It was a sad day for Konoha as the third Hokage's funeral took place under the soft beating of rain from the stormy clouds above their heads.

Naruto sat in his room. All dressed in black with white bandages covering his body and face. At least his eye had opened up and he could now see out of both eyes.

The genin stared at nothing as he sat on his bed for what felt like hours, trying to prepare himself somehow...to let go.

He had so many regrets. So many mistakes were made and he never got to tell the old man how much he actually meant to him.

And now he never will.

A soft knock sounded from the doorway of his room, gaining his attention.

In the doorway stood Kakashi. His own clothes mirrored his students, even his mask.

The blonde simply hung his head as he noticed his sensei. He hadn't been able to look him in the eye since Jiji died. The genin knew he had failed and not only has he failed his Sensei, but his village as well.

Kakashi looked at the boy with sadness, knowing exactly what was going through his head.

He stepped forward and sat next to the boy. The two stayed like that, in silence, for a while before Naruto spoke up.

"Why do they die... why do they risk their lives for other people?" Naruto asked, emotionless.

Kakashi glanced down at him and sighed "Are you still so naive, Naruto? Everyone dies...those that are left are joined through the memories of the past that involved those that have died. Emotions are what bind us to them and they die for those memories." Kakashi spoke softly.

Naruto stared at the Jounin for a moment before looking back down "still...I'm sad he's gone"

"Think of how sad it would be if he died for nothing..."

With that in mind, Kakashi stood up and walked out to pay his respects to Hayate, whom lost his life the night before the exams, before heading to the funeral. Naruto was left alone in the dark room to mull over what was said.

While he didn't like it. That was the way of life and his sensei was right. Jiji didn't die for nothing, Naruto would prove that by becoming Hokage and bringing peace to the shinobi world.

The blonde got up, still angry and sad but with renewed hope, and went to find his teammates.

Sakura and Sasuke were sat in the lounge, waiting on the blonde to compose himself. They stood quickly as the blonde finally came down with a serious expression.

"I'm not going to let this go. I'm going to prove the Hokage didn't die for nothing" Naruto immediately said what was on his mind. His teammates came closer with curiosity.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked while Sasuke watched closely.

"I mean what I mean! He didn't die for nothing and I'm going to prove it by becoming the greatest Hokage ever!" Naruto exclaimed with a raised fist.

Sakura started feeling excitement at the boy's energy and fist bumped her palm "Yosh! And I'll help you both to fulfill your dreams." She exclaimed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the two but smiled "I'll help you both achieve your dreams as well and along the way...we'll take down Itachi" the Uchiha smirked with determination.

"Agreed!" The two responded with a grin.

___

The funeral took up most of the morning and apart from the sad sight of Konohamaru crying, the sky had opened up and shone a bright ray of sunshine onto the third's photo, bringing a sense of peace to those around it.

Team 7, with renewed strength, set out to train harder than ever and while Kakashi didn't know where their energy was coming from, he gave them what they wanted: more training.

The Jounin didn't feel the best emotionally but this was something he dealt with all the time. He just wished it didn't have to happen to the third. Apart from Jiraiya, the old man was the only one left that knew him and looked after him when he was growing up. Now that he was gone and Jiraiya was hardly around, the Jounin was truly starting to feel a sense of vulnerability different from the past.

Not to mention the private conversations he'd had with the Hokage about becoming his successor. Kakashi wasn't sure what would happen now as not many knew about their arguments over the matter.

But that didn't stop him from training his kids.

The trio had returned that night, the night of Lord Hokage's funeral, and stayed up - talking about the future.

"You're a confusing boy, To" Sakura laughed as the trio and their sensei sat around the lounge on the sofas.

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms with a frown on his brows.

"Say, Kashi-Sensei" Naruto suddenly became serious.

"Hmm?" Said man lifted his head a little to show he was paying attention.

"Do you know what happened to...Ikoro?" Naruto asked, keeping his eyes firmly on the Jounin, who didn't flinch at the name.

The blonde could tell his teammates were trying not to groan in frustration at him.

"Why the sudden interest?" Kakashi responded with another question.

Naruto looked away with shy frown "it's just...ever since Jiji...do they really still need to keep him locked up?"

Kakashi looked at the other two to see their reactions to the situation but found that they, too, were rather curious about the answer to Naruto's question.

The Jounin sighed "listen...I understand you guys want to do the right thing and all that... stuff" Kakashi waved his hand in a bored fashion causing the genin to sweatdrop.

"But people like Ikoro can't be trusted. As innocent as he seems, he's not." Kakashi simply stated without giving any further information.

Naruto wasn't about to let it go there though "But he didn't do anything!" The blonde frowned deeply, the emotion in his voice made his sensei pause for a moment. The Jounin didn't realise how strongly the genin felt for the rogue male.

"Listen Naruto...the village doesn't have a Hokage right now, which means he definitely won't be released anytime soon" Kakashi explained while sitting back against the fireplace wall. The fire was the only source of light for the team that surrounded it and created a calm but mysterious aura.

"But-"

"Besides" Kakashi interrupted the boy, looking him straight in the eyes "Ikoro is wanted for the massacre of two families from the sand village."

This made the blonde pause.

"What? H-he killed two families?" Sakura muttered with a deep frown on her brows while Sasuke simply looked into the fire.

Kakashi nodded his head "That's right. Although, I suppose he had his own reasons. His wife cheated on him with another woman's husband. So he killed the man's family and his own...he had two daughters" Kakashi finished, glancing at Sakura with a sad look.

Naruto teared up, feeling more betrayed than he'd ever felt. All this time...he was angry at Jiji for keeping Ikoro locked up when Ikoro deserved it. When the Hokage knew what he was doing. When the genin was simply a genin thinking he was doing the right thing. Oh, how he felt he'd betrayed Jiji more than anything.

His teammates watched the blonde's tears silently falling over his scratched up cheeks and looked down with disappointment. With Naruto having such high hope for Ikoro, the rest of them couldn't help but feel that hope flow through them as well and to find out he was never innocent...hurt.

Kakashi, on the other hand, sighed at his charges. After all the harsh training they went through, it meant their social skills, and therefore judge of character, had detorieted to the point where they became attached too easily.

Something the Jounin knew would be broken away as they continued into their next training phase.

"Hey, let's go out to eat tonight" Kakashi suggested, trying to cheer them up.

While the man was known for his inability to show emotions, it seemed his team appreciated the effort and agreed to head out.

It was only as the team walked past Ichiraku Ramen did Kakashi close his eyes, hoping to make the restaurant disappear before Naruto saw it but alas, the boy had been leading the way straight to the small shop.

___

The next day came quickly, eager to get everyone on their feet again.

Out of all the buildings in Konoha, there were very few who would get up before or at the crack of dawn to start their day.

Kakashi being one of those few.

The Jounin groggily lifted himself from his single sized bed and rubbed his eye with the inside of his palm. He sighed and looked down at his pillow to see a small patch of sweat had accumulated overnight.

The Jounin stared sadly at the pillow sheet. Nightmares were a given for shinobi but lately, the Copy cat ninja was experiencing more than his fair share. Memories of old were resurfacing and worries of the future were clouding those memories. To say the nightmares were starting to get weird would be a slight understatement.

'Oh well, laundry day is tomorrow anyway' The male thought to himself as he pushed himself out of bed. The recent events making it a little harder than some mornings to get up.

He shrugged on a shirt but left his vest and headband off for the time being and walked down the hall, keeping an ear out for the genin in the house.

'Sleeping like little babies...except Naruto. Jeez, I pity the girl who has to marry him' Kakashi grimaced as he heard the nonstop sounds of the blonde's loud snoring.

As Kakashi stepped into the kitchen, he noticed the sun hadn't made its way up to at least peek over the horizon yet but he guessed it would be soon.

The Jounin prepared the Genin some breakfast as they'd definitely need it for today's training. They'd all be training with Guy to improve their taijutsu. Poor things.

Just then, a pecking sound interrupted the silver haired male from his thoughts as he placed bowls and a box of cereal onto the kitchen table.

He turned toward the window above the sink and pushed it open as he noticed the Hokage's messenger hawk staring up at him with a note attached to her leg.

Kakashi sighed, knowing exactly what this was about and reluctantly transported himself to the Hokage's office.

While the Hokage was dead, the council members have been in search of a new Hokage as the old man had never presented a successor, apart from Minato, who was also dead, and some hints here and there that pointed to Kakashi.

"You summoned?" The Jounin asked, not bothering to bow to the three. They weren't especially respected by anyone but their own brainwashed anbu and even they talked behind their backs most of the time.

"Indeed, Kakashi." Homura, one of the village elders and council members, greeted.

On each side of him were the other two elders and council members, Koharu and Danzo. No doubt the one eyed male would be reaching for the Hokage's spot.

As the Jounin looked around, he noticed the feudal Lord and some of his fellow comrades that were in high positions in the room as well. All staring at him...great.

"I expect you know what this meeting is about?" Koharu questioned, getting straight to the point. Kakashi noticed the slight, uncomfortable, shift in Danzo's movements.

Guess he didn't agree with this meeting.

"Hai." The Jounin lazily replied.

"Good. Hiruzen had mentioned multiple times his desire for you to be his successor and so, will you-"

"-This is outrageous!" Danzo yelled and stood up as he cut Homura off. Said elder shifted back in surprise at the sudden interruption but kept silent as Danzo said his piece.

Kakashi stared at the man with a challenging gaze. He had no problem ending the elder right then and there but that wouldn't win him any points...would it?

"This man is not capable of taking over such a high pressure position, he's far too lazy as it is" Danzo snapped, calming himself down to simply glaring at the Jounin.

Kakashi briefly wondered what he did to garden such hate but shrugged it off and sighed "Can you give me a time that you've personally regarded my duties as being completed with 'laziness'?" Kakashi asked, calm as ever.

"Just now." The elder, almost childishly, muttered.

The Jounin sighed again "you should work on your identification of what laziness and calmness looks like...sir. I'm simply calm" Kakashi smiled "which is more than what I can say for you" he muttered under his breath, not really caring if anyone heard.

"Kakashi" Shikaku stepped in, turning the attention onto him and giving Danzo a moment to breath.

"Do you even want to be Hokage?" The Nara asked.

The question, although simple enough, was strangely hard to answer for the masked man.

While many all across the village feared and respected him with enough intensity to be considered at the Hokage's level, the Jounin felt he still had too many negative villagers that would rather see him dead than become Hokage.

It wasn't a matter of whether or not he wanted it. He just knew the villagers weren't ready to have him yet and while Kakashi promised the old man that he'd either take the position or find someone else, Kakashi was struggling to find someone else.

"Hmm" the Jounin hummed in deep thought.

"Is it really that hard to come to a conclusion?" Koharu asked with a raise eyebrow.

"Yes" Kakashi answered and kept thinking on, causing some to sweatdrop at his answer and others to grow irk marks.

"Well, it can't be helped" Kakashi muttered, running a tired hand through his silver hair "I'll have to decline" he smiled to the elders.

Everyone in the room seemed strangely taken aback by his answer and Kakashi could only wonder why that was.

"You're declining?!" Homaru exclaimed, clearly more taken aback than the others.

"But why? This position should be taken up with honor!" Koharu spoke up, a deep frown on her wrinkled features. Or maybe that was just the wrinkles alone.

Danzo, surprisingly kept his mouth shut for once while the others in the room stared at the Jounin with disbelief.

Kakashi stared at the Hokage's desk with sadness before answering "While I am honored by the offer, the third and I often argued about this as well" he paused and shifted his gaze to the window overlooking Konoha. "But...the village is not ready to have me as Hokage. While I don't expect any of you to understand, this was the one thing the third and I could agree on." Kakashi stated, his gaze becoming hard as he shifted his gaze to the elders.

They seemed to think for a moment but Kakashi wasn't done.

"However, we did have a deal" Kakashi looked up, in deep thought about the memory of having to choose someone else.

"What was it?" Danzo grumbled in question.

Kakashi glanced at him before returning his gaze to the window again "Either I took the position or found someone who could" the Jounin muttered.

Chatter broke out as finished but as Koharu stood and narrowed her eyes at the Jounin, everyone became silent.

"And since you're declining, I hope this means you've chosen someone?"

Kakashi smiled at her "Hai."

Everyone leaned closer to hear the name of their future Hokage.

"Tsunade Senju."