Notes: Here's chapter 5. Sorry about the wait, I apparently fail at having a decent work life balance. Hopefully everything will settle down in the next few weeks.
"He has betrayed us, taken all we have given him and thrown it in our faces the moment he no longer needed it." Fugaku cannot keep his voice calm and finds that he does not want to. Never has he been as humiliated as he was at that farce of an inauguration. He had thought- but no. Why would the Senju hand over the throne to an Uchiha? They had kept all power within their conniving grasp for decades. What reason would they have to share it with the other founding clan of Konoha? He isn't sure how he hadn't seen it before. Shisui has been acting strangely for months now. He wonders how long ago that Senju bastard sank his teeth into the boy, one of the greatest Uchiha of this generation. Fugaku wonders if Itachi is lost as well, and hopes his is not. He cannot bear the thought of losing his eldest to their grasp.
Mikoto sits beside him, a calming voice of reason, her arm draped over his shoulders. "You know he didn't mean it that way," she says, "Shisui-kun needs a chance to stand on his own and show the village the glory of the Uchiha. If he had truly betrayed us, would he have Itachi as his closest advisor?" And Fugaku sighs. While Mikoto raises a valid point, he is not so sure that it is Itachi controlling Shisui and not the other way around. Shisui has always been charismatic, and Fugaku fears that he may very well overwhelm Itachi, and through him the entire clan, by force of will alone.
He is at the police station when the missive arrives, trying not to lose his temper while mediating a dispute between officers who really should know better. With all the revelry after the appointment of a new Hokage, the police force has been stretched thin. Between drunken fights and noise complaints, very little actual police work has been accomplished. And, with ANBU added into the mix, tailing nearly every officer, tension within the force have been at an almost record high.
At first, he assumes the scroll is merely another request for reinforcement or support. Such things have been coming in almost nonstop all week. It's only when he notices the Hokage's Seal that he realizes who it must be from.
Fugaku dismisses the officers, giving both a warning since they don't currently have the personnel to suspend anyone. Neither of them are pleased, but they comply and Fugaku relishes the silence and peace for a few seconds before even looking at the scroll.
Shisui has been in office for less than three days, so he has little doubt as to what the message will say. Despite the rather painfully formal wording and stark lack of notice, he finds himself looking forward to the meeting. He has had some time to think and realizes his earlier accusations of betrayal were not well thought out. Shisui has always planned his moves many turns in advance and has a more intuitive grasp of politics than even Fugaku. Never before has he given anyone reason to doubt his loyalties and Fugaku agrees with Mikoto that Shisui should be given the benefit of the doubt. After all, even his own son Itachi has given him more reason to doubt him than Shisui has. And no matter what else he is, Shisui is young. While Hiruzen had been an old fool, too stuck in his ways, he has little doubt Shisui will be the breath of fresh air that the whole village craves.
That night he sits in front of his clan, watching as they file into the meeting hall. Only the elders and prominent members of the community have been invited tonight, as Fugaku does not have the time to listen to every last person's squabbles with the village. There are many complaints, some more valid than others, and far too many centered on who Sarutobi-san had chosen to succeed him. While Shisui has always been popular, very few assembled tonight missed his attempts to distance himself from the clan. Makato and Mashiro are quick to denounce Sarutobi-san and Shisui, claiming that by choosing Shisui over Itachi, Sarutobi has shamed the clan. Fugaku keeps his face impassive as he listens, despite knowing what a disaster that would have been. Itachi is a genius, and far too kind a ninja, but if the past few months have taught Fugaku anything, it's that Itachi is not ready for that level of stress. He watched his son waste away once and will not willingly do so again.
Eventually the pointless complaints stop and people begin to address the real issues. The isolation of the clan, the distrust of the villagers, the lack of funding for the police department. The list goes on and on. Some of it, Fugaku thinks would be fairly easy to fix. The Hyuuga are already given some input on which jonin-sensei their children are paired with, it wouldn't be hard to allow the Uchiha the same privilege. Others are much harder. While it is true that many in the village hate and fear the Uchiha enough that policing certain streets has become too dangerous for anyone below jonin, there is little the Hokage can do to make people like the clan more. As talented as Shisui is, not even he can control people's thoughts and feelings.
Even with attendance limited, the meeting drags on into the night. Everyone has problems and no one had any good solutions. Sometimes Fugaku thinks, the only way to bring peace to the clan is with the death of everyone in this room. But at long last, everyone has had their say. Fugaku is rather sure that has more to do with the fact sunrise is less than an hour away than anyone truly being pleased. Still, he is thankful it's over, and he and Mikoto take advantage of the time they have to relax before the meeting with Shisui.
Fugaku wakes up less than an hour before he needs to be at the tower, sweaty, cold and sore. He fumbles through his morning preparations, thankful that he's no longer an active duty shinobi. He's too old to be staying up all night and can't imagine having to be mission ready right now. When he finally gets to the kitchen, Sasuke is just leaving. He wishes his son a good day and is shocked when Sasuke's whole face lights up. Has it really been so long since he said anything kind to the boy? Fugaku shakes that thought off uncomfortably and nods goodbye to his son. Mikoto is grinning at him as she places a hot bowl of miso soup before him. Her hair looks radiant in the morning light. When she leans over him, he reaches up to touch it and Mikoto laughs. "I'm afraid," she says, "you have a meeting with the Hokage soon. Perhaps when you get back." And he has to sigh, because she is right, as usual. She hands him an overview of last night's meeting, including some of her own thoughts, and he realizes, not for the first time, how lucky he is to have the love of such a smart, talented wife.
Still, the last thing he needs is to be late to the tower. He finishes up his breakfast, says his goodbyes to Mikoto, grabs his flak jacket and heads out the door. The tower is, unsurprisingly, much as it has been every other time he visited. But, while the building has not changed, the energy within it has. He notices far more people milling around, trying to see the Hokage. The staff appear more motivated as well, many of them running back and forth on various tasks. A young child without a flak jacket, probably genin, nearly crashes into him while carrying a far too large stack of papers. Luckily, Fugaku is aging, not incapable, and he is able to sidestep the child and steady the papers before any harm is done.
After several more such instances, he is not as cavalier about the whole thing. There is enthusiastic and then there is careless, and Shisui really should be ensuring that the activity is more the first than the second. By the time he makes his way to Shisui's office, he has had to dodge a number of ninja, save several fragile items from falling and maneuver around a hoard of star-struck chunin. He is, all in all, rather pissed.
Shisui sits behind his desk in full Hokage regalia, Fugaku notes. He looks ridiculous, though the robes tend to do that to everyone. Itachi stands behind him, a silent shadow. Fugaku doesn't know how to feel. It bothers him to see his son so subservient to any, even the Hokage. And while he would normally be pleased the boy had managed to work his way so far into the Hokage's inner circle, he fears now more than ever that Itachi is more Shisui's piece than his own.
"Uchiha-san," Shisui says, nodding slightly. Fugaku bows as much as is appropriate before moving to stand in front of Shisui's desk. There are no chairs in the room, a rather transparent power play, but one he is used to. Shisui smiles slightly at him, and though it does not reach his eyes, it is not mocking either. "I am glad you were able to come on such short notice. I apologize, but the schedule of meetings was just finalized yesterday." Fugaku nodded. He rather doubted anyone would leave the Clan Head meetings until so late, but there is nothing but sincerity on the new Hokage's face. "I must admit there are a number of people I am to see today, so I'll get to the point. What items would you and your clan like to see addressed during my time as Hokage?" Fugaku blinks and really looks at Shisui for the first time. Gone is the talented child who would do anything for praise. Gone too is the loyal clansman who would do anything for the clan. In his place sits a frighteningly intelligent and capable leader. Fugaku will have to be careful of his handling of the boy if he wishes to gain any measure of influence over him.
"Hokage-sama," he says, "I thank you for the privilege of your time. I have spoken to the Uchiha clan and we are overjoyed with your appointment." That might be a bit of an overstatement, but he doubts anyone will mind. "As I am sure you know, we have had some past disagreements with the treatment of the Uchiha by the village. The elders would be pleased if you would consider returning to us our previous holdings in the center of the village, work more closely with the military police to consolidate responsibilities and work on funding shortfalls and, perhaps most importantly, publically announce that the Uchiha Clan was not involved in the release of the Kyuubi on the night of the Yondaime's death." Fugaku notes that neither boy seems surprised by the demands, though as both were privy to the secret council and plans for the coup, that is hardly surprising.
What follows is one of the most grueling negotiation sessions Fugaku has ever participated in. Shisui seems determined to undermine nearly every one of his demands and give him a pittance in return. For the first time, Fugaku begins to feel peace with the village may never be a reality. And through it all, Itachi stands silently behind Shisui, his tacit support clear. Fugaku fears he has already lost his son. No matter what though, it is clear that if Itachi plans to remain a puppet of this Hokage, he cannot also be head of the Uchiha. Thankfully, that is a problem for another time.
When he returns to Mikoto later that day, it is not without good news. While Shisui was noncommittal about many of the Uchiha demands, he did agree to work with the council to reveal all known facts about the day of the attack. He claimed there were too many secrets doing more harm than good. While it was by no means Fugaku's only demand, and will certainly not have an immediate effect, over time it should do much to reduce suspicions and hostility toward the clan. Still, there is more bad news than good, and it looks like the only way the Uchiha will regain even a part of their original holdings back is by sacrificing their autonomy. Shisui has set himself up as a worthy adversary instead of a trustworthy ally.
Perhaps of more importance than the negotiation itself is what Fugaku has learned about their new Hokage. While his interactions with this new version of Shisui have been limited, he has confirmed his earlier suspicions. If he can figure out how to control Itachi, Shisui will fall as well. And, while he hates to reduce his children to mere pieces on a game board, he will sacrifice anything he must to protect his clan. That is his duty as clan head, and it is one he has and never will regret.
That night, he and Mikoto talk about the future of their family, the clan and the village.