Chapter 35 - Chapter 37

Naruto and Dragon were currently standing outside the ninja academy and was listening to the Hokage give a speech. Dragon himself was not interested in what he said, but Naruto was bouncing around in joy because this was the start of his journey towards the legendary position as Hokage.

"Hey, dad! I'm going, see ya later." Dragon suddenly realized the ceremony was over and Naruto was running towards the building to get to class before anyone else. He told Dragon that the seating decided your popularity in class, to which Dragon just scoffed at him.

"Ye, see you later, Naruto." Dragon said and smiled at the boy that he had lived with the last few years. He had spent his time here reflecting on what kind of man he had become after his reincarnation.

Something he came to understand was this. He had every memory of his past life and his personality of the past life was just a memory as well. All this time he walked around believing that he was the same as his past life.

The truth is, that the personality of this version of him is totally different. This time around he truly cares for people and he was able to feel genuine joy and also real sadness for the first time ever. The moment Gildarts was born was one of the happiest moments in his life. It's just that it took him this long to identify what these feeling that he has now are.

Things like watching Naruto grow up excited him greatly because he found the concept of family one of the most important things to him now. He just wished he was better at taking care of his family.

This didn't mean he wasn't gonna continue his plan. He wanted the Gotei to spread to many other worlds. Mostly because he wanted to leave something good behind that people could remember him by.

In his last life, his family didn't even know his real name, he left nothing of value behind in the world. Every change he did was one of evil. This time would be different.

'I will make an empire for my children. I will create an empire that rules not through evil and slaughter, but through tranquillity and kindness.' Dragon had no problem using violence to fight violence, but he didn't wanna rule over innocent people with only fear.

"Portgas D Dragon. Lord Hokage wants to have a word with you." While he was thinking about the future, an anbu soldier came up behind him and spoke to him.

"Lead the way!" He said and the anbu disappeared and Dragon followed closely behind. This reminded him of when he first arrived in the village and an anbu came to fetch them as well.

They eventually arrived inside the Hokage's office and the anbu bowed down in front of Hiruzen.

"You can leave!" The anbu disappeared and only Hiruzen and Dragon was left now.

"Dragon, I wanted to talk about Naruto and your martial arts school," Hiruzen said, but he said it with the proper respect you would show your elders or teachers.

"About the nine tails? Figured you would bring it up soon enough." Dragon said and sat down on a couch that was in the office as well.

"Why isn't Danzo here for this? Shouldn't this be right up his alley." Dragon smiled and the smile itself told Hiruzen that he already knew where he was.

"ahm, yes. I made sure he wouldn't be here for this." The Hokage looked very uncomfortable. It probably had something to do with the fact that when you stood in front of this freakishly tall man, you always felt like he could see right through you.

"Clever boy!" Dragon said and laughed.

"Well yes. Now about Naruto, are you planning on teaching the boy anything more then that bizarre technique he knows now?" Hiruzen, of course, had gotten wind of Haki. Especially since Dragon hadn't put restrictions on Naruto when it came to using it.

"Maybe. He is my son, and also my student. I would want him to be able to protect himself." A mischievous smile spread on his face.

*sigh* "About that. When Danzo found out about haki, I was afraid I would have to kill him to not make him kidnap Naruto and place him inside the Anbu." Hiruzen seemed both irritated and depressed when he said that.

"ha, ha, ha, don't worry about it. My eyes literally never leave Naruto's side. You should know the second Danzo gives that order he would lose the privilege called life." Dragon said and some killing intent spread around the office, putting Hiruzen on edge automatically because Dragon's aura was just that domineering and powerful.

"I can deal with Danzo. It's the nine tails that I don't wanna deal with at the moment. The reason it went so well last time is that we had Minato with us." The two old men looked at each other and one of them let out another sigh while the other one just laughed at his misery.

"I can't believe Naruto wants this stupid position." Dragon said while looking at Hiruzen who looked totally defeated.

"You wouldn't believe the paperwork a Kage has to go through. It's complete insanity." Hiruzen banged his head against the desk a single time and it earned him a loud and genuine laugh from Dragon.

"Why don't you take over my position, Dragon?"

"I'm sure you would fit it as a leader, come one, take the hat!" Hiruzen went temporarily insane and tried to hand Dragon the Hokage hat with pleading eyes.

"A leader, I am. But a Hokage, I am not. When the time comes, just hand it over to Naruto, or it's more likely that he will fight you for it, hahaha," Dragon laughed out loud and wiped a single tear from his eyes when he thought about Naruto challenging Hiruzen to battle for the Hokage position.

"As long as he masters his control over the nine tails., I will have no qualms in leaving the position to him." Hiruzen got this peaceful aura around him suddenly. And it made his image of a strong and kind ruler really shine through.

"Well I have things to do, so call on me if you ever need anything."

"oh, I would ask you to advise Danzo to stay away from Ryu. I know he has been eyeing Ryu as a potential root member. Just tell him, he would die no doubt if he tried anything." Dragon said and stood up and stretched his body a little.

"I'll see you around Hiruzen." The giant disappeared from the room and left behind a dumbstruck Hokage.

'At least I can leave my village in good hands when I'm gone.' Hiruzed leaned back on his chair with his smoke pipe and smiled at the thought of the future generation. Would Naruto be the guiding light for them all? This was the question he wondered if he would be around to witness the answer to.

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End