A/N: It took me a while, but here's Chapter 7!
It is late and she's out on Konoha's streets about to buy the usual sweets.
Her Grandfather lets her do as she wants as long as Kabuto is with her.
It is by chance.
It was so sudden and that was the only reason why she was even there to see it happen and why Kabuto was not able to maneuver her away.
A squabble. That's what it was.
From the looks of the people who didn't even bother to stop and watch for longer than a few seconds, it was something that happened frequently.
But it was enough to remind her.
..
She cares for them all. She always had. And she always will.
But what could she do.
What was important and what was right and what was justice?
Between the lives of a few hundred and the lives of those who they would possibly kill to achieve their goal to once again be respected, what choice was right?
The girl continued to stare at her now blooming garden.
Did she even have the right to choose?
..
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. This is the last time."
..
She woke up and wiped the tears she didn't even know she could shed, and she sat.
She cared for everyone.
She cared for everyone yet why does she hurt so so much more when she remembers the pain of two brothers and the death of one compared to how much she ached when thinking about the death of a whole clan?
..
The girl did not know what to make of this dillema.
How can she care for all yet grieve more for certain people?
It made no sense and she didn't know anymore.
Could she have been lying to herself this whole time?
..
"Kabuto."
"Yes, Ojou?"
He walks towards her.
He noticed, but he did not ask her any questions as to why she had been withdrawn these past few days.
"If I... If I were to suffer for years and then die, would you be upset?"
He stills.
"Ojou," he begins.
"Of course this is a hypothetical question. I am not referring to my current ah, situation."
He gives her a firm nod in undestanding, and she cares enough to not give notice of the way his hands are clenched tight at his sides.
"That is obvious, Ojou. I would, of course, be more than just upset."
"I see. Then how would you feel if the entirety of ROOT, excluding the two of us, were killed?"
He frowns, "That would be unfortunate. Perhaps I would then be upset."
There is silence and he looks at her but Hanako seems to be lost in her own thoughts, so he calls out her name.
"Is that so." she murmurs quietly before asking another question, "Which of the two hypohetical situations would you prefer to happen?"
And it does not even take him a single second to reply.
"I would very much prefer your happiness and well being."
It takes her a moment, and Kabuto thinks that maybe he gave her the wrong answer but for the life of him he knows that he would never lie to Hanako and he never would have chosen the other option, before she speaks again.
"Thank you, Kabuto."
She smiles at him.
He is relieved that she is finally acting like herself again.
..
She cared for them. Loved them, even.
The fact that she would have been okay with the Uchihas wrecking havoc on the village for their coup d'état, as long as one of them wouldn't have to carry the burden of killing his entire family save for one and the other wouldn't have to waste his life in seek of revenge, was proof of that.
But she decided that the fact that the Uchiha would harm Konoha should weigh heavier than the suffering of two brothers.
Even though that was not what she believed.
..
It was wrong.
She knew that it was wrong and yet she would do nothing to prevent it.
It was, after all, for the greater good.
What was a single clan in comparison to the whole of Konoha?
..
She had made up her mind, had stopped questioning her entire view of both herself and the world but then she heard something that turned everything, everything she finally just decided on, 180.
..
"That Hiruzen." her Grandfather growls.
It was an uncharacteristic display of rage that Hanako stops herself before opening the door to his study.
Feeling a sense of dèjá vu, she keeps listening.
"A genjutsu on the clanhead of a clan that has the best genjutsu in the entire Elwmental Countries, as Tobirama-sama would so aptly put, how would that work?"
"It won't, Danzo-sama."
It wasn't new for the Elder to vent his frustrations to his entirely willing operatives and it wouldn't have stopped Hanako from coming inside had she not remembered something.
'Shisui. Kotoamatsukami.'
"It is this sort of unthought of stupidity that I will never agree with Tobirama's choice of successor! This special kind of stupidity of his is the reason why I always need to take matters into my own hands!"
"It is a complete disappoinment, Danzo-sama."
"But if it works..." he trails off.
"A power such as that should never be in the hands of anyone, especially not the Uchiha."
"Of course not, Danzo-sama."
"If he has the audacity to think and plan of using such a jutsu on his clan head, what if he uses it on-" he stops.
"Hinoto."
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
"Call for Uchiha Shisui and tell him to meet me. Arrange for a group of operatives to trail behind us."
"Yes, Danzo-sama."
..
The girl leaves in a hurry, keeping her steps light as to not make a sound.
Kinoto was there, lurking in the shadows and to him it would have looked like she was planning on entering the room before stopping for a few minutes and deciding not to, but she knew he would stop her if he knew what she was planning to do.
She goes to the Infirmary.
..
"Ojou?"
"Kabuto, I need you."
He abandons everything he was doing, throws the medical coat he had over his gear and follows her out with no questions asked.
..
"When the time comes will you use your Kotoamatsukami on me as well?"
Danzo starts to move closer towards Shisui.
"Your Sharingan shall be in my-"
"Ojii-sama! No!"
Hanako leaps out of the shadows and grabs on to her Grandfather's outstretched arm.
"Hanako, why are you here?" the old man demanded.
There is a loud thud which causes them to look at the direction where Hanako had come from. Kabuto is there holding Kinoto to the ground.
Shisui stays alert, noticing eight other presences around them.
The eight ROOT ninja jump out and gathers around the five of them.
"Ojii-sama, this is wrong." The girl declares, still not letting go of the arm in her hand.
"Go back home, Hanako. You shouldn't be involved in this."
She stands firm in her resolve and says, "No."
The lone Uchiha already has Shuriken in his hands, understanding his situation.
"Uchiha-san, please go on to your Clan's Assembly." Hanako looks at Kabuto, "Kabuto, guard Uchiha-san until he gets there."
Kabuto starts to protest.
"I will be fine."
The teen nods and lets go of the man underneath him and goes to the Uchiha's side.
Shisui hesitates before going, but Kabuto's firm nod convinces him to go on.
..
"Hanako." The elder warns.
"Ojii-sama." She answers back.
Danzo realizes that he would not win against her.
"Follow them."
The group of ROOT operatives starts to move out, only to halt in their tracks.
"Stop."
"Her orders do not go above mine, follow them!" he was losing his patience.
Hanako smiles, "Start following them and I will fight against all of you."
"You cannot fight them all."
"I can stop them all for five minutes at least."
"You will collapse to your illness, stop this."
Her smile does not leave her lips, "That is the point."
..
Perhaps it was a bit low of her to use this tactic against her Grandfather.
But she does so regardless.
..
He stares at her and she stares back.
"Do not follow them." He gives into her command.
In her joy, she lets go of his arm and hugs him. It does nothing to quell his irritation towards her.
"Why?" was his only question.
"Let him try, please Ojii-sama."
He does not answer.
"At least let him try."
..
Shisui goes to Itachi, who was waiting, and they continue on to the assembly.
"There's someone following us." The Uchiha heir voices out.
"I'll explain later."
..
They arrive on time and Shisui does what he has to do.
The assembly is much raucous than normal, but it is a relief for the two Uchiha teens to know that they are not alone with their belief that a coup d'état is not the answer.
Now that the Clan Head himself voices his disapproval, more than a third of the attendees gain the courage to say their disapproval as well.
..
"Come out."
Kabuto is not surprised that Itachi calls him out from the shadows.
Shisui's grinning face greets him.
"You're Kabuto, right?" at the younger teen's nod he continues, "Hanako-ojou really saved me earlier. Could you tell her that I want to treat her to Dango as thanks?"
"I will tell her." And he leaves.
"You should come too!"
..
"One month."
"A year."
He frowns.
"Three months."
"No. A year."
"Half a year and that is all, Hanako."
"A change of belief does not happen that fast, Ojii-sama. This is about the whole village, not just a group of select people."
"You are as stubborn as your mother and your grandmother."
"A year."
He sighs.
"A year."
..
The dango shop the two Uchiha prodigies met them in was where Hanako often brought Kabuto.
"Hanako-ojou."
"Yes."
"Thank you for helping me before." he bows down.
She smiles at him.
"You don't need to thank me so much, Shisui-san. I have talked to Ojii-sama and he will not meddle in Uchiha affairs for a year."
Both Uchiha present listened more intently at her, displaying no sign of shock true to their intense training.
"However, that is all I can do. Everything else is up to the two of you."
It is the younger one who replies first.
"We will do all that we can to improve the situation, Hanako-ojou."
"I don't know how I can thank you enough!"
And looking at their reliever and confident faces, Hanako knew she did the right thing.
"Ojou has a love for dango."
..
She comes back to her home, her smile decidedly more cheerful albeit not that noticably, with Kabuto holding boxes filled with several sticks of dango beside her.
"Ojii-sama?"
"What is it?"
"Did you know that Shisui-san's Kotoamatsukami can only be used every ten years?"
"Is that so."
..
Later that same night, Uchiha Shisui's file in ROOT had been stamped with the words, 'NOT AN IMMEDIATE THREAT."
A/N: This was a bit hard to write. I already had a plan in mind on how Hanako would feel about the Massacre but then Shisui barges in. I decided to let him live since that's what she would want.
I don't feel like I was able to properly convey how torn Hanako was in this chapter. It's the first time she notices that she cares for some people more than others and that's why she's so confused.
If I wasn't able to get it across, uhhhh... She decided that it was okay for canon events to happen even if Itachi and Sasuke suffer as long as Konoha is safe?
For the greater good.
But then Shisui so yeah
See you next time!