But this topic is not about the chances for Tsunade's survival in her current state. Let's just say for the sake of speculation that the worst case scenario happens and Konoha is left without a Hokage. Now ask yourselves, who will be the next Hokage to take Tsunade's place? Many of you say that it would be Naruto, but many people on this forum (myself included) believe that he is not ready for the responsibilities of being the Hokage. Many of you say that Kakashi could be the next Hokage, but many people will quickly point out that Kakashi doesn't really want to be Hokage and only agreed to take the job before receiving the news that Tsunade came out of her coma is because he felt that there wasn't any choice and needed to take responsibility for the safety of the village.
Now having factored in those two candidates credentials for Hokageship, I've come to the conclusion that their circumstances at the moment would be quite problematic if one of those guys were chosen to become Hokage. You might be thinking that those are the only two candidates we have for the title of Hokage, who else could possibly be able to be perfectly qualified for the job? Why, none other than our Heroine's paternal guardian known as Kizashi Haruno.
Now I know that this may be a stretch, but hear me out on this. I have a theory that if Sasuke flips his kitten for whatever reason it may be, he'll get encountered by the remaining Leaf Ninja who were stationed back at home to guard the village. Among those stationed to guard the Leaf would be Sakura's parents Mebuki and Kizashi along with other members of the Haruno Clan and maybe some people from Kizashi's side of the family. At that point, a fight will break out where Sakura's parents will display just how powerful they really are. This is assuming that they're not just typical mook level shinobi, but could be almighty janitors if they happen to have power comparable to a high level Jonin or that of a Kage.
As for what type of abilities that Kizashi might have, here's my speculation. Kizashi wouldn't have the Genjutsu abilities that the Haruno Clan has (assuming if the family name of Haruno isn't just a family name given for the sake of Sakura having a family name and if "Inner-Sakura" isn't just some comic relief type thing) could possess not one, not two, but three elemental Kekkei Totas. If any of you are familiar with the theories I've posted so far then you'd know of my "Lava+Boil=Crystal/Sand?+Scorch?=Dust" theory that I've posted a million times already. I believe that Kizashi may have come from a family of various ancestral roots that could give him enough genes to possess three elemental Kekkei Totas. No, I'm not implying that Kizashi hails from a specific clan because I believe that elemental Kekkei Genkais are not bound to certain clans except in cases like Haku of the Yuki Clan and Hashirama of the Senju Clan. Hell, Mu and Onoki don't appear to have any blood relations whatsoever. So if my theory is correct, than Kizashi would know the Five Basic Elements of Nature Transformation, four Kekkei Genkai elements and three Kekkei Tota elements.
I can understand why some people might be skeptical, but then again, Kizashi was the Fourth Hokage in the Road to Ninja universe. Even if it was just an opposite reality type of thing, maybe Kishimoto was hinting about possible future events in the story or playing around with ideas he wishes to incorporate into the story. This is of course going by whether Kishi intends to make Kizashi a viable candidate for the rank of Hokage or not. I just felt that this theory was too juicy to keep all to myself.
Feel free to let me know what you guys think of this theory of mine. Who knows, maybe Kishi could introduce a new character to take Tsunade's place as Hokage. If any of you guys have ideas on who else could be the new Hokage, that would be cool to know as well.
I feel very accomplished after typing up this long-ass essay on a fictional universe.
![cool.gif](style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)