Konoha's Weasel Prince

Summary: Itachi never got to use his Susanoo in his fight with Sasuke. As soon as the Kirin hit, he was sent back through time to the founder's era and it was up to him to ensure a safer and surer future for Konoha and the world at large. KisaIta TobiMada HashiMito others mentioned

A whole year passed since that fateful day when Konoha was named before the Shodaime Hokage was officially announced to the villagers, chosen by them and agreed to by the Daimyo and his own Council of Advisors. It took time for them to first finish all the administrations inside the village, make an Academy for ordinary civilians and the Ninja Academy for anyone who wanted to learn the ninja arts. It took time for more clans to gather under the Leaf symbol, for them to make connections and trade deals with distant lands, for them to get most of the nearby nobles' approvals, to make all the adjustments required for their village to run as smoothly as it must for so many shinobi to live in one place before the Shodaime Hokage could be elected.

Now, as he watched from behind Senju Hashirama, standing with Senju Tobirama, Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Izuna, Uzumaki Mito, Senju Totsuka and Uchiha Hikaku on top of the Hokage Tower with a cheering crowd bellow, as the long haired brunet man made his vows to protect and guide this village, Uchiha Itachi felt as though he truly accomplished something.

In the months following his cracking (with the help of Kuro Onyx with Shisui's Sharingan; Itachi had good eyesight but truly only the Sharingan can read such minute movements and he couldn't use his own so he used his connection with Kuro Onyx to observe the Nara and keep track of all of his movements, no matter how subtle) the Nara way of cheating - one of the first things that Shikaku-sama had taught him when he had been teaching him to play, for whatever reason - a lot more clans have joined Konoha's fold in quick succession. The first were, of course, the Akamichi and the Yamanaka, followed soon after by the Kurama, the Aburame, the Izumo and some clans that lived outside of Konoha's walls, like the Kohaku and some merchant clans that still counted as Konoha's citizens. Then came the smaller, merchant families like the Namikaze and the Haruno or the Umino and the Yakihiko families. There were many other names that Itachi knew only from having read them somewhere or in passing, people who were jonin and chuunin he might have known at one point to bare such names or even a few who were known to have a few generations of ANBU operatives in their family. Others were people who have come to live within the protective walls of Konoha simply for the safety of it, their kids never becoming ninja or doing anything noteworthy in other fields, either.

All in all, Konoha was rapidly growing and getting the good word all around the Fire Country, especially since they had the Fire Daimyo's approval. As soon as they finished the infrastructure of Konoha and made a chain of command, they were ready to vote for the Hokage and Hahsirama had won. Itachi had been quite surprised by how many people have been ready to vote for him until he had pointed out that the Hoakge must also be the strongest one in the village. It had been a tight race between Madara-san and Hashirama-san until Madara realised people were voting for him and immediately said that he was not Hokage-material and said that he himself recommended Hashirama. And while Tobirama-san accused him of quiting just because he didn't want to be stuck dealing with the ensuing paperwork, he didn't exactly complain about his brother winning, either.

Although, Itachi thought as he watched Hashirama make some awkward jokes that people found more amusing due to his fumbling than because they were entertaining, he might come to regret that as Itachi was fairly sure that he had seen Hahsirama-san trying to hide from anyone who was hounding him to finish whatever paperwork being Clan Head or a village founder entitled him to during this year and a half. He had a feeling there was a lot of comedy in store for him for however long he stayed here. Or a lot of headaches.

Probably both.

''Itachi?'' The secret Uchiha was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw Izuna leaning over so that he could look into Itachi's eyes, a concerned look on his face. ''You've zoned out again.''

''Ah.'' The younger man smiled awkwardly, always feeling guilty when he made his friends worry. ''Sorry about that. It does seem to tend to happen, ne?''

''Is something wrong?'' The younger Uchiha brother asked again, straightening out and leading Itachi towards where the rest of their group had went earlier on, now waiting for them. As he looked at them while approaching them, Itachi could not help but think that they were quite the ragtag group. It made him smile, as the Akatsuki had been nothing less and yet they had all worked spectacularly together, even if none of them would ever admit to it. Then again, Team Ro had also been quite strange, too, and they had been the most feared squadron in all the five countries. They even had a Do Not Engage order in a few smaller countries before Itachi left for the Akatsuki. Although, from what Sandaime had told him later on through letters and other forms of communication, he had discharged Kakashi from the ANBU not long after he left. Itachi had been forever thankful to him for it, knowing that the darkness the ANBU face every day was not meant for a kind person like Kakashi-san. ''You spaced out again~!''

He was snapped back to the present, again, by Izuna's almost whine of a complaint and couldn't help but chuckle at the pout forming on the slightly older man's face. Kami-sama, it almost resembled Sasuke's signature pouts from when they were children! ''Apologies, Izuna-san. I was just thinking of how far you've all gotten in a single year. It is quite impressive.''

Now close enough for the others to hear, Mito frowned and almost snorted at the secret Uchiha. ''What do you mean 'you'? You should have said 'we'! Without you, who knows how much longer the fighting might have continued. There had seemed to be no end in sight for that blasted war.'' The redhead sent a not at all impressed look towards the current Clan Heads and Clan Heirs of both the Uchiha and Senju, Madara bristling under the flat look and Hashirama descending into one of his depressive moods. It looked twice as strange - and three times funnier - in the traditional Hokage robes. Seeing his friend sink into the depression had Madara snapping at him to act according to his status and not embarrass the village by his behavior while Tobirama snapped at him to get up before he dirtied the robe. Which was funny enough, since Tobirama had been the one most against the design, saying it was impractical in the event that the Hokage had to fight unexpectedly. Itachi silently agreed but let the Senju brothers duke it out on their own, knowing that Hashirama-san would win and the traditional white and red robes will stay. They simply had to. Itachi wasn't sure if he could ever picture Sandaime in anything else.

''She has a point, Itachi.'' Toka said as she walked around the trio and came to Itachi's side, throwing a sisterly arm over his shoulders. ''We would have never stopped the war before something worse happened that could never be fixed if it had not been for you.''

'Like Izuna-san dying and Madara-san going mad with grief,' was at the tip of his tongue but Itachi had always had a good brain-to-mouth filter so he didn't say it. ''You would have figured something out eventually.

''It's definitely better this way.'' Izuna said, eying the muscular arm around the twenty one year old's shoulders with interest. Toka missed it, too busy planning on how their celebratory dinner should go but Itachi - even though he was paying attention to every word she said - noticed and arched an eyebrow at his ancestor. Izuna flushed as a knowing look entered intelligent eyes and looked away, engaging Hikaku into a conversation.

'Interesting,' Itachi thought, filing away the reaction and the actions. After knowing Izuna for as long as he did now, Itachi knew for a fact that the younger Uchiha brother was near impossible to embarrass. But knowing him for as long as he did also let Itachi learn a few things about him, one of the main to come to mind was that Izuna's type was a person strong enough to punch him unconscious or close to it, preferably a woman, not that he had anything against it being a man, either. And the only reason he didn't find Tobirama-san attractive was because he had only ever seen him as a rival and now an oath-sworn brother and a maybe-friend. But he had been sparring with other people since Konoha was built and he had found that rare few could really match his skill. However, Toka had once managed to punch him hard enough to crack four of his ribs while actually breaking one and Izuna had just complimented her on her form, much to Madara-san's exasperation.

It would seem that it was the punch of love. He idly wondered what Toka-san would think if she knew she had Izuna's interests. And an Uchiha's interest was no fickle thing. It's quite possible that those two will one day end up getting married. He wondered at the chaos such a union might bring about genetically but decided against worrying it. That was for Hagoromo-sama to do. If he had decided to give Itachi free reign of how he will change the future, then let the old man have a few heart attacks along the way if he didn't like something Itachi did.

''I agree.'' Mito-san said, falling into Izuna's place as he dragged Hikaku to walk a few steps away in a bad for a bit of privacy, hissing at his younger cousin something that not even Itachi's ANBU trained ears could pick up. Kakashi-san and his ridiculously sharp hearing would have been a great help right now. ''It was such a terrible era. There was nothing to guarantee the safety of children at all, Clan Heir or not. At times I think Butsuma did not care at all. It is better this way. This way, children can be born into this world without the fear of them being killed too young or even before they left the crib.''

Itachi's eyes widened as he heard this and looked at her discretely from the corner of his eye, his mouth nearly falling open when he saw her hand falling towards her lower abdomen before freezing and returning into the folds of her white kimono. Understanding had Itachi placing a hand on her shoulders and offering her a comforting squeeze, drawing her out of her own horrid memories of too small graves and Hahsirama and Tobirama cursing each and every one of them for existing at all. She looked up to lock eyes with Itachi, who had still been but a stranger when he first told her of peace, who had given her a dream and a hope to stride towards. Her dark, dark brown eyes - not quite as dark like that of the Senju, where they looked almost as back as the Uchiha's but dark enough to all but mask the pupils - looked up at him, silently begging for the reassurance that she knew would come from him if he truly understood like she believed him to.

Itachi smiled gently at her. ''Now that Konoha stands strong, we will not allow any more children to die for meaningless victories. We will not send them to war and, hopefully, others will follow our example. No more too small to bear graves. No more. Never again.''

The Uzumaki smiled up at him, the worry lines seeming to disappear from her face as she took his reassurances to heart. ''That sounds just wonderful.''

''Hey, what are you all dillydallying about over there?'' They all winced at the volume of Hahsirama's voice as he yelled from besides the entrance to the roof, waving about like a maniac to get their attention. On either side of him, Tobirama and Madara stood massaging their foreheads to relieve themselves a little of the headache Hashirama was causing. ''The celebrations are about to begin! We can't be late for them!''

''Funny, seeing how you were late for your own initiation.'' Madara grumped out, causing Hashirama to pout but at least he calmed down. This way, they will at least keep their dignity in front of the crowds. Sage bless the elder Uchiha. "You really need to stop being late to things."

"Let him be late every once in a while." Tobirama grunted, knowing that can't be helped. "It's more important that he stops losing all of our money in bets." The albino glared at his brother and then at his brother's best friend, much to Madara's confusion and displeasure. He looked away a few seconds later, glaring off into the distance. "However, I am thankful for your frequent presence with him to win most of it back. We would be ... in quite a bad spot if not for you."

"Oh. Um, thank you..." Itachi watched in interest as both men looked away from each other pointedly, almost as if pretending the other didn't exist. Which he found very odd. They usually tried to out-glare each other no matter what, to the point that they had to be separated. There had even been a time where they were simply keeping an eye on each other as they didn't trust one another. The secret Uchiha knew the feeling; he and Kisame had not trusted each other at all in the beginning, unlike with him and Juzo. Juzo had known there were things that he shouldn't mention and lines he didn't dare cross while Kisame had stomped all over them in their very first meeting. But it's also for this very reason that Juzo stayed mostly a collage and nothing more, maybe just brushing edges towards friendship while with Kisame hewas partners, friends and something more.

''Hey, guys! Do you know what just occurred to me?'' Hashirama brightened up like a Christmas tree and beamed at the gathered group, making them all give him wary or unimpressed looks. The lack of a proper reaction from his audience didn't dim Hahsirama's exuberance and he was already vibrating in place. ''We finally have peace!''

''Hashirama,'' Madara began in a tone that suggested he was half wondering how he was friends with such an idiot and half wondering how the fool was even still alive today. ''There's been peace in the Fire Country for the past six or so months with no ninja clan conflicts whatsoever. If you realized that just now-''

''No, no! I knew that! I didn't mean that!'' The long haired brunet man shook his head and hands frantically to reassure them, which only made him look silly. ''I knew there was peace for months already. I meant that we never quite really took advantage of it.''

''Anija, if you're suggesting a vacation, forget it!'' Tobirama snapped at his brother with a firm glare that had Hashirama pouting briefly at him for a moment. ''As Hokage, you will now have a lot more responsibility and tons of things to do. The whole village is officially your responsibility, as well as the Senju Clan. You won't have time for any vacationing for a long while.''

''While that's tragic, too, I wasn't talking about taking some long overdue vacation.'' The elder of the Senju brothers reassured although it was quite obvious he would still really like it if he could get some vacation time. Itachi could understand. They've all more than deserved it. After the Nara joined their village, things have become hectic as more and more people trickled in and they had to register them all properly, to meet their needs and set new rules. They had finally written an official law book but were still working on the law enforcement. The library was being worked on, every clan's books finally being placed in one big building for all to access - not all books, of course. The clans had the right to keep whatever texts they wanted for themselves only, of course. And they had began taking missions for the village. They were using mixed teams so they could enforce some sense of pack mentality on all the shinobi in Konoha, and while that was all nice and dandy, it also meant that each team had to be carefully chosen. Which meant that each and every shinobi had to be considered and throughly examined before they let a team leave the village. So far, they have not lost a single shinobi but it didn't do to jinx them.

''Then what were you talking about, cousin?'' Toka asked with both amusement and curiosity, wondering what they could have missed in doing that was as important as some downtime would have been.

A blush spread across tanned cheeks. ''Well, I thought that, you know, we could, maybe, finally hold my and Mito's wedding properly and all.'' Quite uncharacteristically for Hashirama, the entire thing was mumbled under his breath that they had to strain their ears to hear him. Tobirama's and Touka's eyes widened, unbelieving they had forgotten somethings o important while Mito looked away, too, a pink flush coming into her own cheeks, too. Itachi couldn't help but smile at that while the three Uchiha exchanged baffled expressions.

''Aren't you guys married already?'' Izuna decided to ask as he was probably the one who had the least shame and Madara and Hikaku both looked ready to face-palm.

''Well, yes, but we never had the full, proper ceremony or celebration since it was wartime and food was better used than for a grand feast.'' Mito answered while her husband tried to regain whatever of his composure he could.

Madara nodded his understanding. ''A proper ceremony is important. I see no reason why we can't do that.''

''Madara-sama could even plan it.'' Hikaku chipped in with a smile on his face. ''He usually plans out the weddings for our clan, since it's technically our Clan Head's duty to ensure a safe and happy union for all our kin.''

Said man glared at his cousin, trying to make the younger man submit. Hikaku remained mostly unaffected, knowing Izuna would no doubt jump to his defense if only so he can torture his older brother like any younger sibling lives to do. ''It's supposed to be the Clan Head's wife's duties, but since mother died young and I was still too young myself to be declared Heir, I was stuck doing her job since Otou-san didn't have any time for it.''

''And the Clan loves you and is grateful to you for it.'' Meanwhile, Itachi was trying to remember if he had ever seen his own mother planning someone's wedding or not. There had been no young couples when he was a child and later he had been too absent due to his mission to even be around for a wedding if one did take place. He would rather like to see what a traditional Uchiha wedding looked like. Although he did doubt that Tobirama-san would let Madara-san plan an Uchiha wedding for Hashirama-san and Mito-san.

As if n cue, the younger Senju glared and growled like a caged dog. ''Hashirama is not having an Uchiha style wedding.''

As expected, Izuna immediately jumped at the chance to argue with Tobirama. They didn't do it nearly as much as one would think, thanks to Tobirama always being too busy arguing with Madara to fight with Izuna. Still, they have been rivals for years. Some of that rivalry still remained. ''And what, pray tell, is wrong with an Uchiha wedding?''

The Senju stared incredulously at him. ''Maybe the fact that he's a Senju, you idiot.''

''I wouldn't mind.'' Hahsirama jumped in, trying to placate everyone. ''It would be a show of good will and make people even closer than before! It would at least calm the few stragglers that still argued in the streets or made messes out on missions due to in-fights.''

''Absolutely not.''

''Tobi~!''

''No.''

''But-''

''No.''

''But it's a chance to learn their customs, too! You were always interested in that!''

'Ah, good tactic.' Itachi thought as he hid a smile. Offering Tobirama-san any form of knowledge often helped in convincing him to do things he normally wouldn't approve. 'Too bad it won't work this time, Hahsirama-san.'

''We can do that when they make a wedding for their own clansmen.''

''But-''

''No.''

Cue puppy dog eyes of doom. ''Please~!''

A white brow arches. ''That didn't work for twenty four years, Anija. It won't now, either.''

''But why!?''

''Because it's an Uchiha wedding and you're a Senju.''

''We're not at war anymore, Tobirama!''

''My answer is still no.''

''Argh!''

Itachi sighed as the epic battle of wills ensued as to the nature of the wedding.

'Ah, at least everyone will have entertainment.'