"Here you go," Naruko said, handing Itachi the large, manila envelope that contained the necessary information that he needed for his next, big mission. Naruko watched proudly as Itachi accepted the envelope, gave her a respectful bow, opened it up, and quickly looked over the contents of the papers inside. "My, my. So many specifically assigned, important missions, and at such a young age too." She giggled. "Keep this up and you'll be giving the fourth Hokage a run for his money."

Itachi looked up from reading his papers for a moment to give Naruko a slightly amused and slightly disapproving smile. "No offense, but isn't talking about the fourth Hokage taboo? For you especially?"

"Maybe." She gave Itachi a playful wink as she lifted her index finger and pressed it against her lips. "Which is why you can't go telling anyone, alright? This'll be our little secret."

Itachi let out an amused and weary chuckle. "Another one of your secrets that I need to keep track of, huh?" He let out a weary sigh as he wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose. "As if I already didn't have a lot on my mind."

"Hmm?" Naruko said, quickly exchanging her previously playful expression for a concerned one. "What's that supposed to mean? Did something bad happen? Are you okay?" She placed one of her hands gently over Itachi's forehead. "You're not sick, are you? If you are, then you should probably reconsider -"

Itachi let out a light chuckle before gently removing Naruko's hand off of his forehead and saying, "I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine. Really." At times like these, Naruko really seemed to act like the doting aunt he never had, to the point where he had grown used to it. At first, it had honestly annoyed him, but as he grew up, he had grown to appreciate the love and concern she gave him. This was especially true now, as with tensions between the Uchiha and the Hidden Leaf Village reaching its unfortunate boiling point, it was nice to have one unadulterated constant in his life. He looked back at his papers and frowned. "Hmm, the location for this mission seems a bit far, doesn't it?"

Naruko giggled. "Why are you asking me? I wouldn't know. I'm not allowed to read them, remember?"

Itachi let out a small gasp of surprise before giving Naruko a small, apologetic smile and saying, "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"Well, you did," Naruko said in a sing-song tone of voice. She then reached for one of Itachi's cheeks and gave it a tiny pinch. "Keep that up and you'll lose that forehead protector faster than you can say, 'Oops'."

Itachi chuckled. "Yes, I guess you're right." He then solemnly looked back down at the paperwork in his hands before asking, "Naruko… if you don't mind me asking," he raised his head and looked Naruko straight in the eye, "who exactly is the one assigning me this mission?"

Naruko's eyes widened in surprise. "Hmm? Why do you ask?"

"It's just that… everything about this mission… I've just got a bad feeling about it, you know?"

"Hmph," Naruko said, giving Itachi an acknowledging nod and a rare, angry, and irritated pout, "I shouldn't be surprised. If you asked me, anything that's even remotely related to that self-righteous jerk, Dazno, would give any decent person a 'bad feeling'!"

Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. "Danzo? Danzo is the one who is assigning me this mission?"

Naruko nodded affirmatively. "Yes, and he made it very clear that I was only supposed to give you this when we were alone. Said that it was a 'top secret mission' and even the third Hokage shouldn't be informed about it until we were sure about what we were dealing with!" Naruko stuck her nose up into the air, turned her head to the side, closed her eyes, and crossed her arms irritably. "Hmph! That's just so typical of him, isn't it? Being all paranoid for no good reason! Would it really kill him to lighten up a bit? He talks a big game about wanting to protect and bring peace to the Hidden Leaf Village, but if you ask me, no one's going to feel safe or protected as long as he's keeps throwing out all of those conspiracy theories and negativity that he keeps cooking up in that bandaged head of his!" Realizing that she had unintentionally gone on a bit of a rant, Naruko blushed, looked down at her feet in embarrassment, held a hand gently against her chest, and quickly added, "Oh! I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me!"

"Insubordination is what I would call it," a gruff voice said. Naruko and Itachi gasped before turning to see that, much to their chagrin, the voice had belonged to Danzo himself. Danzo calmly and menacingly made his way towards Naruko. "I must admit, you are either very brave or very foolish for talking so crassly about one of your superiors behind his back, especially when this particular superior is in charge of his very own assassination squad. I dare say, a normal secretary such as yourself should know her place a bit better."

Much to both Danzo and Itachi's surprise, Naruko held herself protectively as she gave Danzo a defiant glare and countered, "I can say the same about you, considering the fact that you've got a list."

"Foolish woman. If you know that, then you must know that none of those accusations were ever fully proven."

"A man shouldn't rely so much on proof to prove his innocence," Naruko softly argued, as calmly as she could, with a very obvious edge in her voice. "He should also rely on the faith his friends have for him to vouch for him. But I guess you don't have any friends, do you?"

"How dare you," Danzo growled. He then took a menacing step towards Naruko and whispered, "Now see here, you miserable wretch! If you think that just because Sarutobi gave you this job on a silver platter means that you can't possibly lose it, then you are sorely mistaken! Cause enough trouble, and I assure you, you and that demon that you are harboring will be out of the streets and starving in no time!"

Naruko gulped nervously before bravely and asking, "What's the matter Danzo? Not used to being called out by someone weaker than you?"

Realizing that his threat had worked, Danzo regained his usual, stoic demeanor, before smugly answering, "On the contrary… I am quite used to it."

Naruko gave Danzo one last glare before bowing her head shamefully and muttering, while fighting back a few tears, "Good for you."

Realizing that he needed to break the tension before things could inadvertently get out of hand, Itachi cleared his throat, successfully diverting Danzo's attention away from Naruko and redirecting it towards him, gave Danzo a respectful bow, and said, "Forgive me for asking, sir, but why is it that you are here?"

"Hmph," Danzo said before fixing his clothes a bit. "Not to make sure that you had received your assignment if that's what you're wondering." He then glanced disapprovingly at Naruko before adding, "Though considering what just happened, maybe I should have." He then turned his attention back to Itachi. "But to be completely honest, I was expecting to meet some colleagues of mine here at this time." Just then, a group of Danzo's Root members appeared before them, heads bowed and standing dutifully on one knee before their leader. "Ah, well, speak of the devil, here they are now." He then turned to them, nodded towards the door, and commanded, "Come, there is some things I need to discuss with you all." And just like that, all of them followed Danzo as he led them out of the room to discuss whatever it was that he wished to discuss with them.

Itachi's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the door that the last Root member had closed behind them. "Strange, what could be so important that Danzo is planning on using the Root for?"

After setting a heavy pile of paperwork down on the Hokage's desk, Naruko leaned back against said desk and let out a heavy sigh of exhaustion. She glanced back at all the paperwork that had been sent to the Hokage that day, which had been piling up due to the Hokage himself stating that he had to take care of "something urgent", and although Naruko didn't know what this "urgent" thing was, she did know this… that the Hokage was going to have one heck of a time looking through, filling out, and answering the mountain of papers now stacked on his desk. Naruko let out a weary and apprehensive sigh. "One of the many perks of being Hokage," she sarcastically murmured.

"I know, right?" a friendly and familiar voice joked. Naruko's eyes widened in surprise before quickly looking behind to her to find Shisui suddenly sitting behind the Hokage's desk. "I mean," Shisui humorously gestured around him at the mountains of papers, files, and forms that lay before him, "just look at all this paper! It's an art instructor's dream in here!"

Naruko gave Shisui an amused and knowing smile. "Is it now?" she asked before slowly picking up one of them and waving it a bit in front of him. "Then I don't suppose you'd mind answering all of this paperwork for the third Hokage all by yourself then, hmm?" she teased.

Shisui cringed before gently moving the piece of paper away from his face, raising his hands up in resignation, and saying, "I would, but, uh, I just remembered that I've got this… thing that I've got to do, so if you don't mind," he gave Naruko a playful bow from where he sat, "I'll be taking my leave." And with that, he disappeared in a flash.

Naruko let out an amused giggle before placing the piece of paper back onto the desk. "Of course you do," she said.

"Actually, I do," Shisui said matter-of-factly from behind her, earning a surprised yelp and jump from the blonde.

Naruko quickly turned around and gave Shisui a good-natured punch on the shoulder. "Don't do that!" she said. She then took a moment to recompose herself before muttering, "Honestly, you're almost as bad as the fourth was!"

"Aw," Shisui said, placing a hand over his chest, feigning excessive flattery, "you're comparing me to the fourth Hokage! I'm touched!" His face then turned serious. "But all joking aside… I could really use your help, Naruko."

Naruko's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait… what?" she asked incredulously.

Shisui nodded, giving Naruko a reassuring smile. "You heard me," Shisui said. He then shrugged, and nonchalantly added, "I decided that I needed a third opinion, and who better to ask than everyone's favorite assistant in the Leaf?"

Naruko blushed and swooned slightly from the compliment. "Aw, you really know how to butter a girl up, don't you?"

Shisui chuckled. "Of course." He indicated towards himself. "After all, the Uchiha looks can only take a man so far. Eventually he's going to have to have the personality to back it up."

"Well then," Naruko replied, "I guess I've got no choice but to help you out then." She playfully threw a slap at Shisui, which neither reached him nor was meant to. "How shrewd of you, forcing a girl to be in debt to you!" She then gave him a look of genuine concern. "But what could have possibly come up that you would need a third opinion from somebody like me anyway?"

Shisui crossed his arms and let out a tense sigh before softly answering, "Look, Naruko, we don't have a lot of time left, so I'm going to shoot completely straight with you, alright? It's going to be a lot to take in, so I need you to promise me that you won't freak out once I tell you, okay?"

Naruko's concern only grew upon hearing this. "A-Alright, I'll try."

Shisui took a deep breath. "The Uchiha clan is planning to perform a coup against the Hidden Leaf Village."

Naruko's eyes widened in shock. "What?" she asked, completely flabbergasted over what she had just heard.

Shisui nodded his head sadly. "I'm sorry, but it's true. Itachi and I were able to infiltrate their ranks and relay information back to the Hokage, but it was no use. Nothing we did could stop the coup from happening, and it's going to happen very soon if we don't do something fast."

Naruko slowly looked down with a shocked look on her face. She shook her head. "No… no!" She raised her head to properly confront Shisui. "Even if you say that, there's no way Mikoto would let something like this happen!"

"Her opinion was both overruled and outnumbered," Shisui said gravely.

"Then the rest of the clan then! The ones who aren't ninja!"

"They either agreed with it or don't even know about it in the first place."

Naruko's mind raced furiously in an attempt to find any other plausible arguments to stop the coup from happening. "But that would cause a civil war to break out within the village! A war that the other villages would take notice of and possibly take advantage of!"

"We know," Shisui said. "The Uchiha are very aware of the risks the coup could bring to the village." Shisui shook his head in dismay. "They don't care. Either that, or they're confident enough in their power that they think they can handle whatever problem comes their way."

"No," Naruko said, shaking her head in dismay. "This can't be happening."

"And I think I might've found a way to make sure it doesn't," Shisui said.

A surprised and somewhat hopeful look appeared on Naruko's face. "You have?"

Shisui nodded. "I think so."

"What is it?"

"Uh," Shisui took a moment to think of the best way to explain his plan, "well, to make a long story short, I know a technique that can convince everyone in the clan to stop the coup just by telling them to."

"Really?"

Shisui nodded. "Really really."

Naruko let out a sigh of relief. "Shisui, that's perfect!"

Shisui sheepishly shrugged. "I mean, I guess."

Naruko gave Shisui a look of concern. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I mean, yeah, it's perfect, I guess," Shisui began as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "But…," he gave Naruko a conflicted look, "is it ethical?" Noticing the look of confusion on Naruko's face, Shisui let out a weary sigh before explaining, "Look, I want to avoid war just as much as you do, but…," he shook his head, "the entire clan, no, the entire village, the entire village is my family! And I'm not sure if I'm okay with essentially brainwashing my family into doing what I want them to do!" He placed his hands onto his hips and started pacing around in front of Naruko. "This is why I came to you in the first place! I need someone to… convince me to do this, and believe it or not, you're one of the only few people who can that I can trust." He stopped pacing around and gave Naruko a pleading look. "Please, I'm begging you. Help convince me that this is the right thing to do, that I should have absolutely no regrets doing this to my own flesh and blood just to keep the peace!"

For a moment, all Naruko could do was stare at Shisui in shock before nodding her head and saying, "I'll… I'll do my best." She then took a moment to think Shisui's entire situation over before slowly saying, "You're asking… if hypnotizing your family, forcing your family to keep the peace… no longer makes it true peace, is that it?" Shisui nodded. "Well, that's just it," Naruko said softly. "By doing this, you truly are trying to keep the peace, because all peace is is a state without conflict, and if you do this, then the village will definitely be in a state without conflict. What's really bothering you is if by doing this, you're admitting that you love the village more than your own clan, because by doing this, you're betraying your clan's trust in you, that you'd be betraying their love for you. But you love everyone, don't you? After all, you consider everyone in the village family, isn't that right?" Shisui nodded as he forced himself to gulp down a sudden whimper that would've escaped his lips if he hadn't been more careful. Naruko took a step towards Shisui and placed a hand comfortingly on one of his cheeks. "But that's not what's important right now. What's important is that we make sure to stop the fighting before anyone we love gets hurt. Yes, if they ever found out what you did to them, the Uchihas might never forgive you, but I can say this: love sometimes takes time, and time isn't something that we have right now." She placed her hands firmly onto Shisui's shoulders and gave them both a firm and reassuring squeeze. "Go! Carry out that plan of yours. In the end, it will buy you some time, time that will help the Uchihas understand why you did what you did and why what you did today was the right thing to do, and eventually, that understanding will grow to love, love that you deserve more than anyone!"

"Naruko…," Shisui murmured, looking at the woman in awe for a moment and taking another moment to fully absorb and think about what she had just said before giving her a firm and confident nod. "Thank you. I now know what I must do."

"Are you sure?" Naruko asked.

Shisui nodded and gave her a reassuring smile as he slowly forced Naruko to let go of him. "I'm sure." He gave Naruko a goofy grin. "I no longer have any regrets." He gave a look of full of confident resolve. "I WILL save my family. All of them." He gave Naruko a thankful and respectful bow. "Thank you again for your help, Naruko." He straightened himself up before letting out a chuckle and saying, "Maybe after all of this is over, I can repay you by taking you out for dinner!"

Naruko blushed and took a moment to recompose herself before waving Shisui's offer off with a wave of her hand and saying, "Oh, stop! You know perfectly well that I'm far too old for you!"

"Even so," Shisui said, "you deserve it. Really, you do."

This earned him a small and surprised gasp from her before she gave him a sad and disappointed smile and murmured, "That really is too bad." She gave him a playfully flirtatious wink. "If you were just a little bit older, I would probably seriously consider you."

Shisui smiled. "Of course you would!" He flashed her a heart-fluttering smile. "I've just got such a great personality." He then made his way towards the windows of the Hokage's office and said, "Well, wish me luck," before disappearing in a flash.

Despite the fact that Shisui was no longer there, Naruko waved a goodbye at the spot where Shisui had been before clasping her hands together, closing her eyes, taking a breath to calm herself down, and whispering, "Please, please let this work," to herself.

Unbeknownst to her and even Shisui, some unwanted company had been listening in on their conversation, and had teleported themselves away to relay the necessary information to their leader.

"Uh…. Mother? … Father? … Big brother?" Sasuke murmured in his sleep. He then proceeded to slowly open his eyes and let out a surprised gasp upon realizing that Naruko was the one who was greeting him, and in the hospital no less.

Naruko let out a relieved gasp before quickly and gently taking a hold of Sasuke's hands, cupping them in hers, giving him a relieved smile, and softly saying, "Sasuke! You're awake!"

Sasuke slowly turned to look at her, still a bit drowsy from his forced slumber. "Huh?" he asked, his voice slightly raspy from all of the traumatic yelling and screaming he did the night before.

Naruko gave Sasuke's hands a gentle squeeze as she looked at him tenderly, unshed tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. "You're been asleep for a long time," she whispered. "You don't know how happy it makes me, to see you awake and well."

Sasuke let out a tiny gasp of surprise upon hearing Naruko's strange statement. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that Naruko's eyes were red. Did she have allergies? Had she not gotten enough sleep? Had she been crying? He then took a moment to slowly survey his surroundings. Sure enough, he was in the hospital. How strange, why was he here of all places? The last time he checked, he was at home….

Sasuke's eyes widened horrifically in realization.

His home.

His family.

"Ah," Sasuke quietly and painfully whimpered as the memories started flooding back, his hands clutching his head as if the memories were somehow causing more physical pain than he was already in. "Mother." He was beginning to get the sniffles. "Father." Tears were slowly falling down his face. "Uncle." He was slowly starting to hyperventilate. "Auntie." He let out a silent scream of horror.

Quickly realizing what the child was going through, Naruko quickly pulled Sasuke into a warm, comforting, and sympathetic embrace as she rubbed comforting circles against Sasuke's back with her hands in an attempt to further comfort the clearly traumatized and sobbing youth. "Shhh. Shhh. It's alright." She gave Sasuke a gentle kiss on the forehead. "It's going to be alright," she said, her voice cracking a bit due to the fact that Sasuke's sobs were tempting her to cry along with him.

Sasuke angrily shook his head. "No! It's not alright! It's never going to be alright!" He then proceeded to push Naruko off of him, much to her surprise. He gave her a questionable and angry look. "Why?! What reason could my big brother possibly have for killing everyone?! It doesn't make any sense!"

Naruko returned Sasuke's look of anger with one of sadness and doubt. "I don't know," she answered truthfully. She then reached for Sasuke's hands and gave them a firm and reassuring squeeze. "But this is Itachi we 're talking about, isn't it? I'm sure your brother had a reason for doing what he did. I mean," she averted her eyes to the side, "yes, it doesn't excuse the fact that what he did was terrible, but he's no murderer, right?" She looked hopefully into Sasuke's eyes. "There must be a reason behind this, right?"

Sasuke thought about it for a moment before scoffing and replying, "It doesn't matter." He forced his hands roughly out of Naruko's grasp. "I hate him." He clenched his fists before grabbing the hospital blanket tightly and screaming, "I hate him!" Tears fell down onto the blanket, leaving behind stains as they were absorbed into said blanket. "I'll make him pay for what he did! I'll make him pay for killing and betraying the Uchiha clan! He deserves nothing but death!"

Naruko let out a tiny, horrified gasp as she watched the young Uchiha in concerned horror. "You don't mean that," she whispered.

"Yes, I do!" Sasuke cried.

Naruko calmly shook her head before reaching forward, cupping his face with one of her hands and rubbing it tenderly. "No, you don't. Because even after all he's done, he's still the older brother that you loved, idolized, and were proud to be related to. That type of love for someone… it doesn't just go away."

Sasuke slapped Naruko's hand away from his face, much to her surprise. "Shut up!" he cried. "You don't know me! You don't know anything about me! I hate him! I hate him for what he did! And I hate myself for ever having looked up to him and loved him in the first place! Because this proves that he didn't deserve any of that admiration and love to begin with!"

"Sasuke!" Naruko scolded. "Stop talking like that this instant!"

"You're not my mother!" Sasuke bellowed. "My mother is dead! And my brother was the one who killed her!" He then turned himself around and buried his head into his pillow, angrily crying into it, before screaming, "I'll kill him! I'll kill him!"

Naruko's eyes went tender as she slowly tried once again to reach out to Sasuke, hoping to try one last time to try and calm the traumatized youth down and possibly divert him away from the dark path he was very quickly traveling on. "Sasuke…."

"Go away!" Sasuke cried.

Naruko immediately retracted her hand and held it close to her as if Sasuke had just lashed out at it. After a moment of watching Sasuke sob into his pillow, Naruko bowed her head in sad resignation and began to exit Sasuke's hospital room. Before she did, however, she looked at back at the sobbing child and gently said, "If you want, you can live with Naruto and me at our house. I imagine that Naruto would love the company, especially with the two of you being the same age and all." She was about to close the door behind her, before she stopped herself, and added, "And even if you don't want to, if you ever need anything, I'll be there for you, always." She then closed the door and left the child to continue mourning over his family's deaths.

Naruko took a deep breath to calm herself from the emotional ordeal she had had the misfortune to get caught up in as she leaned again the door. Once she had decided that she was indeed composed enough to face the rest of the world, she let out a gasp of surprise as the very first person she saw was Danzo himself. The two stared at each other for a long time, Danzo's stare as menacing as ever and Naruko's being curious and somewhat cautious, before Danzo let out a smug scoff and said, "I suppose, in the grand scheme of things, you truly are harmless thorn in my side." He then made his way around Naruko and began to walk away, leaving a slightly confused Naruko behind. "Consider yourself lucky, Mrs. Uzumaki."

Naruko never did learn what Danzo had meant by that, and much to her disappointment, Sasuke never did accept her proposal; and to this day, she still wonders, from time to time, what had ever happened to Shisui Uchiha.

Author's Note #1: I hope everything is accurate in this chapter. This is where my knowledge of the lore starts to wane a bit.

Author's Note #2: Well, there you go, after a long wait, here's another chapter. I sincerely hope that it was worth the wait! I wonder if this chapter was a bit too short, this time around compared to the other chapters? I've been learning how to shorten my chapters in the hopes of getting them out a bit faster, or at least at a faster rate. Hope the changes haven't deterred from your enjoyment of the story! Until next time!