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
''That child is going to be spoiled rotten if someone doesn't take it from Hashirama's arms, soon.'' Uchiha Izuna noted, watching said man fluttering around the market of Konoha with a cute blond child in his arms. The girl had two small, low pig tails and was currently only two years old, but with how it was going, she was going to pick up all of Hashirama's worst habits. No one could believe it to this day that Mito allowed for their daughter to be brought to a freaking casino every now and then but they figured she had declared it a lost battle and had just let it happen in order to keep her sanity. One simply couldn't argue with Hashirama without getting a migraine of ungodly proportions.
''It's to be expected that he would try to win her over by spoiling her.'' Senju Toka, who was sitting with him in a sushi bar for their lunch date, snorted into the sake she had ordered to go with their dishes. ''Tobes is her absolute favorite and Madara and Itachi are in the running for second place, followed by Mito and only then Hashirama. It's better than the alternative, I think.''
The younger Uchiha brother made a face at his fiancée. ''Toke, as much as I love you and want to agree with you that anything is better than hose creepy looks he kept giving Tobirama and Madara (and even Itachi, sometimes), I still think that it would be better to do something about his kids before it's irreversible. She is kind of a part of the future of Konoha and all.''
It was the Senju's turn to snort. ''You know that it will be impossible to stop him now when both Madara and Itachi are on that mission in the Land of Iron and Tobirama is too busy with his students to really be bothered. I tried and Mito tried and you can go and try if you want, but it won't do zilch. I just hope he doesn't let her try alcohol. That's all we can pray for.''
The Head of the Konoha Police Force made a face at that. ''It should be made a law that those three aren't allowed to be so busy at the same time. Shit happens when they're not around to help Mito babysit our esteemed Hokage and make sure he doesn't lead this village to ruin.''
The kunoichi had to agree with that. They could still remember that one time when Madara and Tobirama were sent to the Fire Temple to offer some assistance in strengthening their defenses because of a terrible raid the same week Itachi had been sent off to help out in the forming of an Advisor's Council in the newly created Uzushiogakure and Hashirama had taken the opportunity to add three new completely useless stalls in the market without making the merchants of said stalls pay the taxes for them, took out the History class out of the Academy's regular schedule and almost managed to make enemies of the Sunagakure diplomat that had come to discuss a possible treaty and trade routes. Had Tobirama and Madara come just a day later, there would have been war with Sunagakura and who knows what else would have happened with the established Academy learning system. Hashirama was just lucky that Itachi never heard about the History class thing, or else the clanless youth would have handed him his ass on a platter in the middle of Konoha's streets for all to see. He would have totally deserved it, too.
''Hopefully, Madara and Itachi will return in five days so I think Konoha will survive that long.''
''We can only hope.'' Izuna agreed. They both had a feeling the entirety of the village did, too.
00000
Senju Tsunade really loved her uncles. They were her favorite people in the world! Except Izuna, he was way too squeaky for Tsunade's tastes, but she still liked him.
Now, of course, her absolute favorite was her biological uncle, Tobirama, and she could spend days tailing after him like a little puppy and never get bored. How could one get bored when her Jii-chan did so many awesome things on a daily basis? For one, he was a sensei of a genin team and a few other kids who wanted to learn from him, one of them being that creepy Danzo kid and another being the Sarutobi boy she had taken a liking to. He was nice. If she were to just sit to the side as he taught them new things, she would be entertained for an entire afternoon and she would learn something, too. She may be little but her Jii-chan was good at explaining things. She already knew what chakra was so that was a plus.
Her Jii-chan was also an inventor. He liked making up new jutsus and testing them out in a clearing a bit outside of the village so that no one could get hurt if the more dangerous experiments and jutsus go wrong. It was his clearing and no one was allowed to go there without asking for his permission first, the only exceptions being her Tou-chan and Madara-Jii-san, who were both strong enough to survive the fallout of a jutsu gone wrong. Or just stupid enough to go into the line of uncontrolled fire. Jii-chan hadn't decided yet. Her Jii-cahn let her watch him test out the less dangerous jutsus, like that cool jutsu that made more Jii-chans appear out of thin air and then play with her for a while! That was her favorite so far. She thought it might be Madara-Jii-san's favorite, too, since he had been red with happiness when he saw it. Or at least she thinks it was happiness. But she was two and a half, what did she know? Adults were all just so confusing.
Jii-chan also had one of the best kuchiyose contracts ever. His snow leopards were awesome. They were like giant cats that talked and let her ride on their backs. She really liked Sekisetsu-sama, the oldest of her Jii-chan's summons as she had some really really cool stories to tell and Tsunade loved listening to her purring voice. It was also fun to watch Sekisetsu-sama fawn all over Jii-chan as though he were one of her cubs. It always made Jii-chan go red in embarrassment. Only Tou-chan and Madara-Jii-san can do that.
Jii-chan's work isn't as fun, though, at least not when Madara-Jii-san isn't around so they can bicker or put down whoever came up with some stupid idea that really wouldn't be good for Konoha. Still, Jii-chan would give Tsunade a scroll or some papers to draw in and she would be content. Spending time with Jii-chan was all she needed to be happy.
Of course, there were his private interactions with Madara-Jii-san that she could really do without because it was as icky as her Kaa-chan's and Tou-chan's private moments. She did not need to see them making kissy faces like that.
Madara-Jii-san was fun to be around because he had what Jii-chan called an explosive temper. It meant he often yelled and flailed around, screaming his lungs out at anyone stupid enough to garner his ire. He was also far more easily flustered than Jii-chan and he had some cool jutsu, too. She loved it the most when he used that blue giant warrior thing to lift her over the forest so she could see the whole of the land, especially since it made everyone panicky. Her Tou-san always wailed whenever Madara-Jii-san used it. Other kids thought it was the coolest thing ever, just like Tsunade did. And Madara-Jii-san was the best to fall asleep on, since he was so warm. He was as hot as a furnace and he never minded when she fell asleep on him. He'd just continue whatever it was he was doing and occasionally pet her hair or rub her back gently and Tsunade would sleep for hours on end without being disturbed, even when squeaky uncle Izuna came over to complain about aunt Toka doing this or not accepting that courting gift.
Madara-Jii-san also had the driest sense of humor in the whole of Konoha, rivaled only by Jii-chan and a couple of Nara and Hatake. He used it mostly against the Hyuuga, who Tsunade thought were rather weird but let it go. She wasn't very fond of them because they usually managed to get Madara-Jii-san in one of his 'moods', as Jii-chan called them, that had him going out of the village for a few days to cool off and usually returning with either enough game to feed the whole village for three days or a report of which part of the forest Tou-chan had to regrow. Although there was that one time when Madara-Jii-san returned with a convoy of criminals behind him, all of them shaking in terror and begging Tou-chan to either execute them or lock them up for the rest of their lives as long as it got themas far away from Madara-Jii-san as it was possible. Tsunade didn't understand why they would act like that when Madara-Jii-san was almost as awesome as Jii-chan was. Maybe they got scared of Madara-Jii-san's fire jutsus? Tsunade wasn't above admitting that she, too, had been scared the first time she had seen it. Madara-Jii-san was ridiculously strong. Just like Tou-chan.
And then there was Tsunade's third uncle, who she was definitely going to marry one day. That way, Itachi-jii can be fully brought into the Senju Clan and he will be officially family and the Uchiha can stop trying to adopt him. Besides, Itachi-jii was almost as interesting as Jii-chan was and he had just as crazy a day as her Jii-chan does. Itachi-jii had daily Shogi matches with a variety of the Nara and Hatake clan members and he won as many matches as he lost, now that everyone knew not to underestimate him. Tsunade didn't really understand the rules but she liked watching the reactions of all those who did. Besides, Itachi-jii relaxed when he played and he had a really pretty smile when he relaxed. Tsunade suspected that they had so many spectators only because people came to see Tsunade's pretty Itachi-jii. Another reason why Tsunade had to marry Itachi-jii, so people would stop staring at him.
After he finished playing Shogi with those stiffs, Itachi-jii would tour the village and search for anything that had to be brought to the Council's or the Hokage's attention and just enjoying the walk and chatting with the villagers who stopped him or came up to him to greet him. Itachi-jii was as much loved as Tou-chan and Madara-Jii-san were, only he didn't frown as much nor was he so loud so people felt more comfortable o approach him with either their troubles or just for a few quick words. Itachi-jii always made sure to have enough time for everyone before he returned to the Hokage Tower and he started directing people in different devisions on what needed to be fixed or done. He had a natural authority that made everyone listen to him, no matter how older, bigger or from which clan they were and Tsunade would just sit on his shoulders and marvel at his efficiency.
Itachi-jii also had a way of stopping unnecessary bickering between Jii-chan and Madara-Jii-san, or Madara-Jii-san and Tou-chan, or aunt Toka and uncle Izuna and even Jii-cahn and uncle Izuna. There was a lot of bickering in Konoha and Itachi-jii could always stop it this way or that. Tsunade figured it was because Itachi-jii was so smart. Itachi-jii usually spent his lunch with Tou-chan, Kaa-chan, aunt Toka, Uncle Izuna, Madara-Jii-san, Jii-chan or uncle Hikaku, although there were days when he didn't show up for work at all and went off somewhere with that cool bird of his, Kuro Onyx. No one bothered him on those few days and Tsunade wondered what he did on those days. The next day he was always a bit more somber, his smile a bit tighter and his eyes pinched in a way that suggested he was hurting. On those particular days, he liked having Tsunade snuggle with him and she always obliged. After all, she needed practice for now because she was going to marry him when she got a few years older and that will be her responsibility as his loving wife.
When she told him as such, once, he had chuckled and said he couldn't wait to get such a thoughtful wife. Tsunade had puffed up in pleasure and pride and had beamed at her family, as strange and ragtag of a group a they might be. She still didn't understand why they had cooed at how cute it all was but she figured it was an odd adult thing and brushed it off.
She really hoped Itachi-jii and Madara-Jii-san will come back soon because without them around, even Jii-chan was too busy to play with her and while she loved her Tou-chan, he didn't know when she just needed her nap.
Although she definitely liked the strange places with those strange games that he brought her to.
She wondered when he would let her play, too.
00000
''Are you certain about this?'' Madara asked even as he and Itachi exchanged a glance that might s well have held an entire conversation. They knew each other for about four years by now and were rather close friends, so much so that Madara openly often called Itachi his newest younger brother and even the younger man had slipped a few times and had called Madara 'aniki', even if it usually happened after the younger man had exhausted himself or after one of those days when no one is to disturb him. The days after Itachi mourned all that he lost were days where everyone tended to treat him like he was made of glass and the only time that Itachi actually let them. After being friends for four years and working together for just as long, they could read each other well and knew that they were both rather unsettled by the news they had just heard from Land of Iron's leader.
Said man just nodded, fiddling with his long mustache that were rather common in these parts of the world. ''Yes, I am certain. The new Kage himself had made the trip here to ensure we can have a treaty so that they could do trade with us. We made sure to stress the fact that we are neutral despite having numerous alliances with bigger and smaller countries, including the new shinobi villages. He said he understood but he still ordered a large amount of ore that would be ideal for various weapons.''
''That sounds like he's preparing for war.'' Itachi stated blandly and the old man shook his head.
''I do not know what he is preparing for, nor will I make a guess that might steer you astray, but I do know that the ores he bought were definitely ones used mostly for weaponry, and especially the amount he bought.''
''He might simply be trying to equip his new shinobi.'' One of the advisors said optimistically but he didn't sound any more convinced than Itachi and Madara looked. ''I know it sounds far fetched, but it isn't that unlikely.''
''Can you possibly at least give us the list of ores he had bought?'' Itacxhi asked after a long stretch of silence. ''We do not ask for the amount or if he said what he was making, just the ores. We can figure it out on our own. There is no need to drag you into this sort of mess, especially if a war is brewing.''
''We thank you and we will gladly give you the list, Itachi-sama.'' It would appear Itachi's name had been dragged even all the way to the Land of Iron, which said quite a bit about his reputation as a peacemaker. In the time he had been here, his name had spread throughout the Five Great Nations and everyone knew he could make anyone consider peace since he had helped the Senju and the Uchiha not only stop their endless war but come together into a joined village. He could not remember ever meeting someone who did not call him with 'sama' after learning that he was the famous Dare no Ichozoku no Itachi. ''We wish you luck.''
A few minutes later, the two Uchiha (although Madara didn't know there were two) started making their way back home with the list and promise that their allies will inform them if they hear anything about an attack or war being planned for. There was a tense silence as they traveled before Madara finally spoke up.
''Do you think it is true, what we have just heard?''
Itachi narrowed his eyes up ahead o them, in thought. ''Yes. It is a very probable possibility, seeing as there are already Iwagakure and Sunagakure, not to mention Uzushiogakure and Ishigakure. And there are already rumors about Kusagakure and Kumogakure from our allies. As Uzushiogakure is more loyal to Konoha and this the Fire Daimyo, it's not so strange that the Land of Water wants a shinobi village of their own.''
''We'll have to have Mito ask her relatives in Uzushio about this new Kirigakure.'' The legendary Uchiha mused, not at all noticing the way Itachi all but repressed a flinch. Things were going according to schedule, one by one, the hidden shinobi villages were forming and that was soon going to bring with it its new bout of problems. And worst of all, Itachi started feeling like he was losing time, slowly but surely. He had been here for so long already and it felt like he had less than half the time he had already spent here. He feared he won't be able to do everything that should be done to secure Konoha.
After all, the wars started not long after all Five Great Nations were built and that time was nearing.
Itachi was running out of time.