Better Than They Knew // Naruto // G
Title: Better Than They Knew
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Tsunade
Rating: G
Word count: 527
Author Notes: This was written for Word #146 on 15_minute_fic. It has not been cleaned up, or altered beyond the minor editing done within the time limit.
How many ways were there for a person to find out all over again that they'd been wrong?
It was something that, since she'd recently become the Godaime Hokage, that Tsunade found herself confronted with that realization of on almost a daily basis now, now that she'd stepped into shoes that were surely too big for her to fill and discovered sides to the whole situation that she'd never wanted to know.
Who would have thought there was so much politics in leading a military village?
Damn Hiruzen-sensei. Damn Minato, too, for dying and… and damn everyone who'd thought she'd be a good fit for the job.
It was the booze talking, she knew that. Distantly, fuzzily, Tsunade knew that she wasn't anywhere near as upset with them as she was now. The drink aggravated the injustices.
But since when was anything in the world, her world, fair? Nawaki hadn't deserved to die. Dan hadn't either. She didn't know that it was fair, either, for every life that her ninja took from other villages. That those same other villages took from hers.
It was complicated and anyone who disagreed openly wit her would deserve what they got, at the moment, she thought. A touch of her finger and through a wall. She might even laugh. They never expected that.
Even that wasn't satisfying to think about. Oh, there was the pleasure of being strong. Of being gorgeous--she was vain enough to know that and hear about it and keep it in mind. But the fact remained that she was still...
Ugh. This was unfair and her thoughts were scattered like spilt grains of rice. The work of a while to pick it all up. She had to decide if she cared enough.
So much paper. So many lives. So many dreams trusted in her hands to do what she could and keep as many of her shinobi safe.
They trusted a drunk. How stupid did that make them?
There was a pounding on the door. Rapid, urgent. She tucked her flask away in her desk and pulled herself together-if nothing else, she knew how to look serious-though it was only pretence and she knew it.
The ANBU guarding her (did she really rate guards now?) let the shinobi in. As he reported, efficiently despite his white face and the urgent news, Tsunade could feel her mind rising out of the fog she willing sought. Making plans, picking people out that she knew would be the best for this job.
A messy job. A retrieval. Her people needed her help.
Tsunade lifted her voice to snap out a few orders and then sent the shinobi to bed. He'd done what he could. Now it was her turn, to put her faith in other of her people.
That they'd be strong enough for her trust.
Maybe that went both ways.
It was something to think about, she thought, anyway when she didn't have important drinking to do. That maybe they weren't so wrong to trust her.
She never had been able to turn her back for long. Damn them all for picking better than they'd known.
Fandom: Naruto
Characters: Tsunade
Rating: G
Word count: 527
Author Notes: This was written for Word #146 on 15_minute_fic. It has not been cleaned up, or altered beyond the minor editing done within the time limit.
How many ways were there for a person to find out all over again that they'd been wrong?
It was something that, since she'd recently become the Godaime Hokage, that Tsunade found herself confronted with that realization of on almost a daily basis now, now that she'd stepped into shoes that were surely too big for her to fill and discovered sides to the whole situation that she'd never wanted to know.
Who would have thought there was so much politics in leading a military village?
Damn Hiruzen-sensei. Damn Minato, too, for dying and… and damn everyone who'd thought she'd be a good fit for the job.
It was the booze talking, she knew that. Distantly, fuzzily, Tsunade knew that she wasn't anywhere near as upset with them as she was now. The drink aggravated the injustices.
But since when was anything in the world, her world, fair? Nawaki hadn't deserved to die. Dan hadn't either. She didn't know that it was fair, either, for every life that her ninja took from other villages. That those same other villages took from hers.
It was complicated and anyone who disagreed openly wit her would deserve what they got, at the moment, she thought. A touch of her finger and through a wall. She might even laugh. They never expected that.
Even that wasn't satisfying to think about. Oh, there was the pleasure of being strong. Of being gorgeous--she was vain enough to know that and hear about it and keep it in mind. But the fact remained that she was still...
Ugh. This was unfair and her thoughts were scattered like spilt grains of rice. The work of a while to pick it all up. She had to decide if she cared enough.
So much paper. So many lives. So many dreams trusted in her hands to do what she could and keep as many of her shinobi safe.
They trusted a drunk. How stupid did that make them?
There was a pounding on the door. Rapid, urgent. She tucked her flask away in her desk and pulled herself together-if nothing else, she knew how to look serious-though it was only pretence and she knew it.
The ANBU guarding her (did she really rate guards now?) let the shinobi in. As he reported, efficiently despite his white face and the urgent news, Tsunade could feel her mind rising out of the fog she willing sought. Making plans, picking people out that she knew would be the best for this job.
A messy job. A retrieval. Her people needed her help.
Tsunade lifted her voice to snap out a few orders and then sent the shinobi to bed. He'd done what he could. Now it was her turn, to put her faith in other of her people.
That they'd be strong enough for her trust.
Maybe that went both ways.
It was something to think about, she thought, anyway when she didn't have important drinking to do. That maybe they weren't so wrong to trust her.
She never had been able to turn her back for long. Damn them all for picking better than they'd known.