Few more chapters, 2-3. :)
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"Absolutely not!"
Tsunade bit down on her lip; these god-forsaken geezers just didn't know when to quit. They had been arguing back and forth for the past hour, and had not made any progress thus far.
Homura snapped out at the slug princess, "Uchiha Itachi is a criminal, he is one of the highest listed felons in the bingo book! Surely you haven't forgotten this, Tsunade."
"No, I haven't forgotten it; but you two are ignoring my question." The woman was gradually loosing her calm exterior.
"And what question would that be?" Koharu leaned her weary bones against the sofa directly from the Hokage.
Tsunade tapped her painted nails against the armrests, "Was Uchiha Itachi given the order by Konoha to annihilate his clan?"
The two elders remained silent, glancing at one another once before averting their gazes altogether.
"Answer me!" The blonde woman barked, slamming a fist against the rests. Various cracks and indentations in the wood were the result of her anger.
Homura chose to say what his colleague would not, "Yes, the Konoha council assigned Uchiha Itachi the mission to massacre his clan. If we had not, then the Uchiha would have lead a coup d'etat against the entire village!" He attempted to reason, "Many lives would be lost because of the Uchiha's greed and selfish nature!"
"I know, Itachi told me this himself." She crossed one leg over the other, still displeased, "But I want to know who originally brought the notion to light. Was it Danzo?"
"Yes, he was the one who suggested that Itachi murder the Uchiha." Koharu provided, "Infact, we all knew how Uchiha Itachi's outlooks differentiated from his clan's; his pacifism. Danzo proposed that we used this to our advantage."
Tsunade bit on a nail crossly. That old man..
"According to Sasuke, Danzo was collecting and implanting a hoard of Sharingan eyes on his right arm and one in his right eye socket." The slug princess folded her arms beneath her breasts, "Obviously after the massacre, Danzo collected the eyes of the Uchiha clansmen. That is probably why he wished for Itachi to kill his own family."
"For the Sharingan?" Homura said, outraged, "Preposterous! Danzo would never do such thing! Learn your place, Tsunade! Danzo suggested it for the good of Konoha!"
"Learn my place..?"
The elderly man was suddenly hauled up by the front of his robe by Tsunade's vice grip, "Learn my place? I'm the goddamned Hokage! This is my village, old man! I only listen to you old farts cause I am obligated to!"
Dropping him back onto the sofa, the Godaime exhaled her built up tensions and seated her self back onto the couch across from them.
"In any case," Koharu continued, "Uchiha Itachi was told to leave Konohagakure on the night of the massacre and never return. The fact that he has returned is a violation of the mission objectives."
Homura was still adjusting the hems of his robe from the creases, "Precisely. Also, he has returned with Uchiha Sasuke, who he was assigned to kill that night as well. Sasuke is a wanted criminal as well for abandoning the village, joining Orochimaru's ranks, and killing Danzo. I won't bother to mention the other acts of which he is wanted for."
The older woman agreed with her comrade, "Uchiha Itachi did not complete his mission of annihilating the Uchiha and is therefore a renegade. We cannot grant either brothers clemency and that is final."
The patrons of the room were muted at that. On Tsunade's side, Shizune felt a trickle of sweat drip down her temple.
"I will say this once," The Hokage began slowly, "I believe that Uchiha Itachi is an innocent man. The fact that he performed such acts as murder among relatives for this village is... beyond loyal. He, his wife, brother and coming child deserve every right to live in this village."
"Coming child?"
"..."
The elders chose to ignore it, "..There's still the matter of Sasuke's betrayal."
"Sasuke forced Deidara of the Akatsuki between a rock and a hard place and gave the bomber no other choice but suicide. He has supposedly killed Orochimaru as well, but our resources can't be sure of that information.." Tsunade said, briefly glancing off to the side in thought.
The two older citizens met gazes quickly before Koharu questioned, "How long has it been since the three have arrived in the village?"
"Two days in total." Shizune responded hastily.
"Very well," Homura stood from his seat, "we will leave it to the citizens and shinobi of Konoha to decide the fate of the Uchiha brothers. If they do not mind, the two will be allowed the privilege to live here. If not, both will be sentenced to death. That is final,"
Both members of the council left the room as Tsunade cussed, "...Damnit!"
"Their chances don't look very high, Tsunade-sama..." Shizune murmured as Tonton oinked quietly.
"No, Shizune.." The slug princess glimmered out the window absentmindedly, "No, they don't.."
.
Under Tsunade's order, the trio had to stay with their respective 'roommates' at all times to avoid suspicion and speculation, however the three had been cordial with every villager and shinobi who bothered to speak with them.
Many of Konoha's inhabitants felt fear and resentment towards both Uchiha brothers, yet slowly, they were beginning to make progress as some residents began to befriend them.
In instance, Sasuke had assisted an old woman with her groceries that afternoon while the Kyuubi boy watched happily. The raven noticed that she was having some difficulty, yet no one took their time to help her. Remembering his big brother's words, Sasuke begrudgingly came to the aging woman's aid and carried the grocery bags to her home for her. She had rewarded him kindly, treating him as if he were innocent and hadn't harmed anyone in his entire life.
In another scenario, Itachi and Kakashi had been communing with fellow jounin shinobi such as Gai, Aoba, Genma, Izumo and Kotetsu.
The shinobi in the group had many questions to ask the older Uchiha, and in return, Itachi responded to them to the best of his abilities. He didn't want to give too much of his horrid history away, but he came to terms that if he gave citizens of Konoha the briefest of explanations, it would help to secure his family's future in the village. He recalled Koneko's words that if he told them little bits of himself and the heroic work he managed to do for Konoha while in Akatsuki's shadow, that perhaps they would be more willing and sociable.
Her words turned to be correct as the fellow ninja began to warm to him and offered to buy the Uchiha a round of drinks, but he declined the offers as he had no taste for alcohol. He had tried it once at a bar with Kisame- who begged to go there- and Itachi hated it. After all, he did prefer deliciously sweet things.. In all honesty, he would rather receive a stick of Konoha's scrumptious signature dango than a cup of sake any day.
The jounin had questioned him about his dearest Koneko and her pregnancy. The soon-to-be-father explained how he and his wife met and the surprise that came when finding out Koneko was pregnant with his child. Obviously, being men, they asked Itachi how the brunette was at copulating. The ex ANBU, being the gentleman he was, gave them a verylimited description of his lover's performance.
"She is..." Itachi closed his eyes, "skilled. Eminently so."
To which the group of males all laughed flamboyantly.
.
That afternoon, Kakashi allowed the older Uchiha to meet with his wife for an hour or so. They had not seen each other in days, and the distance was beginning to impact both of them, according to Sakura.
Itachi wished to treat her to Konoha's famous dango, which she gladly complied to. He had never managed to take her on a date, truly. The ebony haired shinobi desired nothing more than to give her anything she yearned for.
Thankfully, team 7 decided to get together at restaurant across the street. Both Kakashi and Sakura knew it was time for the lovers to meet again, so they planned for a little something to do with Naruto and Sasuke while the couple went on their date. The son of the White Fang promised that he wouldn't tell the Hokage that he wasn't with Itachi for the date, as long as they stayed in the dango shop and had proper behavior.
And so, they currently sat inside the dango shop, sharing a plate of the delicious sweets with a hot cup of green tea on both of their sides of the table. Itachi was on his sixth stick already, while Koneko was only on her second and they had only been sitting there for twenty minutes.
She smiled fondly as she watched him wolf down another stick, taking a quick sip of the tea before grabbing another. Koneko laughed behind her hand.
Glancing up from the table, the very slightest tone of rose touched Itachi's cheeks as he realized she had been staring at him, "What is it, kitten?"
"Oh," Koneko finished her stick of dango, "nothing. Just observing how much you love these."
He smirked and hooked his leg with hers beneath the table and stroked the soft, bare skin of her calf, "Oh?"
Koneko blushed at his sudden advance and began sipping away at her green tea to occupy her thoughts with something else.
"..I've missed you, kitten."
She locked eyes with him and saw the sincerity and desolate emotions buried within his pale onyx orbs. Tomorrow, she would heal his eyes; with or without Sakura and Kakashi's consent. She needed to see the smoldering gaze that belonged solely to him.
Koneko smiled lovingly as she grasped onto his warm hand before leaning over the table to kiss his forehead, "And I've missed you.."
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