Chapter 4 – Planting Lemon Seeds

"Talk"

'Think'

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto sensei. So…yeah.

Two years later.

Two years old Naruto and Noriko were running around in the garden when Shisui arrived "That looks fun" which was met with delightful yellings "Ojisan !"

"You are welcome to join" Shizuka said with a smile "You look tired. Just got back from a mission?"

"Yeah, and I miss these" while squeezing Naruto and Noriko. They squirmed, trying to get away and once escaped, screamed with laughter while running.

Shizuka smiled at the scenery, she put away the book she was reading and heading towards the house.

"Have fun. I'll call when dinner's ready"

That night, after putting Naruto and Noriko to sleep, Shizuka sat down in front of Shisui, bringing a pot of tea "So what's bothering you?" she asked while serving his tea.

Shisui drank his tea slowly, savouring the subtle flavour of chamomile, before replying in a low tone "The clan is getting restless".

Shizuka's eyebrows shot upward in a surprise "What do you mean?"

Shisui sighed "After the Kyūbi attacked, words got out that a man with a sharingan was the perpetrator. Naturally people suspect the Uchihas and worse, many Uchihas were ordered to relocate back to Uchiha district-"

"Sandaime ordered that?"

"I doubt it's him. Sandaime is more to innocent-until-proven-guilty type. The order most likely came from the advisors through the Hokage's office"

"Many perceived that the order to relocate is just the first step to the Annihilation of Uchiha's clan conspiracy" Shisui continued "In response, now there's a voice of dissent to stage a coup d'état. I fear if this continued, Konoha may have its own civil war" Shisui sighed.

…

…

"You've been quiet oneesan" said Shisui "Ryō for your thought?"

"What a bunch of babies" replied Shizuka.

"… … … ummm…why?" asked Shisui perplexing. He never thought that that response will come out from his sister's mouth.

"Just because you guys are being ostracized, you decided to retaliate by STAGING A COUP?! They are no better than Naruto and Noriko throwing tantrum when I took away their toys for being naughty"

'Hmmmm, wonder what did the brats do' thought Shisui "What do you propose they do instead?"

"Suck it up"

"What?!"

"You heard it right. Suck it up. Look, people in general are stupid and they don't bother to learn. When I was banished from the Uchiha, I lost almost all my friends who thought I will contaminate them with my 'banishment'. After the Kyūbi attack, we were feared, hatred and shunned-"

"How do you deal with it?"

"With patience, and the knowledge that similar treatment was given to Kushina-sama. Yet she continued to protect Konoha by keeping the Kyūbi inside her".

"When life gives you lemon-" Shizuka continued "It is up to you what to do with it. Eat it, drink it, use the seeds to plant new trees, or you can throw it away. I've lost my clan, friends and acquaintances, but in return, I was given few that I would gladly give my life for them" Shizuka turned to his brother with a smile.

"I harbour no ill-will against the Uchiha. They are a proud clan, but STAGING A COUP is a stupid move and will validate people's perception towards them"

"I agree with you, but I don't think suck it up is the best idea to give them. If I said it to them, they'll socked me" Shisui jested.

Shizuka rolled her eyes "Like that's going to hurt you. What's Fugaku's stance?"

"He's not into the coup but I feared if many vote for a coup, he'll have to follow them or he will be deposed"

"I have an idea…but I am not sure if this will work but if it does, both Konoha and Uchiha will be strong…"

"That sounds intriguing" Shisui said, leaning forward to hear more from his sister.

"Well…"

Uchiha Clan Meeting

"Congratulation Fugaku. I heard that Itachi graduates. He must be the youngest to graduate during peace time" said Uchiha Tekka.

"Yeah Fugaku, I'm surprised Itachi is allowed to graduate considering we are all suspects for the Kyūbi attack" said Uchiha Inabi mockingly.

Fugaku sighed. He wished Inabi would stop voicing out his resentment every single time every single day. Unfortunately, his loud incessant complain has kindled the fire of rebellion in a few of the Uchihas thus spreading the seed of the coup.

"Inabi…" warned Tekka.

"What? You know I'm right. That's why I think we should move forward with the coup d'état !" yelled Inabi

"If you do that, then you've played into their hands thus proving them right" Shisui intervened.

"What do you mean? Who's them?" asked Fugaku sharply.

"The advisors. I've worked with Sandaime Hokage long enough to know his works well enough to recognize that the order did not come from him" stated Shisui firmly "and if we respond the order with the coup d'état, we are showing them that they are right to discriminate us".

"Then what do you propose?" asked Tekka.

"We prove them wrong"

"How?"

"By serving Konoha better"

The idea was received with mixed responses "WHAT?!" "Are you crazy?!" "You traitor!" "How's that gonna work?" "You crazy!"

"SILENCE !" yelled Fugaku, before turning to Shisui and said "Please explain yourself"

"I disagree with the discrimination against the innocence but we cannot force people to change their mind. However, people will change their mind if we show them how wrong their perception is. Maybe not all, but a few will"

"At the moment, they expect us to be disloyal, so we show how wrong they are by being a better, stronger shinobi that protect his comrades" Shisui continued "Word of mouth from our fellow shinobi is worth more than a million ryō".

"What if they still discriminate us?" asked Inabi?

"It has been two years since the discrimination and I proposed we gave them another two years. If each of us trains harder, either way how this will turn out, we will have stronger Uchiha shinobis…" Shisui trailed off, looking at the face of each attendee of the meeting.

'Hmmm…stronger Uchiha eh, that will work for the coup' Inabi thought with a grin while a few others were entertaining the thoughts of being praised for being strong, surrounded by fans and admires alike, and …(some dirty thoughts).

Shisui cleared his throat to get everyone's attention "To prove my commitment, I'm offering one day per month of my free time to train any academy student, or genin"

"I can attest to Shisui's skill as my son Itachi improved greatly under his guidance" declared Fugaku.

At that statement, people were whistling in amazement and few parents have decided to take on Shisui's offer to train their children. Who doesn't want to be the next Uchiha Itachi?

Shisui smiled and said "Thank you for your kind word Fugaku-sama. I only provided a little guidance but most of the credit has to be given to Itachi, he is a hardworking student. He never let the title genius or prodigy gets into his head. That shown how well you and Mikoto-sama has raised him"

Fugaku nodded and addressed the attendees "Well, now that has sorted out, I proposed we adjourn our meeting tonight and meet again…"

The next day

"Here" Shisui gave a check to Shizuka.

"What's this?"

"I told Hokage-sama everything about Uchiha unrest and our plan. He agreed to it and called your idea worthy of an A-rank mission. So he issued a payment"

"Bbbut…but isn't that too soon for a payment?" stammered Shizuka "I cannot guarantee that it will benefit Konoha. For all we know, we are preparing stronger shinobi that wants to take over-"

Shisui grinned "That's what I said to Sandaime, but he said if succeed, he'll give you another payment worthy of an S-rank mission"

Then he laughed when Shizuka gaped like a goldfish "Don't worry oneesan. Remember what okaasan used to say? Give your hardest, hope for the best but prepared for the worst"

'I hope so everything will be alright' Shizuka prayed in her heart.

Planting Lemon Seeds is a reference to English Idiom 'making lemonade from lemon' but I used planting seeds since Konoha means 'leaf' and seeds grow into trees which bear leaf.

End of Chapter 4

Oneesan – Big sister

Okaasan – Mother

Ojisan - Uncle