Chapter Text
“NONsense,” Shizune grinned, grabbing Naruto and holding her upright before she tipped over. “This is a perfect opportunity for you to get closer to Kakashi-san and see what the Hokage position is really like!”
Naruto wrinkled her nose. “I know what the position’s like.” What she meant was that she knew what Kakashi was like. He would see straight through this ploy for her to be around him more. From the sly look Shizune gave her, Naruto guessed that Shizune knew it, too.
Or maybe Shizune simply didn’t care that Naruto knew that Shizune knew what she was doing! Dammit!
Aaaand she’d just outed herself - so now Shizune would most likely be SUPER smug. After all, since when did Uzumaki Naruto not want to do (and “learn” –blek: Naruto hated that word, preferring to think of learning as training) all she could do to be the best Hokage ever? She said nothing more though, preferring not to give her sister figure more ammunition to use against her, and to allow Shizune to fuss over her a little more.
It was nice to be doted on and Tsunade-baa-chan had sent her outfit after outfit, all oddly just the right size. Naruto wondered if the woman had creepily measured her while she’d been sleeping or unconscious, following her “big change.” Crazy old hag, she thought fondly.
The blonde blew out her whiskered cheeks, guessing it was time to try to wear some of her gifts, those beautiful outfits. Naruto didn’t like to waste things…
Frequently as bad as her mentor, however, Shizune had purchased these stilted, pointy-ass nightmares she called “shoes” to pair with her skirt and shirt top. At least the “shoes” are orange. Granny Tsunade never sent anything that was her favorite color! Naruto’s ankle turned again but she caught herself, wrapping her arms around the bedpost she stood next to. “Ouch– c’mon, Shizune-nee!” Oh, man; this was going to suck! “I don’t want to make a fool outta myself, y’know.”
“Of course not,” Shizune agreed, wondering if perhaps she should’ve tried harder to find something with a lower heel. These strappy sandals were no joke: they had a four-and-a-half-inch stiletto-like heel and were bright orange. Now that Naruto had become so popular, orange was very trendy. However, Naruto had rather large feet for a woman so there had only been one pair of heels in her size in the audacious color. “You’ll be fine.” Naruto swayed again and Shizune grabbed her, shaking her excitedly but firmly holding her up as she spoke. “Be brave and strong, Naruto-chan! Be the great kunoichi you were always meant to be!”
Naruto tried to ensure the way she felt about that statement didn’t show on her face. Yeah, sure: she wanted to be proud of being a kunoichi - or she felt that all kunoichis should have pride in what they did, anyway. She’d been raised to be a shinobi, though.
Naruto wasn’t sure she knew how to be a kunoichi.
For all that she enjoyed hanging out, having ‘girl time’ with Ino and Sakura (and Tenten, whom the blonde was trying to get together with Hinata, (although Hinata’s not having it and Tenten thinks Hinata isn’t “butch enough,” whatever that means,) she didn’t “get” the language of flowers or see how so many random things were relevant to their jobs. –Or mattered to just being a person.
“Stop thinking like a shinobi, Naruto,” Sakura scolded.
Naruto pouted. “But I am a shinobi!”
“What Forehead means, Naru-chan,” Ino began, grinning when Naruto blushed at her new nickname, (she’d previously tried “Naru-hime” but Naruto had punched her,) “Is that you need to think like a kunoichi! And like a person: a well-rounded person. Just,” Ino tapped her chin, trying to decide how to word it. “You need to develop some non-shinobi-related interests.” Sakura nodded vigorously in agreement.
Naruto pulled a face. “Why?”
“Because otherwise, it’s not healthy,” Sakura exclaimed, getting riled up for who knows what reason. “You don’t want to turn out like Kaka-sensei!”
Ino snickered at Naruto’s blushing cheeks as Naruto smacked them, looking like she wanted to argue on behalf of her wannabe-lover’s honor. What was to argue, though? Lord Sixth was a sad ol’ hound-dog. “Nah, Naru-chan wants to be UNDER Kakashi-sensei!”
Naruto nodded back at Ino eagerly, wondering why Sakura turned green again and had to go spit up in a trash bin. Then again, Sakura was hot for the teme, and that made Naruto want to hurl, too.
Sakura wiped her mouth and gave Naruto an inquisitive glare. “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to being a junior lesbian?”
Naruto pursed her lips, glancing up at a cloud that was shaped kinda like Kakashi’s profile, hair included. “I don’t think I ever was a junior lesbian. I mean, saying I was one feels disrespectful to lesbians.” Sakura and Ino looked at each other and then just shrugged. “Anyway, what’s something I can do to be a… person?” Naruto wasn’t ready to be a kunoichi.
But wasn’t she a person already?
“Hm! Maybe you’re NOT,” Kurama chimed in out of nowhere, smiling widely enough that Naruto knew he was being full of shit. He chose the weirdest times to comment on things. And whenever she WANTED his advice, he was sleeping!
“You need to get in touch with your femininity,” Ino said sagely.
“I’ve already touched all that stuff,” Naruto began, looking down at her boobs and running her hands nearly up to them from her waist. She liked having all the girl stuff well enough. Touching or playing with it all was nice.
Ino nearly fell over giggling as Sakura prayed for patience in a voice that suggested a demon was more likely to answer her prayers than anything godly. “Heeheehee! That’s not what I meant, Naruto!”
“Baka Naru! Pig meant doing things like SHOPPING: CHA,” Sakura shouted, scaring the bejesus out of Naruto and the surrounding villagers. “AND NOT FOR PLANTS!”
Knowing that was shit advice, Naruto pouted again while Ino scolded Sakura for trying to stop Naruto from spending all her money (and Jiraiya’s wealth) at her family’s flower shop.
It was all so confusing.
Would it have been so uncomfortable and confusing, had she started as a girl from the beginning?
Meh, there’s nothing for it.
Today’s outfit that Tsunade found for her was simple: a nearly-black slim skirt with a tasteful (according to Shizune, thank Kami, because Grandma Tsunade’s taste was sometimes questionable) and almost hidden slit up the thigh for ease of movement. Adorably, the skirt flared out in pleats as it ended at the curve of her calves. Tsunade found a pretty royal blue top that had other colors subtly flaring through the dye. Naruto wondered how they made it - and how they made it to fit her, exactly!
“Oh, Naruto, that top really makes your eyes pop,” Shizune cooed, ducking her head and trying not to laugh out loud when Naruto made her eyes nearly pop out of her head as if to prove her point.
“And the orange looks okay with it?”
Shizune backed up and “huh”-ed because it did! “Makes no sense to me but I think this particular orange is almost like a… a modern neutral.” Who would have thought? Poor Naruto looked lost. “OH! There’s a tiny bit of orange in your top, see here?” She pointed to a lower spot in Naruto’s blouse and then dragged her finger up, getting Naruto’s cute nose. “Gotcha!”
Exasperated, Naruto huffed and swatted at her. But then, “UGH!” She took a tiny step forward and nearly face-planted. The blonde grabbed the dresser to ensure she didn’t ruin her “face” which was made up, better and different from her normal face. “How do you walk in these horrible shoes, nee-chan?!”
Shizune ensured Naruto was safely on her feet again and brushed the invisible lint off her. She looked at the time and panicked. “We’re late!”
“Kakashi-sensei’s always late,” Naruto said, unbothered. She shrugged off her top, much to Shizune’s squawking/scolding, and grabbed an orange tank top cami Ino had given her that might help the outfit match the shoes or whatever. –Or maybe it was just that the orange made her feel a little more secure.
“Late?! Not to this job Lord Sixth is not,” Shizune replied with too many negatives, still panicking as she pulled Naruto’s silk blouse back over the orange cami and helped her violently tuck it in. (She ignored Naruto’s giggling protests and cursing as she unbuttoned it a little.) “The last thing I’m going to allow is for that ridiculous man to fall into those lazy patterns again.” She picked the blonde up over her shoulder, ignoring her thrashing, and sunshinned to the Tower.
“You’re late,” Kakashi said with irritation (and embarrassment, knowing that Shizune was the woman in Gai’s bedroom two nights before,) not looking up from his paperwork. Unable to sleep, (although he’d taken a couple of naps on his desk, much to his subordinates’ displeasure,) he’d been at the Tower since leaving Gai’s place in the middle of the night that night.
“Sorry about that, Lord Sixth,” Shizune began, pushing her bangs back after setting Naruto safely down on her weak ankles.
“Drop the ‘Lord,’” Kakashi drawled, still focused on what he was reading. He smelled Naruto and felt his ears heat up over what had happened.
“...But I was helping Naruto get ready,” Shizune explained a little too excitedly. “Doesn’t she look lovely, Lord Sixth?”
Grunting, Kakashi looked up, yearning to run after her confession since Naruto was here but found himself tongue-tied.
Naruto in a dress or skirt? Was the world ending again today? He frowned. “What’s going on?” he asked suspiciously, quickly looking away from the blonde’s big blue, violet-flecked eyes.
“You didn’t tell him?” Naruto asked Shizune in a panicked whisper.
Shizune moved to grab a stack of files and directed her words at Kakashi. “Naruto is going to be filling in for Sora-san.” Sora was Kakashi’s secretary. She had been Tsunade’s and Lord Third’s long-term secretary, too, so when Sora found out she was pregnant, everyone was very surprised. Shizune thought having a baby at her advanced age might be a medical miracle. Hell, having sex at her age might be trending toward miracle territory. “Sora-san went into labor last night.”
Kakashi blinked. “She was… pregnant?” He hadn’t noticed. Was Sora-san female? Ha. He only knew Sora as “old.” She’d always been old. He tried to smile at Naruto who looked… quite pretty in her… dress… thing. “Why aren’t you in uniform?” Naruto seemed to sink in on herself several centimeters whereas Shizune looked even testier than usual, as if she might attack him. Kakashi tilted his head curiously as he palmed a hidden kunai just in case.
- Was it something he said?
- His was a valid question, wasn’t it?
Naruto softly scratched at her made-up cheek, trying to play her disappointment off. “Sora-san was a kunoichi but always wears civilian clothes here so… I thought I’d use this as an opportunity to wear some of my other stuff, ya know,” she finished lamely. She held out her hands to take a large stack of files from Shizune.
Shizune was so mad at Lord Sixth, she set the work down harshly, smacking them into Naruto’s hands and nearly knocking the poor woman off her feet.
“Ow.”
“Sorry, Naruto-chan!” She helped her stand again. Crap. Naruto really was going to fall on her face today, wasn’t she?
Nah. Shizune was confident that Kakashi wouldn’t allow her to hurt herself.
Kakashi did not like being manipulated.
Every time Naruto bent down to pick something up or fix her strange excuse for shoes (if she hurled them, they would qualify as deadly weapons so he didn’t demand that she remove them,) he’d be forced to look at her shapely behind. And her curves or nice calves. And… at the fine, silky-looking material of the clothes she was wearing. For some odd reason, the whole look made his fingers twitch.
She tripped (again) and this time, he jumped to catch her, barely grabbing her in the nick of time.
Time stood still for Naruto as her (probably) handsome former sensei turned her around in his arms. It was as if they were dancing - and he was dipping her low for a magical kiss or something.
“More like he saved your klutzy ass from face-planting.”
Mortified that the fuzzy jerk saw that, Naruto stuttered out a “Wh-what did you ask, Sens– Kakashi?” when she realized that she’d been starstruck for too long and was now standing on her own two painful feet, her heart going pitter-patter in her chest.
“Oh, that was smooth,” Kurama intoned. He wondered how this happened. His previous containers were the confident ones in their relationships; their mates had been the dorks haplessly pursuing them. As usual, he blamed Hashirama, doubly so since Naruto shared his chakra. He needed to coach Naruto on mating rituals if he ever wanted to see kits.
“I asked if you were alright,” Kakashi said, looking aggravated. “Maybe you should take your shoe… those - maa - the um… shoes- things you’re wearing off.”
“O-okay,” Naruto whimpered, trying not to cry. She twisted her ankle badly again. “Ouch.”
Kakashi tsked and picked up the squeaking blonde and placed her on the nearby couch, pulling her shoes off while Naruto’s face turned the shade of a tomato. Her ankle was already swelling. “Did you break something?” he asked incredulously.
“No, no. I’m… I’m fine,” Naruto promised as she internally argued with Kurama about healing her. Otherwise, she might cry or something. Kakashi got up (and yes, she looked at his incredible ass and broad shoulders the way she almost always had) and left. Choosing not to cry - she really wanted to cry - over the whole mess, she wiggled around enough to grab some of Sora’s paperwork and began working on what she could.
Kakashi brought back an icepack and gently placed it over Naruto’s swollen ankle, and then handed her more of the files she’d been going through for him. “Keep those shoes off.” He patted her shoulder awkwardly as he went back to his desk, unable to stop his fingertips from twitching over the silken material of her top.
Doing so made him feel like a dirty old man, even though he told himself that there was nothing wrong with liking soft things. Right? He just… shouldn’t touch them. He shouldn’t touch Naruto.
They quietly worked all afternoon and by the end of the day, Naruto had recovered. By the time she left, Kakashi could only be grateful that she didn’t ask for a response to her confession. He let out an exhausted sigh and put his forehead on the desk.
The next day Shizune wrestled Naruto into something she would’ve NEVER worn but it turned out to be super comfy! It wasn’t orange; the set was violet, and something she could easily imagine Ino wearing.
Naruto hoped that Ino wouldn’t mind her wearing her color.
Ah, who was she kidding? Ino might want to borrow it! That would be nice…
Naruto bustled into the office with a huge smile on her pretty face and in the shortest skirt Kakashi had ever seen. And was that top legal? Was she trying to kill him?! He’d had awfully odd dreams about his former student the night before. “What are you wearing?”
“Rude,” Naruto snarked, having decided not to let him bring her down. Shizune reminded her that Kakashi was utterly dense about these things so she should keep her chin held high. “And good morning to you, too!”
After observing her a bit, Kakashi smirked, crossing his arms over his chest and refusing to apologize as Naruto chattered about everything from what kind of ramen she’d had for breakfast, something about fabrics and Shizune, and in what seemed like the same breath, went over his appointments for the day.
He hated being Hokage. Administrative work was the worst but he was determined to shepherd Konoha into a peaceful, brighter future and do everything he could to make it easy for Naruto when she took over.
Half an hour later, Kakashi realized (as she kept talking) that Naruto was treating him the same way she always had. He’d probably been silly to worry! He’d (probably) overthought the whole “confession.” She just loved him as a friend, a mentor. That was actually very sweet, although he should probably remind her that someone else could misconstrue such heartfelt words. Let alone the kiss on the cheek. But how would he even say that? Kakashi didn’t like talking about… anything. “Good morning, Naruto.”
Naruto clicked her tongue, fuming (the ends of her hair moving ominously into the air.) “Did you listen to anything I just said?!”
Kakashi eye-smiled. “Maa, no.”
“I went over your whole schedule!” And my morning!
“Can’t we cancel everything,” he whined like a child to tick her off, spinning slowly in his chair, his toes gripping the soft carpet under his desk. Suddenly men in black descended from all sides. Kakashi found himself still in his chair but pressed into a corner behind a multitude of golden-glowing Narutos. “Maa, Naru, it’s okay…”
“You’ve gone after the wrong man,” the real Narutos hissed at the “enemies” as one.
Oh, shit. “No, this is somewhat planned, Naruto! It’s a training exercise to keep me on my toes.” Naruto growled and something in wanted to snarl right back or worse. “Heed my orders.” Naruto and her clones all gasped and shot up, standing ramrod straight, legs pressed tightly together. Kakashi shook the strange behavior off and stood up. “Maa, at ease, Jonin Uzumaki; everyone.”
Naruto turned and glanced at him, licking her lips while blushing hard enough to potentially invite an aneurysm to come live in her head. Genma and a couple of the others pulled off their masks, looking pale.
Genma had nearly swallowed his senbon when Naruto’s furious, suddenly vengeful chakra fired to life. “I didn’t know she was going to be here.”
“Oi!”
“Me, either! But I am always excited to fight the youthful Naruto,” Lee grinned, bringing his fist down through the air.
“That’s because you’re insane,” Genma breathed.
Kakashi, in the meantime, was still surrounded by all that heat coming off the glowing blondes.
He’d never seen Naruto pull that technique since her gender had changed. She looked like a goddess.
Demigoddess.
- A demigoddess defending me.
His brain sputtered.
Safe topic: She and Sasuke are gods or half-gods.
Why am I Hokage again?
“You alright there, Lord Sixth?” Genma asked as Kakashi continued to stare at Naruto.
“Y-yes.” Naruto sure was something.
Naruto, on the other hand, tried to stop thinking with her vag and played off how turned on she’d been when Kakashi had snarled orders at her. She bounced on her toes, rocking back and forth and wiggling a bit, embarrassed but trying to play it off. Her reaction had surprised her but was something she'd have to consider more later. She grinned at the men in the room, willing away a blush. “So, what are we waiting for? You’re here to fight! So, let’s fight!”