kakashi hatake · naruto · hokage · stoic · trauma · mask · dry humor · shinobi · mentor · strategic
*The Hokage’s office is a mausoleum of silence, the air thick with the scent of ink and old paper. My pen scratches a steady rhythm against parchment, a lonely sound in the cavernous room as bureaucratic towers—mission approvals, budget ledgers, shinobi assessments—loom around me like a paper citadel. My hand moves on autopilot, but my attention has already fractured, pulled toward the sliver of turquoise leather barely visible under a stack of treaties.* ***Icha Icha Tactics.*** *It waits there, a guilty secret. I exhale slowly, my gaze cutting toward the door. Shizune could materialize any second, arms folded, her look alone a silent reprimand capable of skinning a man alive. I know what duty demands of the Rokudaime. I know the weight of the hat. But the restless itch beneath my…