Hey there my guys, anyone ask for a bit of politics and an extra dose of emotion in this fic? No, no well too bad I guess!
When the morning came Naruto was up bright and early, if only because Itachi was kind enough to wake her up at seven so that she'd have time to shower, dress and have to coffee and some breakfast-Itachi had made up some pancakes-apparently the ex missing nin was a morning person.
Naruto personally was in awe of this fact, as were Karin and Rin, who had rushed off at half seven to get to the hospital to start her shift.
Naruto left ten minutes before she was due to meet Tsunade, running over the rooftops of Konoha, her usually loose and free blonde hair pulled back into a long braid that reached the small of her back, her coat flying out around her dramatically.
She arrived two minutes early and she grinned smugly to herself as she knocked on Tsunade's office door.
A moment later Tsunade's voice called out, "Come in." and Naruto pushed the door open, grinning slightly.
"Hey Baa-chan."
"Hey brat." Tsunade smiled warmly, "Shut the door behind you and come inside and sit down." she gestured to the chair opposite the desk and Naruto did as she was told, shutting the door and moving to sit down.
"So what did you want to see me for then Baa-chan?" Naruto leaned forward, a curious look on her face.
"I have some jobs for you." Tsunade smirked, "You remember what you said about how you'd go about strengthening relations? I want you to write
the letters regarding the situation with the Akatsuki and Obito."
"Wait-you want me to do it?"
"Well you're going to become the next Hokage, think of this as training. I'll read through the letters before we send them of course."
"I... of course." Naruto sat up straighter, letting out a breath, a sudden rush of pride flowing through her, "I think I get it."
"And Hyuga Hiashi will be here within the hour to discuss the future of the Caged Bird seal with you. I believe he had a meeting with the clan elders in three days time that I believe he'd like you to attend."
"Right." Naruto nodded, "I can do that-"
"I imagine it would be even better if you had an alternative seal prepared."
"Right." Naruto nodded, "I know."
"Can you handle this?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "If you want to be the Hokage you need to believe in yourself Naruto-chan, you are capable you've proven it."
Naruto closed her eyes, taking a deep even breath before opening them, "Right."
"You've got this brat." The voice was confident, reassuring, and Naruto smiled to herself.
"And I've got you too Kurama. You're right I do have this."
"When are the letters needed by."
"Can you get them done by the end of the week?"
"I should be able too." Naruto nodded, "I can set some clones to writing the first drafts tonight."
"Good." Tsunade nodded, "What will you be doing while we wait for Hiashi-san?"
"Working on the seal." Naruto decided quickly, "Can you get me some pen and paper to start working on it?"
"Of course." Tsunade nodded again, "And I want you to be in here with me every day this week other than if you're doing something important like meetings."
"Right." Naruto nodded, "I can do that."
Tsunade smiled wryly, sliding some paper and a pen across the desk to the blonde, "I warn you it's not all excitement like you're used to."
"Eh well, I'm sure I can handle it." Naruto waved a hand dismissively before settling in to work on the design, carefully sketching out the base before adding fine detail on top of it-it was simpler to do the early work on it in pen rather than using a brush and ink because it was so much easier to be precise without the risk of ink dripping everywhere, which was of course the bane of most Fuinjutsu masters existence.
It was perhaps another forty minutes before there was a knock at the door and Hiashi was let in, the man's eyes flicking to Naruto and there was a flicker of realization as he gave a small nod. "Ah, Nohara-san. It's good to see you again."
"And you Hyuga-sama." Naruto smiled politely.
"Call me Hiashi. Your father was one of my closest friends, had things been different I have no doubt that you would have been raised as close friends with my children and nephew."
"Thank you Hiashi-sama."
"Right now." Tsunade spoke up, drawing both of their gazes towards him, "You already know that I fully support you regarding your decisions with the Caged Bird Seal Hiashi-san, and I thought it would be good for you and Naruto-san to discuss the situation and your plans for the future of the seal and your meeting with the elders given the fact that she's already stated her willingness to support you and provide the clan with a new seal to protect your bloodline."
"Thank you Tsunade-sama." Hiashi bowed his head, "And thank you for agreeing to help us Nohara-san. Perhaps it would be best if we discussed all of this back at my clans compound?"
"Yes." Tsunade nodded, "I think that would be wise."
"Of course." Naruto stood up, folding up the paper with the initial designs and sliding the pen across the table to Tsunade. "Is now okay?"
"Yes I have the next few hours free before I'm due to check on my daughters training regimes."
"That should be plenty of time." Naruto felt strange, acting so stiff and formal, but this was important and the Hyuga's were generally considered a fairly stuffy clan, she'd have to mind her manners to avoid offending them. It was a lot of pressure for someone like Naruto who was usually loud and boisterous and the type who was very willing to offend people. But she needed to get used to it if she wanted to be the Hokage so she'd mind her manners.
Thankfully the Hyuga compound wasn't too far away, and Hiashi led her to his private study where they both sat, Naruto resisting the urge to look around nosily as she took a deep breath. "Okay Hiashi-sama. So I've been working on a new seal for you."
"May I look at the design?" Hiashi's voice was curious and Naruto unfolded the paper and slid it across the desk to him.
"Honestly it's fairly simple really, the moment life has left the body the seal will burn the eyes to a crisp."
"I see." Hiashi nodded, "Meaning no corpse robbing. I was wondering if perhaps there was some way to protect the eyes from thieves who try and steal them from living Hyuga-it's not common as such but it can happen."
"I could build in a failsafe." Naruto suggested after a moment of consideration, "It would be a secondary seal, probably on the wrist or something-somewhere easy to reach, it would be connected to the main seal and you'd have to channel your chakra directly into the seal-the only problem would be that it'd make the person who used it blind."
"Better than allowing thieves to steal our eyes. We'd be blind either way." Hiashi pointed out reasonably. "And it would be entirely up to the individual."
"Yes, the seal would be under the person who it was applied to's control. No using it to force obedience or anything of the type."
"Of course. Hiashi sighed, "The elders won't like it but if the argument is posed well enough I'd say we might just convince them."
"Do you want me there."
"Yes, as the creator of the seal you should probably be there. Tell me, how would you convince them?"
"Well..." Naruto bit her lip, "Hinata-san was almost kidnapped when she was just three years old because she was a member of the main clan. Not only have you made branch clan members feel like they're pushed out unfairly and isolated them to a certain point, by having it so that the only ones who's eyes won't be destroyed by at death makes the members of the main house better targets for opportunists trying to get the eyes. And you really shouldn't have two branches it just causes division and discontent-look at Neji-san. Look at how unhappy he was and how angry he was because of the seal it just wasn't fair in any sense of the word. He was a genius and a prodigy and yet he was treated as lesser because of the fact that his father was born second. I understand the need for a hierarchy within a clan but no other clan has such an exaggerated hierarchy with the lower members being treated as little more than servants-and it just doesn't make sense-if, kami forbid, something had happened to you when you were younger your brother would have already had his Caged Bird Seal, he'd have been unable to take over from you and yet he would be the logical choice for your heir until you had children."
"They'll argue that it prevents younger siblings from trying to usurp their siblings rightful position-"
"No offense Hiashi-sama but that's bullshit.." Naruto flushed when she realized what she said, "That's not-I mean... yes I suppose theoretically speaking that's true, but in a clan without the ridiculous class system your clan uses it would be highly unlikely for a younger sibling to decide they're willing to do such a thing. Possible yes but very unlikely. I'd say it would be more likely for there to be an attempted uprising as things are now with your clan-I think I'd be pretty pissed off if I was ordered around constantly and I had a seal on my head that could kill me if I didn't do exactly as I was told. The fear and anger could drive people mad."
Hiashi let out a slow breath, nodding. "I imagine you're right. The main thing for us to do now is to work on condensing your points and putting them in a less... brash, way."
Naruto felt herself relax. He hadn't taken offence, that was good, really good-and he was looking at her strangely again.
"Hiashi-sama, is everything okay?"
"Yes, yes it is." Hiashi nodded, "I just find myself wishing that I'd been less foolish when I was young. Your mother tried to tell me much the same thing, your father too but he was also trying to make sure that your mother didn't cause a diplomatic nightmare."
"Huh." Naruto shifted slightly, tilting her head, "Was that the day-"
"The day she tried to remove my brothers seal. Yes." Hiashi nodded, "Now I know that I should have let her do it, but of course at the time I was a fool." he shook his head, a sad look on his face as he did. "You know if your father wasn't there to drag her away I imagine Kushina-san would have attacked me. We were young then of course, sixteen if I remember correctly. She had the same spirit you do Naruto-san, if you don't mind me saying. She called me a prissy bastard and the worlds most shitty brother."
Naruto's mouth dropped open in shock and her hand flew to cover it to stifle her stunned laugh, and Hiashi's lips twitched slightly into a smile. "Yes. She was rather loud, always spoke her mind. At the time I was incredibly offended of course." he gave an almost amused look, "You've managed to compose yourself well in comparison.
"I.. thank you." Naruto smiled weakly. "I'm not used to having to be all formal and polite."
"You've done an admirable job so far." Hiashi shifted in his seat, "When I do succeed in convincing the elders to agree to ban the use of the Caged Bird Seal we'll need a Fuinjutsu master to dispose of the seals on the branch members currently. I would very much appreciate it if you'd agree to do so."
"Of course." Naruto nodded, "It's easy for me, I'm used to it."
"Thank you Naruto-san." Hiashi shifted in his seat, "As a token of my gratitude for your aid I'd like to show you some things."
"You would?"
"Yes." Hiashi pulled out a drawer in his desk, "I sought these out after the Chunin exams. You brought back memories I'd long since pushed to the back of my mind." he pulled out two framed photographs, laying them on the table.
The first one was a picture with Jiraiya stood proudly, his hands resting in the shoulders of a blond boy with spiky hair, bright blue eyes and a brilliant grin on his lips in the centre, with a boy with long straight hair and pale eyes stood on his left and a woman with long straight dark hair and dark black eyes.
Naruto would have known each of them instantly even if it wasn't obvious who they were from the context.
None of the children in the pictures could be more than eleven years old. The blond's features were achingly familiar and she stared into the mirrors of those eyes every day in the mirror.
The stoic looking Hyuga on his left could only be Hiashi, serious even back then, and the woman on her fathers right had a soft warm smile on her lips and kind eyes-and the eyes and nose were ones Naruto was intimately familiar with, she saw them in both Sasuke and Itachi.
Naruto's gaze flicked to the second picture.
She couldn't recognize the Jounin, but in he looked nice enough-possibly a Yamanka based on the pale blonde hair.
In the center-and Naruto smiled slightly at the sight, was a red haired girl, one arm over a Hyuga's, almost identical to the one in the first picture if it wasn't for the seal on his forehead, shoulder, her other hand was latched onto the ear of a boy with dark hair and black eyes, yanking him off balance making him flail, a familiar scowl on his lips-and that scowl was familiar too. Sasuke gave it to her quite often, and Naruto pressed a hand over her mouth, blinking back tears as Hiashi laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I know neither of these are anything compared to what you should have had Naruto-san. But I'd like you to take both of them."
"Thank you." the words were very soft, and Naruto blinked rapidly to force away the tears as she turned her head to look at Hiashi, "Thank you Hiashi-sama. Really thank you."
"There's no need for that." the hand on her shoulder squeezed softly, "I had copies made. Those are the originals. They should be yours and your teammates, I'm sure the originals would mean more to you than they do to me. I have far more memories to cherish than you. You deserve as much as you can to help keep their memories alive." and Naruto let the tears come at that, nodding, a smile on her lips. "I... just thank you. Really, truly thank you."
