Chapter Seven – The Meeting

Itachi woke to find himself in the same upright position he had gone to sleep in with Tsubaki sleeping against him. He smiled as he gently nudged her into wakefulness then with some creative flexibility, mostly on Itachi's part, Tsubaki gave Itachi the same pleasure that he'd given her the night before. Not one to leave things undone, Itachi once again took Tsubaki to paradise.

"You know, you didn't have to do that."

"What sort of husband would I be if I left you unsatisfied?"

"You've 'satisfied' me a lot more than I've 'satisfied' you."

"Hn."

Tsubaki could only laugh at the response that he gave so rarely now. Early in their relationship, she had gotten so frustrated with that sort of response from him that she had daringly grabbed a pillow and beat him with it. The stunned look on his face as she hit him and his hair came out of his ponytail and straggled everywhere made her laugh. After he recovered from his shock from being attacked so, he promised that he would try and improve his responses. Then he pounced and tickled her until her laughter caused her to gasp for breath.

Itachi helped her out of bed and into the shower. As he rinsed her hair, he smoothed it back and began gently kissing her neck and shoulders while fondling her breasts. "Do you know why I will always satisfy you more than you will satisfy me?" He murmured in her ear.

"Why?"

"Happy wife…happy life." He laughed boyishly when she gasped and ineffectually tried to smack his hands.

He got her out of the shower, dried her off then helped her get dressed. The pair went and woke up the children, got them dressed and then to the dining room and eating breakfast.

Itachi discovered that Masanori and Tanpopo went to pre-school three times a week but this wasn't one of those days. He kissed both younger children good-bye, bade them to be good and listen to Tsubaki and that they were to help her out as much as they could.

Then he gathered up Chouko and her backpack and left for school. As promised, Itachi sat Chouko on his shoulder as they made their way through the streets to the academy. Chouko chattered most of the way there, telling him about her teachers and some of the other children at the academy.

"Do you help the others with their training?"

"Yes, Daddy. Some of them didn't like it at first but when the teachers said they could learn from watching me, they got to be okay about it."

"Do you have some good friends there?"

"Hmmm…YES! There is Haruka-chan and Junko-chan. Haruka-chan has a puppy that comes to school with her and Junko-chan has eyes that can see for a long ways away. She says that when she's a big kunoichi she'll be able to see for kilometers and kilometers! Iruka-sensei says that I will have special eyes too. Is that right, Daddy?"

His daughter was friends with an Inuzuka and a Hyuuga. That was good. He didn't know where the two children stood within their respective clans' hierarchy but it was a good thing for Chouko to make friends with other clan children. Alliances were made that way. "Yes, Chouko-chan, you will have special eyes soon. It will be called the Sharingan and I will teach you how to use it when the time comes."

"Okay!" chirped Chouko.

"Are you friends with any boys?"

"NO! Boys are icky!"

Itachi smiled and hoped, like most fathers that she would continue to think that boys were icky for a very long time to come.

They arrived at the school and Itachi ignored the sidelong looks he was receiving by other parents. He lowered Chouko to the ground and handed her the backpack. "I'm glad you took me to school, Daddy!"

He smiled at her. "I'm glad I brought you to school as well. You behave and listen to what your teachers have to say."

"I will." Chouko's ponytail bounced as she vigorously nodded her head.

"Run along and I'll pick up when school is out."

"Okay!" Chouko turned and ran towards the main doors. She spun around once "Bye, Daddy!" Then darted into the Academy.

"She'll be an excellent addition to the shinobi of Konoha." Said a voice from behind.

Itachi turned around and recognized Umino Iruka, the man had been one of the few people that had been friends with Naruto when he was younger. Itachi had even henged himself to look like the man to gain access to Konoha and Naruto when he was with the Akatsuki but the opportunity to take the Konoha Jinchuuriki had never come about. "My wife and I can only hope."

Iruka smiled. "She's far ahead skill-wise compared to the other students but we're using it as an opportunity to teach her patience and leadership…even though she doesn't realize it."

Itachi smiled briefly. "I probably taught her too much but she learns quickly."

"An Uchiha skill." Replied Iruka. "I know you have a meeting, so I'll let you go. But please make an appointment with me as soon as possible so we can discuss Chouko's academic progress."

"I will." Itachi bowed to the other man, who returned it, then Itachi leapt to the rooftops and made his way to the Hokage's tower.

888888

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared at the man who sat in the chair on the other side of her desk. The man who had killed his entire family except for his younger brother. The man who had joined an organization that not only committed various crimes for their own reasons, were paid to commit crimes and who actively hunted down Jinchuuriki.

Both ignored the others that sat or stood around the room.

"Normally, I would ask 'What should we do with you?' But I've read your reports. And did my own investigating in the Archives." The blond woman sighed and rubbed her forehead. "We've told the village the truth. It rocked everyone, shinobi and civilian, to the core. They thought that the Elders were to be trusted. And to have this news coming after learning about Danzo's crimes and the War…well, the Elders were probably lucky they died already or they would have been torn apart by an angry mob."

Itachi merely raised an eyebrow.

"Annoying habit." Muttered Tsunade. "Regardless of the fact that everyone knows that you were under orders concerning your clan and that you were spying on the Akatsuki for Konoha, we have to do something to punish you."

Sakura's "Shishou." was followed by Naruto's "Baa-chan!"

"Be quiet, both of you!" she snapped. Tsunade's eyes never left Itachi's. "I had made plans for your pain in the ass brother when we returned him to the village, but since that's not going to happen, I'm going to use a modified version for you.

"I was going to order your brother to find a suitable woman, get married and have children…you've already taken care of that and are going to be getting two more overly precocious brats before too long. So that's taken care of. If you didn't have a family already, I'd be throwing you in jail for a minimum of 6 months. But you do have a family so you are hereby ordered not to go past the boundaries of Konoha for the next three years. You are also ordered to visit a therapist once a week for the next year. ANBU will also be spending the next three years watching your every move. They will also be watching over your family."

"As for keeping you occupied and out of trouble, you will teach the older Academy students once a week in advanced weaponry and tactics. You will also be doing the same for genin once a week as well. The rest of the time you will be doing paperwork for ANBU and the Torture and Interrogation Unit.

"Speaking of which, when you leave here, you will have an interview with Morino Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi. Hopefully, you won't waste their time and will be truthful with them so you'll be on time to pick your daughter up from school.

"Do you have any questions?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Then get out of here. I have things to do. I'm a busy person you know." Tsunade glared at Naruto who started to laugh but choked it off into a snort.

Itachi rose to his feet and bowed deeply to the Hokage then turned and started to walk out of the room.

"Wait, Uchiha."

He turned back to the Hokage who threw something at him. He caught it reflexively. It was an un-marred hitai-ate. "Get that piece of scarred up crap off your forehead and put that on."

Itachi was surprised to find tears welling up in his eyes as he stared at the shiny strip of metal with the unblemished symbol of the Leaf stamped upon it. But he obeyed the Hokage and removed the hitai-ate that he'd worn for so long and replaced it with the new one. As he tucked the old one into a pocket, he felt Ibiki and Inoichi close behind him. "This way, Uchiha-san." Came Ibiki's deep rumble.