Mysteries solved in this chapter!


Uchiha Council-A week later

The entire council was in an uproar. Fugaku sighed, he knew this would happen. Why did he have to act so impulsively and cause so much trouble for himself? Uchiha had wanted to overthrow Konoha for years and now they finally had a chance, but he was preventing them from doing it. Understandably, there was a lot of fuss over this.

"Fugaku-sama, why have you called it off? I don't understand. We were so close to taking over Konoha." a concerned council member asked.

"I'm simply giving Konoha a second chance. If the ANBU had not stepped in, I would be dead now." he said. It wasn't necessarily all true, but if it would calm down the council, he could afford to tell some white lies.

"Have the elders agreed to it?" another member asked.

"Actually about that, the elders are now part of the regular council. Their votes are only worth one point now." Fugaku explained, bracing himself for the headache that would come along.

"NANI?!" the councilmen exclaimed.

"Fugaku-sama, don't you think that's a little harsh?" his cousin, Aiko, asked.

"No, this last incident has allowed me to see how much I have been swayed by their ideals. They have much too much power. Konoha is a military settlement, not a democratic government and all of you would do well to remember that. Are there any more concerns? I'm not feeling well and would like to get home." he growled. The headache had started.

"But Fugaku-sama, you can't do that! The elders have advised the clan head since the beginning of the Uchiha." a council member protested. True it was an Uchiha tradition, but Fugaku felt that this generation would be better off without the elders.

"I can and I will, my power is absolute in this clan." Fugaku asserted, certain of his decision.

"Sir-"

"I can and I will. Any other objections?"

The council members made no move to talk. Fugaku sighed, relieved. That had been settled relatively quickly. The shutting down of the coup had taken a lot more time, the entire morning in fact. It was already three and all of them had been sitting in the same room since ten in the morning complaining about the new changes. He supposed that even the council members had gotten tired of the elders' authority in the clan so the second issue was solved in a matter of minutes. Now he could go home, finally. Oh how he despised council meetings! He hoped Sasuke wasn't home yet, Sasuke worried almost as much as his mother. It was horrible when he had been in the hospital.

Flashback start

"Tou-san! Are you alright? The doctor said you had to stay here for five days!" Sasuke burst in screaming. Fugaku had just fallen asleep and now his noisy, distraught family was in here. His head was already sore. He sighed, that's what family did he supposed, but did they have to be so loud?

"Fugaku! What were you thinking taking on those shinobi by yourself?! Why didn't you send up a flare?!" Mikoto screeched.

"Tou-san, I'm glad you're alright." commented the ever stoic Itachi. Well at least Itachi wasn't making such a big deal out of things. But he guessed that Itachi had seen much worse in ANBU and the kyuubi attack as well as the end of the Third Shinobi War. Now, why couldn't Mikoto be more like Itachi. She had seen worse, but she was worried for him when he wouldn't even have a scar? Love did weird things to your mind, he would never understand it.

"Calm down. I'm fine, but you will give me a headache. How can you scream so loudly?" he asked, his family's throats never ceased to amaze him.

"Uchiha Fugaku, you tell me right now why you didn't send that flare when you were attacked!" Mikoto ordered, her hair starting to rise up behind her as she gained a frightening aura. Fugaku gulped, when Mikoto was mad, you should run for your life.

"I couldn't. I forgot all about it and I used my last one capturing those theives earlier. I couldn't get any extra powder because I had to pick up Sasuke and his friends." he explained sweating all over the bed sheets.

"You were late!" Sasuke pointed out.

" Oh well that's alright. But don't you dare worry me like that one more time. Got it? And don't walk so slowly, for kami's sake. Would it hurt you to walk a little faster?" Mikoto asked. When she heard that her husband was in the hospital, she feared the worse. Although sometimes he was as cold as ice and didn't seem like he had a heart, he was still her husband and the clan head.

"Yes Mikoto." Fugaku answered, relieved that the crisis had been averted. If he had answered the question in the wrong way, he would probably be stuck in the hospital for another month! Sometimes Mikoto was even scarier than Kushina when she was mad, and that was saying something.

"Tou-san, I was so worried. Will you get better tomorrow? I want you to come to the Academy with me tomorrow because it's my first day. Itachi -nii-chan can't come because he has a mission and kaa-chan can't come because she has to take care of the house, so will you come?" Sasuke asked hesitantly. He thought that maybe his father loved him enough to get away from the hospital and the duties of clan head to accompany him for two hours. Just two measly hours.

"Fugaku..." Mikoto warned, a threatening tone in her voice.

"Tou-san, I think you should go." Itachi offered. Sasuke beamed widely at Itachi before looking back at his father. Fugaku groaned under his breath. His family was ganging up on him because he was injured. How was that fair?

"I'll ask the doctors if I can go, but if I can't that's too bad." Fugaku answered, caving in to his family.

"Arigatou tou-san! Oh and Naruto told me to tell you to get well soon. He couldn't come because he's playing with Sumire to keep her mind occupied." Sasuke told him.

Flashback End

Oh that's right, Sumire had her first kill that day. I hope she's better. Fugaku mused. His thought were cut short by sounds of laughing and screaming in Sasuke's room. That's weird,he noted. Sasuke's there by himself, what's he laughing about? Perhaps Itachi was there?

He walked up to the door and opened it, determined to find out just what was going on. When he looked inside, he saw Naruto, Kiba, Sumire, Shikamaru, and Chouji all there.

"What in going on here? I was not informed that you were having friends over." he said in an icy tone.

"Oh, sorry to bother you. We were too loud, weren't we?" Sumire asked.

"Yes, very. I could hear you from outside. Now would someone tell me why you are all here?" Fugaku asked.

"Tou -san! Ano, Sumire and Naruto are staying over for a while, kaa-san said they could. Kiba, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino are just visiting." Sasuke told him nervously.

"Yeah, we'll be going now." Kiba added on. Akamaru barked and followed Kiba as Kiba took his stuff and bolted out the door. The rest of them followed his example and bowed before leaving quietly.

"Sorry to trouble you Uchiha-sama." Chouji added as he followed Shikamaru and Shino out the door. Fugaku watched as they left, he would have to have a talk with Mikoto later. She was letting too many people come into their house.

Now the only people left were Sumire, Naruto, Sasuke and himself. Fugaku went into the room and sat down.

"Now what do you mean by staying over for a while?" he asked.

"Kaa-chan said they could stay until they orphanage found more teachers. All the kids at the orphanage that are attending the Academy are being sent to live with different clans for a while because the jounins and chunins that were watching them were called back for active duty. Kaa-chan said Sumire and Naruto could stay here until they hired more shinobi." Sasuke explained.

"Yeah. And Kurenai-sensei made tobetsu jounin and Anko-sensei is joining the torture and interrogation unit! Dattebayo!" Naruto cheered. Kurenai was tobetsu jounin now, huh. Kushina would be so proud of her students and Mikoto was probably already celebrating.

"I see." he answered.

"And now Hokage-san says that even if they aren't watching us anymore, all of the caretakers will still be able to visit between missions!" Naruto grinned Fugaku nodded. How nice of the Hokage.

"How are you?" he asked the youngest of the group.

"I'm good. Inu-san helped me get over it." Sumire smiled. Inu had been a great help to her after she killed the shinobi. She suspected it was because he was very close to her age when he made his first kill as well.

Flashback Start

Sumire groaned as she woke up. All her limbs were so sore and her mouth was dry. Her eyelids were heavy and she didn't want to wake up. She just wanted to sleep forever. Cracking open her eyes, she saw red.

"Aah!" she screamed, remembering the previous day's events. She sat up and looked around, hoping there was no red, but there was. Everywhere. Red, the blood, it was everywhere. On her, on the walls, on the floor, even on the bed. It was everywhere. It wouldn't go away and it wouldn't wash off. Her eyes started to tear up and she began to shake. All this blood, and it was all her fault. She had killed that person! All the blood! All the redness! She couldn't stand it!

"Calm down! Stay calm. Just take deep breaths and the blood will go away." a voice told her. Anything, anything to make this blood go away. I'm not a murderer she thought as she took big breaths of air. Gradually, her vision cleared. She was at her room at the orphanage and there was a mask staring at her.

"Aah!" she screamed again. How did that mask get in her room? And did it just talk to her?

"Calm down. Look at me, I'm just a person." the voice said again. Even though she couldn't see under the mask, she could tell the person was amused. When she looked again, she saw the body of the person. She breathed a sigh of relief, thank goodness, she wasn't dreaming again.

"How did you know? How did you stop the blood?" she asked.

"I'm a shinobi. We either kill or get killed. It's nothing to feel guilty about. I've felt like you many times before." he soothed.

"I'm a murderer, and I'm only four! How many more innocent people will I kill? This isn't even my first time. I don't want to kill more innocent people. How many more times will I have to do it?" she asked, quivering.

"Don't think like that. If you hadn't killed that shinobi before, would Sasuke and Naruto have lived?" the shinobi asked her. Inside he was confused, what did she mean when she said she had killed before? The Hokage had said that it was her first kill.

"But I've killed so many innocent people too. That day, so many died. " she said, the light fading from her eyes. Inu cursed. This wasn't good!She was going to collapse and drown in her memories, she was going to end up like him.

"How about you tell me what happened, I'll help." he offered, hugging the little girl. It broke his heart to see someone so young have to kill. For kami's sake, she was four. He had his first kill when he was seven. To force a child to kill at four was just, just unspeakable!

Sumire didn't say a thing, only sat on the bed as Inu let go of her. He was worried, she had to snap out of it! He pulled at his gravity-defying hair trying to think of a solution. Inside he was panicking. After what seemed like eternity she spoke up. At first, he could barely even hear her. Her voice was just a whisper, floating in the wind.

"I don't remember much. It really wasn't that bad. With Orochimaru. I remember missing my parents, but Orochimaru-sama was…kind. I don't remember the experiments. I remember him. I remember how kind he was to me. I remember him teaching me the jutsu. I remember him caring for me, comforting me."

Kakashi was confused. Perhaps this girl had mixed up some people?

"I know. In Konoha, he is a villain. But I … I … he took care of me. He took my parents away, sure, but I don't remember them, I remember him nurturing me."

"Sumire…"

"No! You have to understand. He was nice… he didn't seem mean. He looked a little suspicious, but he was kind to me. I can't remember him ever harming me just to harm me. Everything was fine until the Konoha shinobi came. They just stormed in. One minute everything was fine. The next, Orochimaru-sama was gone and all that was left was a group of strangers. They took away everyone! All my friends! They took them and killed them! Orochimaru –sama and Kabu-kun were gone. I … I …"

"It's alright."

"I couldn't do anything! They said all my friends were dangerous! They took them away!"

"Sumire… Try to understand. Those friends of yours…" Kakashi paused. How would he break this gently to her? How would he justify their actions?

"I do. I do understand. My friends, Juugo, Kimimaro, they would have been a danger… I was a danger, but I am also a Konoha bloodline."

Kakashi searched for a response. Something that would take her mind off this.

"They protected you. Don't dwell on it. Those memories will haunt you for eternity, but use them as a way to excel. Become a shinobi to make them proud and protect those close to you so you will never see one of your friends die again." Kakashi told her. On the inside, he was laughing bitterly. Who are you to tell her what to do? Look at yourself, pining away at your team's grave every morning. What a fine example you are! he said inside his head. He was such a hypocrite sometimes.

"I'll try. The memories never fade do they?" she asked him, wiping away her tears. He shook his head as he smiled sadly, he knew that full well.

"Thank you, I think I can get better now. I don't regret killing that shinobi now. If I hadn't he would have killed us" she smiled, though it was forced.

"Why don't you go play with Naruto now? I'll tell Hokage-sama that you've gotten over it." Kakashi said as he ruffled her hair amiably.

Flashback End

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you got over it." he told her in a kind voice. Somehow, this little girl had thawed his heart, just a little.

"Tou-san, kaa-san says she wants to speak with you after you go to the Hokage tower for a meeting." Itachi reported to him from the doorway.

"Itachi-nii-chan!" Sasuke called excitedly.

"Another meeting?" Fugaku asked. Usually when Itachi came home early, Fugaku was summoned to a meeting. Wasn't one meeting enough in a day?

"Hai, I'll watch Sasuke and his friends while you're gone." Itachi informed him. Fugaku groaned as he got up and shunshined to the despicable council meeting.

Hokage Tower

Hiruzen looked down at the shinobi assembled. He would guess that most of them would be happy with the change.

"I have called you all here to inform you of a change." Hiruzen started. The shinobi and clan heads finally settled down after hearing him talk.

"Shimura Danzo has now retired as a member of the council and as a shinobi." he proclaimed. Of course, everyone could tell from the tone of voice that he used, that Danzo had not voluntarily agreed to retire. The news was met by cheers and smiles, at least from the council The elders, on the other hand weren't so happy.

"What is the meaning of this, Hiruzen?" Homaru asked.

"As I have explained to you, Danzo has retired." he said, keeping on a poker face.

"Well then, I propose that we induct him back into the council." Koharu said.

"Then so be it. All in favor of bringing Danzo back?" Hiruzen asked, although it was already very apparent what the results would be. Homaru and Koharu raised their hands However, no one else moved a muscle.

"All in favor of Danzo's retirement?" Hiruzen asked after a few minutes. The shinobi raised their hands in unison, some like Tsume, raising both hands, glad that the old war hawk was finally gone. Even Fugaku, Shibi, and Hiashi had tiny smiles on their faces.

"Well it seems that you are outnumbered. As such, Danzo will remain a civilian for now. Council dismissed!" Hiruzen said happily. No doubt the elders would try to propose that Danzo be brought back every time they held a meeting, but for now, Danzo was gone. And he had never been more relieved in his life. Well, maybe there had been other times.


Some of Sumire's past is uncovered! Please review! I hope this chapter isn't too rushed. Bye!