Chapter 27: twenty-six: the old, familiar roadSummary:
"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet."
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Notes:
I do not own Naruto. I do, however, own Chiyuki and any original characters.
Chapter Text
Becoming Hokage 101
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Section Five
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Chapter Twenty Six
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"...so what you're saying is that I can't stay here any longer, and that I have to go back to the Sarutobi compound?"
Shikaku stares at me with an unreadable look in his eyes, clearly unhappy with how things turned out. If I weren't busy freaking out about leaving the safety of the Nara, I might have found his bad mood endearing - it meant he did want me to stay, and that made me immensely happy.
In all honesty, this is something I'd been dreading for a couple of days now. The investigation on my attempted murder is finished, my father was put on house arrest, my mother is under heavy surveillance, and both Danzo and that woman are dead. Apparently, Asuma is scheduled to come back soon as well, which means I won't have to stay all alone in that big, dreary house where one of my closest family members tried to kill me-
"You don't have to go immediately, but going there and greeting the elders might do wonders." Yoshino says, a kind look on her face. One of her hands rests on her husband's shoulder, inherently reminding him that this is a matter between clans, no matter how he might feel about this personally.
The matter of the fact is that I don't actually have to go back. It would be something out of a drama and enough paperwork to bury a person in, but if I really wanted to, I could probably arrange to be adopted by the Nara couple. Minato, Fugaku, Choza, and even Inoichi would probably have my back, and even though the relationship between the Sarutobi and the Nara would be strained for years to come, it really wouldn't be such a huge deal.
For a brief second, I actually consider it. I imagine myself living as the adopted daughter of the Nara clan head, eventually becoming Shikamaru's older sister, and living beside the deer forever. I imagine helping Yoshino cook, playing shogi with Shikaku after dinner, and maybe, perhaps, eventually, calling them mom and dad.
"...I'll ask Tsunade-sama to go with me, then." I say, petulant. Yoshino nods, clearly relieved, but her husband doesn't say a word. It's the infamous poker face, the one I've seen a few times but have never been on the receiving end of. It's extremely unsettling how he doesn't even blink, immobile as a statue.
Ultimately, it's impossible.
I can't abandon my brothers. Not when they've got such a huge part of my heart, not when they're the reason I started with the Hokage talk in the first place, not when I love them too much to even think seriously about becoming part of another family.
"That's a good idea." The Nara matriarch comments, squeezing her husband's shoulder.
Besides, one of the main things a Hokage needs to have is a good relationship with all the clans, and I've come too far to just throw it all away. I could ask Shikaku to go with me, but going with him to the Sarutobi compound would just make things more complicated. It would be an incredibly bold move that means I trust outsiders more than my own family (which is true at this point, but clan dynamics are Delicate™). It would put even more of a dent between the village's clans and the last thing Konoha needs is a civil war.
More than that, I can't just run away everytime I'm faced with a difficult situation, but I can call for reinforcements. Tsunade is the best choice, both because maintains a more neutral position in this feud and because I know the medic wants to confront her teacher, but doesn't know how to go about it. Two birds with one stone, really.
The Nara patriarch finally sighs, unhappy with the situation, but he knows better than anyone else how complicated clan politics are. I half-crawl to where he's sitting, ribs protesting lightly, but he meets me halfway and puts his arms around me. Taking a lungful of his calming scent of woodsmoke and tea, I feel my body relaxing in his hold.
"I can do that tomorrow though, right?" I mumble, blinking away tears. I haven't even left yet and the mere thought of leaving this routine we created rather effortlessly makes me incredibly upset.
"Of course." The man gruffs back, patting my head.
"Besides, I think you might be a bit busy to do anything else today." There's a glint in Yoshino's eyes that screams mischief, but before I can ask just what she means, I feel the hum of iron of four very familiar people, and suddenly I forget all about the physical and emotional pain.
The door slides open loudly, and the faces of Team Minato stare at me with mixed emotions. Kakashi throws himself on me in the next second, not caring if Shikaku and Yoshino are still in the room. Rin and Obito awkwardly greet them but soon join in the group hug, and I belatedly realize we haven't seen each other since before my tenth birthday, when Shit Went Down™. They weren't here when I almost got murdered, when Danzo got killed, or when I was sent to look for Tsunade.
Minato and the Nara couple fade into the background as I attempt to hug my friends, not quite caring if my limbs protest. I'm not really sure who starts crying - might've been Obito, to be honest - but soon enough everyone's sobbing and hugging each other, grounding me and reminding myself that I'm probably making the right choices as I go.
It's difficult to say how much they know, how much they've heard. Hell, for all I know, all they might've heard is that I nearly got killed - twice! - and that for some reason I'm living with the Nara for the time being.
'Well, don't things look great.'
"Hi, Chiyuki." Minato's beaming smile is quite the sight for sore eyes as he greets me after the crying fest has finally died down. He looks tired, yes, but his bright blue eyes shine with such determination that makes me want to beat my past self's ass.
'How could I ever be suspicious of this precious golden retriever?'
"Hi, Minato-sensei." I try to smile back, thinking about what a sight a pile of red-faced children must be.
After a brief moment of consideration, the blonde wraps his arms around the four of us, squeezing gently.
"Glad to see you." He whispers, and I sniffle. Just when did I get so damn emotional?
"I'm glad to see you all, too." My voice wobbles back, and Obito snickers from my left.
"Crybaby." The Uchiha has the balls to tease me, but Rin is quick to defend me.
"If I remember correctly, you were the one who started crying first." The brunette's voice rings out from my right, which makes Kakashi chortle from his half-sprawled position on my lap.
"Crybaby." He mocks his teammate, and the sheer familiarity of it all makes me laugh, unhinged and free. With this, it finally feels as if I'm truly safe and sound, as if the pieces of a puzzle are finally coming together. Everything clicks into place, and my heart feels lighter for the first time in weeks.
'I'm home.'
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"Your debt keeps increasing, brat." Tsunade says as she carries me with her left arm, an amused twinkle in her eyes as we head to the Sarutobi compound.
"That's alright, I know the other party is very thoughtful and kind." I grin cheekily at her, and she merely scoffs.
"No, you're the one who's a menace."
"Thank you."
The medic nin is trying her hardest to hide her twitching lips, but I feel elated just knowing I can talk to her like this. She might be trying to start a conversation because she feels how nervous I'm getting the closer we are, but thankfully, the blonde doesn't say anything about my parents or the bags under my eyes. The necklace she's given me bounces lightly with every step, heavy but comforting.
"That's not a compliment. Nevermind the Nara, how did you get the Uchiha head wrapped around your pinky like that?"
"Like that?" I ask, genuinely confused. It's a welcome distraction from the familiar path that makes my chest tight with anxiety.
The Slug Sage scoffs again, flinging her hair over her shoulder. "Whose fault is it that Jiraya is stuck doing D-ranks for a week?"
'I'm sorry, what?'
"Don't look at me like that, I'm just telling you like it is. Don't know how the Nara got to him before Minato did either."
I belatedly realize I'd asked the question out loud, my brain working hard to decipher the half-assed cues Tsunade's sending my way. Clearly, Shikaku and Minato did something, and then Fugaku gave him one of the most humiliating punishments ever, which, ouch, but-
"The most surprising one was definitely Mikoto, though." She grins at me, knowing exactly what she's doing, and I just know I won't get the full story from her.
"What? What did Mikoto-san do?" I ask regardless, infinitely curious. I knew Shikaku and Fugaku were going to be pissed off, but Mikoto as well? Wow.
'What a strange way to feel appreciated.'
"You'll have to ask the ones involved, I'm afraid." Tsunade smirks unabashedly, flicking my forehead.
"Tsunade-sama." I whine, rubbing the now sore spot.
No one had ever told me about this playful side of her, not even the resources from Before. Sure, she was shown to be a pretty lively child, but I never thought I'd see it in person. Perhaps it's because we managed to get to her before things got even worse? I'm not really sure, but I know better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm immensely grateful to be able to not only talk to her like this, but to see a fire burning so brightly in those honey-colored eyes.
We stand before the Sarutobi compound's entrance much quicker than I'd expected, and the good mood vanishes. Something tries to clog up my throat and I attempt to swallow, wishing I wasn't being made to do this.
'I barely interact with two thirds of the clan. Why do they want me to come back so desperately?'
Politics, as one would think, suck balls.
I blink, and suddenly I'm back in my room on that night, the crazed look on that woman's face as she grips her kunai tightly, the moonlight reflecting off of it-
"Breathe. You're okay." Her free hand squeezes my shoulder, and I blink back tears. The image is gone, the day is bright once again, I'm standing outside, and there's no immediate danger.
'There is no immediate danger.'
"I don't wanna go." I whisper, feeling small and vulnerable. This place represents everything but safety, and if I could, I'd run back to the Nara compound without looking back.
"I know." There's a tinge of regret in Tsunade's eyes, and just now I realize there's no one who understands me as well as she does. Being forced to go back to a place that's only ever taken from you has to be taking its toll on her, but despite it all, she's standing tall and proud next to me, and holds me a little bit tighter against her body.
"We won't stay long." She promises, and the guards in front let us in without a word.
A part of me (quite a big one) feels a wicked kind of pleasure in looking at the faces of my 'family' and having them avert their eyes. I grip the Slug Sage's clothes tightly, keeping the anxiety at bay with the sheer confidence and anger she exudes, and use it as my clutch. Whether they see a spoiled kid who's got yet another big shot at her side or a broken child who's covered in bandages and has dark circles under her eyes, it honestly doesn't matter.
'If you won't keep me safe, I'll find people who will.'
We head straight towards the meeting hall, where the elders are waiting for us. Thankfully, neither of my parents is allowed to see me unless I allow it, and that fact alone helps tremendously.
It's not their fault. Not completely, not really.
'Isn't it?'
I just… don't feel ready yet.
I can't see them just yet.
Not yet.
Tsunade squeezes my hand lightly as a warning and slides the door open without announcing ourselves. Bringing the blonde with me had definitely been the best decision; her presence alone commands respect, even if you ignore how clearly pissed off she is. I feel their burning gazes on us and on the famed necklace that now rests on my chest, rejoicing internally. Out of the corner of my eye, I see two of them whispering to one another, and a third one casually wipes sweat off his face.
I fight the urge to grin.
'Behold, my Blue Eyes White Dragon!'
It's beyond me how my heart hasn't beaten out of my chest already, but Tsunade's touch is warm and comforting, a steady presence that chases away the demons threatening to swallow me back into that dreary night.
The medic nin is the first to break the awkward silence after staring at all nine elders' faces, a blonde eyebrow going up.
"Well? Who's gonna apologize first?"
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"That went well." I shoot a tired smile at my savior, trying to ignore the pounding in my head and the throbbing on my ribs.
As expected, the elders did not take Tsunade's presence there very well, but what can you do. She's the only person in the entire world who can march into a clan's compound and tell them how they should run things, so of course they wouldn't like it. Once again, I'm endlessly grateful I managed to win her favor, otherwise things definitely wouldn't have gone as smoothly as they did.
"Sure, if you count the holes I punched on the ground." Her answer comes dry, but her hands are ever so gentle as they work their magic. Inside the safety of the main house of the Senju compound, it almost feels as if I'm in a completely different place. Predictably, it's a huge area with many Hashirama trees and houses made of the same wood. It reminds me of the Nara, except there are no deer living in the dense forest that surrounds the land.
"We can think of it as innovative decoration." I grin and she huffs, shaking her head at me. The lull in the conversation makes me slightly uncomfortable, but Tsunade's clearly not in the mood for chit chat, no doubt going over her conversation with my father in her head.
She'd gone to see him by herself, in the small house at the edge of the compound he's been confined in. Neither my arms nor my legs are healed enough for me to stroll around on my own, so I'd been content in waiting outside. People had glanced at me, some even managed to look me in the eyes, but not one of them dared approach me. A few of the cousins I'd been closer to almost did, but an invisible barrier prevented everyone from getting too close.
Perhaps it'd been Tsunade's overwhelming presence, perhaps it'd been their guilty conscience; either way, I'd been alone for the ten minutes the Slug Sage spent inside the building, and I was grateful, albeit a bit guilty myself.
'Whose fault is it, really? Danzo certainly can't take the whole blame, not when so many people willingly did his bidding or simply stood by watching without doing a single thing.'
In the end, we'd left the compound roughly thirty minutes after we came in, and keeping my anxiety in check had been much easier when next to the blonde woman. Her medic instincts had zoned in on my aching ribs almost instantly, wordlessly taking me to the empty Senju compound.
An insistent itch begs me to ask about Tenzo, but her obvious bad mood easily shuts me up. Her glowing hands ease the pain in my ribs and soothe my headache, and between one blink and the next, I fall asleep.
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Choza-sensei arranges for the three of us to stay at the Akimichi compound until Asuma is back in the village, which should take another couple of days. It's an easy feat, using the half-excuse that we all nearly died and it's too soon to separate us after such a traumatic event. Fugaku doesn't even blink at the request.
Infuriatingly enough, no one tells me anything about what happened to Jiraya after we came back, but the Akimichi matriarch "lets out" things here and there, like how six people made a stinging remark, at the very least, and the seventh person was, surprisingly or not, the scariest of them all.
"I've never seen Mikoto-san with such a scary look on her eye, the day we heard you came back injured." The Akimichi matriarch says, as innocent as one can be. "Choza didn't tell me any details, but it was more than enough to make Jiraya-sama permanently scared of her smile."
At the end of the day, it's limited info I have to content myself with. Sure, I'm tremendously curious to know the whole story, and it does involve me directly, but it's nothing official, and we're only genin. Of course Fugaku wants to keep things on a 'need-to-know' basis as much as possible.
On the three days team Choza spends together inside the Akimichi walls, Gai and Genma receive the ok from Tsunade to go back to training, so long as they start off slow.
That last part had been said while looking pointedly at our green-clad teammate.
I'm also allowed to walk on my own, but never for long and never alone. I spend the days leisurely reading scrolls and meditating, which does help, but the nightmares come back every single night.
It's tough, I'm not gonna say it's not. Genma often cries in his sleep and Gai kicks out his covers, as if to protect himself, and watching it rips my heart apart every time.
"You were not the one who attempted to kill them." Inoichi tells me on a particularly sleepless evening, just before he goes back home.
"No, but would it have happened if I weren't the one on this team?" I'd replied, thoroughly exhausted.
"There's no use in thinking about the 'what ifs'." The Yamanaka patriarch had said in response, ruffling my hair right after. "Don't blame yourself for something you have no control of."
It's definitely easier said than done.
Asuma comes back and it's another crying fest, this time at the Akimichi's. It makes me wonder if I'm ever gonna run out of tears, or if I've always been such a crybaby. Tooru, unexpectedly, comes back later that same day and hugs the both of us tightly to his chest, claiming that he's our legal guardian for the time being, and that he's going to stay at the village for the next couple of weeks.
The three of us go back to the Sarutobi compound, but instead of staying in that big, empty, blood-stained house, our eldest brother leads us to a medium-sized construction near the gates - his own house. Even though there are enough rooms, we all sleep on the same one, my futon in the middle.
"It's pretty much a political move." Tooru explains to us the reason why he came back so suddenly that night, as we're all huddled up close together. "Fugaku-sama wants to show the village that we siblings have no part in what happened."
"Isn't that the logical conclusion? Chiyuki was the only one in the village when it all happened, and she definitely didn't have a hand in that." Asuma pipes up, his breath tickling my cheek.
The eldest shrugs. "Clan politics, you know how it is. There's nothing much we can do about it except move along as best as we can. The interim Hokage said he'd take care of it, and that's good enough for me."
Neither one mentions Danzo's name, or that woman's, during the whole conversation. It's a nice, peaceful night, and the nightmares come only briefly. In the safety of my brothers' warmth and comfort, I close my eyes, and despite being close to where it all happened, I relax and rest.
In that relative safety, time passes.
Tooru goes back to the frontlines, but he comes back home quite often. Asuma often goes on missions, but they're all short duration ones. I'm never home alone, and that fact helps me heal.
Tsunade gives me a clean health bill, and team Choza is back on the mission roster. I often see the other genin teams around, because there's talk of a Chunin Exam being held in Konoha, and we're all needed to strengthen inner defenses and run simulation drills with the civilians. Shizune is made director of the hospital and a great purge comes after that. She turns the place upside down and reorganizes it as efficiently as possible, and the Slug Sage often drops by to train new medics.
The Chunin Exams don't really make me lose sleep. If it all goes like Before, we'll get to meet important people like Killer B, but I'm confident that it'll all go without a hitch. Everyone is strong, and we are at war, so there's no doubt many of us will be promoted, but also because Fugaku is very efficient at handling matters - especially with Shikaku's and Tsunade's help. The woman, as she'd said, refuses to take any part in administrative roles, but her knowledge on how a village is run is definitely helpful. With the three of them in charge, life quality has actually improved even in the middle of the war, and people are singing the Uchiha praises.
Besides, every Chunin Exam held in Konoha follows a pattern, and everyone has already trained at the Forest of Death at least once.
An issue I'd completely forgotten about makes itself known a couple of months later, when team Choza is helping out at the Academy.
"You need more passion, Youthful Genma!" Shouts Gai, as lively as ever.
"I don't need passion to paint fences, Gai." Genma groans, half-heartedly holding a painting brush.
"Passion is needed for everything!"
A new voice joins in the conversation, bright and familiar.
"Hi, Chiyuki." Shisui greets me with a small smile, while Itachi silently gives us a nod, standing next to him. "Are these your teammates?" Glancing behind him, there's a bunch of Academy kids who hadn't dared come closer, clearly intimidated. Some of them lock eyes with me, but they immediately look away.
Huh.
"These are Gai and Genma. Boys, these are Shisui and Itachi." Gai shoots them a bright grin and a thumbs up, while Genma nods in their direction.
"Nice to meet y'all! Aunt Mikoto says you should bring your teammates over for dinner sometime." The Uchiha boy goes straight to business, easily including my boys in the conversation with a twinkle in his dark eyes.
"At the Uchiha compound? Thanks, but no thanks. Everyone knows how scary the Uchiha matriarch is." My eldest teammate mutters, pretending that a shiver ran up his spine.
"You saw her once." I reply, completely amused. Gai nods next to me, clearly taking my side.
"Once is enough." The teenage boy turns his head, hair flowing around his face.
"Please tell her we'll be there tomorrow." I turn to the Uchiha boys with a grin on my face, snickering when Genma squawks indignantly.
"Who the hell is we?!"
"Youthful Genma, language!"
He opens his mouth to argue back, but just then the bell rings, and the children slowly trickle inside the building, not before shooting our group many curious glances.
"Ah, that's my cue! See ya tomorrow, guys! Good luck, lil' cousin!" Shisui cheerfully waves us goodbye, but Itachi stays behind, oddly enough.
'Good luck?'
I find myself the center of attention of a very focused four year old Itachi, his big black eyes infinitely curious.
"Let's go over there, Gai. I'll show you where to shove your language." Genma not so subtly catches on and heads further ahead, while our taijutsu expert follows closely behind, shouting something about a painting challenge.
I tilt my head and smile, squatting to look at the young child on the same eye level. He's an extremely cute child, and knowing what both he and his cousin went through Before makes me want to wrap them both in a blanket and keep hidden in a safe place.
"Yes, Itachi?"
The boy blinks, apparently trying to read me. He speaks after a couple of seconds, voice quiet but steady.
"What is a Hokage's job?"
A myriad of scenes flash by my eyes, going back to that time Before when they wanted him to graduate the Academy at age four, inevitably scarring him forever.
'Ah.'
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