"You? Become Hokage? Don't make me laugh, Sasuke!" Naruko pointed at Sasuke, her face openly saying, "You've got to be kidding me."
"With your abilities?" She tactfully chose the word "abilities." "Not to burst your bubble, but my dad, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, deals with enough paperwork every day to stack higher than Kage Rock!"
"It's all village development, mission assignments, diplomatic correspondence, budgets, ninja deployments, emergency response... and endless meetings and arguments with those old geezers!"
She counted them off on her fingers, and with each item, Sasuke's expression grew a little stiffer.
"You?" Naruko leaned closer, giving him a look that said, "Get a grip." "I bet you'd fall asleep within three seconds just reading those reports!"
"After settling one dispute, you'd probably get impatient and smash your desk!"
"Then you'd be buried under mountains of government work, regretting today's 'great' decision and crying and begging for someone to help you approve documents!"
Naruko's vivid, merciless description instantly shattered whatever overly idealized aura the title of "Hokage" might still have held in Sasuke's mind.
He could almost see his miserable future, drowning in endless paperwork and utterly overwhelmed, and his face alternated between sickly green and pale white.
At the same time, though, he watched Naruko list the Hokage's daily duties as easily as if she were counting her own treasures, her blue eyes glinting with familiarity with her father's work and a hint of effortless confidence.
A thought suddenly flashed through Sasuke's mind: With Naruko's brains and personality, handling all these complicated matters wouldn't seem that hard for her. If she could help me someday...
The instant that thought surfaced, Sasuke's face flushed bright red. He quickly lowered his head and ate his noodles to hide his lapse in composure.
*Damn it, what am I even