Chapter 20:
Broken Shadows

Mikoto weeded her vegetable garden in the late afternoon, just after the heat of the day had passed. She preferred tending flowers to vegetables, but it was cheaper to grow things like tomatoes instead of buying them all the time from the market. Sasuke appreciated her efforts and so it was worth it.

However, her mind wasn't on satisfying her son's love of tomatoes. Instead, her thoughts swirled around the Hokage and his secretary…

The Yondaime Hokage was alive. A mistake with his sedatives had allowed him to regain consciousness and instead of suffering more seizures like the doctors feared he would he seemed lucid, almost normal. Aside from some confusion and memory loss, Namikaze Minato appeared to be unharmed from the seal and its disastrous removal.

And from the day that the Yondaime awoke, his secretary made herself scarce. For a whole week she had politely declined Mikoto's invitations for tea and hidden away in archive rooms. When Mikoto had gone to the Tower earlier, she hadn't even come in to work and no one knew why or where she was.

You would think that she would be happy that Hokage-sama is well. But she never seemed happy, she seemed upset. Why? Have I…misinterpreted her?

It didn't seem likely, but she supposed it was possible. The exhaustion and sorrow she saw in Uzumaki-san could have been solely the result of overwork and grief over her son, and had nothing to do with the Hokage. Perhaps she resented the man and was upset that she would have to work even harder for him to get him back into shape to rule the village.

But why work for him for a full decade if she hated him. Mikoto used a trowel to dig up a particularly long weed root. Perhaps…it was to insure her son's safety? If she kept herself and Naruto in Yondaime-sama's good graces…he would protect them.

It was calculating and somewhat cold-blooded, but possible.

Maybe I misjudged her… Mikoto's hand briefly strayed to her scarred, half-lame leg. I certainly never thought that Itachi would…do what he did. And he is my first-born son.

If I don't know my own family, how can I know a stranger?

The Hokage Manor was just too big. And worse, he was too tired to properly search the place. After ruining his stamina with his long hospital stay and then…exercising…he felt rather lucky to have not fallen asleep in the shower once he made it back from Kushina's place.

I am so out of shape, he sighed as he lay limply on his bed. I barely did anything today and I feel like Gamabunta fell on me. Urgh…

He would've liked to use the last hours of daylight poking around his official residence for the ring, but he doubted he could stay upright long enough to get through more than one room. Now that he recalled its existence and realized how he'd been living for the last decade and then some, he had to find out if it was safe. He'd put a lot of thought and several large paychecks into that thing and it would be horrible if he'd lost it.

Kushina hated jewelry. She never wore earrings or bracelets or necklaces or rings. Whenever she spied a sparkly engagement ring with a large diamond, she made fun of it.

So when he made up his mind to marry her, he had to get creative.

He found a nice jeweler who was willing to make a ring where a fairly cheap semi-precious green stone was the focus and two tiny diamonds were the trimmings. The windblown leaf pattern on the pale gold band was a nice touch, he thought. He hoped Kushina would like it…

Sighing, he rolled over to grope around in his nightstand drawer in hopes of finding a book to read. He was tired, yet he couldn't seem to just fall asleep. There was no Kushina to cuddle with here, so a book would have to suffice.

I need to get her to move in with me, he grumbled to himself.

His hand brushed against something squarish and soft, and he frowned. Pulling it out, he found a velvet box that seemed to have been handled enough that parts of the velvet were starting to rub off. Opening the box, he found the ring that he'd been worrying about.

…Oh! He blinked, and a little knot of worry unwound in the pit of stomach. There it is!

Now I just have to ask her…

Which was easier said than done, of course.

When they had first started stumbling past the bounds of friendship into…something else…the only thing that either of them had worried about was making sure that if it ended, they would stay friends. There was never any talk of any solid, long-term plans for the future. They simply took things day by day and went with what they both felt comfortable doing.

The day he'd picked up the finished ring, he'd been assailed by doubts. What if she didn't want to get married? What if she was happy with the way things were? What if he asked and said no and things got awkward?

And then she'd "gotten sick" and he'd found an excuse to wait. It wouldn't do if he proposed to her and she threw up on his sandals. So he'd settled back and waited…

I shouldn't have waited, he thought bitterly, fingering the open box. If I'd just gone and asked her…or told Jiraiya-sensei or Kakashi what was going on… Things would be so different now.

He snapped the box closed and set it on top the nightstand.

She has a real reason to turn me down now. Minato sighed and closed his eyes. I've made her wait so long…

Tuesday morning dawned peacefully and without any special fanfare. Daisuke arrived at his desk inside the Hokage Tower and sighed as he settled into his chair. Monday had been surprisingly good and he had high hopes for this new day.

He worked in the Tower cataloguing reports that were submitted by field ninjas. He checked the reports of different members of a team to make sure that they didn't conflict. If any anomalies—like conflicting details between reports, or strange events outside of the mission were mentioned—he would flag the reports for further review. And in the rare instance that he went through all the reports that he was supposed to check, he would help out in other departments.

As a child, he'd dreamed of being a ninja. In the Academy, he'd gotten decent grades. But when it came time to actually perform what he'd learned about in the field, he'd flopped. Still wishing to serve the village in some capacity, he found his way into the Tower as a purely administrative genin.

The work was tedious and kind of boring, but he'd gotten used to it. He'd found friends in the office that eased the monotony. It was a challenge to stay focused and it was something he was good at.

It was much better than being a mediocre ninja who was relegated to guarding the village gates or walls because he sometimes fainted at the sight of blood.

"Morning man," Daisuke's desk-neighbor waved around his coffee.

"Morning, Minoru," Daisuke waved back. "How's your in-box?"

"Just as full as yours," Minoru sighed.

Daisuke glanced at the basket labeled "in" on his desk and sighed at the haphazard stack of papers piled in it. "Oh fun…"

"Indeed," Minoru nodded. "So what do you think the odds are of the Dragon Lady coming in to work today?"

"Huh," Daisuke frowned. "That's a toughie."

Normally it wouldn't be.

The "Dragon Lady" (or Ryuu-sama as some secretly called her) was the Yondaime Hokage's right hand woman. She prowled the Tower between running errands for the Hokage and cracked the whip on slacking office workers. When she came into the room everyone had better be working or else.

When Daisuke had first started work in the Tower, she'd also had to bring her kid into work with her. The despised Kyuubi Jinchuuriki was a nightmare which the whole office was glad to be rid of when the brat had finally entered the Academy. If they weren't vigilant, the kid would steal their papers and thoughtlessly use them to draw on with crayon, cut them up with scissors, make them into spitballs, or fold them into paper airplanes.

Ryuu-sama came in every day. She had to be deathly ill to miss terrorizing the administrative ninjas. No matter what, she was always ready to chew someone out or just stare them down until they slunk off in shame (whichever she felt like doing).

But ever since the blow-up at the end of the Chuunin Exams, she hadn't been the same. She was quieter, grimmer; she didn't take the delight that she used to when she laid into a desk ninja. Ryuu-sama's unpredictable fire burned low.

And in the last week, she'd grown even worse. As the office quietly rejoiced in the news that their Yondaime would live and eventually return to occasionally grace them with his friendly presence, she devolved into a phantom. She didn't seem to be all there and even missed a blatant paper airplane being thrown from desk to desk in the decryption department.

Sunday she disappeared from work early.

Monday she didn't come in at all.

And now it was Tuesday.

"Come on," Minoru grinned. "Just pick some numbers. Fifty-fifty, sixty-forty, seventy-thirty…what?"

"Lemme think a minute," Daisuke frowned. "Hmm…I'd say the odds of Ryuu-sama coming in today—"

"—Is one hundred percent!"

Daisuke jumped and spun in his chair…to be confronted by the Dragon Lady herself.

This wasn't the ghost of the woman of weeks past. Her blue-green eyes glittered and her innocent-seeming smile reminded him of a shark that smelled blood in the water. Her long red hair was loose, which was rather unusual—she normally had it in a long, rope-like braid that she occasionally threatened to strangle people with.

"Ah, K-Kushina-sama," Daisuke squeaked, sinking down in his chair and starting to sweat. "We were, uh, just…"

"Just getting started on our work!" Minoru cut in helpfully.

"Yeah!" Daisuke nodded and grabbed the first thing from his in-box. "See?"

"Oh good," the woman smiled in approval. "I'll leave you two gentlemen to that then…"

And then she sauntered away in search of another potential victim.

"Aw man," Minoru shuddered as he dug into his allotted paperwork. "I think I saw bits of my childhood flash before my eyes for a minute there."

"Shut up," Daisuke grumbled. "She was standing behind me, not you! Now get to work before she comes back."

The wrath of the dragon is truly terrible. He focused his eyes down on the papers on his desktop and started to read. It's a good thing she only toyed with us a bit. I pity the poor sap who pisses her off…

As Naruto's mother had promised, she made painting over the graffiti on her apartment door a D-rank mission, and saved it just for them.

It had to be the easiest D-rank that Sasuke had ever been involved with. Naruto was still away so there was no annoying whining, and Hinata—who filled his empty spot for the day—was quiet, efficient, and didn't get all fangirly over him (which he greatly appreciated). Kushina-san left them all the supplies that they needed (paint, paint brushes, newspaper to cover the floor), left the door unlocked for them, and even gave them permission to raid her fridge if they got hungry.

But Sasuke couldn't really enjoy the simple assignment and easy money that came with it. All he could see was the hate splattered all over and around his front door. Even without the photographic memory provided by active Sharingan eyes, the curses and threats felt burned into his mind.

"She said that this was all because of bored teenagers and annoyed neighbors," he said suddenly, making Sakura and Hinata flinch in surprise. "This seems too extreme for that. If it's just teenagers, why not vandalize all the doors on the floor? It only looks like Naruto's door is the one targeted."

"That is weird," Sakura agreed. She stared at her dripping paint brush before abruptly turning to Hinata. "Hey, didn't your team want to talk to Naruto about rumors?"

"Y-y-yes," she nodded timidly, staring at the floor. "W-we t-tried to t-talk to our p-parents about it. They-they w-wouldn't talk about it…a-at all. They j-just…brushed it off. W-we c-couldn't find any r-reason why…" Her fingers fidgeted frantically for a minute, and then she seemed to find something else to add.

"Sh-Shino-kun s-stopped some drunks who…who wanted to b-burn Naruto-kun's home down. W-we overhead them p-planning it. They w-were g-going on rumors that…that Naruto-kun had h-hurt H-Hokage-sama."

Sasuke heard Sakura suck in a shocked breath.

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?" he demanded.

"Sh-Shino-kun w-wanted to s-see if he could f-find the root c-cause," Hinata mumbled, shrugging. "H-he w-wants to know wh-why people w-would do such extreme things over r-rumors."

The Uchiha turned to glare at the half-painted-over graffiti for a moment, and then went back to painting without another word.

"That's awful," Sakura breathed. "I don't see why people would believe those rumors or do such horrible things because of them. Sure, Naruto's an annoying idiot, but he's a loyal ninja—he'd never hurt Hokage-sama!"

"I-I know," Hinata murmured back. "A-and…I d-don't think N-Naruto-kun is annoying."

Sasuke slightly raised an eyebrow at the Hyuuga girl's comment. Oh?

"Well you don't have him on your team constantly pleading you for dates," Sakura sniffed. "It gets really old, really fast."

"I w-w-wouldn't m-mind," Hinata nearly whispered.

Oh? Sasuke's eyebrow went a bit higher as he painted.

"Really?" Sakura's voice was thick with disbelief. "Then you wouldn't mind if I steered him in your direction?"

"…G-g-go ah-head," Hinata replied so softly that Sasuke had to strain his ears to hear.

Oh really?

"Thanks! I will then!" Sakura chirped, and then changed the subject on to what sort of fruit drinks the Hyuuga girl liked.

Sasuke smirked, tilting his head a bit so that his hair hid his expression.

Heh, who would have thought…the dead-last has a fan…

Mikoto did her best not to stare.

Is this really the same woman?

The Yondaime's secretary was…happy. Her eyes had life in them. She smiled, even laughed a bit.

The Uchiha matriarch had invited her for afternoon tea as she'd done nearly every day of the week since she'd begun her efforts of befriending the woman. Instead of being turned down like she had been all of the previous week, the red-head had accepted. And unlike all of their previous get-togethers, it was Uzumaki Kushina who dominated the conversation.

She gleefully recounted all sorts of stories of insane office incidents. Sometimes Naruto was the culprit, running around and cutting up paperwork to practice his scissors skills or drawing pretty pictures in crayon on whatever documents he could get his little hands on. Other times she recounted the mischief that bored desk ninjas got into, and how she'd catch them and verbally tear into them.

What happened on Monday, Mikoto wondered, to cause such a change?

The red-head paused after concluding another rowdy tale of office misadventure, and then abruptly shifted topics. "You're probably wondering why I'm in such a good mood all of a sudden, right?"

"Well…" Mikoto anxiously fingered the handle of her cup. "Yes, I was wondering."

"Oh, I took the day off yesterday. One whole day of me-time," she sighed. "It was great; totally cleared out my head! I feel so much better."

"That's good to hear," Mikoto smiled. "What did you do?"

"For the most part, absolutely nothing." She smiled dreamily. "It was fantastic."

Mikoto nodded at that. Assisting the Hokage was a demanding job and raising a child alone was just as bad (not to mention that her particular child was…special). Doing nothing would be the ideal vacation.

"If I may ask," Mikoto began hesitantly. "How is Yondaime-sama doing?"

"Much better," Uzumaki-san replied. "His memory's a bit scrambled, but I should be able to help him sort it all out in a week or so. And a few days or so after that, I'd say he should be ready to get back to being Hokage."

"That's very good news. I've heard so little about his condition that I wondered if he would ever recover."

"I wondered that too." The Uzumaki woman briefly frowned into her teacup before brightening again. "But he's okay. The village doesn't have to worry about a Godaime Hokage just yet."

"That's a relief—"

The sound of a chime made them pause.

Uzumaki-san raised an eyebrow. "Was that your doorbell?"

"I think it was," Mikoto frowned. "Excuse me for a moment."

Briefly abandoning her cozy tea room, Mikoto headed for the front. She guessed that it was one of her neighbors—one of the few remaining Uchiha—coming to see her about some issue or complaint. Instead, she found the blonde-haired Yondaime dressed down in civilian clothes waiting on her doorstep.

"H-Hokage-sama!" Mikoto gasped, hurriedly bowing. "What a surprise!"

"Good afternoon, Mikoto-san," he smiled politely. "I don't mean to intrude, but I had heard that Kushina was here."

"Yes, Uzumaki-san is here," Mikoto nodded. He came for her in person? Why not just send an ANBU or some lesser ninja to fetch her? "Do you need her?"

"Well, if she's busy with you—"

"Stalker!" Uzumaki-san muttered, popping up from behind Mikoto's shoulder. "I remember telling you that I'd show up this evening to talk to you."

"I know," the Hokage grinned sheepishly and rubbed at the back of his head. "But…"

"…You got bored," the red-head sighed.

"Yeah."

Uzumaki-san shook her head at him.

The Yondaime glanced around, frowning slightly. "It seems pretty quiet today. Where is every—"

His secretary darted around Mikoto and clapped her hands over the Hokage's mouth. "Shush!"

Mikoto blinked.

The Hokage raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"You were about to stick your foot in your mouth," Uzumaki-san informed him. "I kept you from choking on it."

He carefully pulled her hands away from his mouth. "Oh?"

"I'll explain tonight, okay?"

"Alright," he agreed.

"Now off with you!" She lightly smacked his shoulder and shoved him off. "Go read a book or something!"

"Okay, okay," he chuckled and walked off.

"I'm sorry about that," Uzumaki-san sighed as the Yondaime rounded the corner and disappeared from view. "I haven't gotten him up to speed on…what happened here."

Mikoto shivered and swallowed. "I see."

The red-haired woman glanced up at the sun. "Well, my break is almost over, I should get going. Thanks for the tea and have a nice day!"

The Uchiha woman bowed slightly to her and mumbled some farewell in reply and then she was gone and Mikoto was alone.

That was…odd.

Shaking her head, she went back into her house and went to clean up her teacups.

That was very, very odd…

Danzou puffed on a cigarette in his underground office and stared off into the shadows. The situation had shifted yet again. The Yondaime lived and his chance of acquiring the Kyuubi through its mother was all but gone.

Namikaze lives, and now Uzumaki is rebuilding her hold over him.

Unfortunately, he only had so many agents. He hadn't been able to get a ROOT member close enough to the Hokage to pin down his exact mental condition. But he could still gather second-hand information…and he'd heard a great deal about the Yondaime's little sleepover at the Uzumaki apartment from Sunday night that bled well into Monday.

If she hadn't been using her feminine wiles on him before, she certainly is now. His lips twitched downwards. Clever woman. The faster she sinks her claws back into him, the sooner she can pull the Kyuubi out of trouble and protect her position.

Now what should he do about that?

The Yondaime is weak, confused, and currently not in power… Her next two strongest defenders—Hatake and Jiraiya—are both out of the village on business… And the Kyuubi is away as well…

She was physically undefended. And if she were removed, the Hokage would no longer have any protection from outside influence. That left Danzou a very narrow window of opportunity.

If I eliminate her I could possibly get my hands on Namikaze's strings…and if I tug on them right, I will be the sole puppet-master…the true "fire shadow"…