French leader with clever story (5)
I believe the answer is:
fable
'story' is the definition.
(fable is a kind of story)
'french leader with clever' is the wordplay.
'leader' suggests taking the first letters.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'clever' becomes 'able' (able can mean skilled or talented).
The initial letter of 'french' is 'f'.
'f'+'able'='FABLE'
(Other definitions for fable that I've seen before include "Short moral story" , "there may be a moral to it" , "It's not true" , "Mythological story" , "Old wives' tale" .)