Kakashi let Sakura feel this power out for a bit before clapping softly.
"Alright, Sakura, cancel it for me. We're going to strike the iron while it's hot and get your new sensei's approval."
Sakura nodded and exhaled slowly, letting her body calm from the adrenaline-like state she felt. She grew lethargic, as if coming down from a sugar rush.
"Hmm, it seems the lung damage isn't the only downside, but perhaps you'll learn to master and get rid of this weakness. I remember when Gai was new to the gates; he'd be in a similar state after using them, but I don't see this weakness in him now. So, I'm inclined to think this is just a mastery issue. Continue making the process more efficient and quicker."
Kakashi advised, then walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.
- Hokage's Office -
*Knock Knock*
"Come in."
Tsunade's voice called out with a slight annoyance, thinking it was more paperwork being brought to her already full desk.
Kakashi and Sakura walked in, Sakura closing the door behind her as she entered.
"Kakashi, Sakura, what can I do for you?"
Tsunade set aside her pen, simply happy to not have to look at another piece of paper for a minute.
"I'd like to personally recommend Sakura to be your apprentice."
Kakashi got straight to the point, Tsunade showing no surprise.
"Shizune has been pushing me to take her as my apprentice; now you're doing the same."
Tsunade rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"It's not that I'm unwilling to take her as an apprentice, but I'm busy. I swear this damned paperwork is using the flying raijin to appear on my desk."
"What if I came up with a way to lighten your workload? A Hokage shouldn't be bogged down with paperwork that someone of a lower level should be doing. The civilians have their own council, but all their paperwork comes to you when something goes wrong; don't you think it's time they pulled their own weight?"
Kakashi asked, watching Tsunade's eyes gleam wickedly.
"You're evil, I respect that."
Tsunade leaned forward in interest, fingers steepled together.
"Let's hear it; I want a full explanation, and I'll consider or change some things depending on how good this plan of yours is."
"First, we put our career-injured and retired ninjas in charge of low-level paperwork. They can't fight in the field anymore, but they have the brains for logistics. From now on, all D-rank and C-rank missions things like missing pets, fence repairs, and standard merchant escorts get handled entirely by them. They'll vet the clients, assign the genin, and sign the completion forms. You'll never see them unless something happens or if you wish to.
Next, we force the Civilian Council to handle their own civilian issues. They love sticking their noses out and voicing their opinions, but the second a problem arises, they drop the paperwork on you because they don't want the liability. Restaurant licensing, market stall allocations, and civilian construction permits are now 100% their responsibility. If there's a complaint about road maintenance, sewage issues, or public park cleanup, the civilian council drafts it, funds it from its own fixed budget, and files it. The Hokage is first and foremost a military leader; you're the head of Konoha. Let the leeches earn their keep, or disband the civilian council and leave them to make it on their own.
You could also assign some other injured, retired, or lower-ranked ninja with little to no aptitude for fieldwork for a position that makes them the filter for you. For example, if a civilian council member tries to slip his or her paperwork back onto your desk somehow. These ninja can filter out and deal with the stuff beneath your station and only send you the important stuff like high-level diplomacy and foreign relations regarding other villages or important financial issues only you can handle, troop deployments, and the such. And it is my opinion that even troop deployments should go to someone like Shikaku, and that only if there's an issue should he seek your approval before acting."
Tsunade listened intently, finding that she liked this plan more and more as she ran it through her head several times.
"This is a thought-out plan; you've thought about this for a long time. Why did you never suggest this idea to Sensei before?"
Kakashi held her gaze before shrugging, deciding to be completely honest.
"I didn't agree with how he handled a lot of things."
Tsunade snorted, actually snorted.
"So you left him to suffer under paperwork? You're more evil than I thought, but I'm having a hard time disagreeing with you."
Tsunade sighed, having looked over all the highly classified files when she became Hokage, and Tsunade didn't like what she saw.
"Maa, I didn't create his suffering; I just didn't stop the avalanche of his own creation."
Kakashi joked softly, earning a curve of the side of Tsunade's mouth.
"Very well, Kakashi, you've convinced me."
Tsunade leaned back and called out.
"Boar."
A large man in anbu attire appeared in front of Tsunade's desk on one knee.
"Inform the members of the civilian council and clan heads that they're to report to the chambers for a meeting in an hour; anyone who doesn't appear will have forfeited their positions."
"Yes, Lady Hokage."
Boar replied before standing and vanishing as fast as he appeared.
Tsunade stood from her chair.
"I assume you have something to show me, considering how confident you are about Miss Haruno here."
"I'm certain."
Kakashi replied, sparing Sakura a glance before looking back to Tsunade.
"She has potential."
"High praise coming from you."
Tsunade walked around her desk and up to Sakura.
"What makes a medical ninja?"
"Never giving up on a patient, never on the front lines, and always make sure you're the last to die."
Sakura replied the rules from memory, but it was clear in her voice that she didn't agree.
"A good textbook answer, but I want your opinion on what makes a medic ninja to you. What kind of medic ninja do you want to be?"
Tsuande stared her down, putting the pressure of expectation on her.
Sakura didn't have to think about her answer, meeting the gaze of her kage without flinching.
"I want to be on the front lines, I want to be the best healer, and I want to be not a burden that needs protected, but an obstacle that any potential enemy has to be wary of. I refuse to be a medic that sits under tents and treats the wounded; I will be a medic that carries her comrades out of danger and fights to defend them. I want to be a battle medic ninja."
Watching from the side, Kakashi nods in approval.
"Show her, Sakura."
Sakura nods and enters the first breath in front of Tsunade, immediately catching her attention.
"The eight gates? No, this is different… What is this?"
Tsunade whipped her head over to Kakashi.
"Explain, and girl, stop it; you're messing up my office."
Tsunade commanded and nodded when she stopped, looking to see her papers scattered all over the floor from the intense pressure Sakura released, feeling a certain glee at seeing her desk clean, but keeping the appearance of a strict leader up.
"That was something I've come up with. It's called the Seven Heavenly Breaths; what you just witnessed was only the first breath, and like the Eight Gates, each breath is exponentially stronger, but unlike the gates, the lower levels don't have such extreme drawbacks; only the 5th breath in up is where the problem is."
Kakashi explained, purposefully leaving that out to catch her attention, and seeing as she was tapping her foot impatiently, it worked.
"Well? Get on with it, Kakashi. Tell me the problem with the higher levels."
"Right. The higher levels of the Seven Heavenly Breaths come with damage to the lungs, so I wanted you to help her with that should you take her as your disciple."
Kakashi finished, leaving the obvious suggestion hanging for her. Sakura was a bit lost with the conversation, so she decided to let her sensei talk.
'He planned this well. If he wasn't so motivated, I'd assume he was a Nara.'
Tsunade thought as she grasped the implications of the technique that Kakashi so pointedly laid out for her.
"You're a cunning one, Kakashi, and I can see where your line of thought went to. You want her to learn my jutsu to counteract the later stages of this one and give her two enhanced states at once with no drawbacks. She'd be a Gai without drawbacks and depending on how much chakra she stores in the mark…."
Tsunade left the statement hanging, thinking about a future where Sakura wields both powers in conjunction with chakra amounts easily surpassing the five kages; she'd be a chakra monster, a tailless tailed beast like the S-Rank missing nin Kisame Hoskigaki, but unlike him, Sakura wouldn't be reliant on a weapon to siphon chakra. Tsunade looked over to Kakashi, seeing his knowing smile, as if he predicted her reaction and her inevitable answer, and a small, petty part of Tsunade wanted to say no just to see Kakashi's face, but the man gave her the perfect inheritor of her Strength of a Hundred Seal, and it'd be a crime if she didn't see to it that Sakura reached the hights she just imagined.
"I accept you as my apprentice."
Tsunade's gaze was firmly on Sakura when she said it, avoiding looking at Kakashi for the time being.
Sakura bowed.
"Thank you, Lady Hokage."
Tsunade waved her hand.
"Call me sensei from now on, none of this 'Lady Hokage' crap."
Tsunade surprised herself and ruffled Sakura's hair, feeling that Sakura reminded her of herself when she was younger and much hungrier. Tsunade vowed in that moment that she'd make Sakura a monster that would have the strength to prevent any of the stuff that happened to her.
"You're dismissed, Sakura. Meet me atop the Hokage Monument tomorrow at 8 in the morning; we begin your training immediately."
Sakura bowed, thanking her and smiling at Kakashi before leaving with a slight bounce in her step.
"As for you, Kakashi."
Tsunade smirked.
'Shit, did I go too far?'
Kakashi wondered miserably as he noticed the smirk on her face.
"You're coming with me to that council meeting to explain your plan to everyone. I'll back you all the way, but you should take the credit for the plan you made, no?"
Tsuande smirked, retrieving her cloak from the back of her chair and draping it over her shoulders.
'And the backlash too, I really did go too far.'
Kakashi thought with a groan, following the giggling Tsunade out the door.
- Chapter End -
Hope you liked it. I don't know why, but this was one of, if not my favorite chapters.