A Life of its Own, Interlude

Such is Life

Uchiha Sasuke

The quiet creak of the hospital room's door opening returned Sasuke to the waking world, the sound of a sliding door still being somewhat unusual to him in place of the squeaky hinges the Leaf had adopted. He began to raise his head to see who had entered, but quickly realised he needn't have bothered, Rinka swiftly approaching his bed before clambering in it with him.

"Hey, you-"

"Shut it." The girl snapped, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest, tenderly clutching his shirt.

"Rinka-"

"I said shut it. When I want you to talk, you'll know." Seeing that he had no real choice in the matter, Sasuke's mouth clicked shut in compliance, looking down at the strange girl they had found just a couple of months ago in confusion. Minutes passed without her saying a word, and once he realised that she wasn't going anywhere soon, Sasuke began to relax, getting more comfortable despite himself.

Twenty three minutes passed with them together like this, Sasuke finding his eyes and hands drawn to the older girl's long ponytail, and only barely keeping himself from stroking or playing with it. He thought it was unbecoming, and also… He struggled to mount a defence as to why not compared to why he should. His internal struggle was interrupted by the object of said struggle finally deigning to speak again, as he felt her clutch become tighter.

"Shino died today." She said solemnly, currents of sadness and anger flowing through her voice. Sasuke both now instantly understood why she had come, and yet, had no idea what to say in return. It was just something about her – with most, he didn't speak because he didn't want to. But Rinka just made it so he couldn't.

"Oh… that's a shame."

"Is that all you can say!?" She replied, raising her voice and her head, looking at him through angry tears. For his part, Sasuke shrugged as much as he could through his injuries and still prevalent exhaustion.

"What else can I say? It's no secret that I wasn't particularly close to him. It's not that I don't care, or even that I'm not sad… It's just… there are a lot of people who died in the Crush. People who I… cared more for. I can't fake a response that I don't feel."

Rinka wanted to be angry at how matter of fact he was, but she also knew that he was telling the truth – he was emotional, even more so than her in some ways, but in this one he wasn't at all. She couldn't be mad at him because of the way he handled grief. And… it's not like it was his fault, either. "It's not fair…" She almost cried again, burying her head in his chest.

"It's okay. We're still alive, after all." He said, losing his mental fight as his hand went to her back and rubbed it tenderly, both out of desire to comfort and fear of rejection. Rinka's only response was to hold him tighter.

Sasuke's gaze turned to the table beside him, looking at the note that had appeared there the first time he had woken up that day. "Rinka… I need your help with something."

Sasuke finally made it to the place the note had said to meet, Rinka helping him walk where he still couldn't move his body as fluidly as he wanted. A quick scan of his surroundings showed the park that they were in was empty, apart from a single man sat on a bench. His hair was black, but he was turned away from the two of them, so Sasuke nor Rinka could see who it was. "Are you the one who wrote this?" Sasuke called out as he limped over, with Rinka's assistance.

"Yes, I am." A familiar voice said, one that made Sasuke's blood run cold. The other man stood, turning around, Itachi laying eyes on his brother again for the first time in years. "Wait." Itachi said, calmly yet solemnly, and something about his voice caused Sasuke to stop, the venom in his expression and the words he was going to spit at his murderer brother halting momentarily.

Itachi sauntered over to the two of them, and Sasuke found himself looking into his eyes. They weren't the ones that were burned into his memory, the pinwheel kaleidoscopic eyes that had shone with naught but death and pain. They were black, just like his own, and the only thing Sasuke could see in them was the deepest amount of sorrow he had ever witnessed. And so it didn't take him by surprise when his brother bowed to him deeper than he had ever seen anyone do before, Rinka jumping slightly at its suddenness.

"Forgive me, Sasuke. Your foolish older brother has made one too many mistakes this time."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked warily, unsure if this was just a ploy or not.

"I will tell you everything. But I can only do it if we're alone." Rinka's grip on him tightened, and Sasuke stood defiant, bolstered by it.

"No. Anything you tell me, she also deserves to know." Rinka looked at Sasuke in surprise, having hoped but not believed in this outcome occurring, while Itachi rose back to his full height, looking at Sasuke, then at Rinka in wonderment.

"Sasuke, this involves our clan's deepest secrets. Are you sure-"

"Yes. She's not going anywhere." Itachi hadn't expected this development, but… He smiled. His little brother had found someone to trust. Good.

"Alright then, Sasuke. Let's start at the beginning."

Jiraiya sighed. The Fire Daimyo had been incredibly gracious in hosting what remained of the Leaf ninja in his own capital, and even in giving Jiraiya an office of his own to work out of now that he was essentially the Fifth Hokage, but… He had never wanted this. He'd much prefer to be out on the field than behind this stuffy desk.

Careful, Jiraiya. It's exactly that kind of thinking that got us here in the first place.

He shook his head, moving back to the paperwork in front of him, when the door to his office slammed open as much as a sliding door could.

"What the FUCK!?" screamed that young Uchiha kid, storming into the room along with that Senju girl that he'd been thinking about training and-

"Goddammit." Jiraiya grimaced, rubbing his hand on his face. "What the hell are you doing here, Itachi?"

Itachi raised a hand, stalling his younger brother and allowing him to take charge. "My mission was predicated on the fact that while I was gone, Sasuke would be kept safe. Given recent events, I believe that it is no longer possible for the Leaf to accomplish that, and perhaps it never could in the first place. So because of that, I terminated my mission as my payment was no longer valid, and returned so I could protect my brother myself."

"Itachi, we need-"

"You do not need my information. It became useless to you the moment that Uzumaki Naruto died." All three of the others in the room flinched at his name, but Itachi pressed on. "That being said, his death has completely thrown the plans of Akatsuki, as at the very earliest, the Kyuubi will take three to four years to reform. The organisation is in chaos, helped in part by my leaving, I'm sure."

Jiraiya looked at him, digesting the information. "That being said, Itachi, I can't just accept you back into the village. You're an S-rank missing nin and the rest of the village-"

"Will listen to whatever you, and more importantly Sasuke, the person what your predecessor had me do affected most, say on the matter. And besides, you and I both know that what remains of the Leaf is severely underfunded. My presence can easily help with that, as I can complete missions to a higher calibre of everyone here other than yourself. And there is also this."

Itachi calmly pulled a scroll out from his pouch, unfurling it. His hand hovered over it and in a poof of smoke, Hoshigaki Kisame's head appeared, Itachi clutching it from the hair. Rinka looked away from it, the gore too much for her even with her changed philosophy. Itachi continued, undeterred. "You can claim his bounty. I also have his body in a separate scroll, so any secrets hidden within are ours too. And of course, I claimed Samehada."

Jiraiya stroked his chin at this news. "That makes two of the blades."

Itachi blinked. "Two?"

"Didn't you know? Zabuza was killed and we took the Kubikiribocho. Your brother was one of the ones on the team that defeated him." Itachi stole a glance at Sasuke before looking back at the man who was to be his leader.

"Regardless. Surely this is enough to convince you, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya sighed again, knowing that this was going to be a source of headaches in the future. "The fact that you're here already means that you're staying no matter what I say, so what's the point in arguing? Welcome back, Itachi."

The door swung open again, a hurried looking messenger entering. "Jiraiya-sama! Message from the Swamp daimyo for you!" He stated, placing a scroll on his desk before quickly retreating out of the room.

"Swamp daimyo?" Sasuke repeated, anger at what the Third and Danzo had done to his brother and his clan forgotten at the thought of one of the people he cared about that was still alive. "That's from Sakura!" He shouted, causing Rinka to jump in alarm as well. He scrambled forward, trying to reach the scroll, but Jiraiya swiped it from the desk, breaking the seal and reading it aloud.

"Ahem… Jiraiya-sama, Hokage-sama told me that a team would be coming to relieve me and that I would return once that happened. Is that still the case?... Short and to the point."

Sasuke shouted again, while Rinka frowned. Something about that didn't seem right. "The answer's yes, obviously. She needs to-"

"I don't think so, kid."

Sasuke stared at the man for a second, anger and hatred bubbling up inside him before he released it in a rage. "What do you mean you don't think so!? She needs to come back!"

Jiraiya sat back in his chair, a stern look on his face. "Why don't you think back to what your brother was just talking about, huh? About the fact that we're low on manpower and our funds are almost non-existent?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. She's one kid, doing an S-rank mission, for three years. The only S-ranks that normally take anywhere near that amount of time are deep cover missions, which are all village funded, meaning we make no money off of them whatsoever. This is probably the first time in Konoha's history that we're getting paid this much for one mission, and if you looked at the numbers then you'd agree with me that I don't care if this kid's stronger than I am – she's probably going to do more for this village in these three years with that money than she will for the rest of her life.

"We don't have the manpower to go send out a team and only get one genin back – she's not that important, no matter who she may know or be teamed with. This is a win-win – we make money that we desperately need, and all we have to pay for it is, let's be honest, one girl who's maybe above-average in talent. This is all also assuming that the Swamp daimyo even honours the mission if she leaves and a team takes her place – civilians are fickle, and very stupid. There's no guarantee that'd happen.

"It simply doesn't make sense to have her come back. It'd hurt us in every way imaginable. I've made enough mistakes by following my emotions, brat. It's time to do the smart thing for once." Jiraiya succinctly stated, turning back to his paperwork. "Dismissed, all of you. If you're good, I'll let you write her a note."

Tenten smiled sadly at her bedridden teammate, wondering when he would finally wake up. Beside her, Shikamaru also watched Lee's rising and falling chest, thinking much the same. The injuries the other boy had after opening five of the gates to protect them and Shino were severe – the civilian medics were dumbfounded by them, and had said he likely never would be able to walk again. Shikamaru struggled to come to terms with why would sacrifice so much for them – two boys he barely knew. He could've just taken Tenten and run.

Tenten of course knew that Lee would never even think of doing such a thing, and she also knew that even if he never were able to be a ninja again, or even if he never woke up, he would be overjoyed that he had managed to protect his peers like he had set out to do. "Selfless to a fault…" she muttered, causing Shikamaru's gaze to flick over to her. "Just like Sensei was." She stood, turning away. "Come on, Shika. They'll tell us when he's up."

Sasuke snorted as he walked out of Jiraiya's office. Any respect that he may have ever had for that man had been lost the moment he'd placed money as a higher priority than his teammate. "Tch." He grunted, walking out onto the bustling streets of the capital, wishing that his brother wasn't currently out on a mission.

Itachi seemed to think that he had some kind of redemption he needed to fulfil, and so was spending almost all his time away from the city. Next time that he saw him, he needed to beat into his head that he was forgiven. It hadn't been his fault. His hands were tied, because of the weakness of the Hokage, and the desires of that Danzo character, and that masked man. Sasuke didn't know who either of them were, exactly, but he at least knew they must have lived in the village.

He (not-so-silently) hoped they had died in the Crush. Painfully.

He made his way to his state-sanctioned apartment that Itachi and he shared – or would, if his brother remained here for longer than a day. He made enough money to pay for it himself anyway though, no thanks to Jiraiya – the old sage had promoted him to chunin a week ago, right before his mission, despite his protests. Said that he was overqualified even by regular Konoha standards – and in times like this they desperately needed more capable shinobi.

In the back of his mind, Sasuke knew that the distinction barely mattered – Naruto was dead (I'm such a failure of a teammate), Sakura was gone, and Kakashi was missing – had been in the month since the Crush. No one had seen him since he had fought what Sasuke now knew to be the Ichibi. Team 7 was effectively disbanded, so Sasuke would've – and had – been treated as a chunin anyway.

"Sasuke!" He heard a distant voice call, which he ignored. His focus right now was on missions. If Jiraiya was just going to promote him as he liked, then waiting for Sakura was no longer an option – he'd simply rise through the ranks so that he could go and get her himself. If he was going to do that before her mission was over though, he would need to work quick – so he had no time for any-

"Sasuke!" Distractions, like her. His career was the most important thing right now. He couldn't afford any time not spent training, or working. He walked up the outer stairs to his complex, pulling out the keys to his apartment, quickly unlocking the door and sliding inside- "Sasuke, stop!" A hand stopped the door from closing, and quickly wrenched the door open, revealing a furious Senju behind it.

"What do you want?" He sighed haughtily. "I don't have time for-"

Rinka stormed inside, slamming the door shut behind her, and jabbed a finger into his chest, staring into the boy's eyes. "Don't give me that shit, Uchiha! Why are you being such an asshole!?"

"I told you." He said coldly, grabbing her hand off his chest and throwing it away from him, though he took care not to hurt her. "I don't have time for distractions. Or you." Rinka looked at him, mouth agape, almost unbelieving that he had said that.

The slap came out of nowhere, turning Sasuke's head to the side, the speed and power of it idly making him note that Rinka must have been training. He looked back at her, eyes impassive, but what he saw almost made him break – there wasn't any anger in her eyes like he had expected. Only tears, sorrow, and shame. His own eyes widened imperceptibly as he realised the magnitude of what he had done.

"How could you say that, Sasuke?" The boy found himself, once again, lost for words. What was it about her? "I know you're hurting. You're hurting so much. Even with your brother coming back, I know that you can't stop thinking about him. About Naruto." Sasuke flinched, and Rinka's hand touched his cheek. The Uchiha flinched away from the contact again, stepping back and almost hitting the wall of his small apartment.

Rinka faltered at his reaction, but continued. "But you're not the only one! Everyone lost something in the Crush, Sasuke. You don't need to push us away. You don't need to push me away! He was my friend, too!" She reached for his face again, and this time he let her touch it, looking at her like a caged animal, more vulnerable and wary than she had ever seen him.

"If you don't want the rest of them to see what you're going through, then fine. But you have to let someone see the real you, otherwise the pain will never go away. Itachi-kun can't do it if he's never here, so… Let me."

Sasuke looked into her eyes again, drinking in all of the unrestrained emotion he could see in her pink orbs. He didn't say a word, simply pulling her close. He felt more than heard her breath hitch, and Sasuke glanced behind him and to the left, to the hallway leading to his room, making sure he remembered the way there.

His eyes met hers again, and they both leant forward.

Sasuke woke to find Rinka in his bed in a familiar position, the exact same one she had gone into when she had clambered into his hospital bed a few weeks prior, though with one difference. Even the slight movement of him moving to look at her was enough to wake the habitually light-sleeper, the rippling movement of the muscles on his bare chest enough of a stimulus to bring her into the realm of the conscious.

They remained like that for a while, both not daring to say a word while they digested the events of the day previous, now that their emotions had cooled drastically. Sasuke chose to break the silence.

"I think that that might have been-"

"Don't you dare say that it was a mistake." Rinka snapped, holding onto his chest tighter.

Sasuke sighed, conceding the point. "Maybe not a mistake, per se. But… maybe not the right time."

Rinka looked up into his eyes, considering. "Do you regret it?"

"No." He said simply, not even having to think about it.

"Then who cares. No one has to know if we don't want them to. As long as we're happy." Rinka's grip changed, her arms lightly wrapping around his neck, the girl herself rising up so she could plant a kiss on Sasuke's cheek, before snuggling up to him even more intimately, and the two of them fell asleep once again.

Rinka walked into the huge park that slowly but surely, the Fire Capital's new standing shinobi force were claiming as their training ground, looking and feeling slightly dishevelled. A tall man leered at her as she approached him, a knowing grin on his face. "Oooh, Rinka-chan! What have you been up to? It looks like you had a fun night – or maybe morning?"

"Shut up, Jiraiya-sensei." She scoffed, smiling, "Let's just get started."

Aya snorted, dark thoughts threatening to consume her mind again. She couldn't believe how cold the standing Hokage was being! They knew without a shadow of a doubt that the missing Akimichi were all in Suna – they'd been seen when the Sand nin had been taking them away! Why wouldn't he let her go save them!?

"Focus, Aya." She muttered under her breath. "Later… after the mission." She saw Shikamaru looking at her weirdly, but she didn't really care. He'd been spending all his time with that other girl… Tenten, wasn't it? She supposed it made sense – his team was gone, apart from his sensei, who was constantly working now, his father was nowhere to be found, and Yoshino-sensei hadn't woken up yet. Who else was he going to talk to?

"It doesn't matter anymore… No one cares, anyway. Not now." She muttered again almost inaudibly, silencing her wandering thoughts and focusing only on reaching the target area for the mission. Shikamaru watched with worry, seeing the girl he had come to see as a friend – a sister, even if she was a troublesome woman – regress and devolve under the stress and grief the Crush had put upon them all.

"Why am I here, Jiraiya?"

The toad sage looked sternly at the teenager in front of him. In the six months since they'd met, he'd grown a decent amount in height, and a good deal more in power. He carried a sword now, though not something like a katana or a ninjato like most – it was a chokuto, strapped behind his waist. His attire wasn't much different, having changed his blue Uchiha shirt for a black long-sleeved one, though still wearing those white shorts. His hair was longer, too. He was looking more and more like his brother by the day.

Jiraiya sighed, knowing that he was never going to get this kid to address him properly. He actually liked it, though. Kept him grounded, reminded him that he needed to get out from behind this desk as soon as possible. To that end…

"You know that me being in charge was only a temporary thing. I'm only the one behind the desk because I needed to be in our time of crisis, but now that we have a stable foundation again, we can focus on recovery, instead of survival."

"And?" Sasuke replied instantly, unimpressed.

"And so to do that we need to have our own land again. The Fire daimyo's been very gracious in allowing us to use his city, and has assured me time and again that we don't have to leave… But you and I both know that we can only grow back to full power once we have a new village."

"Obviously." Sasuke snorted. Jiraiya didn't really get why this kid hated him so much. Well… actually, he did, or at least had an idea, but still. It seemed a minor thing to hold so large a grudge on, to the point where Jiraiya had worried multiple times that Sasuke knew the truth about Naruto's heritage, and how much of a failure he really was. "Why are you telling me this?"

"As I said, my position is temporary. When the village is finished, we'll need a new Hokage, the real Fifth. I'm not going to do it, and between you and I, I don't trust any of the elders to do it either. There are only two real candidates left with that in mind. Those being Sarutobi Asuma, and your brother. However, I also already know that both of them want it as little as I do."

Sasuke had an idea of where this was going. "So?"

"So… Those two are the only ones who are currently qualified. But we have multiple people who could be, in the near future. There are three particular standouts."

"Me, Rinka, and Aya."

"Exactly." Jiraiya nodded. "Shikamaru is a consideration as well, but I don't think he'll ever quite be able to muster up the power necessary. The Nara are support fighters and strategists, and the Hokage has to take up the helm of the battlefield in times of war."

Sasuke had no time for Jiraiya to beat around the bush. He just wanted to be done with the man as quickly as possible. "And so you've called me here alone because..?"

"Because you're the best candidate of the three. Rinka will be incredibly powerful, and she's got a good head on her shoulders, but… She's only been an active shinobi for three months, trained for six, and lived in the shinobi system for eight. She doesn't have the right mindset. That comes with time, time that we don't have."

"And Aya also doesn't have the right mindset. She's too focused on the people around her."

"Mm. Not a bad trait for a Hokage to have, for sure, but in a time like this… the many have to come before the few. She would be too biased to those close to her, and we can't afford that right now."

Sasuke's eyes glittered darkly in the evening light, the setting sun enveloping the office in deep vermillion. "Don't I have the exact same problem though, Jiraiya-sama?"

Jiraiya ignored the jab, choosing to press on. "Yes, but not to the same extent. You're unbelievably hot-headed, but the difference between the two of you is that words and logic will get through to you when you're on an emotional high. And like I said, we don't have time to wait for a better option. Beggars can't be choosers."

Jiraiya seemed to pause, before sighing. "Besides, there's another reason… why Rinka – and perhaps Aya too – wouldn't be the best choices."

Rinka heard the door to Sasuke-kun's apartment slam shut, and so curiously crept out of his bed, seeing the boy in question simply stood in the main room, looking away from her. Apart from slamming the door shut, he seemingly hadn't done anything, but just by looking at him, she could tell that he was absolutely livid. She knew now how best to calm him down, and so quietly crept behind him, slipping her hands around his waist, and leaning into his back.

She realised that he was taller than her now, suddenly, and as he turned his head to look at her, his rage-filled Mangekyo Sharingan faded back into his regular black eyes. "What happened?" She asked simply, and he turned his head away again, speaking into the air away from her.

"Your sensei's an absolute bastard."

"You always say that. What'd he do this time?"

"Did he tell you that he was considering you to be the next Hokage?" At that, Rinka disengaged from her boyfriend, looking at him with surprise, causing him to finally turn to her.

"He what?"

"He told me that he wanted to get out of the job, but didn't have anyone good enough who wanted it, so he was gonna prepare a successor out of you, me, or Aya. He told me just now that he'd chosen me, even though he thought that you'd probably be a better choice in the long run. Know why?" The anger Sasuke-kun had entered the apartment with was beginning to flare up again, and despite the fact that she now had field experience, and had felt killing intent before, the sheer intensity of Sasuke-kun's rage was beginning to scare Rinka.

"Why?" She asked, almost terrified at what the answer could be.

"It's because we're fucking breeding fodder." Sasuke-kun seethed, pushing the words out through clenched teeth. "To make sure the village is powerful in the future, they want to use all three of us as breeding fodder to bring the Uchiha, Senju and Namiki back to power. And because of that, I'm the best choice for Hokage, because unlike the two of you, I won't have to take the next half a year easy every time they decide I need another kid!"

Rinka's hands went to cover her mouth, which had widened in a gaping O. She fell back onto the couch, utterly shocked. "Jiraiya-sensei said that..?"

"He said it wasn't his idea. That it was the elders. That fucking Danzo guy approved it!" Rinka recognised the name, remembering when Itachi-kun had told her and Sasuke-kun about what had really happened the day that their family had died and in the days leading up to it.

"I've fucking had it with them!" He shouted, slamming his fist into the wall. "Those fucking fossils, sitting up there on their ivory towers with the daimyo, telling him whatever he wants to hear while doing whatever they want to us! It's their fault things are like this to begin with, but are they the ones who have to pay to fix their mistakes? No, it's us! And I can't fucking stand it anymore!"

Rinka had seen her boyfriend get angry and emotional before, but nothing she'd seen compared to how fired up he was now. "But what can you do about it? They're the elders. Maybe Jiraiya-"

"Jiraiya's just as bad! How many times has he said it – he doesn't want the job, and he's only doing it because he has to. As soon as he has someone ready to be the Hokage, he's going to take off! It's the exact same thing the elders do – fuck things up for the rest of us, and then expect us to clean it up for them so they can just do it again later."

The sharingan spun to life in Sasuke-kun's eyes as he looked to her. "But no more. They've done enough. We'll clear up their mess, but that's it. From now on, we'll be the ones making the decisions, and if we fuck up, then fine! We'll fix it ourselves!" Rinka watched Sasuke, hearing the ambition and motivation in his voice that she hadn't since before Sakura had still been in the village, and found that she could do nothing but smile and nod.

She wasn't sure if what he was saying could really be done… but she also knew that Sasuke-kun wouldn't stop or give up until he did everything he possibly could.

Because that's what Naruto-kun would have done.

"Hey there, Itachi."

The man in question blinked, having genuinely not noticed the presence of the other boy. Either his little brother had been training, or… his eyes were even worse than he thought. "Hello, Sasuke."

"When's your next mission?"

"Tomorrow." Itachi said.

"You just went in to report a completed mission. Don't lie."

"I'm not. I'm taking on the workload of a team of ANBU by myself. Of course my mission frequency would be higher than normal."

"Itachi."

The older brother breathed in deeply, before sighing through his nose. "Fine. I don't have an assigned mission, though I fully intend to get one tomorrow. The distinction hardly matters."

Sasuke smirked for the first time since they started the conversation. "Good. Don't get that mission."

Itachi sighed again, having expected this. "Sasuke, I-"

"You couldn't see me earlier, could you?"

The question caught the normally unflappable Uchiha off-guard, though he still didn't take any longer to respond. "No, I couldn't." He said, answering honestly.

"And your illness is worsening. You want to cough your lungs out, but you're holding it back for my sake. Right?"

His little brother had been training. "Yes, I am. But I don't-"

"Itachi, you're killing yourself by doing this. At this rate you'll be blind within the year, and dead in two. I won't let that happen."

"But Sasuke-"

"Listen to me, brother!" Sasuke said, anger flaring as he stepped forward, grabbing his brother's collar. "This is doing nothing but killing you. We're not on the cusp of extinction, we haven't been for a month! You don't have to do this anymore!"

"What would you have me do instead, Sasuke? I can't just show my face here. My missions are solo for a reason. I'm hated by the people of this country."

"It's simple." Sasuke said, releasing his brother and letting him recollect himself before continuing. "Do you remember what you said to me, the day you told Rinka and I the truth?"

Itachi blinked, having not expected this line of questioning, and shook his head no.

"You apologised to me, and said that you were sorry that the way that you had tried to protect me had caused me so much pain and had only ended up failing anyway. At the time, I didn't know what to say, and I was too angry at the village to think about it, so I just accepted it, and moved on. But now I do know what I want – what I need to say. So listen up.

"You did your best with what you had, and I don't blame you for doing what you were forced to do. And I appreciate the lengths you went to, to try and keep me safe. But you and I know now that it wasn't good enough. And while that's not your fault, the fact remains that you need to make up for it somehow. And killing yourself on missions isn't it.

"Your plan failed, but we're both still here. So… it's time for my plan. And to go through with that plan, I need you here, alive, with me. I need my brother by my side, and so you can't just go killing yourself. You understand, right?"

Itachi looked wondrously at his brother, thinking about when he had grown up. He realised that all he had been seeing before was the crying eight-year old he had left at the site of the Massacre, but the boy – no, the man stood before him was anything but a wailing child. Itachi struggled to form the words, his mouth suddenly dry. "I… I would be honoured, Sasuke. If you would have me."

"Good." Sasuke said, smiling again, something Itachi hadn't seen in years. If he could still smile… Perhaps then Itachi wasn't quite the failure he had thought he was. "First order of business, then." Sasuke said, looking up at his brother. "Let's go do something about those eyes."

"How long do I have to keep doing this for?" Sasuke heard Rinka complain.

"Not long." He heard Itachi respond to her. "It shouldn't take more than a couple of days for our eyes to acclimatise, then we can remove the bandages safely."

"Hmm…" He heard her grumble. "You should've told me about this weird Uchiha shit before you did it. I didn't sign up for this. You should glad that Sasuke-kun's so attached to me; I'd feel bad if I broke up with him over this. He's useless without me, you know?" Even as she complained, Sasuke could feel Rinka hard at work taking care of the two temporarily blind brothers, and he could almost hear the smile that she no doubt had on her face now that Itachi was finally here to stay.

He honestly couldn't keep the smile off his face himself.

Sasuke's plan was rather simple, in both nature and execution. He was simply going to do what he said he would – remove the old, rotting elders and their dated way of thinking from power, and instate a new generation that would learn from their mistakes and fix them themselves. However, he was also more than smart enough to know that just saying that was easy, but doing it would be far harder.

The main concern in his eyes wasn't even the removal of the elders, as far as he saw it – aside from Jiraiya, they were all pretty much decrepit, and far past their prime. And even Jiraiya wasn't an issue – the man had said himself that he likely wouldn't be able to defeat Itachi if both of them fought full on, and now that Itachi's eyes had grown in power now that they were Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, it shouldn't be much of an issue if he had to be removed by force, which was unlikely in the first place considering he wanted out anyway.

No, Sasuke had two main concerns – the first being that while the elders were unnecessary, they were still useful. Again, this mainly lay in Jiraiya – the man was a wealth of information on ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, stealth, infiltration – the list went on. Sasuke wanted to be sure that they got as much from him as possible before they got rid of him, and to that end, now that the village had become stable, Rinka made the commitment to becoming the pervert's full time apprentice, stopping taking missions to ensure she learnt as much as possible before the day came.

The second concern was a much bigger one, that being the rest of the shinobi. Even if the majority of the other ninja left in Hi no Kuni agreed with his point of view, simply taking over from the established chain of command wouldn't fly. It'd just spark a civil war, and that was if the ones who did feel the same as him spoke up about it. Most likely it wouldn't even get that far – he'd succeed on getting rid of the fossils, and then strung up by the rest of the nin for treason.

Though that outcome was still better than letting the bastards run what was left into the ground.

No, he had to pick his moment, and he needed to gather allies, too. If he could find the like-minded shinobi, then they would back him up and defend him in the aftermath of the day. If he was lucky, everyone would agree, though he knew that that was basically an impossibility. The best case scenario would be to build such a majority that those on the fence or who didn't care either way joined up with him since it was simply the smart thing to do.

Building up a rebellion like that… It'd take time. But he was determined. By this time next year, he swore he would have the forces he needed to accomplish his goal. What came after… well, that could wait. They'd need to elect a new Hokage after they won, after all. It'd be up to them.

"Aya."

The woman in question turned around, already annoyed that she was being delayed in going home and getting some chocolate. "What?" She spat coldly.

"I need to talk to you." Sasuke said simply.

"Well, I don't. Goodbye." She said, turning and stalking off.

"Fine. I suppose you don't really care about Choji that much, then."

There was a burst of movement, before Aya had Sasuke lifted up off his feet by the front of his shirt, an impressive achievement for someone so much shorter than him, and had a blade pressed against his neck. "Don't you dare play games with me, Uchiha! I don't care who your brother is, I'll kill you right now!" The display of anger and weaponry reminded the civilians in the street that yes, they had shinobi in their midst, and the street quickly cleared, scared over the confrontation that was brewing.

To his credit, Sasuke stared down at Aya nonplussed, not looking worried at the least at the position she had him held in. "I'm not playing games with you. Let's talk, and you'll understand that I'm completely serious."

She snarled, before throwing him to the ground. "You better not be messing around with me, Sasuke! I swear to you, I-"

"I'm not." He said, calmly standing up and dusting himself off. "Come on. We'll speak somewhere else." Sasuke turned and walked away, Aya following after him.

Aya scanned the room, seeing more than a few familiar faces gathered there. Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei, a Hyuuga she'd been on a few missions with, Ino's cousin Nanami… There were more than she had expected when she had first followed Sasuke, but as she heard him, Itachi and RInka explain things, it made sense why there were so many. A lot of people were discontent with what had happened in the Crush ten months ago, and even more with how the village – not a village anymore, she reminded herself for what must have been the thousandth time – had been run since.

The elders had been gaining more and more power, not just over the shinobi, but over the capital, daimyo, and therefore the Land of Fire as a whole. This in and of itself wasn't a bad thing – many shinobi wished that they didn't have to answer to some fat, weak civilian in a palace and instead directly controlled the country. The issue was what they were doing with it.

A lot of people had gone missing in the Crush – more than how many had died in fact. This was due in part to the fact that those that had evacuated the village during the attack and had become refugees were counted among the missing, as a way to lay claim and give an out to anyone who found themselves in another village and wanted to return. However, almost no one had taken this out – in fact, they'd had more people leaving than coming in, and considering the fact that they'd had almost no births since, due to both the stress of the attack affecting those already pregnant and the death of others who were pregnant or in a couple, the number of active shinobi was in danger of decline.

Thankfully, most of the academy students active at the time of the attack had survived, mainly due to the fact that the Academy had its own shelter, separate to the civilian one in the Hokage Monument. This had meant that their shelter hadn't been destroyed, and so once the infrastructure had been set up, classes had resumed in the capital – meaning a fresh force of genin would be graduating soon.

There was also the benefit of the fact that since they were in the capital, which obviously had a higher population than Konoha, the new Academy had received an intake of students that it hadn't seen since Konoha's inception, meaning that in three to four years, their ranks would explode with new graduates, though the commitment and quality of the shinobi produced by the generations of civilians that had lived in the capital was yet to be seen.

However, despite this, the class due to graduate this year was lacking in numbers. They had less than they should, even considering the fact that even with their shelter, the Academy had inevitably lost a few students. What was stranger about this fact was that in the four empty slots that should hold genin about to graduate, at least two of them had been seen in the Fire Capital since the Crush, yet were missing now.

Both of the students in question had been orphans, one for as long as she could remember, and the other had lost his last surviving family member in the Crush. This was beyond alarming – as it meant that somehow, someone had kidnapped two academy students, and people hadn't even noticed until now.

Despite this knowledge, Jiraiya and the elders had done nothing about it. They hadn't increased security around the Academy, or at all – in fact, they lowered it, allowing the civilian parents in to wander and look around as they would in a regular civilian school. The utter lack of care they seemed to have for their students – their future men – disgusted a lot of people, and began to alienate those who had been giving them the benefit of the doubt since the Crush.

Considering that event – and more that had occurred in the last ten months, and seemed to be increasing in frequency as time went on – Aya supposed it made sense that so many had begun to rally behind Sasuke, because really he had a point – the current leadership weren't doing their jobs. Aya would call them borderline incompetent even, and even as she found herself agreeing with Sasuke, she scowled, not wanting to let him convince her so easily.

"What's stopping me from reporting all of you to Jiraiya, right now?" She asked, testing the waters. Most of the room immediately tensed, but Sasuke remained completely calm.

"Go ahead and do it. Just remember that you'll have been the one who ruined your chance of going to save Choji."

She flinched, but also knew that he was right. It'd been made clear by now that the current leadership had no intention of trying to save the wayward Akimichi clan, and she knew that this was the straw that broke the camel's back. "…Fine. I'm on board."

Sasuke smirked.

Jiraiya knew, of course.

Even if he hadn't been arguably the greatest spymaster on the continent, it wouldn't have been hard to find out what Sasuke had been up to. Though he did admit, he didn't do a bad job of hiding things… It was just that he was better. He'd been a master at lying and deception twenty years before the kid had been born.

That was, of course, why Danzo and the other elder's more… unsavoury antics were becoming more and more common knowledge. Someone had to be leaking the info, obviously. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop them, not if he wanted to keep up the ruse, but he also knew he didn't really have to – Danzo might've survived, but ROOT, like ANBU, had been almost completely annihilated in the Crush, and Sasuke's faction was growing fast – fast enough that by the time they took over – and they would take over, Jiraiya would make sure of it – they'd be able to save the new blood he was trying to brainwash.

Idly, he thought about the fact that he could openly endorse them… But he knew it was best for him if he didn't. Working as Hokage, even for as short a time as he had, had completely exhausted him, and this way, once they threw him out, he could finally retire and just write his books.

Maybe now he'd have the time to write a sequel to that one that Minato loved so much.

But that was still in the future. Right now, he needed to focus on teaching the Senju girl as much as she could handle before they got rid of him, defaming the elders as much as possible, act like he had no idea about doing either one of those things, and make sure the 'village' didn't fall apart while doing it.

He knew that he was being selfish, but also didn't really care. If the kids wanted to take charge, more power to them, he didn't want the desk anyway.

And once it was gone, he could rest.

Maybe he'd travel with Tsunade. He'd have no reason to take her back here, and he was pretty much the only one who could find her, so… Yeah. That didn't sound so bad.

"What do you think, Shikamaru? Lee?" Tenten asked the two men, shifting to steady the still unfamiliar weight of Samehada on her back.

Lee seemed completely stumped, wishing that he could scratch his face, but knowing that trying with his crutches would just end up with him falling. In contrast, Shikamaru looked pensive, and he kept his eyes on the ground in front of him, avoiding looking up and making eye contact with all the people gathered that he knew personally, trying to come up with the best, impartial answer.

He looked Sasuke in the eyes before he spoke. "The elders and Jiraiya-sama haven't been doing a good job. On that, I think we can all agree. However, I also don't necessarily think that this is the right way forward. While it sounds – and is – well-reasoned, and what some might call righteous, from the outside looking in, it might just look like a grab for power. The other villages probably wouldn't like that."

"What the other villages think doesn't matter. It's because of them too that we're in this mess. And besides… if any village – and I mean any – were truly concerned or worried about what was left of us? It would have been – still is, even – child's play for them to simply waltz in and take out what's left of us. If we're worried about the other villages that much, we may as well all retire now."

Shikamaru nodded, conceding the point. "Fine. What about leadership, then? You've organised this, are you planning on becoming Hokage once things are all said and done?"

At that, Sasuke snorted. "Hardly. We'll have a proper vote and election once we've taken our village back. That was always the plan. Happy?"

"What about infrastructure?"

"Shouldn't be changing. To call this a civil war, or even an uprising would be too much. Remember, I haven't called any of you here to fight – you're here so that when the day comes we all know that we all support it. Itachi and I will be taking care of any actual combat. If things go to plan, the civilians won't even realise anything has changed. It'll be that fast."

Shikamaru sighed, leaning back in his chair, thinking about what his father would do. "I can't think of anything else to pick holes in. But something is nagging at me. I don't feel like I can fully commit."

"You don't have to." Sasuke stated simply. "Even if you don't give your support, all I really ask for is that you don't oppose us, and accept whatever outcome occurs on the day. Can I at least get that from you?"

Tenten and Lee both looked at Shikamaru, both having come to trust his judgement immensely over the past year and a quarter they had known him. He sighed again. "This is all so troublesome…" He leaned forward, bowing his head and nodding his assent.

Danzo walked calmly through the dark, deserted streets of the Land of Fire's capital, not stopping to admire much of anything. This was his natural habitat after all – the shadows, and he had wandered and lived in them for so long that he had forgotten what it was to walk in the light.

Not for the first time, he thought that it was a good thing that Jiraiya had taken up the mantle of Hokage instead of him. He had feared at first the man would me far less receptive to his policies and ideas than Hiruzen was, and that stubborn old ape had been frustrating enough to get through to. He had thought that he would've been forced to use Shisui's eye on the man, and so to avoid that as much as possible, he had held back for the first few months, before testing the waters with lighter ideas to begin with.

He had been surprised at how little pushback or fight there had been. Jiraiya had for the most part, agreed with him and seen the logic in what he had been saying, and had gone ahead with his ideas with a few minor changes. He had been confused as to why Hiruzen's student saw things his way so easily, but then he looked at the man for more than a few seconds, and understood.

The man wasn't built to be the Hokage. Even those first few months had taken their toll – understandably so, due to how critical they were to their future survival. He was tired already, and he simply couldn't bring himself to fight as his sensei had – as he would, had he not been the one fighting every single day. He didn't have Orochimaru's ambition and curiosity, or Tsunade's stubbornness and instinct. Either one of them would have been a far better Kage, and neither would have been half as good as a puppet.

It was only a matter of time before he became the Hokage in all but name. Then, once the new ROOT's training was completed, he could step out from the shadows back into the light, and openly lead the village into a new era of power and prosperity, and crush the other villages under their heel.

He looked up, his one unbandaged eye seeing a shadow approaching him, that eventually formed into the visage of one Uchiha Sasuke. That one was a problem. He had caught wind that he was trying to start a little rebellion, of sorts. It surely would never get anywhere, but… Perhaps now was a good opportunity. He couldn't kill the boy, lest he face Itachi's wrath, but… He still had Kotoamatsukami. Itachi reportedly did anything his brother asked of him, so with a single use, he would bring both the wayward Uchiha under his control. And wasn't the Senju girl intimate with him as well? Even if he had to wait a decade before he could next use the eye, he concluded that yes, that was surely worth it.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The old man said, his face betraying none of his thoughts. "It's a surprise seeing you wandering the streets at this hour."

Sasuke looked up, seemingly having not noticed Danzo approaching. "Hm? I had an argument with my brother. I was clearing my head."

"I see." Danzo grunted. "Tell me, Sasuke. Do you know who I am?"

"Of course. Itachi told me about you."

"Then you surely know of ROOT." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"Good. I have a proposition for you."

"And what might that be?" Sasuke asked, turning to look at the man for the first time, and seeing that the bandages covering the right side of his face were undone, revealing a mangekyo under them.

"Join me and ROOT as its senior commander." Shisui's eye glowed, and Sasuke looked shocked for a moment, falling under the spell of Kotoamatsukami…

…And exploding into smoke a moment later.

"What-" In a flash, Danzo's right arm was sheared off at the shoulder, the wound instantly cauterized and sealed shut by the fire running down the blade that had severed it. Even as that happened, a second blade pierced through his chest from behind, as his eye closed, Shisui's sharingan becoming dormant after the use of its most powerful technique.

"You… You baited me into using Shisui's eye, and then took off my arm… To seal off my Izanagi." Danzo struggled to say through the blade in his abdomen. "How… How did you know about my eyes… and about the… Kotoamatsukami… Uchiha Sasuke!?"

"That's simple." Sasuke said from behind him, his voice changing as he did so. "I'm not Sasuke."

Danzo's remaining eye widened. "It was you all along… Damn you… Itachi..."

Itachi watched passively, letting Danzo's corpse slide off his blade, before reaching down and pulling Shisui's spent eye out of the cadaver and placing it in a special storage container, shooting a weak fire jutsu at the body as he did, burning it and the grotesque sharingan arm he had developed. "You can finally rest easy… Shisui." Itachi said, before disappearing in the wind.

The rest of the elders had been easy, not needing nearly as much caution or planning to take out. Upon hearing of Danzo's demise, a few of them even agreed to peacefully leave the city and never return, either to the capital or to wherever the new Konoha would be built. The ones that hadn't weren't too much trouble for Sasuke or Itachi to defeat. But now, the two brothers stood in front of the door to their greatest challenge in making this whole endeavour a success, aside from Danzo.

Nodding at each other, they entered the office, only to find it already stripped bare, Jiraiya sitting on the desk, waiting for them. "What took you? Danzo more trouble than you counted on?"

Sasuke blinked. "You knew?"

Jiraiya snorted. "What do you take me for, kid? Of course I knew. You're good, but not that good."

"Then… you're going to try and stop us."

"Hell no, I'm outta here. If I wanted to stop you, I'd have done it a year ago, before you'd even gotten started." Sasuke was beyond surprised at this turn of events, but Itachi had expected it. He refrained from commenting though, wanting to see how his brother would handle things.

"If you knew, and you weren't going to stop us… Why didn't you help!?" Sasuke began to raise his voice, anger getting the best of him. Jiraiya simply raised an eyebrow at this.

"I did help. Where do you think all the information you used to sway people to your side came from? I was the one spreading all of it."

"Why would you..?"

"Kid, how many times do I have to say it? I don't want this job. You've given me the perfect opportunity to get out of it, and do what I want to do for the rest of my life. Why would I pass that up?"

Sasuke couldn't think of anything to argue that with, and so Itachi decided it was time for him to step in. "Will we be seeing you in the future, Jiraiya-sama?"

"Ha, not likely. I've taught Rinka pretty much everything I could – she never had the knack for seals, but she's got everything else I know. Anything you need me for, she'll be able to do just fine – once she's got some more experience under her belt. My job's done. As of today, I'm officially retired."

"I see." Itachi said, smiling. "Well then, enjoy your retirement, Jiraiya-sama."

"I will." The giant of a man said, grinning and opening a window to leap outside. "Kid!" He said, one last time, causing Sasuke to break out of his shock and look at him. "Remember what I told you. I chose you for a reason. Could the others have pulled this off?" Sasuke didn't respond, and Jiraiya didn't wait for him, either – jumping through the window and out of the city.

"I vote Itachi." Sasuke said.

"Anyone else?" Shikamaru lazily asked, a few scattered hands rising at his question. "Okay… and how many for Sasuke?" Instantly, more than two-thirds of the gathered shinobi's hands went up, most everyone trusting the man who had managed to get rid of the rot that was threatening to eat them from the inside out. "Well," Shikamaru drawled, "I think the answer's pretty clear there. Congrats, Sasuke. You're the Fifth Hokage."

Sasuke blinked. "H-Huh?"

The room erupted in a roar of approval, as shinobi Sasuke had met, worked with, and befriended over the past year and a half shouted their congratulations and ran up to shake hands with him. In the corner of the congregation, Itachi beamed with pride, seeing what his brother had become, and a certain woman with brown hair and pink eyes watched the entire ordeal, a smile on her lips and danger in her eyes.

The throng of people that had descended upon him thinned, and Sasuke looked around to see Rinka sauntering over to him, her eyes smoky with pride and something a little more primal. The ninja around them all fell silent, everyone's eyes on the two of them, as Rinka's finger twisted the fabric of Sasuke's shirt.

"We'll have to commission a set of robes for you, won't we?" Sasuke gulped, never having seen Rinka like this before. "Don't worry though. I'll be taking all of your measurements later. Of course, if that's okay with you. It's fine, right, Ho~ka~ge-sa~ma?"

Sasuke couldn't stop himself from nodding faster than he ever had before.

Was gonna post this tomorrow, but… Eh. Got done early. That's what happens when you write half the chapter in one sitting, I guess…

Happy-ish ending for those in the Land of Fire, though. We'll be back to Sakura in the next chapter. Look forward to it.