Sealing Salientia - Chapter 7: Ceremony - Author: PenSmoke

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.

Previously on Sealing Salientia:
Orochimaru's gambit wasn't going to fly with 'Wicked Eye' Uchiha in charge though. This required a complete re-think of his ideas. It was going to require time. But that was his end goal anyway, to have enough time to do everything.

Konoha
Morning, October 12th, Year 65

The sun crested over the stone cliff adorned with four busts and blinding rays descended into the Village Hidden in the Leaves, causing a cascade of light to bounce through the eyelids of one Itachi Uchiha. Due to many shinobi training sessions causing him to react to particular stimuli, he was instantly awake and alert. Opening his eyes, but without moving any other muscle in his young body, he took stock of the current situation, as had been drilled into him from a young age. Well, younger than he was now anyway.

Looking around the room, he found it completely undisturbed. His little brother was still sleeping in his cradle next to Itachi, the security measures created last night were still unbroken. Relaxing the muscles that had been held ready to spring into action if it were required, he stood up and stretched. Going through a short series of early morning stretches, he then readied himself for the day, getting changed into fresh clothes and quickly cleaning himself up. Returning to his room a scant couple minutes later, he realized that he was going to have to do just a little more to be ready for the day. Detecting that his baby brother's breathing pattern was changing, Itachi expected Sasuke to wake within minutes.

Stealing away from the room without a sound, he quickly gathered the necessary supplies to feed his brother. He knew that the responsibility of caring for Sasuke fell upon him at the moment, with his mother being in the hospital. He was unaware of his father's current whereabouts, but knew that Fugaku would likely either be already awakened and gone to handle certain responsibilities that came with being a clan head, or was still sleeping and would not want to be disturbed for something that Itachi could handle on his own. The boy was only 6 years old, but had been self-sufficient for years already and had proven more than capable enough to handle himself at the Academy. The responsibility was nothing new to him. Indeed, his father had ingrained it into him at a young age that he was to serve the clan and that the clan was to serve the village. Having the extra obligations being entrusted to him was supposed to be an honor, not a burden.

Upon arriving in the kitchen, he was met with an unexpected sight. His father, Fugaku Uchiha, was sat at the dining table with a partial cup of tea in hand and a small plate that, while it had previously held food, now only contained a couple of crumbs left to indicate something had previously resided there and since been consumed. He was studying a scroll that looked like official paperwork intently, his three-wheeled Sharingan eye spinning slowly, obviously using the eyes ability to immediately memorize whatever it saw to retain the information for later.

While that in and of itself wasn't spectacularly unusual, the way his father was dressed certainly was. He had on ceremonial robes of pale crimson and white, with a flame pattern peeking out from near the bottom and sitting on the table next to him was the red hat with a white inlay area that had the lettering for 'Fire Shadow' on it. The Hokage's attire.

Itachi paused mid-stride to look at his father, who immediately noticed and glanced up at him. The boy watched as his father turned off the bloodline limit of their clan; it was considered rude to have it activated while off-duty in the compound. The paternal figure in his life rolled up the scroll that was previously occupying his attention and addressed him. "Good morning Itachi. I take it you slept well?"

Itachi replied immediately with a "Yes, sir." Despite Fugaku being his father, the clan head was quite militaristic in how he was to be treated as the clan head and shows of disrespect were typically not tolerated.

"Did you brother cause you any problems?" the follow up question rolled out of his father's mouth.

The reply came just as quickly as the one before it had, "No, sir."

"I'm glad to hear that. You did well in keeping your brother supervised while I was indisposed. Thank you." At that response, Itachi was confused. His father wasn't often one for simple praises. It had been an easy task, feed Sasuke when he was hungry, change a few dirty cloth diapers and keep the infant entertained. Itachi had been easily able to handle it, even using it as a practice training session in creating illusions above Sasuke's head to paint imaginary scenes of whatever he felt would keep a baby entertained.

Fugaku continued in his talking after a quick inhalation, "Would you please wake your brother and prepare him for travel? We have important business to conduct this morning."

While Itachi desperately wanted to ask why to confirm, he could also figure it out rather easily through deductive reasoning. The Fourth Hokage had been killed in battle against the Nine-Tailed Fox two days prior, the rumors had been flying around so much that even a six-year-old boy shut in his house had heard it. The Uchiha clansmen couldn't stop talking about it in the streets of the compound and it wasn't his fault that he had already been trained to eavesdrop on everything, as information was always valuable. His father was a highly skilled shinobi and was wearing the Hokage robes and hat. It was blatantly obvious that he was going to be named as the Fifth Hokage. And Itachi knew that asking a question to receive an answer you had already answered yourself would just be wasting the man's time.

Instead of saying any of the questions that he wanted to, replied with another simple, "Yes, sir." and finished the reason that he had come down here to being with, preparing a bottle for his brother. A quick application of a minor fire technique, the water was quickly heated and mixed together and he was off to their room to get Sasuke ready. He took a couple extra minutes to dress nicely and get his brother dressed up as well, considering what he had deduced.

Heading back down to the dining room, he found his father still there, drinking the last of the tea from the porcelain vessel it had resided in. The patriarch of the Uchiha clan stood and motioned for his sons to join him.

Fugaku was not surprised to see Itachi at first light, he had expected as much from his talented son. He could see the young boys' confusion at his dress and watched as the gears turned in his head and he made the conclusion. Proud of his boy and his abilities, he had started to talk to him in a what he felt was a friendly tone.

What was displeasing was his sons' clipped and professional tone. He knew that he had been a hard-ass at times, he was a ninja after all, but he realized with that display just how much he had been pushing the boy. Thinking of instances where he was overworked and overstressed, when he felt disrespected by the clan elders for their conniving ways, he recalled snapping at the boy for displays of disrespect in the past.

No longer would the elders feel like the village was against them. It was always a sore spot with them that an Uchiha had helped found the village but had always been passed over for the title of Kage. He had been trying for years to get the resentment of the Uchiha elders under control. They had an inextinguishable superiority complex, which he hated. To them, anything that could even be perceived as weakness was to be snuffed out. He had spent dozens of long nights tucked away at the clan shrine convincing the old fools to back down.

Unfortunately, he somewhat shared in that superiority complex as well, as he couldn't help but feel slighted at being passed over for Hokage nearly two years prior. But at least he was aware of it and aware of how much damage it sometimes caused. He had taken great pains to snuff the trait out of Itachi and it had seemingly worked so far.

But perhaps it had worked too well. His son was turning into an excellent ninja candidate, even having just entered the Academy, the boy excelled at everything and there was already talk of having him graduate immediately due to his skill set. Fugaku had tried to temper his sons' ego with his own method of training and it seemed that the intense treatment had been too effective, as the near robotic replies made his heart ache somewhat.

Saddened a bit by his own realization, he knew that he would have to work on fixing that bond. After everything, he was still a father and wanted his boys to grow up to be the best men they could be. Now that he was about to be in power, this was going to fix everything. Or so he hoped, anyway.

Itachi appeared moments later, little Sasuke in his arms. Fugaku reached down to take his infant son and looked at the raven-haired babe. Vowing to fix both his own mistakes with his elder son and not make the same ones with Sasuke, he nodded resolutely to himself. Reaching with his free hand and grabbing the red and white hat off of the table to place it upon his head, he readied himself to leave, Itachi right at his side. Today was going to be a good day.

They left the main house of the compound and struck off through the densely packed dirt streets of the district. Many other from the clan were already up and going about their day, it looked as if word had gotten out, as multiple residents were dressed in what appeared to be fine kimonos and suits. Those who were ninja had their formal uniforms on with brightly polished headbands glinting in the morning sunshine. It looked as if most of the clan was turning out for the event, which considering one of their own looked to be named Hokage, it was not that unexpected.

Fugaku answered several waves and congratulations as the three males walked through to the edge of the compound, maintaining a steady pace the entire way. Outside the compound, several villagers were waiting with banners and cheering as Fugaku made his way outside. His progress through town turned into a virtual parade as the throng accompanying him skyrocketed past a hundred people. He knew that they wanted to create a parade to the morning's acceptance speech, but he had other plans. Turning to head to the hospital, he went to see his wife first before the ceremony to follow. He had time yet and it was what he wanted, his family all together for this momentous occasion. He knew that this would also be a big political image booster, putting family first.

Navigating the more crowded than usual streets towards the hospital, he found the constant stream of people jovially greeting him to be a somewhat strange experience. Every single person looked at him as he passed, many with hope or joy in their eyes. This must be how it felt to be a respected leader. He found that he liked it, much better than the annoyed gazes of the clan elders, or the submissive expressions of the rest of the clan. Taking in the feeling, he left the crowd behind as he entered the main doors of the medical facility. Granted clearance for him and his sons to visit, they made their way up the stairs to Mikoto's room, where a nurse and an orderly were getting her ready to be discharged.

Mikoto was his wife of nearly ten years and the mother of both of his children. They had met in the ninja forces, when they were assigned a mission together as chunin. He had been the son of the clan head then and put in charge. She had been a member of her team of 3, assigned under him. They had hit it off immediately and when she was promoted to chunin, they had often started to request doing missions together. While they were both Uchiha, that was not a concern, it was common practice to keep the Sharingan 'pure', as the old fogeys called it. So long as it wasn't direct family or one step off, it didn't matter, it was considered perfectly normal and acceptable. They had dated for a while and become engaged and subsequently married just after they turned jonin. They both continued improving their ninja careers and then a couple years later, they had welcomed Itachi into their life. Mikoto had taken a step back then. She was still considered a jonin, but requested smaller, local missions to stay home and take care of their son. Just recently, Sasuke had been born and they had been overjoyed.

But now, as the doctor was speaking, it sounded as if Mikoto's days of being an active-duty ninja were likely over. Her legs and hips had been shattered in the attack and it was going to be a long time before she regained use of them, if ever. She would likely be wheelchair bound for months, if not the rest of her life. They had set the bones with medical chakra and had stopped any chance of her being paralyzed, but she was on orders not to move at all outside of the wheelchair until further notice. The bones were merely put into place and held together by fine tendrils until the bodies' natural healing process took over. The wheelchair was outfitted with special chakra restraints that would keep her still through bumps and jumps as they moved, dampening all extraneous movement to try and suppress any additional damage to the bones as they were healing.

Even though she was being placed into a wheelchair that would likely be her home for the next several weeks minimum, Mikoto was smiling as she looked up at him, one arm around Itachi, who had helped into the wheelchair, while the doctor gave the report and care instructions. The soft features of her face were framed beautifully by ebony hair that fell down next to each cheek; she was the perfect woman in his eyes. Strong and forceful of personality, highly competitive and skilled as a ninja, she was able to keep up with him in every way. She was about the only person who could reprimand him and he'd actually have to listen, or she would be prone to put him in a headlock and treat him like one of the kids. He wanted to keep the stoic face of the Uchiha but he couldn't help it. He noticed his son looking up at him with a curious expression on his face. He quickly realized that Itachi had probably rarely seen him smile. Cursing himself in his head again, he realized just how distant and aloof he had been to his, at the time, only son. Yet another thing to try and straighten out.

The family gathered up what they needed and left the room. While he pushed his wife, whom held Sasuke, he heard her voice drifting up to him. "You managed to convince the Council then, I take it. Congratulations, honey. I am so proud of you." He looked down at her brown orbs staring up into his own. Off to the side, he heard his older son breath a small sigh of relief and add "Congratulations, father." He nodded at his son in confirmation, before speaking up himself.

"Yes, Mikoto, my precious, I did. The ceremony is in just a few minutes. That's where we are heading now. I wanted to have the whole family there though, so we came here first." He watched his wife's smile intensify and enjoyed the feeling it elicited inside of him. They continued slowly through the winding corridors, filled with busy staff, in a comfortable silence amongst themselves.

As they exited the facility, the pressing mass of people outside had swelled to an even greater number, perhaps three hundred in total now. The background noise of dozens of hushed conversations gave way quickly into smattered cheers, with quickly were drowned out by the sound of gaiety from the exuberant populace. The yells bounced off all of the nearby buildings, echoes adding into the pandemonium.

The crowd nearest him parted at seeing the wheelchair and continued to open up in the path towards the center of the town, where the tallest structure sat, the location of the event for which they were all present. With him at the lead, the disorganized crowd eventually made their way to the large clearing in front of the Hokage Tower, where he could see bannisters and railings set up around a central raised dais with a microphone at a podium. He reached the base of the platform at a sedate pace and noticed that there were only stairs leading to the top. 'Well, that's going to have to change.' He saw the opportunity to show a small bit of power and skill at the same time as perform a service for his wife. Making a few handseals, he used an earth-style wall technique to create a slab of solid rock tall enough to reach the stage and then tilted it so that the wheelchair could make it to the top.

Proceeding with pushing his injured spouse up the ramp, his son following close behind, they summitted the stone billet that he had created. Upon attaining the higher position, he noted that the two elderly advisors, Hiruzen's former teammates that had served nearly the entirety of the Third's reign and the full length of the Fourth's, were present. They looked at be ready to start serving under him as well and appeared to be in charge of the ceremony right now. That would be one thing that would be changing immediately. He had a list of things that had never made sense to him about how the village was run and he was going to be changing a lot of things quickly once in the office. Advice from old relics of the past was something he had had quite enough of while being clan head and he wasn't going to be dealing with it here as well.

Several other higher-ranking members of both the Clan Council and the Civilian Council sat in various chairs, trying to show off their importance by being at the ceremony. The Hyuuga clan head, Hiashi, looked completely unperturbed by the goings on, no expression evident on his face. The same could be said about the man to his right, Shibi Aburame, who was representing his own clan. The difference there being that Hiashi's face was visible, whereas Shibi's was hidden behind a high collar and large sunglasses. Knowing what was under the coverings, Fugaku was glad that they stayed covered. The Nara clan head, Shikaku, looked bored and was staring at the sky. The Akimichi clan head, Chouza, was munching on what appeared to be a breakfast pastry, trailing crumbs underneath him. He could see Inoichi, representing the Yamanaka clan gossiping with some of the civilian council members before realizing that Fugaku was there and straightening up. Lastly, he noticed one reserved seat that was currently empty, even though the proceedings had already begun. Glancing around the elevated dais and the crowd below, he did not see Hiruzen Sarutobi. He supposed that it was expected. Fugaku had held hope that Hiruzen wouldn't be too upset by his actions, but they had been rather dramatic and he had acted rather cold yesterday. Downright cruel, if one didn't know better. He had no regrets for his actions, they had been necessary for his goals, but he did wish to make amends for them as well. He didn't need the advice of those two elders who had long since been active ninja, but Hiruzen's advice was usually sound, if a bit soft for his tastes.

Taking the central place at the microphone after situating Mikoto with Sasuke on one side and Itachi on the other, he acknowledged the cheering crowd in front of him and motioned for them to hush. Taking several long moments, the assembled group of civilians and ninja grew quiet and awaited his speech. Speaking in public for the first time today, he began in a somber tone, one not at all matching the bright and cheery day that had dawned upon them. "We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of a great man. Minato Namikaze gave his life to protect this village, an action that saved countless lives. I would like to start the ceremony in remembrance of him and his dedication to protecting Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves." Fugaku removed the ceremonial hat and turned towards the monument, the bright sun harsh into his eyes. He used the moment to think. He did respect Minato's skill in battle, so this was able to be said with a straight face. He just hadn't respected the wet-behind-the-ears pushover in politics the man had been. Being Kage required great strength of skill. But, that skill needed to be in politics as well as battle. While Hiruzen was growing soft in his old age, he had been fearsome in both the battlefield and the office for many years.

Turning back to the congregation awaiting him to continue, he spoke again, "Yet, we are gathered to celebrate as well. The 'Will of Fire' lives on in the village, through those who are still here today and all those who persevere through hardships as we have faced." At this comment, he gave a marked glance at his wife in her wheelchair. "As Hokage, I will continue 65 years of tradition in keeping the 'Will of Fire' alive! Together, we will rebuild better than ever before and continue to keep Konoha the strongest of all of the Hidden Villages. I, Fugaku Uchiha, accept the position and title of Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf." Keeping his speech short and sweet, he hit the notes that he knew would resonate. Don't disrespect the dead, don't bring up the Kyuubi. Honor the fallen and make them feel hopeful. Smiles tugged at his lips and he felt joyful. The only moments in his life that he'd rank above such would be meeting and marrying Mikoto and the birth of his two sons. Deciding that it held little point in maintaining the stoicity of the Uchiha, when he was sure that as Hokage he'd have plenty of time to be serious, he gave in and let the smile out for the second time that day, which very well have been a new record for him as an adult. He stepped back from the podium amidst raucous cheering, gathered up his family and proceeded back down the freshly created ramp, smile plain for all to see, enjoying the moment.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stood with his sons, Masuya and Asuma, well out of sight of the stage on which he could see the man speaking below him. He had brought his family along to be a part of the ceremony, but he couldn't find it in himself right now to actually congratulate a man willing to slaughter an innocent child in front of him just a day ago. He was internally thankful that Jiraiya's plan had seemingly gone off perfectly for the point of the deception to the viewpoint of the Council, more innocent blood was the last thing he needed right now.

He thought back to last night, speaking with that child and the ramen maker. He had remembered during that conversation why he had accepted the position of Hokage and had been willing to accept it again yesterday. He wanted to protect the people of this village and stop the suffering that he had seen expressed by the young boy. He had thought of several ways to potentially accomplish that task but hadn't come up with any concrete plans for making progress on that front. After the ceremony, he planned to research old bylaws of the Council to see exactly what he could do to impede Fugaku in any way possible. Perhaps if he made Fugaku's dealing with the Council even worse than his own, the man would hate dealing with everything that accompanied position enough to vacate it on his own.

As the last vestiges of the Uchiha's voice died amongst the roaring crowd, he turned to his sons and motioned for them to go. A brief moment passed as they prepared to leave, when a black-clad uniform with a mask upon the face dropped down in front of them. "Sarutobi-sama, Hokage-sama has requested your presence at his office in Hokage Tower as soon as possible. I am to escort you there."

Sighing in defeat, Hiruzen nodded his assent and reversed course to turn back towards the structure under the stone monument that bore his visage. He had hoped to put this off until he was more prepared, but it seemed that it was to be now or never. He could easily escape the ANBU accompanying him, but that would inform others of the internal quarrel he was having with the man and he wished to make it appear publicly that he was just following the rules, regardless of how he moved to sabotage the newly installed Hokage's work.

"I'll meet you two at home when I am done, it appears that I am needed." Masuya and Asuma snapped a quick salute to the man and the ANBU alongside him, before sharing a look amongst themselves. They had lived with their father for far too long to not know what was about to happen. Hiruzen was angry and about to tear someone a new hole. Possibly literally.

Orochimaru had watched the proceedings with a vague sense of disinterest and slightly more prevalent sense of disgust. He had already known what was going to happen, he was just watching out of morbid curiosity at what could have been his. Very few objectives he had in life had not come to fruition and to be denied one of them twice stung. To his side stood his singular student that had survived, Anko Mitarashi. She had achieved the rank of Chunin this year during the most recent exams but had lost both of her teammates. After that loss, he had used it to turn her into the perfect servant. She had accepted his advice and became a dedicated disciple of his. Overall, she was exactly what the snake sannin needed in his life, a subservient underling who was willing to train and get stronger for him, that he had full reign to experiment on due to her now broken psyche.

As the man at the podium spoke and the crowds reacted, he sneered down at the whole scene.

When the ceremony was finished, an ANBU appeared next to him and got his attention. Orochimaru snuffed out the reflex to strike the impertinent whelp down when he dared to give the snake sage an order to report to the Hokage's office at once and that he would be escorted there. He did want to get a more accurate judge of Fugaku Uchiha and how much of a hindrance the man would be for his plans, he just hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

"Anko-chan, my dear, please head back to the lab and feed the snakes. We don't want them getting hungry now." Without a word, his pupil walked off in the direction of his experimental chambers.

Turning back to the man beside him, he gave a blood-curdling smile, "Yes, ANBU-san, let's go meet our new Hokage."

Iruka Umino had gotten up early that day, though he hadn't wanted to. The house where he lived with his mother and father had been destroyed in the attack, so he had been homeless the past two nights, unsure of where he was going to go. He had spent the night under a hole-filled blanket in an alley in the market district. He looked again at the source of him being up unexpectedly early. The mass of huddled bodies, pushing against each other had created an interminable noise that roused him from a fitful night of sleep.

He had spent a lovely first part of the night with Hiruzen Saurtobi and Teuchi Ichiraku, filling his grumbling stomach and laughing for the first time since...

Not continuing that line of thought further, he stretched and decided that he probably wasn't going to be going back to sleep anytime soon, he would investigate what was happening. The atmosphere was joyous and felt like a celebration and the weather was bright and cloudless, a balmy day in the autumn for Konoha. He was thankful for the mild weather, sleeping outside was already cold enough during the middle of the night, he didn't want to think about what would happen when winter came. The old man Hokage had been generous enough to share such a meal with him, that Iruka hadn't dared to mention he had nowhere to go. He didn't want to impose on the kindly old man any more than he was sure that he already had, or guilt-trip the man into feeling that he had to provide for him. Iruka was a ninja in training, he could deal with the hardships.

A wetness appeared on his dingy shirt. Since the weather hadn't changed to rain in the past 5 seconds, he realized that he was crying again. 'Damnit, Iruka, get it together. You're a ninja! You can handle this!' he thought to himself. As the tears continued to fall, he cursed himself for being so weak as to do nothing while his parents fought and died saving him. He had already vowed to never let anyone else suffer the same fate and he needed to rid his body of this weakness so that he could hold his head up high and proudly serve.

Being jostled from behind by an excited civilian who hadn't even noticed shoving the smaller child, the last Umino regained his bearings and concentrated again on his investigation. He noticed that the flow of the crowd was pushing towards the Hokage tower and doing his best to not be harassed further by unobservant people shoving through the throng.

Arriving at the central opening of town, he noticed the embellishments and accoutrements that showed an event happening. He had made it just in time to see a giant pillar of earth appear from the ground and slam down into the platform nearby. Watching the procession moving up, he spotted the Hokage's robes on a person pushing someone and a child following him. 'That must be old man Hokage's family,' he kept quiet, nto willing to hear his voice crack with emotion. Seeing so many whole families were already taking a toll on his psyche, he wasn't sure he could handle too much more right now.

An unfamiliar voice rang through the speakers as the man wearing the ceremonial robes started talking. Iruka was confused for a minute, that wasn't the man he had talked with last night. The voice was much younger and not filled with the wisdom and kindness of the old man. He said pretty words and the people across the plaza cheered for him. He claimed to be the next Hokage and Iruka's heart fell. He liked Sarutobi-sama and didn't want him to be gone. He meandered slowly away from the crowd, watching the people rejoicing and begin festivities, head down and mumbling to himself, deciding where to go. He had no destination and no timeframe to reach anywhere, so he wandered.

As he passed the Ninja Academy, he looked up. The courtyard was desolate of children that should be swarming the place, apparently school was closed today too. He let loose another sigh of disappointment. At least if he was in school, he could be busy and eat during the day. Now, he had hours and hours of nothing. No food, no water, no shelter, no money. His stomach growled loudly as he was thinking of not having food. Iruka clutched his midsection tightly, willing the grumbling noises inside him to stop. Tears still falling, hands held around his midsection, he stumbled into a figure on the streets in front of him, which knocked him flat on his rear.

Nono Yakushi had spent the previous night sleeping deeply, trying to recover the chakra that she had spent healing the previous day. The bright morning sun had failed to cause her to stir early in the morning, as they typically did, so deep was her slumber. She had hurried upon rising as the hospital still needed help with with surplus of patients and while she only volunteered there, she was amongst the more skilled medic-nin and she felt honor-bound to help as much as possible. Nono had rushed quickly out of her door, breakfast still untouched in her hands. Living where she did, it wasn't far to get to the facility but the crowds seemed awfully thick this morning.

Briskly forging ahead into the street, she nearly immediately was bumped and pushed from the crowds around her. Thankfully, they appeared to mostly be heading away from the Hokage tower, perpendicular to the direction that she was going, instead of directly in her face. Settling into a rhythm of pushing through pausing civilians and trying to avoid unnecessarily hitting people, she slowly progressed through the marketplace.

As the crowds dissipated, she picked up her pace. Which turned out to be a mistake. Smashing into something she hadn't seen, she dropped the objects in her hands. Nono realized that she had been looking for people about her height and had just knocked a kid over into the dirt. Bending down to apologize, she immediately noticed the dirty clothing, the tear-streaked face with the long scar running across the nose and realized that this was probably an orphan from the attack.

While starting to pick up her things, she noticed him hungrily eying her slightly dirtied breakfast that she had been about to eat. Realizing that he probably needed it more than she did, the food was held it out to him. The boy tentatively reached out, unsure.

"It's okay, I knocked you over. Take this as my apology." Her heart went out to the boy. She had always disliked that so many ninja were killed and left orphaned kids behind. It was one of the reasons that she got into medicine, to try and save as many people as possible. Watching as he grabbed the somewhat soiled meal and ate it greedily, Nono spoke. "What's your name?" she inquired.

The boy looked up at her and appearing to remember to be polite, swallowed his mouthful first. He didn't want to be rude to the pretty lady that had just been nice enough to offer an apology and food. "Iruka Umino, miss."

"That's a very nice name Iruka." Suspecting that he was indeed an orphan, she wanted to confirm without being too direct. "Where are you off to this morning?"

Iruka paused for a moment and thought of an appropriate answer. "I was going to the Ninja Academy, miss, but there was nobody there."

"So, you're training to be a ninja?" Nono followed up the question with another. "Since you don't have school today, would you like to watch a medical ninja work?" She assumed that if he had a family or another place to be, he'd be just fine in telling her as much, but if he was alone in the streets and really wanting to be a ninja, the chance to learn would be enticing enough to have him jump at it.

The boy looked unsure though. "Who would I be watching?" he responded, somewhat curiously.

"Why me, you silly." With that, she flicked her white cowl back and moved her long darker blonde hair out of the way, showing the standard ninja forehead protector glistening underneath. "I serve at the hospital as a volunteer medical ninja, healing people. I also work at the orphanage here in town, running it." Specifically gauging his reaction to that last part, it completely confirmed her suspicions. He reacted harshly to the word orphanage, but then swiftly doubled back upon hearing that she was in charge. She had no idea why the idea of a young lady like herself as the leader of an orphanage surprised so many people, but it always seemed to, kids and adults alike. "Would you care to join me?"

The boy seemed to have an internal struggle with himself for a moment, to which she patiently waited. Who knew if he would slip through the cracks after this chance, or even survive long enough to be found again. After all, he didn't seem to have the skills of the typical street urchins that she would find in the city. He wasn't particularly sneaky or quick, he obviously hadn't stolen food to eat and was still trusting to some degree of strangers.

She would still be there to help the suffering at the hospital, just a couple minutes later. She could tell that this boy needed help right now.

Fugaku Uchiha settled into the plush leather chair of the Hokage's office, taking a deep breath in of the rich mahogany tones from the exquisite desk underlaid with the dull scent of fine tobacco that had been suffused into the room from years of Hiruzen's habits. It was a pleasant smell though, so he didn't mind. He had brought Mikoto and Itachi and Sasuke to the front area, but due to Mikoto's wheelchair-bound state and that the Hokage Tower only had stairs going up, she had not been able to go past the first floor. That was going to be something to be rectified. He had never thought about the injured not being able to get around certain places, but with the condition he was now facing on his wife, certain adjustments to accessibility were going to have to happen. He mentally added it to the list.

He looked around at the expensive books and various scrolls that dotted the cases surrounding him, he would definitely have to take the time to sort and comb through everything here and organize it to his liking. Standing up, he walked over to the nearest shelf and picked up the first thing that caught his eye. 'The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja' by Jiraiya. Hmm, seems like a personal memento of either the Fourth or Third's. He would definitely have to comb through and remove all the excess junk that cluttered the space and turn it into a proper working office.

A second later, there was a knock on the door. "Come on in," he called out to the currently empty chamber. The doors opened and two ANBU walked in, escorting Sarutobi Hiruzen and Orochimaru.

Fugaku waved them over to the seats across from the Hokage desk, where they sat down. One looking at him with curiosity and the other with barely hidden anger, he took his own seat again behind the old mahogany wood. The newly appointed Fifth Hokage spoke after a moment's pause, "I'm sure you're both curious as to why I called you here today."

AN: This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would and I cut out two chunks for later use. Sometimes the words just keep coming.

So, what is in store for Fugaku's predecessor and his wayward student? Guesses welcome, but I'll doubt anyone gets it right.

Mikoto Uchiha:

Name meaning: 'Honor' or 'Priceless'

Age: 28 (current)

Rank: Jonin (inactive)

Stats:

Ninjutsu: 3.5

Taijutsu: 3.5

Genjutsu: 4.5

Intelligence: 4

Strength: 3

Speed: 3.5

Stamina: 3

Hand seals: 3.5

Total: 28.5 (About equal to Kurenai from canon Chunin Exam arc)

Wife to the clan head and a jonin in her own right, Mikoto is well-established in both ninja circles and social circles. Previously, she was often seen around town with her best friend, the late Kushina Uzumaki and their respective husbands.

With a potentially permanent injury from the Kyuubi attack, she has been placed in 'inactive' status by doctor's orders until further evaluation.