Konoha's Weasel Prince

Summary: Itachi never got to use his Susanoo in his fight with Sasuke. As soon as the Kirin hit, he was sent back through time to the founder's era and it was up to him to ensure a safer and surer future for Konoha and the world at large. KisaIta TobiMada HashiMito others mentioned

The good news from their relatively disastrous mission was that they got paid since the Wasabi family won and they were completely oblivious that the shinobi they had hired have been a bit too busy getting themselves free to actually do their job and they even have confirmation that Kirigakure was fully formed and ready to start a serious rivalry with Konoha. Another plus for the mission was that Tobirama and Madara had gotten out of their snit and were once again a great team, which will be very useful for when the Mizukage comes for the treaty talks.

The bad news is that Konoha ended up having a first official rival, the Mizukage taking offense on his shinobi's part for the way Itachi had dealt with them. The old man wasn't impressed with the trio defending themselves that they had been attacked and threatened to be sold to slavers or bounty collectors first and instead tried to slump the entire blame on Itachi, something that didn't go over well with any of Konoha's representatives, especially not with Mito. The Mizukage was at least smart enough to realize he was no longer welcome and left just two days after he arrived in the first place.

However, that diplomatic failure seemed to have caused an active rivalry between the Five Great Nations, Kage of every nation pursuing their neighbor's customers and pursuing them to come to their side or sending platoons of shinobi to sabotage or spy on the others. It didn't take anyone too much intelligence to figure out that the peace was on shaky legs and soon, another war might just erupt.

Needless to say, Itachi felt miserable by the time the year ended. All that he had been working on was slowly falling through his fingers and there was nothing he could do. Not only the Kage, but also the Daimyo of the Elemental Nations were getting antsy because of this war and no matter how much they tried to lighten the atmosphere with Izuna's and Toka's grand wedding or the announcement of Mito's second pregnancy, it didn't seem to be working. The Fire Daimyo didn't come to the wedding and only sent a congratulatory letter to Hashirama on becoming a father again. It only mad the people of Konoha more aware of how close war was. It was practically on their doorstep and the weary warriors of the Uchiha-Senju wars were already sharpening their best knives. The light seemed to vanish from Hashirama's eyes whenever he read a report of conflicts, either between their won shinobi and someone else's or between foreign shinobi only. Madara became more jumpy than ever before and both Izuna and Toka started snapping at anyone who suggested they were becoming paranoid.

Tobirama hated it, seeing all of his precious people stressing so much, even on the day of Nawaki's first birthday and with the presence of a large number of Uzumaki here for the ceremony of accepting him as one of their own. If they didn't get themselves back together, Konoha will selfcombust from, fall from the inside, implode on itself from the tension and they won't survive the first attack when it finally happens. He hated that only he, Hikaku and Mito seemed to still be holding it together, although it was becoming questionable for Mito. She had two children to look after and she won't be able to think all that rationally anymore if they don't calm everyone the hell down.

The masses were panicking, the clans were getting ready for war, eying each other and just waiting for the other ones to start an attack from the inside and the Police Force was losing members each day, until only mostly Uchihas remained. The Hyuuga have completely isolated themselves within their Compound walls and only the Clan Head and those who were in the Council still left the grounds they have been given. The guards on the wall were jumpy and firing jutsus and weapons at every rustle of leaves they heard and three shinobi have defected in just the last month. Two rich merchant families have fled Konoha and went to the Fire Daimyo's capital instead, searching for protection there.

The Daimyo had even forbidden the shinobi of Konoha who acted as his body guards in the Twelve Guardians to stay near him, fearing having any lasting current connections to Konoha might make him a target.

And the worst part of all, despite what he had been doing for them all for the past almost six years, no one was listening to Itachi anymore. They were snapping at him, telling him to go tell his empty stories to someone else and let them concentrate on the war that was coming. What had never been an issue before was constantly spat back in his face, ridiculing him for not having a clan to back him up no matter how many times Madara or Izuna or Toka or Mito snapped at anyone who dared say a bad thing about him. Itachi was drawing into himself and there were bags under his eyes, almost as dark as his eyes, pronouncing the lines under his eyes as though he were deathly ill again. No amount of children's laughter can make the tiredness in his black eyes go away and Tobirama hated this village for the first time when it finally hit him they were the reason behind putting back that first agony that Tobirama had felt when he saw Itachi awake for the first time, all those years ago.

Since Itachi seemed to have resigned himself to going on unheard, Tobirama decided to take matters into his own hands, only to realize he didn't know how to motivate masses like his friend did. Itachi made it seem effortless where Tobirama could not make a single motivational enough speech that he would dare bring before the council. Besides, he was not known for dreaming big without something to support those dreams. That was Madara's and Hashirama's forte and Itachi's word was all people had needed to rely on before to believe in those big dreams. But since people have been dismissing Itachi as of late, Tobirama was left to struggle on his own. He would first have to get Itachi back to how he was before he could get those stupid people to realize they were destroying themselves slowly by panicking and letting distrust destroy what they have had going for years now. Only not even Kuro Onyx could get Itachi's mood to improve and Tobirama was left stumbling in the dark.

Until he remembered something and a solution occurred to him, so crazy, so insane, so completely unlike him that it might just work.

He'll need help for it, but it was a good thing Mito and Hikaku were still sane enough to be in on this plan.

It was time to get Konoha somewhat back on track.

00000

''Itachi!'' Mito called out to her friend not an hour later, a beautiful smile lighting up her entire face for the first time since Nawaki was born a year ago. Said baby was giggling in her arms, waving to his second favorite person in the world other than his mom and sister. Itachi turned around to face the two as the redhead moved over to where he was swiftly, ignoring anyone who tried to congratulate her younger child on his first year of life. Itachi would have found it comical had it not been so strange. Mito was usually not one to act in a way that might be considered rude, especially at such social gatherings as this was. Not far behind her, however, he saw a smiling Ashina nod at him and the secret Uchiha returned the nod before Mito reached him and took one of his hands in one of her own. ''Itachi, I have marvelous news for you!''

''I am glad that these news make you so happy, Mito-san.'' Itachi gave her what passed off as a smile from him these days and, for once, Mito ignored how weak it actually was, beaming even brighter at him.

''Why, of course it brings me such great joy, Itachi! We are now officially related, after all!'' The redhead looked close to bouncing from happiness and all Itachi could do was stare at her and blink in confusion. And blink again. And again. He half wanted to try and clear out his ear to make sure he had heard right.

''Mito-san?'' He asked weakly, not sure what to say that would not offend her. Lately, no matter what he said, someone ended up offended and he had simply stopped talking altogether with anyone but kids. It was safer that way. It was for the best. The unease in his chest that increased with each day - the one he had attributed to him losing time to stay here - was most uncomfortable these days and he had known it was now maybe a matter of weeks, a couple of months at most, before it was time for him to disappear from the lives of these people. He had thought it best to simply let them live out their lives without his further influence so they might not mourn his disappearance as much.

It would seem the Uzumaki was having none of that.

''I spoke with my father and he said that the Uzumaki Clan will gladly adopt you!'' The redhead informed him cheerfully and Itachi could only blink at her again, startled. Adoption? Yes, he's heard of clans adopting foreign shinobi into their ranks but he had never imagined he'd be on the receiving end of that! ''From now on, you'll be Uzumaki Itachi! No more that Dare no Ichozoku no business!''

''Hold on there, harpy!'' Madara thundered over the crowd of speechless spectators - when had they gotten there? The Uchiha Clan Head made his way through the masses with a thunderous scowl on his face, Izuna and Hikaku on his heels, the younger brother equally as pissy looking and Hikaku somehow looking smug. ''Itachi belongs to the Uchiha Clan now!''

''That's right! He's Uchiha Itachi!'' Izuna agreed, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring the Uzumaki down. They were both completely oblivious to how Itachi choked on his own tongue when he hard his full name being dropped so casually after almost six years of not hearing it. "He at least looks the part! All you Uzumaki are redheads! No one will believe that he is related to you!"

"And people will talk to him and assume he is an Uchiha?" Mito scoffed, rearranging her son on her hip as he played with her for once left down long hair. "Please. He is way too nice and calm to be an Uchiha."

"He's still more Uchiha than Uzumaki." Madara agreed with a scowl, also crossing his arms and daring someone to oppose him. Itachi noted that this was perhaps the first time in months that he had bantered with anyone on a matter that didn't involve the possibility of a looming war on the horizon. "You people are shameless."

"And you are too rigid!"

"Which means Itachi is not likely to fit into either of your clans!" They all looked over to the newly arrived Toka, surprised by her sudden appearance by Itachi, an arm slinging around his shoulders and drawing him closer to herself. "That automatically makes him Senju Itachi." The kunoichi ignored the gawking looks or the protests that were directed at her and instead focused on the wide eyed young man by her side. "What do you say? Cool, eh?"

"What is going on here?" He asked suspiciously instead, warily eying everyone in the group. Yes, even little Nawaki. At this point, it was quite possible that the baby is in on it, too. They were all acting strange. The people standing around and gawking at them were far too amused of a crowd considering how they have been acting just a few hours earlier, due to the ever growing conflicts. Tobirama's students looked too close to laughing their heads off-

Where is Tobirama!?

"You can't declare him a Senju!" Izuna screeched a protest at his wife, not noticing how Itachi was surveying his surroundings, trying to catch sight of a tuft of white hair but no luck. "You're not the Head of your Clan and only a Clan Head can allow the adoption of a foreign ninja into a Clan!"

"Hmph. Idiot husband." Toka replied with a smirk, detaching herself from Itachi and walking over to the younger of the Uchiha brothers. "Don't be ridiculous. Hashirama has been trying to adopt Itachi since before you guys were even aware of his existence. Of course he'll jump at the chance of adopting Itachi into the Senju now." Izuna had gone beat red by this point, since his darling wife - his goddess, the apple of his eye, his epitome and definition of beauty and womanly perfection, or so he liked to serenade to anyone who would listen - had drawn so close that their chests were touching and she had hooked a finger under his chin, a seductive look in her eyes that had also been missing in the past couple of months.

Izuna snapped out of his dazed state when Madara bemoaned his brother's stupidity and instead glared at his lady love, understanding what she had been doing. "Don't think that will work this time around, honey. This is too important for me to give in for a bit of frankly amazing sex." Madara-san's squawking had also been almost completely forgotten, so it was twice as funny as it would usually be, as was evidenced when the watching crowd fell into a round of snickers. Although Izuna's boldness they could have gone without, seeing as there were children here! "Itachi's an Uchiha, period."

Toka glared at him and was about to open her mouth in protest when a brown blur bypassed them and nearly knocked them both over had Izuna not reacted in time and caught her around the waist. There was something akin to a yelp and a call for help as none other than their mighty Hokage bulldozed Itachi over, carrying a too official to be dismissed scroll in his hands. "Itachi~! Welcome to the family!" The older Senju brother exclaimed, hugging the life out of his victime, who was turning red, either out of lack of air or embarrassment. No one could tell.

"What!? How dare you, Hashirama!" Apparently, Madara could tell what the scroll was for and he glared with red eyes, his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan design giving a threatening spin every other heart beat, pointing an accusing finger at his best friend. "The Uchiha have thought of claiming Itachi, first!"

"Bullshit!" Toka screamed at her brother in law, silently thanking Izuna for saving her from a concussion even as she glared at the older Uchiha. "We knew him longer!"

"The Uzumaki have already claimed him." Mito interjected coolly, glaring at the others claiming her friend to be part of their clan as though it were blasphemy. Itachi didn't know if he should be confused or panicking right now but he at least was now sure who the culprit behind this whole thing was. Despite arguing in her favor, Mito was hardly reacting like Madara, Izuna and Toka were. She was definitely in on this and so was Hikaku, the traitor who was having far too much fun. But Itachi didn't begrudge them. This is perhaps something they all needed after grueling months of hard work and very little results.

Still, that did not mean he wasn't going to give Tobirama-san a piece of his mind as soon as he finds him.

00000

"There you are!"

Senju Tobirama, the best sensor in history, never before caught off guard unless his chakra was sealed or he was injured and not allowed to use his chakra, jumped up three feet in the air with a yelp due to fright for the first time in his life as he heard Itachi's voice from somewhere above him. He whirled around, a hand over his erratically beating heart, wide eyes fixed on the figure casually leaning against the bark of a tall tree up in one of the lower branches of said tree that was thick enough to hold his wight.

''By the venerable Sage and his mighty mother!'' The albino cursed, earning himself simply an arched eyebrow from the raven haired younger man. ''Itachi, you scared the ever loving crap out of me!'' White eyebrows narrowed as soon as it registered just what he had said and what the hell actually happened. ''How the hell did you sneak up on me? And how did you find me in the first place?''

Itachi snorted and pointed up to a few branches above him, where Tobirama saw his creepy crow when he looked up higher. Kuro Onyx was cleaning its feathers and completely disregarding Tobirama's existence, content to wait out whatever conversation his master had wanted to have with the Senju. ''You should know by now that I have a connection with my crows, Kuro Onyx especially, that allows me to see what they see. I simply sent him off to scout the forest and alert me when he caught sight of you. Once I knew where you were, I used Shunshin to get here.''

''But that's impossible!'' The sensor argued, never more perplexed in his life than at that very moment. ''I didn't feel you. I didn't feel any stirring in chakra around me for you to have used any sort of jutsu! And no one can really hide form a sensor.''

Itachi shrugged before jumping out of the tree and coming over to where the flabbergasted Senju stood, all deadly grace and dangerous elegance. ''My godfather used to be a sensor, while he was still alive. I believe he had a reach as far as yours and Madara-san's and we used to ply hide and seek when I was very young. To make it a bit more challenging, I taught myself to hide my chakra to such a point that he could not sense me at all. After his death, I honed in that skill against other sensors, too, until I had it down to an art.''

''You can suppress your chakra that much?'' The scientist in Tobirama was rearing his head and from the look Itachi sent him, the younger man knew it and didn't feel up to explaining himself this day. Had what he did not been worth it, he would be cursing himself for doing it in the first place. As it was, he just put a mental reminder for himself to ask Itachi for an explanation some other day. ''Right, never mind. You came here looking for me?''

''Why did you tell Mito-san, Toka-san and Hikaku-san to convince their respective Clan Heads to adopt me into their, once again, respective clans?'' With the accusing question, Itachi took out the scroll Tobirama himself had helped Hashirama make in just an hour's time. The stamp seal was open and Tobirama read through the contents briefly, resisting a smirk when he saw the name Senju Uzumaki Uchiha Itachi at the bottom, a signature in Itachi's hand. So Itachi had accepted? Why was he making a problem now? Maybe it was the principle of things that bothered him? ''I hope you know that Madara-san was wrestling Hashirama-san to the ground when I was leaving and Tsunade-hime had attacked poor Hikaku. Well, I would actually call him poor if I didn't know he was involved, somehow, in this crazy scheme of yours.''

Tobirama winced in sympathy for Hikaku because he knew Tsunade's strength was monstrous for such a little girl. Must have inherited it from the Uzumaki blood coursing through her veins. She's going to become a very scary woman one day. ''Isn't it obvious?''

''Let's pretend it isn't.''

The white haired man sighed, running a hand through his hair. ''Everyone was so tense these last few months that we needed a bit of comic relief and besides, this was a matter that should have been settled years ago.'' Red eyes met black in ll seriousness. ''Itachi, not everyone had seen your status as a clanless individual as a good thing, despite it assuring your neutrality in the matters of the village and politics as a whole. People have just been waiting for an excuse to undermine you and I was getting sick of how that was affecting you now, of all times, when we need the peace your presence brings the most. You were wasting away and, as my first friend, it was painful to watch. I just wanted you to be the old you again.'' Tobirama let out a bitter chuckle. ''We really don't deserve you, Itachi, yet you stick to us like glue. Somewhere out there, there is at least one person who might still be waiting for you and yet you stay with us. And how do those ungrateful dicks repay you? By mocking and ridiculing you wen you are trying to give them hope. Why? Because they are lashing out, completely forgetting everything you did for them so far. Well, I wasn't going to let it go on. You deserve as much recognition for everything that's been made here as Hahsirama, Madara, Izuna, Toka, Hikaku, Mito and I do.''

''Don't.'' Itachi cuts him off in a tight voice. ''The dream of this village is Hashirama-san's and Madara-san's. The Academy is your dream. I only helped out.''

''Itachi-''

''Just don't.'' The other stopped him again, taking a few steps back, as if in retreat or completely rejecting the credit that was his due. ''Don't ever give me credit for this, Tobirama-san. Don't give me credit for Konoha.''

''Itachi-''

The bittersweet smile stopped him more effectively than any words could have. ''Promise me, Tobirama-san, that my name will not be mentioned in history books. Promise me that I will be nothing but a random folktale, a story told by the camp fire. Promise me that there will be no monuments in my name. Please.''

Dumbfounded, Tobirama could only nod and watch as Itachi disappeared into the tree line, his faithful crow going after him with a gawk. He didn't understand, but the look on Itachi's face, the emotions swirling in his eyes and in his chakra will never leave him. He didn't understand why Itachi would make such a request but he knew he would heed it, even if he will try to find a loophole to avoid actually letting the world forget his first friend.

Itachi's reasons were his own and Tobirama won't pry but that didn't mean he will let Itachi's memory be forgotten.