The Next Hokage

Summary: What if Sandaime and Yondaime both already had it planned out who was supposed to succeed Minato, but it never happened because of a few circumstances Danzo made? Will Konoha search for this person or will Danzo have his way?

It took them two days to get back and when they did, they were in for a surprise due to the welcome that greeted them. It wasn't the big crowds that were cheering as soon as the large group was within sight nor was it the even bigger, colorful banners that welcomed Itachi back home or the ninja that bowed when they got close enough. It wasn't even Nekobaa and her cats and granddaughter interacting with other people or even Tsunade standing at the gates with a smirk on her face and Danzo in chakra cuffs behind her that surprised them. No, the surprise came in the form of two young women throwing themselves at the new Hokage.

"Itachi-kun!/Itachi-sama!" Both girls yelled as they almost managed to topple the surprised Uchiha with their momentum and force, but it was years of training that allowed Itachi to apply chakra suction in his feet just before he started losing balance. Two pairs of arms wrapped around his neck and two heads buried themselves in his cloaked chest as the girls continued talking over one another and the rest of the world watched.

"I'm so glad you're back!"

"You've grown so much!"

"I tried to go after you-"

"-but I was too weak-"

"-I would have been a bother-"

"I was so scared for you!"

"I'm so sorry I couldn't be stronger!"

"Itachi-kun!/Itachi-sama!" They wailed together again when Itachi awkwardly patted their backs. As soon as they stopped, they stepped back and the older of the two fished something out of her pouch. Itachi found himself blinking as soon as he felt her put something on his head. The girl with the two braids squealed and tackled him in a hug again as he lifted his hand to touch what had been placed on his head. His eyes widened when he felt the long forgotten texture and shape of the cat-ears ninja tool he used to wear so often in his youth and the exclamations of "Still so cute!" finally made sense.

"Shinko?" Said woman let go for a second time in less than five minutes with the same kitty cat grin he had grown accustomed to in a much younger face, a face he used to literally look up to. Inari Shinko, his once upon a time genin teammate, was now a fully grown woman. Her hair had gotten longer but she still wore it in the same style she always had. She even wore her hitai-ate as a bandanna like she used to. But that stopped him from further observing her red dress and black shinobi pants. Shinko had quit being a shinobi after the death of their third teammate, Izumo Tenma. Itachi had seen her once or twice more after that before he became part of the ANBU and rarely ever saw his brother, let alone anyone else.

"Surprised, Itachi-kun?" She teased as she grinned up at him. "How is it that those cat ears still make you look so cute?" The Uchiha regained his bearings and quickly moved to remove said ninja tool, finally hearing the choked off laughter from his fellow Akatsuki members and the snickers of his former ANBU colleges, but Shinko slapped his hand away. "Leave it on. Oh, Itachi-kun! You have no idea how worried I have been all these years! Ever since you disappeared, I realized I had never been a very good friend and teammate to you! I should have been there for you after what happened to Tenma but all I could do was be a coward and think of myself." She hugged him around the waist, surprising him again. "I am so sorry."

"It's not your fault, Shinko. Tenma was trying to protect me. I should have know he would rush in without a plan. I should have protected him." The younger of the two old teammates said as he hugged her back. "I never blamed you, Shinko. I was really worried about you after what you saw."

Shinko pulled away and rubbed away the few stray tears that have cascaded down from her eyes. "I'm fine now. It took me a while, but I got over it. I regularly visit Tenma's grave, though. We could perhaps pay him a visit together later, yes?"

A small smile filtered to Itachi's lips. "I would like that. We would all be together again, even if not quite." Shinko nodded happily. "So how come you're a shinobi again?"

"I got back to being a shinobi almost three years ago, after I heard about your little visit to Konoha." The kunoichi replied. "I appealed to Tsunade-sama to let me continue on from where I left off and I soon joined in on the chuunin exams. I'm sorry to say I failed the first time but I nailed it the second time!" She declared proudly. "I became a jonin a few months ago. I wasn't going to rest until I could find you and try to bring you back home or convince you to let me stay with you, but you came back on your own."

"Why would you want to stay with a band of murderers and criminals?" A shocked Itachi asked incredulously and Shinko blushed a little while looked anywhere but at Itachi.

"Because Itachi-kun became my family while we were a team and my parents died in the Koniha Crush. I had no one else. I only had Itachi-kun, so I trained to find Itachi-kun and live with him." Black eyes widened when emotional brown met them. "I'm just so glad you're back!" And she hurled herself at him again, the man easily catching her and letting her cry until she was ready to let go. It took her a minute, but Shinko finally let go and had a curious and serious expression on her features. "Did you ever find the bastard who killed Tenma?"

"Yes, actually." He nodded and pointed to where Tobi was just coming back from the world of sweet oblivion that Itachi had put him into. Shinko instantly recognized him and rage filled her eyes. She clenched her fists and made to lung towards him when Itachi's hand on her elbow stopped her. "You can't kill him since he's my long lost cousin and the official member of my mew crewed up family, but you can try to beat the stupid out of him."

"That's good enough for me." The medic nin hissed and lunged at the petrified orange masked man. People tried to ignore his cries as the kunoichi dealt her revenge. Itachi just shook his head and pulled off the cat ears, storing them in his cloak when he noticed the other woman. She was younger than Shinko but still older than him. She had reddish black hair and large brown eyes and a complexion a shade darker than Shinko's. Her hitai-ate was wrapped around her forearm and her hair pulled in a ponytail. She wore a blue apron dress and black pants. The kunoichi was staring up at him with respect that almost rivaled Kisame's.

"Welcome back, Itachi-sama." The way she addressed him made it quite clear who it was and his eyes widened. "It's an honor to have you back."

"Himuka," he greeted back with a small smile as well. Suzukaze Himuka had been one of his genin teammates as well, after Tenma's death and Shinko's defection. She had always shown a great deal of respect for him, having realized he had greater skill than her and Aburame Yoji, who later ended up killing Shisui with the poison of his bugs. He had seen her only once after he became a chuunin and she had bowed to him. For some reason, she always referred to him as 'master', even now, years later. "I see you're well."

"I could say the same for you, Itachi-sama. I must say I was very sad when I heard about your part in the Uchiha Massacre but now I know the full story." The kunoichi happily said but the future Rokudaime froze.

"Himuka, how many people actually know every little detail about the massacre now?" He asked warily as Sakura and Ino deemed it that Tobi had had enough and were now trying to wrench Shinko off of the masked man.

"Oh, everyone knows!" The woman replied. "Tsunade-sama was quick to inform us yesterday of what exactly had happened and that scumbag was brought in by the civilians in a matter of minutes, really. I think in less than half an hour." She pointed her finger at the tied up ex-Advisor. "He and his men tried to put up a resistance but when Tsunade-sama stepped up on the battlefield, they fled like cowards. More than half of them have been captured. The others have yet to turn up but two shinobi an hour come back to hand themselves in so they'd get a lessened sentence." But before anything else could be said, Humika suddenly rushed in front of Itachi and stopped Tobi's blade from attacking the Uchiha's back. She quickly gathered chakra into her fist and pummeled it into the orange, swirly mask, sending the offender into a nearby tree. She looked over to Itachi with a small smirk. "I guess now would be the right time to tell you Shinko and I will be your new secretaries, Rokudaime-sama."

They heard a small crack coming from Tobi's direction as the 'little fool' started cursing up a storm worse than the oldest and most foulmouthed sailor. But Tobi didn't seem to realize that his mask had cracked. Kakashi, however, did. "Obito!?" Said Uchiha looked up and cursed when he realized his mask was destroyed. Before he could react, in a very uncharacteristic move for the silver haired man, Kakashi tackled his supposedly dead friend in a big bear hug. "I can't believe you're alive!" He cried happily, almost squeezing the life out of the boy. "Why didn't you ever come back!?"

"He did, but not for the right reasons. It was a rough night fifteen years ago." Itachi told his once Captain before he was drawn into a headlock.

"Itachi! It's good you're back, my friend!" Kamano Saisu, a would-be-bully of one Uchiha Itachi but ending up being one of his first Academy friends, cried in the same loud and obnoxious voice he had used when he was a kid, only it was slightly deeper now. His hair had gotten longer but was still the same dark cream color. He wore a chuunin vest and was actually the first person Itachi's age to welcome him back. Shinko, however, beat him over the head so he would let go of the future Hokage as Tsunade finally made her way towards Itachi. She extended her hand and all noise and shenanigans ceased, even Kakashi's admonishing of Obnito for the Kyuubi attack all those years ago and the older Uchiha's rude protests.

"Uchiha Itachi, Konoha offers you its gratitude, its condolences, its loyalty and its welcome to you, as one of our villagers, one of our shinobi, one of our members of this big family and as our Rokudaime Hokage." There was a brief cheer from the crowd at this, and a bit of grumbling on Danzo's part. Itachi took her hand and shook it firmly.

"I humbly accept this honor and promise not to disappoint." The whole village and the forest hiding it trembled from the cheers that broke out this time. People pured in towards Itachi, all wishing to shake his hand and apologize for every ill thought they ever had of him or to congratulate him and welcome him back home as the Hokage. The Akatsuki sure as hell came in handy in such a situation. They surrounded the Uchiha in a second and just their imposing presence was enough to keep the crowds meek and calm lest they annoy an S-rank criminal.

"Well, at least they're good for crowd control." Shinko whispered to Humika and the younger girl snorted.

Tsunade cleared her throat as Shizune came closer with the white and red Hokage hat on a pillow. They all grew quiet again as the blond drew herself to her full hight. "Since I already knew everyone would be here," she began, looking back at the gathered people with a fondness only a Kage can feel for their village. "I decided to use this opportunity as the Hokage Initiation Ceremony." Gasps filled the air but no one dared utter a word, especially not as Shizune revealed that underneath the pillow holding the Hokage hat was a set of ceremonial robes very much like Minato's to represent the Hokage office. Only the coloring was in reverse. The whole trench coat was red with the words Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure in white letters and black flames at the bottom of the coat. The black no doubt matched the dark clothing Itachi preferred. It was well thought out.

Tsunade stepped forward and tugged at the stunned Uchiha's Akatsuki robes. Getting the message, Deidara and Hidan were quick to take the coat off, leaving Itachi in his shirt with the fishnet underneath it and dark gray pants that matched the top. Tsunade turned around and took the red and white coat from Shizune, respectfully opening it and holding it out for Itachi. The Uchiha was still only staring at the village he had sacrificed so much for that had spent the past nine years hating him. So Kisame and Pein took the robes and Kakuzu and Konan helped put his arms into the sleeves. Sasori moved in front of the genius and took off his slashed hitai-ate while Zetsu fixed his collar and took out hi hair from underneath the coat. Through all of this, Itachi was still far too stunned and maybe a bit stupefied to move, as Konoha welcomed him back despite everything that he had done, despite all the mistakes he had made.

The last Senju picked up the Hokage hat she had only worn once or twice but had been a part of every other Hokage's every day life and stepped towards the new Hokage. When he realized his younger cousin wasn't going to move, Obito de-tangled himself from Kakashi and pinched Itachi's forearm, startling him back from his stupor to the real world. Tsunade winked at Obito before clearing her throat and saying in the most official and authoritative voice she could manage the words needed to make this official.

''I, Senju Tsunade of the Sannin, the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakura, now step down from the office and hand it over to my successor, the successor Sandaime and Yondaime had envisioned in their place a long time ago. I hand over this office to you, Uchiha Itachi, to make you the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure. Will you accept this great responsibility and honor of protecting and leading this village, both in peaceful times and times of unrest?''

Thankfully, Itachi was back to his normal self by now, only a slight glimmer in his eyes giving away a hint at what he was feeling right now. ''I accept.'' Tsunade nodded and put the hat on Itachi's head before motioning for him to jump onto the arc of the gates. Taking a deep breath, Itachi did so and looked upon the village he had been ready to give everything but his little brother for. He was finally home. Konoha was accepting him back and a heavy burden fell off his chest.

The people stared up at their new Hokage with something akin to shock and wonder. ''I am Uchiha Itachi, the Rokudaime Hokage, and on this day, I promise that I will protect you all with my life, my soul, my body. I swear that I will never allow my pride to come before your needs. I swear not to allow any more wars to befall us unless we must fight for the safety of our children. And I swear that, from this day on, nothing will take me from you, Konoha. This honor has been bestowed upon me by Sandaime-sama, Yondaime-sama and now Godaime-sama. I will do my best never to dishonor their faith in me or to lose the trust you people have placed in me. This, I swear on my pride, on my name, on my heart, on my life and on my soul.''

The people let out cheers after the speech and confetti and fireworks were quick to be fired and released. Musicians came forward and started playing cheery tunes and performers were fast to dedicate their shows to the new Hokage. Some of the Akatsuki were immediately drawn into the crowd and Itachi laughed as he watched them all, the tears streaming down his face and falling on the doorstep of Konoha sealing his promise. He was home. He was finally home.

It has been nearly two decades since Namikaze Minato had decided Uchiha Itachi will be the next Hokage. It took a while, but he finally was and Konoha was on its way into a new golden age that will rival the Shodaime's rule.

The time of the Rokudaime, Uchiha Itachi, has begun.

A/N: One more chapter!