Let's start this from the beginning

Grand Assembly

- Part 1 -

"Foreigners"

IV

"I heard the funniest story just now."

Itachi didn't react to the intrusion into his home. He didn't flinch, didn't throw the kunai he kept hidden under the pillow next to him at the intruder, or even put the book in his hands down; to the rest of the world, he probably gave off an impression of unshakable calm and serenity.

The fact that his wannabe burglar hadn't even tried to be subtle when he jumped through Itachi's open window was undoubtedly one reason for that, but much more important than that was that he had expected this particular visitor for a few days now and therefore wasn't rattled by his appearance. If anything, he was relieved. Now, at least, he wouldn't have to worry any longer about when he would ultimately have to deal with his friend and his antics once this was done.

"Is that so?" he asked nonchalantly before pointedly turning a page in his book, not yet bothering to look up and face his guest directly. "And that story is so important that it couldn't wait long enough for you to knock on the door and wait to be invited inside like everyone else, Shisui?"

"Considering I'm pretty sure you know exactly what story I'm talking about, I was afraid you would simply not open the door if I tried that approach. Drastic times call for drastic measures!"

"Did I ever actually lock you out?"

"Yes!" Shisui replied heatedly, and although Itachi couldn't say it for sure because he was still not looking up from his book, he was reasonably sure his friend was pouting. "Repeatedly!"

"And yet the lesson doesn't seem to have sunk in yet," he said with a sigh. "What a shame."

"I'm not some kind of pet you have to train, you know."

"You could have fooled me."

Shisui chuckled as he let himself fall onto the armchair opposite of him, finally prompting Itachi to snap his book shut – after putting a bookmark into it, of course – and look up.

Unsurprisingly, his friend was wearing the exact sort of mischievous, impish grin he had been expecting and dreading to find on his face.

"Well?" Shisui asked after a few seconds, evidently not feeling patient enough to wait for Itachi to open up by himself. "Aren't you gonna offer me something to drink or something?"

"You never bothered to wait for me to offer you something before raiding my kitchen. What changed?"

"Maybe I want to play the role of a polite guest for once."

"Then maybe you shouldn't have come through the window."

"C'mon, are you still hung up about that? The past is in the past. Let sleeping dogs lie, I say!"

Itachi fought down the impulse to smile at that, knowing it would only encourage his fellow Uchiha. Leave it to Shisui to make it look like I am the unreasonable one after he did something rude. Anyway, while he usually didn't mind playing along with Shisui's antics while waiting for him to get to the point and even enjoyed their back and forth most of the time, he didn't have time to do so today.

"In that case, why don't you tell me about that story you have come here for?"

"Oh, you're giving in already?" Shisui asked, positively brimming with satisfaction at his supposed 'victory'. "I expected you to put up more of a fight, to be honest."

Itachi didn't reply, instead raising an eyebrow, folding his arms, and putting on the exact polite but impatient and quizzical expression he knew his mother used whenever she wanted someone to get to the point without seeming rude.

It worked like a charm, and this time, he didn't suppress his impulse to smirk at the sight of his squirming friend.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Shisui said with a grimace, raising his arms in surrender. "No more beating around the bush and all that. Jeez, learn to take a joke, would ya?"

Itachi gave him a nod that by itself would have appeared grateful but he knew would instead come across as almost mocking when combined with the preceding conversation. "Thank you."

"I will thank you if you never use that look on me again. You and your mother look far too alike, and I had her look at me like that once too many times over the years. You copying her will literally give me nightmares!"

"That's good to know," he said, enjoying the short bout of panic in Shisui's eyes when he realized that he had just unintentionally given him a super-effective tool against him. "However, I'm sure that's not what you came here to talk with me about. I have an appointment soon and therefore not unlimited time, so you better hurry and tell me what I did to deserve your visit today."

That evidently caught Shisui's attention. "An 'appointment', huh?" he parroted, sarcastically wagging his fingers in the air as he did so while the grin from earlier returned to his face. "Are you sure you didn't mean to say you have a date? With a certain blonde-haired kunoichi, perhaps?"

"Pretty sure, yes," he replied, completely unfazed by the very much expected suggestion.

"'Pretty sure', he says. Hey, you know who's also pretty?"

Were he a lesser man, Itachi would have groaned out loud from that cheesy line. "Shisui–"

"And speaking of pretty blonde-haired kunoichis you totally went on a date with, can I just say that she pulls off that beautiful, cool badass look perfectly? Because she really does! I'm almost envious!"

"I will be sure to tell Izumi you said that the next time I see her."

Unfortunately, rather than letting that stop him, Shisui merely waved him off. "Feel free to do so," he said carelessly. "We feel secure enough in our relationship to objectively appreciate other people's good looks. Heck, she is the one who points out good-looking people to me wherever we go – men and women both, too!"

Itachi hadn't actually thought his comment would be enough to stop his friend, but as it turned out, it had been even less effective than he could have imagined.

"Well then," Shisui continued, either not noticing Itachi's disappointment or simply not caring about it, "are you gonna tell me why you decided to make a lot of people very unhappy – and also a great deal poorer, since all the money they had bet vanished into thin air thanks to you – and take a strange kunoichi out to lunch now of all times, or do I have to drag every word out of your mouth one by one?"

Naturally, the reminder that there was an entire betting pool dedicated to who he would take out on a date first did little to improve his mood. "People shouldn't take up gambling if they don't like losing money."

"I don't think they would appreciate your advice, my friend," Shisui chuckled. "Also, you didn't answer my question yet."

Inwardly, Itachi sighed. Well, at least he got to the point. "I suppose I didn't. Before I do, however…"

Casually and with no sense of urgency whatsoever, Itachi reached for the kunai under the pillow at his side, noting with some amusement how Shisui subtly tensed up as he followed his movement. While it would certainly be entertaining to make him sweet some more or even see him scramble if he actually threw the weapon at him, it wasn't meant for him. Furthermore, knowing his friend, he would certainly break some of his furniture in an attempt to dodge; Itachi liked his house as tidy and undamaged as possible, thank you very much, so that unfortunately wasn't an option.

Without turning around, Itachi grabbed the kunai and threw it out of the still-open window behind him.

The tell-tale sound of metal hitting a tree rang out half a second later, immediately followed by a surprised shriek, the sound of breaking branches, and ultimately, the dull thud of something heavy falling to the ground.

Judging by the lack of surprise on Shisui's face, he had noticed their little eavesdropper as well.

It didn't take long for that person to get back to their feet, jump onto the window ledge, and enter the room proper. "Was that really necessary?"

"Just as necessary as it was for you to eavesdrop," Itachi said without hiding his amusement at all, knowing full well how much it aggravated Anko to be the butt of the joke rather than its initiator. "Perhaps this will serve as a lesson to go and talk with people instead of trying to listen in on private conversations."

The disgruntled look on her face matched well with her dirt-strained lab coat and tousled hair, but surprisingly, she didn't give some sort of angry reply. Instead, she merely sighed before moving to sit on the couch to his right, throwing a kunai at him with a casual "that's yours" as she went. "Why don't you two just continue where you left off?" she asked flippantly as she reached for the half-full glass of water in front of her, obviously uncaring that it was technically Itachi's. "Just act as if I'm not here. Worked well so far, didn't it?"

Shisui, who had been observing the events unfolding so far in good humour, finally opened his mouth. "Pretty hard to ignore you if you're all sprawled out right in front of me, y'know?"

Anko shrugged. "Can't be much harder than ignoring me while I'm sitting blatantly in a tree outside the window."

"Oh, that was you being blatant? I guess that explains why it was so easy to spot you, then."

Shisui laughed as he said that, acting as if he had just told an amazing joke, and to him, maybe it was just that. However, Itachi didn't believe for even a second that his friend would so obviously insult a kunoichi's skills at remaining unnoticed unless he wanted to real her up.

Judging by the narrowing of Anko's eyes, she had clearly come to the same conclusion.

"Of course," she said, barely walking the balance between polite and rude. "After all, you wouldn't have been able to spot me if I had actually wanted to remain hidden, which would have meant I would have to remain on that uncomfortable branch. It's much nicer to sit on a couch, ya know."

"Of course, of course. But speaking of it, don't you think it's really rude to eavesdrop on people?"

"Not as rude as uninvitedly jumping through an open window into another person's house, I would say."

"You weren't invited either and yet did the same thing!"

"What are you talking about? Of course I was invited!"

"What? When did that supposedly happen?"

"Haven't you seen the damn kunai he threw at me?!"

Rather than being just part of his act, Shisui's snort in response actually sounded genuine. "And since when does that count as an invitation?"

"Are you a shinobi or not?"

"If you think that's a natural part of being a shinobi, training sessions with you must be fun."

"I–"

As funny as watching them was, Itachi did have an appointment later, so he decided to put an end to their argument before they could get any more fired up. "If you want to fight, please do so on a training ground rather than inside my house. I would very much like it to remain standing at the end of the day."

It was almost eerie how they both simultaneously decided to leave each other alone and focus entirely on him without the slightest delay. It was almost as if they had just been waiting for him to 'intervene'...

"In that case," Shisui said eagerly, "why don't we continue where we left off?"

"I think you very just about to explain what about her you find particularly attractive," Anko helpfully chimed up from his right.

Shisui mournfully shook his head. "No, he skilfully dodged that question already. Rather, he just wanted to tell me what made him invite her to a date – and according to the rumours, it was he who asked her, not the other way around."

"Hey, when in doubt, why not answer both?"

Interestingly enough, and perhaps somewhat unexpected considering their similar personalities, Shisui and Anko had never really become friends; the former spent much more time with Yukio while the latter had befriended Izumi. They were acquaintances by proxy and definitely on good terms, but it would probably never occur to them to meet up with only the two of them.

With that being said, Itachi slowly started to think they might have coordinated their visits before coming over.

He didn't let that thought show on his face, however. If they had indeed colluded with each other, the odds were that they would have an approach prepared in case he tried to distract them with his realization. Better to play along and get this over with quickly. Thus, he continued to act as if he hadn't noticed anything at all and merely explained the reason for his actions in a casual tone.

When he was done, Anko sighed once more. "I hate to say it, but that unfortunately sounds more like him than the alternative."

"It does, doesn't it?" Shisui agreed with an exaggerated expression of supreme disappointment on his face. "And here I was already hoping I would become an uncle soon…"

It took nearly all of Itachi's self-control to not roll his eyes. "I'm sorry to disappoint."

"As you should be!" Anko exclaimed. "But if you want to make it up to him, why not work on making his dreams come true, eh?"

To no one's surprise, Shisui was immediately all for it. "Exactly! And if there really is nothing between you and this Yugito, that only means that everyone else still has a chance!"

He gave them a very unimpressed look in response. "You two do realize that both of you are older than me, don't you? If anyone here is supposed to get children any time soon, it would probably be one of you."

The look of sheer unfathomable panic on both their faces was a sight Itachi would cherish for many years to come.

At Shisui's next words, however, Anko's expression quickly turned into an angry grimace:

"Hey, now wait a second! I'm barely twenty-one while she" – he pointed with his finger at Anko in an accusing manner – "is already twenty-four! She's the oldest, so clearly–"

"Oh, you did not just call me old!"

Here we go again, Itachi thought, unsure whether he should feel amused or exasperated. Sometimes he seriously wondered how he, a generally calm and introverted person, became friends with some of the loudest and most energetic people in all of Konoha. Perhaps it's true what they say about how opposites attract each other.

However, a glance at the clock told him that it was getting about time for him to leave, so he somewhat reluctantly – their argument was amusing to watch, after all – put a stop to his two guests by standing up, the sudden action being enough to momentarily distract them from each other. "As interesting as this was, I'm afraid I have to prepare myself now and–"

"Wait, you actually have an appointment? Like, for real?! I swear I thought you were lying to get rid of him!"

Giving Anko a dry look for her interruption that made her scratch the back of her head in embarrassment, Itachi continued, "I do indeed, yes, and as I was about to say, if you have nothing else to add, I would appreciate if you could leave me to it now."

"Prepare yourself, huh?" Shisui grinned. "Are you sure you don't have a date? No reason to be shy about it. I can even give you some tips if you want. Help you choose something fitting to wear, too."

This time, he didn't stop the eye roll. "I'm meeting my students' parents, and while I'm sure learning about your grooming habits would be... enlightening, I don't think Hyūga-sama would enjoy it very much if I appeared before him clad for a romantic encounter."

Shino and Kiba's families might find it amusing, though.

For a moment, revulsion and mirth fought for dominance on Shisui's face before the former won out.

They both ignored Anko's not-so-subtle sniggering, the woman having clearly the exact opposite reaction.

Regardless, both of them thankfully decided that his reasoning was good enough to give him a break and stood up to leave without any further teasing. Itachi was thankful for that; while the meeting was to be a casual one, he couldn't actually meet his students' families – Hinata's in particular – in the same clothes he would meet his friends in. The meeting was supposed to be about the upcoming Chūnin Exams and his students' progress in general, which meant he would meet them as a teacher and therefore had to look the part.

Personally, Itachi found such formalities rather useless and a waste of time and energy, but he had no choice but to play along or deal with the consequences, even if that meant nothing more than dealing with some disapproving looks and snide comments in this particular case.

It just wasn't worth it to purposefully ignore others' expectations, especially when there was always the risk of having to deal with his parents as well when they inevitably heard about his 'rude' behaviour.

"Ah, there's actually one more thing," Shisui said, one foot already on the windowsill and ready to jump in the same manner Anko had moments earlier. "A few days ago, Izumi broke up a fight between some people from Iwa and Taki, and I heard there have been more such cases since that had to be broken up as well."

That caught his attention. "Iwa and Taki? Aren't they in an alliance?"

"They are," Shisui confirmed with a shrug. "Their people don't seem to be fans of the idea, though. Apparently, the Iwa-nins feel they're superior to their weaker 'ally' while the Taki-nins don't feel like they're being taken seriously. Anyway, this wouldn't be the first time an alliance breaks apart because the populations don't want to work together no matter what their governments say."

That was true, and if that alliance indeed did break apart, well, that would only be good for Konoha. "Thank you for telling me," he said with a slight incline of his head.

"Nah, don't sweat it. I thought you would want to know this, with you kinda being part of the reason the alliance had come into existence in the first place and all that."

He gave his friend an unimpressed look, although the twitch of his lips probably took the edge from it. "Thank you for reminding me," he said dryly.

"My pleasure!" Shisui laughed before giving him a two-finger salute and turning back around. "Now, good luck with your meeting. Can't say I envy you. Enjoy!"

And with that, he jumped out of the window.

Itachi shook his head, a small smile forming on his face as he closed his window and made sure it was locked this time. Not that it would actually stop anyone who wanted to enter, mind you, but it was the thought that counted.

And besides, it wasn't as if he needed to be afraid of anyone breaking in. He had booby-trapped his entire house just in case anyone was stupid enough to try, after all. Shisui and Anko were lucky to know that he deactivated most of them whenever he was home; they would have had a much harder time entering through his window without losing a finger or two if they hadn't..

Say about him what you want, but he wasn't a shinobi for nothing.

Anko allowed a satisfied smirk to grace her face as she jumped from roof to roof. She hadn't thought she would get the story out of Itachi as easily as she did, although Shisui's presence had probably helped in that regard.

Oh, make no mistake; she had known that most of the rumours going around were complete nonsense. One benefit of knowing Itachi for as long as she did was that she could say with absolute confidence that things like romance were so low on his list of priorities that they might just as well not be on it in the first place. It was honestly much more likely that he would go rogue and become a missing-nin than suddenly decide he felt like taking a woman out on a date.

Every rumour had to come from somewhere, however, and something specific like him being seen eating lunch with a blonde, foreign kunoichi called Yugito Nii – which was a name Anko would recognize just about anywhere – was just a bit too strange to ignore.

Consequently, upon hearing it, she had acted on her first instinct and decided to find out what exactly had happened directly from the source.

A rematch, huh? she thought, her head contemplatively tilted to the side. Might be a fun idea, actually. And when I'm already, Itachi and I haven't sparred in a while either! She smirked. I wonder if they would terribly mind if I decided to join them on their next little 'date'.

Anko was currently just one small step away from a breakthrough in her studies regarding the curse mark on her neck, but she couldn't continue her research until Shizune finished analysing the results from their last experiment. Unfortunately, Anko lacked the medical know-how to be of much help in that, and as her friend would likely need another few weeks to go through all the data, Anko had not much else to do in the meanwhile. She had intended to use that time to train anyway, so why not do so with some companions?

And speaking of the devil…

She came to a stop on a roof from which she had a good view of the street below. Or, more precisely, she came to a stop on a roof from which she had a good view of a very specific blonde woman walking on the street below.

Slowly but surely, a smirk formed on her face. Well, well, well, what do we have here? A funny coincidence, isn't it?

For a few precious seconds, she considered whether the idea that had plopped into her head was actually a smart thing to do. That line of thinking was quickly discarded, though; she had never been someone who hesitated in the face of risky ideas, and she didn't plan to become a boring person like that any time soon.

So, with a wide grin, she let herself fall down the roof onto the street right in front of Yugito Nii.

Nodding his thanks as Shino's mother, Kanae Aburame, refilled his teacup, Itachi once again wondered who this meeting was for exactly. It wasn't as if he was a stranger to the stilled and, more often than not, rather dry conversations that were so normal in "polite company", of course, but it never ceased to amaze him how hours and hours of conversations could be filled with nothing of importance.

The fact that the only one in his current company who potentially enjoyed such get-togethers was Hiashi Hyūga, with the Aburame clan being known for being rather laid back for the most part and Tsume Inuzuka being outrightly famous for despising such events, made it almost funny that the meeting was as stiff as it was; with four out of the five people present more or less openly disliking them, one would think that they could just forgo all the pleasantries and get to the point.

It was a small mercy that the meeting at least happened to take place at the Aburame's place as it was significantly more casual than the Hyūga compound would have been.

Fortunately for (almost) everyone involved, Tsume had only so much patience to give before she grew tired of how slow things went and moved the discussion in the right direction.

"So, how likely is it that my son will actually survive this year's exams? I need to know if I have to beat him up in the name of 'training' to the point where he won't be able to compete or not."

Where the rest of them looked at the scowling woman with perfectly neutral expressions or, in the case of Hiashi, polite inquire about whether he had understood her correctly that did little to hide their surprise at such blunt words, Kanae gave her a pointed, reprimanding look. "Don't be mean, Tsume. I'm sure Kiba-kun trained very hard for this. You should trust in his efforts."

"Maybe I would be a bit more trusting if I actually knew what exactly he is practising all the time," the Inuzuka replied grumpily, arms crossed before her chest.

That evidently surprised Shibi. "You don't oversee your son's training?"

"Of course I do!" She shot Shino's father a dark look. "I can't hover over his shoulder all the time, though. I doubt you can either. He makes a deliberate effort to hide this from me, and for the time being, I decided to let him have this one victory."

If Shibi thought it was hypocritical of her to be annoyed about not knowing what her son was doing while simultaneously intentionally allowing him to do something without her knowledge, he didn't show it. "And you think that's wise?"

"I know my daughter is with him whenever he trains whatever technique has caught his fancy, and Hana would never allow him to do anything she doesn't think is safe. She likes to pretend otherwise, but she's a real worrywart when her brother is concerned." Then, she grinned at Kanae. "How's that for trusting into my children, eh?"

The other woman wasn't impressed, though. "While admirable for sure, it would be even better if you hadn't just declared you would be willing to beat your son up until he's unable to compete a minute ago."

"It's not like I would be the first one to use a training accident as an excuse to stop my son from joining particular brutal Chūnin Exams that can be predicted to be little more than death traps!"

"Be that as it may," Itachi interrupted before that argument, good-naturedly as it might be, escalated and ate up even more of their time, "I'm confident that my team will be fine. There won't be any need to stop Kiba or either of his teammates from participating."

"Oh? And just how confident are you, exactly?"

"I'm all but certain."

That simple statement was more than enough to convince everyone at the table, as evident by the fact that even Tsume immediately nodded in satisfaction without further questions.

There was no certainty in the life of a shinobi; no assurance that everything would go according to plan – which never happened – and not even any guarantee for one's own survival. Dealing in absolutes was as foreign to a shinobi as violence to a pacifist. Thus, when someone in their profession claimed that something was 'all but certain', it probably was for a very good reason. At least when the one saying it was someone with a reputation for excellence, that is.

Hiashi put his cup down with a soft click. "Now that our concerns for the safety of our children have been put to ease" – they all politely ignored Tsume's scoff at that – "perhaps you could share with us what you think of their chances for promotion, Uchiha-san."

"That is a bit harder to answer," Itachi admitted with a slight tilt of his head before taking a sip of his tea in order to gain some time to think. Then he continued, "All of them have the potential to become Chūnin, of course, and I'm convinced they will even make Jōnin before too long, but this year's exams might be a bit too early yet. While all three have made large leaps in working on their shortcomings during the short few months since they became my students, they haven't overcome them yet. They will benefit more from the direct supervision of a Jōnin instructor than from gaining more experience in the field as Chūnin for the time being."

Tsume snorted. "That better be the case. I don't even dare to imagine how full of himself my Kiba would become if he became a Chūnin less than a year after graduating from the academy!"

"Occasional bouts of overconfidence are one of his problems," Itachi agreed with a small smile.

"Hah, you can say that out loud! Really, you would think he would know better after all the beatdowns he suffered during training! I have no idea who he got that from."

"Yes," Shino's mother chuckled. "A true mystery."

Itachi wasn't entirely sure whether Tsume merely ignored the sarcasm in that statement or if she didn't notice it in the first place. Either way, she was clearly unbothered by it.

"Right?! I guess it's a bit of a shame that he put so much work into mastering some kind of trump card only to ultimately not be promoted anyway, though…"

"It will be a valuable experience for them regardless," Shibi commented. "I suspect Shino will feel the same way, however. I know he looked forward to demonstrating some of his new techniques, too."

Kanae gave her husband a gentle slap on the shoulder. "He's not the only one, is he?" Turning to the rest of the group, she continued, "I swear, on some days, I couldn't say who of them was more excited to experiment on new techniques. It almost felt at times like having two children in the house instead of one!"

Shibi didn't blush, but Itachi had been a shinobi for long enough and possessed keen enough insight to recognize when someone deliberately suppressed a physical reaction, even if the person in question was as good at it as Shibi Aburame.

A shame, he thought a tad disappointed. I have never seen an adult Aburame blush before.

"So what you're saying is, that while they still have room to grow, they do meet the minimum requirements necessary for promotion?"

Itachi turned around to focus on Hiashi Hyūga with intentionally casual movements to mask his surprise at the man completely – and rudely – ignoring the flow of conversation like that, wondering for just a second about how much of his true feelings on the matter Hiashi would be able to read in his body language in a similar fashion to how Itachi had read Shibi tells mere moments earlier. "They already show many traits common in Chūnin," he replied evenly, careful to neither outright agree nor disagree until he could tell where exactly Hiashi was going with this.

"Enough so to justify a promotion?"

Unfortunately, Hiashi was very, very good at hiding his true thoughts, even for a shinobi. It would probably not be an exaggeration to say that he was one of the most talented people in that regard Itachi had ever met. All he could glean from him was that he was somewhat tense and that this topic was of great personal interest to him. Considering this was about his daughter, that wasn't exactly surprising.

It didn't change the fact that his fixation on the topic of promotion was a bit too excessive to be normal, though.

"I really couldn't give you a concrete answer to that. It's up to Sandaime-sama to decide, not me." Then, before Hiashi had the chance to press the point even further, Itachi beat him to it by asking a question of his own, ignoring how cutting someone off like that would be considered rude. "May I ask why you're so invested in your daughter's chances for promotion, Hyūga-sama? Surely you agree that she has still plenty of time to become Chūnin in a later exam, especially considering that she had only become a Genin not too long ago."

"Of course," Hiashi immediately agreed, and to Itachi's slight annoyance, he couldn't gauge anything new from his response. "I only worry for her safety. I'm sure you understand. If she were to already show the skills befitting a Chūnin, it would be greatly reassuring. Hence, my questions."

That was as blatant a lie as Itachi had ever heard considering Hiashi's own words to Tsume's earlier question regarding the very topic of the children's safety, but that wasn't exactly something he could call him out for, so he merely smiled and nodded his understanding.

After that, Hiashi didn't pick up that topic again, content to drink his tea mostly in silence, but Itachi got the feeling that he was somehow more satisfied than earlier. The conversations going forward were mostly held between Itachi, Tsume, Shibi, and Kanae, but while it was a much more relaxed and casual atmosphere than at the beginning, there was now an underlining tension in the air that hadn't been there before.

It seems I will have to pay more attention to him in the future, Itachi mentally resigned himself with an inwardly sigh. Whatever it was the other man had gleaned from his words that had satisfied him, Itachi somehow doubted it was entirely positive – at least not for his student.

All in all, the meeting had proven to be even more troublesome than he had expected.

One more day, is it?

With a deep sigh, Hiruzen turned away from the window that oversaw the village below and returned to his desk.

The Chūnin Exams were finally about to begin. After all the work that had gone into their preparations, and all the information he had had about how they had progressed in an alternate timeline, it was almost strange to think that they were truly about to become reality instead of being some large event that loomed in the distant future.

That wasn't a feeling he was unaccustomed to. After all, this was hardly the first large event he had ever organized during his tenure as Hokage. However, no matter how often it happened, it seemed he would never grow accustomed to it.

And like always when he found himself in this position, he had the irresistible urge to work, to go over the plans that had been years in the making one more time and see if he couldn't find one more detail to improve.

That was a silly sentiment, of course; the rough outlines had been drawn several years ago, improvements and changes based on new information had been gradually incorporated over time, more concrete schemes had been planned in countless, hour-long discussions, and the finer details that required direct supervision were entrusted to some of the most capable of his subordinates. At this point, any meaningful changes, barring those that were a result of new information coming in, would only cause unnecessary chaos and confusion.

No, all Hiruzen could do now was wait and see what would happen.

Oh, and fulfil his other duties, naturally. There was always something to do, after all.

None of that could stop him from worrying, though. For all that they had prepared as well as they could, it was all but guaranteed that something would go wrong because that just was something that happened with plans. The questions remaining were what that 'something' actually was and whether it would cause real problems or prove to be little more than a minor annoyance.

Unfortunately, and for all that Hiruzen hoped the opposite to be the case, he had a feeling it would be the former rather than the latter.

Itachi hadn't known when exactly Orochimaru had begun messing with the exams in the previous timeline. The earliest case of his interventions the Uchiha was aware of was Orochimaru's attack and consequent marking of Sasuke Uchiha in the Forest of Death, but how and when he had actually entered Konoha's perimeter, he couldn't say for sure.

The fact that they hadn't found any signs of the Sannin so far should be reassuring, but in their field of work, no evidence was usually a clear sign that something was very, very wrong.

It didn't help that they hadn't found any clues regarding Orochimaru's most favoured spy, the one named Kabuto, either – neither inside the village nor outside of it. Considering he had had the ANBU subtly looking for him for years now, the absolute lack of clues was very troublesome indeed.

Hiruzen forcefully pushed those gloomy thoughts away with another deep sigh. Now is not the time to worry, he reminded himself. What is meant to happen will happen. We prepared as much as we could, so all that's left is dealing with whatever problems arise when they arise.

Worrying too much had never done any good. He had never been fearful of the future, and he would start now.

If nothing else, I suppose the next few weeks are at least guaranteed to be interesting…

This will be the last slow segment for a while. Starting next chapter, the Chūnin Exams begin for real, and with them, all the action as well!