A seventeen-year-old Hokage.
Even if it was only in an acting capacity, the news struck the Hidden Leaf Village like lightning, leaving nearly every soul in Konoha reeling in disbelief.
Across all five great ninja villages and every Kage who had ever borne the title, Hatake Kakashi was the youngest in history.
The silver-haired prodigy who'd made jōnin at twelve had, once again, shattered what anyone thought possible.
Graduated at five, chūnin at six, jōnin at twelve… and now, at seventeen, acting Hokage.
If everything proceeded as planned, on the day he turned twenty he would remove the word "acting" and become the official Fifth Hokage—the first to claim the hat before reaching adulthood.
A meteoric rise that left people breathless.
And yet, no one dared question whether he deserved it.
This record, this position—Kakashi had carved them out with his own blade, forged across three blood-soaked battlefields.
Iwagakure. Kirigakure. Kumogakure.
Three wars had tempered the Copy Ninja into something legendary.
Three years ago, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, gave his life to seal the Nine-Tails.
Today, three years later, Minato's only student had not only matched his teacher's achievements but surpassed them—claiming the Hokage's seat at an even younger age.
"Three years…"
Inside the Hokage's office, the white-haired young man lounged in the chair that had once belonged to his sensei, fingers idly tracing the carved Hokage seal in his palm. A cold, subdued light flickered behind lowered eyelids.
Because he was only the acting Hokage, there had been no grand inauguration ceremony.
Just the red-and-white robe draped over his shoulders, the triangular hat resting on the desk, and the official seal now warm against his skin.
Kakashi already knew exactly what had happened in the council meeting.
Danzo Shimura had pushed hard for him. Utatane Koharu had opposed it with every ounce of her influence. In the end, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, cast the deciding vote.
By Kakashi's own calculation, the title should already have read "Fifth Hokage" without any qualifiers.
Thanks to Koharu, that certainty had become uncertainty.
Utatane Koharu…
The corner of Kakashi's mouth curved into a faint, frigid smirk.
If the old woman had been willing to fade quietly into retirement, he would have let her. But since she insisted on making trouble, he wouldn't mind being… less gentle.
He could wait, though.
For now.
Irritating woman.
Still—acting Hokage was Hokage enough. Every authority the position carried was already his.
His gaze drifted across the processed documents stacked neatly on the desk, then down to the seal in his hand, and his thoughts shifted.
Honestly, only after sitting here for a single day did he finally understand why the Third spent his entire life cooped up in this office.
Most of the paperwork was trivial. Things that, in Kakashi's opinion, could be handled perfectly well by mid-level staff without ever reaching the Hokage's desk.
He had no intention of letting himself be buried alive by mountains of forms and petty complaints.
"Kakashi," came a familiar, warm voice. "How does the chair feel?"
The office door slid open. Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped inside wearing plain civilian clothes, a relaxed smile on his face—the expression of a man enjoying his first true day off in decades.
"It's not as hard as I expected," Kakashi answered frankly, leaning back. "Just mind-numbingly boring."
After all, the Hokage only governed a single village. And while Konoha possessed the strongest military force in the ninja world, things like economy, diplomacy, and civilian welfare fell to the daimyō and the Land of Fire's bureaucracy. The Hokage's real job was simpler: keep the village's fangs sharp and its enemies afraid.
Hiruzen's brow twitched. He had poured his soul into that very chair for half a century.
He opened his mouth—probably to deliver some well-meaning lecture about responsibility—when Kakashi continued.
"If we picked a handful of capable people from the village and created a dedicated administrative council to deal with the busywork, the Hokage would actually have time to train, or think, or do anything other than push papers."
Hiruzen blinked. "You're talking about delegating authority on your very first day?"
Kakashi shrugged, spinning the seal lazily between his fingers. "Only the boring parts."
"And if that council ever decided to gang up and hollow out the Hokage's power from the inside?" Hiruzen asked quietly, eyes sharp.
Kakashi's visible eye curved in what might have been a smile.
"Then we create a second organization—directly under the Hokage—that watches the council and every other department in the village. Arrests, investigations, the dirty work. Anything suspicious gets reported straight to me."
Hiruzen's pipe paused halfway to his lips.
"You mean… expand the Anbu's mandate."
"Something like that," Kakashi said. "Adjust their authority a little. Let them keep the new council in line while they're at it. Instant feedback loop."
Hokage → Administrative Council & Village Departments → Oversight Division (Anbu) → Hokage.
A perfect circle of checks and balances, with the Hokage eternally on top.
Hiruzen stared at the seventeen-year-old in front of him, suddenly feeling every one of his years.
The Supreme One sits high in the heavens, all four seas under his command.
Why had he never thought of this?
He had wasted decades drowning in paperwork when the solution was this elegant, this ruthless, this simple.
On his very first day, Kakashi had fixed a structural problem that three generations of Hokage had simply endured.
"…You handle it," Hiruzen finally muttered, slumping onto the sofa like a deflated balloon. The cheer he'd walked in with was long gone.
Kakashi tilted his head, mildly puzzled. The old man had been beaming thirty seconds ago.
"Any candidates in mind for this new council?" Hiruzen asked, voice weary.
Kakashi didn't even need to think.
"Aburame Shibi."
Hiruzen nodded slowly. Taciturn, meticulous, observant—and as clan head, already experienced in administration. Excellent choice.
Kakashi's list was just beginning.
————
Supporting me on Pa-treon to gain early access to advanced chapters and enjoy expedited updates. Your support is greatly appreciated.
pat-reon .c-om/Dragonhair
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)