket tight and pulled it all the way down. Arcadia was still stirring in her sleep. She had to sleep a lot down here, since she couldn't watch TV or anything. He took off his flak jacket and threw it across the room on one of the big boxes covering the broken tiles. He took off the long sleeve he had on and then took off the fishnet too until his chest was completely naked. He was pretty tall-looking like this, with his shirt off. You could see his boxers above his blue pants, they were checkered red and white. He moved back over to the table and stretched his arms across, letting armpit get some air; it tickled a little bit since it was cold over here. There were some pills in a bottle labeled alprazolam or 'Xanax', the little pink ones. He took the lid off and chugged three or four of them.

They had made a mistake to let this guy be Hokage and you could see it in Arcadia’s eyes. She wasn’t scared of him, but her eyes screamed hate and coldness and fear of going through this again. He did this every now and then and it was too strange for her to bear. He didn’t rape her or anything, but it was like he wanted to and never did it. It was that strange feeling of maybe he should just rape me and get it over with and kill me and let me die so I can be in peace. She knew he was saving her for power. How long would it take? The ceiling, that familiar click of the machines around her, she knew them like a conductor to his orchestra. She couldn’t think much, but hope for death was probably on her mind.

Shihouin smiled as he stood over her, and she avoided eye contact, not even because of Sharingan. Her body struggled a little bit. He moved the grip attachment to the side of the bed, the grip which allowed the patient to get up easier, and then he did the unspeakable and crawled in the bed on top of her. He wasn’t heavy so it didn’t hurt her, but it was more than uncomfortable. "I made this song for you. You wanna hear it? It goes like this." He kissed her softly on the lips, but it wasn’t because he was attracted to her, or that he wanted to take advantage of her sexually. It was because he knew that in her half-baked mental state, she hated it. It was all against her will, you could say he was fucking with her. "Here I go, don’t be mad if it’s not good because I’m not done. Uh-uh-ahem." He paused and recited the lyrics which he had stolen. "I don’t wanna play you, I just wanna tape you undress/ and then I’ll lay you down and record soft porn,/ if it's romance then it’s hardcore, if it’s horror, pop the popcorn/ the thought to rape you really turns me the fuck on." He looked up to her agitated. "Why do you look so mad? You don’t like it?" He got kind of angry.

He grabbed her throat and didn’t choke her but made her cough a bit. "I’ll kill you if I find out you’re cheating on me. Are you?" He loosened up off of her throat. She blinked twice quickly and as clearly as she could. No. "That’s what I thought. I think I'm crazy you know. It’s not even because I’m an Uchiha it’s because of this pink Xanax, makes me feel good but I think I get a little crazy. I’m sorry honey." And then he kept going, it was hard to look if you were sitting in there. If you were reading about it in some novel and you were too faint of heart you would look for a summary on the computer and skip those pages. You could see it, but not vividly, it was one of those types of situations that you could remember too well. Every time he stroked her body and hair and kissed her on the lips and neck, you knew he wanted to rape her. But at the same time you knew it wasn’t rape he was after, it was the torture of the thought of rape, it was that mental fondling with her fears. When he put his hand up her hospital dress and moved his fingers around, you would know he was messed up in the head because he didn’t even reach for her at all, he just tickled her thighs to uncomfortably arouse her. The scene was NC-17, but it was definitely rated 'fucked-up'.

He usually did this for about a few hours. It was like foreplay with him because he never took his pants off and never actually stripped down. He would just touch her and kiss her, and rub her in so many ways. After doing it so many times to her, she had stopped the screaming and just wanted to get it over with. He hadn’t been down here in a while, so she had to deal with overtime and extra 'stuff'. After a few hours if she got really distressed, he slid her some Valium and morphine so he could make the soft-core-rape feel good physically. She was barely able to comprehend complex things, so that meant the touching felt good and really bad at the same time. Sometimes she would try to distract herself by thinking about images of him dying, and when he fondled her inappropriately she thought about that hand, or those fingers blowing apart. She thought about Ayame too, not sexually. She imagined Ayame’s fist running into his face. In her little fantasy world she could see with x-ray vision, so she saw all the bones in his jaw fracture and break, and his muscles rip. She liked that. She could see someone like Mitsu running his bones into his face and ripping the Sharingan out of his eyes. Just dreams, empty dreams. He was still touching her for only 30 minutes, but she lied to herself and said it was 15 minutes so he would be done quicker than she thought. Only 15 minutes in.

Meanwhile up above in the office, some woman got an important message, some secretary from some desk. It was for the Hokage and she had been one of the persons to see him go down into one of the many doors back. She knew which door it was. She wore office clothes, pushing the keyboard away from her blouse and folded black long skit. She stretched a bit and stood up from her chair, and got up. She had a message that was urgent and top priority and the Hokgae had to see it at once. She wasn’t allowed in that room, but the message was important. Important enough for her to assume she could cross her clearance level and go down there. So she did. She moved her small little body and blended in with the rest of the bees and bitches and dogs and went to the door. She looked at the lock and it was unlocked to her surpise, so she cracked it open and slipped her tiny body through the small opening in the door and closed it behind her. Her heart thumped as a noise raced from under her feet and shook the room. The power in the yellow musty light bulb above her black hair blinked and went out completely. She froze bad idea. Bad idea! But before she could bitch out, the light turned back on and she found comfort that she could at least see. She was already sweating bullets at this point, like stinkin’ dog, err bitch.

Shihouin stopped when the lights went off completely. He looked up as the battery powered flashlight on the camera shone on his face. He turned around to face the door. The power always took a minute or so to come on down here. Fuck. What surprised him wasn’t the power though; it was the fact that the door was moving in the darkness. He could hear someone struggling and breathing heavily to push it. He rolled over Arcadia’s body and dashed to the other room in silence, opening the door which held that other dark room. Before the lights came back on in the room he was in, they came on in Arcadia’s room. The woman pushed her way in leading with her back, so when she caught sight of the wall she stared up and down in mystery because she was a stranger to this room. "Lord Hokage?" She walked backwards in the room and was still looking only along the first wall. "Lord Hokage?" She moved slowly and tripped a little bit on a tile that had been laid improperly. Her head spun around as looked at the room in its entirety. Her hands drew closer to her chest in shock, and she saw Arcadia as Arcadia struggled to draw attention to the hope, the lady who had just walked into the room who could expose Shihouin!

Tch. 'I told no one to come down here.' Shihouin moved silently, stalking her footsteps and walking right behind her, towering terrifically over her trembling tiny body. He smiled and reached his hand around her neck slowly, like two long tentacles from the kraken rising from the sea. Those two tentacles reached in silence and in a snap they were around her neck and mouth, covering her screams as she kicked and shook, until her shoes came off. She struggled hard to move and her body was in a seizure like state of fear, shaking wildly trying to escape his grab. Shihouin was no kraken though he was a cobra, he was a king cobra. He lift her frail body up and she kicked the air as if she were drowning in it.

He walked over to Arcadia. "In ANBU we learned how to kill people like this remember? There are several ways you can do it from here right? You remember, I think you were in a couple of classes with me. I prefer to just go ahe-" He jerked her neck quickly to the right. "And snap the neck." But he didn’t kill her, he only moved her head quickly to one side. "Or I can show you what’s to come eventually for you." He lingered on and reached down and pulled up her long skirt. She screamed more under his hand and tried to bite him, but she couldn’t open her mouth. And she tried to kick him, but he didn’t budge at all. Trapped like a rat in a snake hole. But before you could see those pink panties she had on he stopped and let it fall down to her mid thighs. "But no, what’s the use of letting you know early? I remember when you were a.. monster. You remember? You had to drink blood to stay alive. I think I want to try it." Repositioning his hand, he raised her in the air with one arm and pressed his thumb down on her throat to leave her jugular free. He brought her closer and licked her next and spit it out. It was sweaty. Yeck. She tasted like bitch.

Yeah, he bit down hard and blood didn’t spray out but it rushed out quickly. Fuck! He backed away from her body before it could get all over him and threw her down on the ground, kicking her under Arcadia's bed. Needless to say she stopped kicking after a while, and died of course. Shihouin looked towards Arcadia. "I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean too. I’m sorry. I’ll clean up. I gotta go though; I’ll see you next time. I’ll make a mix CD with some more songs on it and we can listen to those. Sorry, again." He powered down the camera, took off the one on his head and turned off the TV along with all the other electrical equipment. He put back on his clothing and flak jacket and carried himself outside of the door and turned off the lights. Now, it was time to go lie to meet Medusa who had been preparing speech for him to speak to the civilians which he was 10 minutes late for. He was so busy today, you know with lying and rape and killing.

'The life of the Third Hokage…' he sighed to himself as he locked up the basement and the door. 'So much work on my hands!'

Hana was sitting with Kitsu in her lap as she read her book on the couch. She stroked his red fur continuously. The little fox yipped occasionally. Her book was getting quite interesting. Hana's face was slightly red from her blush. She read on with what was happening in the story.

Little did Aiko know that the man she loved dearly was going to use her in the worst ways possible. As the doors closed behind them the man held her arms to his chest. "Aiko... I want you..." The woman nodded and gasped as his damp lips met hers. Their tongues wrestled each other for dominance. Aiko moaned continuously as his hands crept about her body. The young woman was so devoted to him. She didn't realize that after this night she would finally officially be his toy. The man who was so intimate with her would make sure after this night that her body would be so in love with him she wouldn't betray him ever. She wouldn't realize that he would use her powers to protect him from others as he made it to the top. To become the Kusakage. He'd use her until she was bleeding and broken. And then he'd find some more pleasure in her before throwing her away for a new, prettier and more durable toy. Aiko screamed his name as-

Hana gasped at the knock at the door. She pushed the light fox off her as she went to answer the door. The blush on her face was still present though she tried to keep a game face on. She opened it and a man with a fox mask stood outside it. Well he COULD have been a woman if it weren't for the broad shoulders and large body. The wetness Hana had felt below was now gone. The excitement she had gotten from her naughty novel had disappeared as the girl saw the serious ANBU member outside her door.

"Lord Hokage wishes to speak with you immediately," he told her quickly. Hana nodded and went to get dressed. She expected some kind of mission. If not something important. She took all the ninja equipment she thought she would need. She than made sure the fox had some water and rushed outside her apartment building. She rushed to the administration building.

Once there she entered. The black haired secretary that was normally there was gone. In her place was a new girl. She was talking to an ANBU member. "I don't know WHAT happened. I looked all over for her. Do you think she ran off with some man? She was known to be the office slut. But still.. you'd think she'd let us know where she was going right?"

Hana wondered briefly where the secretary had gone though that was quickly wiped from her mind as the woman looked to Hana. "Oh he'll see you right away. Be mindful he's a bit different today. Perhaps it's lack of sleep..." the chattery woman told her.

The young genin gulped slightly. What did he want with her? What did she mean he was acting different? Was he in a bad mood? Or scarier... was he in a good mood? Was it neither?

Back in his hollow dried out office, Shihouin noticed Medusa sitting in his chair looking outside of the window above a mass of people. They were all so small up here, each of their colored or non-colored faces and heads were hard to make out, and they were all bunched together under the administration building waiting for something important. Shihouin moved over to Medusa and stood in front of her. She was dressed professional today; finally throwing away that slutty barefoot style she normally wore. A nice black suit and white blouse with a long black skirt and glasses which she didn’t even need to wear. She stood up and sighed.

She had a black briefcase next to her and she undid the straps on it, pressing her thumbs against the briefcase and undoing the latches with her manicured hands. Inside was a long piece of fabric folded up traditionally and wrapped in a tight bind with plastic. Taking out the packet of clothing she handed it to him. “Your cape, and a couple of grey rubber bands to keep your sleeves tight. You’ll look like Yondai-“ Both of them stopped in dead silence, looking towards the door in a flash. Who was coming in now? He had only wanted one person to come aid him with his speech and it was…

Hana. The small girl whom he’d been growing exceptionally fond of timidly walked in unsure of what was going on, or at least it seemed. Shihouin knew that she was a lot in this speech and that he could do it without her, and he could do it alone if he wanted to. However Hana was a little ball of angel tears, dripped into cake flour mix into a perfect tall delicacy. She was perfect and she was the pathos that he needed to move the crowds. With her just standing there with big eyes and that Konoha headband, they would listen to him. If he could get a few words from her... it would be icing… on the cold future of Konoha.

Shihouin popped the plastic and took out the long cape and held it in front of him. It’d been tailored to his long body to fit him well. It was the same exact cape and everything as Yondaime’s except with the character for three instead of four, and the white and red flames that lingered at the end of the cape now screamed Uchiha instead of the Will of Fire, something subtle to tease the subliminal tastes the crowd had. Shihouin put it on and spoke. “I need you Hana, that’s why I called you. I need you to help me make this speech to the village. We’ve put a balcony out of the window so I can walk from these long windows.” He pointed to the long catwalk with a platform made of wood outside of the window of the Kage’s office. “I’m going to give a speech, and then if you want to you can give some words to the village. I would appreciate it. If you don’t want to, then you can simply stand by me.” Shihouin smiled and placed the bands around his sleeves and made sure he had the cape on tight, putting his headband on and everything. If it wasn’t for the black hair and tall body, he would have easily been mistaken.

He moved slowly to the balcony, pushing open the window as he walked out onto the catwalk which had a small guard rail near it. About a few meters in front of him was the stand with several microphones and controls with switches he didn’t know about. The crowd grew deathly silent, trickling down from an impatient roar to a murmur which ran through them like a contagious rumor. He slowly walked out on the catwalk and tapped one of the microphones and looked down on the crowd knowing Hana was behind him, and they’d be able to see both him and Hana well from their position. He didn’t speak for an awkward minute, thinking about things.

This was it. This was the moment of truth. This was, where everything became his. This was the end of Konoha and the birth of a new one. He opened his mouth, and from that moment on he became famous. Every television and radio station was on his mouth. Everyone was listening, from guards to kids and moms and grandpas. It was time to deliver his address.

“I’ve come here today not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great village but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who put me here. I know that for many citizens and ninja listening right now, the seat of Hokage is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so. If you haven’t been personally affected by my position as Sandaime, you probably know someone who has. A friend, a neighbor, maybe even a member of your family. Of course you don’t want to hear of the issues surrounding me again, you have been living it every day of your lives since I stepped into power. Going to sleep at night, and that feeling when you toss in your bed and you don’t know what I’m going to do next, wondering where the Nidaime is, and wishing he was back. All the peace and the smooth dreams you had have been traded for uncertainty and doubt. The impact of my position as Sandaime is real and it is everywhere.

“But while your moral may be weak and your confidence in me as Sandaime may be low, tonight and forever I want every human in Konoha to know this.” He took a pause and sighed.

“I am sorry.”

Everyone in the crowd below him went deathly silent, as if the crickets were up next for a speech. No one saw it coming and it was like a train wreck. Not that it was horrible to watch, but the massive shock of those three words hitting them kept them in silence. It gripped their feeble hearts and tore their heart strings and began to rip all the doubt out of them. It pushed that hate and anger away so far and so deep into the ground that he was beginning to look different to some. His image began to change from a brat to a role model, and it was working.

“The pressure of me being Hokage will not determine the future of this proud village. I am not an obstacle to the village, but rather I aspire to be someone to prevent obstacles from blocking you all. The qualities that make the Hidden leaf the greatest place and force in human existence still exist within ample measure. It exists within each and every one of you, even your children. What is required now if for this Village to pull together and to control boldly the challenges we face and take responsibility for all our faults. Now if we’re truthful to our own selves we’ll agree that for too long we have not met these responsibilities as a Hokage, government and people. I’m saying this not to place the blame or to look backwards but because it’s only by understanding each other is how we can rise from this issue.

“The fact is, I am willing to come down there and shake hands with each one of you. Bow to your feet and kiss your babies. We all have lived through a time where too often, hate has ruled us and understanding was lost. Time after time we have fought in wars whether they be physically or emotionally and we’ve hurt one another. We’ve hated one another. That hatred breeds a lust for power, and that lust for power created individuals like me who could only see the darkness.

“No one knows this, but the Nidaime showed me the light. After doing the unspeakable I was punished by the Nidamie and forced into submission before his power. I knelt down shaking on all fours, trembling in fear and lack of strength. I waded in my own vomit and blacked out.” Shihouin looked down, as if to suggest he couldn’t fully deal with those bad memories. “In a puddle of my own failure the seed of righteousness took place and the faith of a better day grew slowly and steadily. I began to realize what a terrible individual I am.

“And now I stand before you a changed man, with a changed heart and a changed philosophy. In this village as Sandaime Hokage I see no enemies. I see no hate, and I see no lust for cold power! We’ve all suffered before! There are only the people of the Hidden Village in the Leaves! If you still hold hate in your heart, then when this speech is over I will come down and bow before you and give you my blade. If you have hate towards me, take my head and stick it on a pike!” Anyone would be able to feel the emotions arising, however they were not any against him. “Our own hatred is out to destroy our lives and if hatred takes us over the whole village will be finished. I’m too young to protect the village from hatred on my own. Please give me your help! Not as even Hokage, not as a shinobi, but as a citizen of the proud village of the Leaves!”

Everyone was in an uproar of cheering and shouting and tremendous joy. He did it. They had all went from the person they hated to the person they wanted to be Hokage for years to come. It was this moment that he almost lost his cool and almost laughed crazily and almost went insane from the pleasure. If you looked closely you could see his knee’s shake a little bit. Anyone who saw it would pass it off as nervousness but it was pleasure, pure orgasm in the mind. There were only a little of tasks that needed to be finished. It was all his now. After the crowd started to come down, Shihouin spoke. “Now, I wanted to let my beloved comrade and student of the next generation of leaf ninja speak about this amazing new peace. …”

This was the moment, life or death. It was in her hands.

Sc's used:

Hana stood there feeling slightly awkward. Who was that woman? She couldn't have been his secretary because his secretary was supposedly missing. Hana's head tilted. She was really pretty. No pretty didn't describe her. Seductive and sexy was more her style. She looked very professional. Hana felt weird as the two were dressed in fancy clothing. She herself was in her usual ninja uniform with her headband on her head. She felt under dressed.

Hana nodded at Shi. "You wanted to see me Shihouin-sensei?" She gave up on calling him Hokage sama. She felt more of a connection to him now. He was closer than a hokage. He was a second sensei to her. While Ayame was the perfect goody goody sensei type, Shihouin taught her so many different things. Things she thought she was probably a bit too young for. Like how he brought out her more daring and cocky nature. He was more of the "tough love" kind of teacher. But Hana needed that. She needed someone to be harder on her. To push her to her limits. Ayame had taught her the "Straight on the path" way.

While Ayame was light Shihouin was dark. Hana had the whole coin. Not just one side. She had the advantage no other student had. She was learning to be strong from both sides. Though under his tutelage Hana felt more power. With Ayame she felt like she had to wait for her cake to cool down and put frosting on. With Shi she felt she could eat the cake as soon as it came out of the oven. She would probably burn herself but she'd still learn a lesson as well as Shi being there to let her know what she did wrong.

The young genin's eyes widened as he told her he needed her. She had to give a speech?! Her gut instantly began to do twists and turns. She'd seen the crowd as she came into the building. It had looked like all of Konoha was there. She wouldn't know what to say or do! How could she go in front of them all?! Sure he gave her the choice of doing it or not but she wanted to do her best to please him. To make him proud of her. After all, every time they met she felt as if he were more of a father to her than anything.

Hokage was gone now. That barrier was long gone. His title was now sensei. Sure she still respected him as the greatest hokage she had known, (she didn't really know any previous hokage's personally), but she felt he was more of a mentor. That they were closer than Hokage and villager. They were master and student. Were they even closer? She wasn't sure. She knew he felt as if he were a sensei to her though. After all why would he go to the trouble of teaching her so much? A hokage wouldn't do that for just any ninja would he?

She twiddled her thumbs nervously as she thought about it as he finished getting dressed. "I'll do anything you wish of me sensei," she told him with a nervous smile. She followed the man out on the balcony. Her eyes closed as she exited the room. That way she couldn't see the very large and scary crowd. She was surprised. Why was it so quiet?

She then opened her eyes and turned green with naseaua. She saw a huge crowd of people. She grew stiff with fear. She wanted to run back into that room and go sit with the lady in there. Even if she didn't have a very welcoming air about her.

She sucked it up though. She HAD to. This was for Shi. Whatever reason he needed her she had to do as he asked. He had her devotion. She thought he'd earned it after all. She swallowed the bile in her throat and wet her lips with her tongue.



Hana ate up every word he had to say. Such a man to admit he was sorry. She wasnt' sure what he had done in the past but whatever it was he was seriously sorry for it. She admired him even more now. It took a real man to say something like that.

When the crowd began to cheer Hana KNEW she wouldn't be able to do what Shi did. Though now was the time to use her manipulative powers to help him. It wasn't bad. No, why would this be bad? She was going to tell them how she view Shi and how he was helping the village. She just had to act a bit was all.

Hana's mind changed from the young girl to the young woman. She stood strait and blushed slightly for effect. She thought of Kitsu dying and her eyes glistened with slight tears. Her nose even began to twitch as it felt like she was about to cry. She hoped she looked innocent enough. She heard a few shouts from her friends in the crowd. There were only about five but they were yelling, "Look! It's Hana-chan!"

Hana felt a rush of pleasure and pride. She wanted to smirk. She got special attention from the Hokage. She was his beloved comrade and student. That meant something right? She wanted to wave it in their faces a little but that wouldn't be professional. She stood closer to Shi and looked out over the crowd with her glistening eyes.

"Shihouin Hokage-Sama is a great man. It takes a lot for a man with such pride to apologize to EVERYONE in such a manner. He's certainly humble." She paused for affect, blue eyes continuing to glisten.

"I've heard stories about his youth. I know many don't think he's trustworthy. He even had to gain MY trust-when we first met I was a lowly genin. But he took the time to teach me. Like any sensei would. I wasn't anything special. All I am is a Konoha citizen. Why did he train me? Why did he help me to become twice the ninja I was? Because he wants the new generation to bring Konoha a golden age!" She pumped her fist in the air, completely serious.

"Shihouin sama WILL lead us into a golden age. He cares about each and every individual. He would do anything for us. I trust him with my life and I know he will do great things for Konoha. So we should all give him a chance and put our trust in him! Its our duty to be behind our hokage one hundred percent!"

The crowd wasn't as loud as before but they seemed to have even more trust in their eyes. They watched Hana with trust as well. The crowd had so much hope now. She felt a rush of pride that hid the guilt of some of her white lies in her pretty speech.

She put her hand on Shi's arm as another sign of trust. Giving more for the crowd to eat up. She looked up at his face to see his facial expression. To see if he was proud of her. Her heart was still racing from the adrenaline rush of what had just happened.

The tremendous roar and joy that barreled through the crowd could be felt emotionally but even physically as well. Shihouin could feel the vibrations in the temporarily made balcony and he could see some of the wires shake and move across the wood floor. Thins were going as planned, moving along like chess pieces on a board. No, no this was more than chess, because there was no one to play against. This was a well thought out plan which was being executed perfectly and needed no descriptor to represent how massive everything he had done was.

As she touched his hand the crowed cheered even more, but Shihouin rose his for a small second to silence them. The vibrations in the ground stopped and everyone drew to a warm stop to wait for what he had to say next. He bent down towards the microphone, leaning his tall body over so he could speak softly but so he could be heard. "This young lady has also beat out your own Hokage's record for minimum time from Genin to Chuunin. As such, she shall be instantly rewarded as so and become a Chuunin of the Hidden Leaf village, if you all agree." Of course the only answer was acceptance. In front of the civilians they were presented with a question which they just yelled in agreeably with. "I think they agree.... Congratulations Hana. It's been a pleasure to train you and will be as I continue to train you. We are now equal Konoha shinobi!"

Shihouin's comment was more for the ninja as well, who also shouted along in joy as well. It meant that he was doing something correct with the future generation of Konoha, just like all of the other Hokage's before them. Hana was the 'King' which all Hokage, Jounin and higher ups had to protect. She represented the new leaves which would blossom and grow to become strong ninja in the future and take care of the entire village. With this popularity at such a young age, Hana's fate was now controlling her for the better, even more-so than Shihouin was doing.

Being trained by Ayame put her in line with the fate that would recognize her as a student who had been trained along with the woman who had ties deep with the Uzumaki and the Kage's from the First Generation of Hokages. Under Shihouin whom was now a village favorite and the Third Hokage, she definitely had potential to become someone great. The better she got during these years would ultimately prove her worth as she grew up, and she could definitely become the Yondaime Hokage... Shihouin felt fate was pushing her that way. He thought about it for a second... Hana as Yondaime...


Not impossible at all....

The crowd was going nuts. Hana couldn't believe how easy that was. Sure Shihouin had warmed them up but a few more words from herself made them go from trusting and pretty moderate pride to pure joy and love. She hadn't even said much. Her nervous smile was now slowly changing into one of happiness and confidence. She turned to face the crowd once more after looking up at Shi. He hadn't been looking at her. He'd been looking out to the crowd with a look of joy, thoughfulness, and what was that hidden in his eyes? There was a glint...

She was distracted by what he said next. "This young lady has also beat out your own Hokage's record for minimum time from Genin to Chuunin. As such, she shall be instantly rewarded as so and become a Chuunin of the Hidden Leaf village, if you all agree."

Was he serious? She'd beaten his own record? Wow, that was impressive. She'd heard that he ranked up faster than the average ninja. She was surprised she'd beaten him at something. Sure it was something as simple as ranking up and Shi was probably training more than ranking up, but she still felt good about it. She was shocked that she actually had chunin now.

A rush of pride and confidence for herself filled her belly and rushed to her head. Like fire in her blood, but it felt good. The crowd went even crazier at his new words. She heard a few of her friends and acquaintances calling her name. A few of her fellow no not fellow anymore, PREVIOUS genin friends turned away. Either in jealousy or frustration at their own failure. She didn't want to get a swelled head but this felt great.

She grinned and began waving to the cheering crowd. She was chunin now. She'd met one of her main goals. Yes, she wasn't close enough to her other goals, but for now she could bask in the moment. She even winked at a guy that looked very similar to Mitsu. She wasn't sure if it was him or not but who cared? Nothing could bring her down now. She'd done her duty to her hokage and village and she got rewarded for it!

In the eyes of ninja she was now an adult. Her opinions mattered now. She wasn't the scum sucking on the ocean floor. Sure, she wasn't a shark either, but she proved she could become a shark. Some more training from the great white and the killer whale and Hana would be the queen of the seas. Of course the shark was Shi while the whale was Ayame. They both pretty much ruled Konoha. Hana only knew of a few other Jonin, but from what she'd heard around the village Shi and Ayame were the top dogs. She'd been TRAINED by them!

Shi also offered to train her more. Which meant she would be even stronger. He'd taught her the basics so she wondered what was next? Hopefully even more powerful techniques and ways of fighting. The young chunin looked up at Hokage. She wasn't sure if he was done talking yet. Did he have any more to say to the crowd? As much as Hana was loving this cheering and attention she wanted to go home and celebrate. Perhaps she'd watch a movie and then later during the night she'd begin to plan for new training and ways to get stronger. "Thank you sensei," she told him quietly. All her thanks and emotions went into those three words. She appreciated everything he had done for her. He truly was someone special to her.

The two waved one last time to the crowd before heading indoors. Hana wasn't too sure if she should hug him. He didn't really seem to be a touchy feely kind of guy. So she just stuck to a bow. "Thank you so much. I won't ever fail you Shinshou-sensei! You can count on that!" He then dismissed her and she headed home to eat some ramen and relax at home all night. The smile on her face lasted all night until her cheeks were sore.

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