This choice: Naruto asks Hinata for help becoming a leader • Go Back...Chapter #5Naruto asks Hinata for help becoming a leader by: NVR   "Wrong! you cannot expect to just sweet talk the other kages into keeping an alliance if the terms no longer favor them" Tsunade chastised him and Naruto groaned in frustration, struggling with another Hokage preparation lesson
"But it worked against my enemies in battle!" Naruto argued, Tsunade's exasperated look made him see he really shouldn't have said that though
"Oh for Kami's sake.. Battles are a small part of being a leader, specially now that we're in peace time Naruto. If you don't work hard to keep your village in a position of economic prosperity and political power then you cannot be worthy of the Hokage title!"
"S-sorry Baa-chan" Naruto lowered his gaze, thinking how apparently defeating the evils of the great world war was the easy part. None of this was sticking with him at all, and even if he was motivated to learn in order to fulfill his dream this felt so much like..boring academy time, not to mention the paperwork..
For her part, Tsunade was also starting to have second thoughts after Naruto's lack of progress, as much respect as Naruto commanded, if less powerful ninjas were more capable for what the role demanded then it was her duty to do what was best for Konoha. Naruto's personality might be quite charming and charismatic, but if he failed at everything else when it came to be a Hokage then he was just not fit for the role.
The next day Naruto was doing a cathartic walk around the village trying to find a way to improve. Unfortunately for him, this wasn't something that could be improved upon spamming shadow clones like he did with his ninjutsu techniques, and unfortunately for him, he was sensible enough to notice asking Tsunade for extra lessons wasn't the best of ideas, he could feel she was losing her patience. But who else could he ask?
He tried with Kakashi but after asking about his whereabouts to Sakura they both ended up slagging their teammates off, apparently Sasuke was once again searching whatever evil thing around the world and his sensei, the only other person with the required Kage character he knew about, went with him for a while. It was until lunchtime, having ramen at Ishiraku's, when he had to facepalm remembering Hinata's proposal. She seemed so confident now, maybe he could learn a thing or two about the future Hyuga clan leader.
***
Naruto wasn't a frequent visitor to the Hyuga clan complex, but he found a bit awkward having to wait until Hinata was free to attend him, as one of the branch house members told him. Naruto remembered Hinata wanted to change such system, but maybe it was still early days for her. After all, she still wasn't officially the clan leader.
"Naruto!" Hinata greeted him with a hug that Naruto didn't expect but definitely welcome, the simple action was enough to improve his mood
"To what do I owe the visit of the future Hokage?" she smiled at him "Is it about our date?" she teased, making Naruto blush and feel nervous again
"S-sorry Hinata, it's about the other thing"
"Eh? What thing?"
"About help to b-become a leader" Naruto was flustered remembering he owed Hinata a date but couldn't quite point out why he started stuttering again
"Ohh" Hinata inclined her head cutely, remembering joking about that and not expecting Naruto to take that seriously. "Is Tsunade not taking care of that?"
"She is, but.. I.. I need help" Naruto looked down acknowledging his failure for the first time in a while. It's not that he didn't respect Hinata, but having to ask the former shy girl about something like this felt a bit embarrassing for some reason, as if despite his battle achievements, he regressed as a ninja while Hinata improved and left him in the dust
"Ok then.. come with me and you can see me in action, then I can try helping with whatever it is you're doing wrong" Hinata decided and immediately started walking with Naruto in tow. She had no idea how to help Naruto but maybe just spending a bit of time together could help her see what was the problem
***
For the next couple of hours Naruto marveled at how Hinata embraced her role, almost looking as a different person. The way she carried herself projected an aura of leadership that indeed felt alien to him and the way he used to persuade others with his sermons. Naruto noticed how what Hinata projected wasn't the intention to make the best for the people of her clan, but instead what she projected was how she was in charge and doing what she said was the best thing for them. In return, Naruto saw how both members of the branch and main families feared and deeply respected her, just as other ninjas not called Naruto behaved around Tsunade.
Was this what he was missing? It seemed to be so incompatible with his personality though..He didn't want people to fear him, he wanted them to trust and cooperate with him willingly.
"This needs to be redone, Iroha-san. I'm afraid it doesn't mean the expectations of excellence of the greatest clan in the village. It's disappointing to see such a sloppy work from a jonin"
"I-I'm sorry Hinata-sama, I'll start over to make sure it meets your standards" The older jonin bowed down apologetically
"See that you do, you're dismissed" Hinata said with a casual wave of her hand and the jonin thanked her before disappearing. Could Naruto treat someone in such a way? It almost seemed disrespectful to the jonin.
"Can I ask you a question?" Naruto asked in a low voice, slightly intimidated by this side of Hinata too
"Huh? Sure Naruto, go ahead" she said with a more tender tone, but not entirely leaving her leader persona
"Why are you so strict with them? Your clan members surely are trying their best but you make it sound like they are terrible"
"Strict? It's my role as leader to make sure they don't fail what is expected of them. I'm only making sure they understand that.."
"Hmm.." Naruto wanted to say something against that but he didn't know what words to use, or if it would be a good idea to start a discussion here of all places.
"I think I know what's your problem Naruto" Hinata suddenly said
"Huh? you do?"
"Let me ask you something, why do you think the other clan members obey my instructions? I might be the heiress, but I'm younger and weaker than some of them, like Iroha-san for example" Hinata said, referring to the jonin that behaved almost like a servant before her
"Because they fear a punishment?" Naruto guessed and felt a shiver on his back when Hinata frowned at him
"Wrong. It's because they understand I know what's best for the clan. I'm better prepared than them to make the important decisions, so they know carrying my orders the way I want it is what we need for the Hyugas to keep thriving" Hinata explained
"But the way you treat them is so..harsh at times" Naruto mumbled, starting to understand but not quite reconciliating with it
"I am the leader and they are my subordinates Naruto, Iroha-san is actually a friend of mine but when it comes to his work he needs to understand his place as someone who needs to be efficient doing what his leader says"
"B-but Tsunade wasn't like that with me" Naruto remembered how Tsunade lamented the lack of respect he seemingly had for her, but at no point he felt intimidated by her, or seemingly unable to speak his mind.
"I see" Hinata nodded "But you were a special case Naruto, probably she gave you some leeway because of your condition as a jinchuriki and because she knew you were guided by someone fiercely loyal to the village like your sensei Jiraiya. But I can assure you other teams couldn't go around calling her an old lady without regretting it later" It might have been a little tactless for her to point out Naruto's status as a weapon, but now that she had a good idea of what Naruto's problem was, she felt she needed to be as direct as possible.
Naruto flinched at the comment, it was always a sensitive topic for him, even to this day when he and Kurama were basically friends and the tailed beast was considered an ally. But he could see what Hinata meant, noticing that Kakashi also behaved in a similar way with him. But now what? He felt it just wasn't in him to become like this from one day to the other, and he felt this wasn't something that you could learn in a normal way either.
He started to think maybe this was a part of his ninja development stunted by his power as an individual and his lack of formal education (still a genin at this point unlike his peers). With that information, he could go back and see if he improved under Tsunade's tutelage, or maybe he could request to make missions in a squad as a genin in order to learn leadership from others in a practical environment?
But he remembered what Tsunade said about how battles and missions were only a small part of being Hokage. He had another couple of ideas that flustered him a bit but he believed were probably better, asking either Tsunade or Hinata to treat them like just another subordinate for multiple reasons: to understand their point of view, to learn from their side what kind of attitude was needed from a leader, to reconcile the conflicting views he had on his style versus what Hinata explained and last but not least, because there was something oddly alluring in the way Hinata behaved too.
He was convinced if Hinata could go from shy girl to a capable leader he could do it too, but he also noticed how this new confident Hinata intimidated him a bit, to the point of making him stutter and doubt himself at times. A part of him wanted to see if he wouldn't feel better knowing his place as Hinata put it and following the orders of someone more capable like her instead of changing his identity that finally was accepted by everyone just to fulfill a childhood dream
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