Fugaku still wasn't having a good day. Well, technically it was night now, meaning that he'd missed dinner and had left a number of other responsibilities he'd only expected to be postponed for about an hour tops hanging for several hours. This meant that he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight as he tried to catch up. Yet again doing so on hastily wolfed down cold leftovers as was increasingly commonly the case these days as tensions within the clan shot sky high, forcing him to deal with squabbling relatives at odd hours on top of the usual.
Before today, he'd figured that, should it ever come to pass, the day he'd be named Hokage would be one of the absolute best days of his life, right up there with the day he got married and the births of his sons. But no, the minute he decides that he in fact does not want to be named Hokage since it was probably the worst thing that could possibly happen to his clan and the village as a whole, he is named the Godaime. The Sandaime wouldn't take no for an answer, and held him back for hours so they could figure out what the hell could be done about Fugaku's other responsibilities, which took precedence over being Hokage as far as he was concerned. Especially since he could very well see that nightmare scenario the Hokage fed him regarding the Senju actually happening to the Uchiha should he become Godaime.
Unfortunately, as it would seem, the Sandaime had gone behind his back, and everything had pretty much been arranged pending the results of the Hokage's little test. How the hell the Fire Country Daimyo had managed to keep things under wraps considering he was surrounded at all hours by guards and courtiers who tended to gossip like fishwives, he didn't know.
Long story short, Fugaku couldn't refuse the position without insulting the Daimyo upon whose good favor Konoha depended for survival. Which meant that he had been backed into a corner regarding the position that the old Sarutobi bastard had known he'd refuse when he'd laid those cards onto the table. A position he'd only been given because he'd refused.
Anyone and everyone, especially those within his own clan, would think him insane for not wanting to be Hokage, but the truth was, now that he saw the potential consequences which had been outlined by the Sandaime who wouldn't allow him to refuse the "honor" he'd been given, he DID NOT WANT TO BE HOKAGE. Which, now that he thought about it, was probably precicely why Sarutobi, whose bastard father he'd named his younger son after, had done what he did in the way he did it. The old man had probably pulled a similar stunt on both Orochimaru and Minato and named the one who jumped the way he wanted them to like a trained monkey his successor.
The second he got home, the still fuming over his unwanted appointment to the position of Hokage, Fugaku headed straight to his office and shut the door as hard as one could shut a shoji without breaking it. Which wasn't all that hard really. And, it didn't make a satisfying slam the way the door to his office at the KMPF station did. Mikoto, being the wonderful wife that she was, had laid out the paperwork that had been brought to his place by one of the officers and a plate of something that wouldn't taste utterly disgusting cold before heading off to wherever it was she was now. Possibly visiting that sick relative he'd vaguely remembered hearing her mention that morning.
He felt that there was something amiss as he got his start on the paperwork that had piled up after he'd left for the Hokage Tower that afternoon, which had been brought to his home rather than unceremoniously dumped in his office where what he'd been working on when he'd been summoned to the Hokage's office was likely still sitting on his desk considering what he'd done to the last Uchiha stupid enough to grab stuff off his desk. After a while, he realized what it was. There was someone on his roof. There was someone hiding on his roof. There was someone hiding on his goddamn roof despite what he'd told his clan would happen to anyone he found up there who wasn't Itachi or Sasuke or Mikoto up there to fetch one or both of the two.
Growling, Fugaku snapped his brush in half knowing he'd regret it later considering it was part of an expensive quality set which had been given as a wedding present, threw it down uncaring of the ink that had just gotten swiped across the now-ruined report he'd been about to sign off on, and stalked out of his office prepared to give the idiot on his roof what for. When he got up there, it was to find an ANBU sitting there as if he was guarding the roof for whatever reason, despite the fact that the only way any ANBU would have any right to be in the Uchiha compound were if they were a Uchiha. Had it been the Hatake up there, he would've strangled the boy. Consequences be damned.
As he inhaled, preparing to give the guy who'd just volunteered to be his stress ball this evening a good yelling at followed by a brutal ass kicking, the ANBU stood, turned to face him, then knelt before him. "Godaime-sama" the man said, actual respect strangely tingeing his tone. Respect the likes of which Fugaku had rarely heard from outsiders in the five years since the Kyuubi attack.
Oh. Right. He was Hokage. Which meant that there was going to be ANBU crawling all over his home and following him Everywhere. The only upside to this was that once the inauguration happened after the announcements were made tomorrow morning, he would be able to choose his ANBU. Which meant, that it would be his choice regarding who would be pretending they hadn't actually followed him to the toilet and then hung around in the ceiling while he did his business.
Sighing, Fugaku turned and walked off, deciding to deal with the problem by pretending it didn't exist. Going back inside, he headed back to his office, slammed the shoji as forcefully as he could, wincing at the splintering crack of the delicate wooden frame and the sound of the rending of rice paper that signaled yet another expense he didn't need, stormed over to his paperwork, sat down, and then got to work.
He was awoken around dawn by the angry yells of his normally quiet and mild-mannered wife. Ungluing his face from a letter that would need to be re-written because the part that hadn't been drooled on was a smeared mess thanks to the untimely application of his face, he got up and went to see what the matter was. Whatever it was, it wasn't Urgent, considering the fact that his wife was yelling and crashing around in the kitchen rather than quietly killing the problem before it started making noise that would wake her precious boys up before breakfast was ready. Well, Sasuke rather, since Itachi, who'd just made Chunin, was out on a mission.
"Fugaku!" Mikoto yelled as she nearly brained the ANBU who was scurrying about her kitchen with a frying pan. "The next time you see the Hokage, try and get him to do something about the surveillance on the Compound. It's getting frankly ridiculous! They're coming into the houses now!"
"I'll be sure to do that." Fugaku replied noncommitally in-case the nightmare of the day before had just been a nightmare provided by his overactive subconscious which had been turning the plight of his clan and their position - or rather lack thereof - in the village over and over in his mind every which way for years now.
Unfortunately for Fugaku's hopes that the day before had been a nightmare in which he'd been offered the position of Hokage, refused it, and then had it forced upon him when he realized that he actually didn't want it since he was already where he needed to be, Mikoto's frying pan sailed over the head of the ANBU when the man knelt before him and murmured a slightly less than reverent "Hokage-sama".
The frying pan in Mikoto's hand clattered to the floor, and her Sharingan went up to a level she never advertised, considering that to do so would reveal that her eyesight was less than perfect. That Sharingan, which could kill him despite the fact that he had and hid similar, was directed at him.
"What did you DO?!" Mikoto yelled.
"Nothing." Fugaku replied, being careful not to activate his Sharingan since his wife could take it the wrong way and slaughter him in the mood she was in, which likely had something to do with the ANBU doing his job a little to well and popping into the kitchen to test the food to make sure the Godaime wasn't being poisoned by his wife. "Apparently, the Hokage decided to sort out the whole Uchiha Isue by retiring,handing me the hat, and dumping every problem in the village, including us, into my lap at the precise moment I realized I didn't want it."
"Didn't want it?" Mikoto asked, looking like she was half a millisecond from calling bullshit, but deactivating her Mangekyo. A Mangekyo whose acquisition Fugaku never asked about since he was pretty sure he didn't want to know the answer.
"I realized what could happen to the clan if I was too busy in the Hokage's office and unable to lead us. There's nobody who could effectively replace me without starting a power struggle that would effectively fracture us." Fugaku replied. "There's also what would happen to the police if I left without a replacement whose orders the officers will listen to, and that other issue regarding that individual whose identity is still uncertain. Now would be the absolute worst time for me to become Hokage."
"Sage." Mikoto swore as the implications of what Fugaku being Hokage meant started to sink in. "What are we going to do?!"
"I don't know." Fugaku replied honestly. "I've been backed into a corner, and I have no choice but to take the position."
"Well, the first thing we should do," Mikoto said after a long silence in which the light on the rice cooker changed indicating the rice was ready "Is to get you cleaned up. You can't set foot outside with ink all over your face. That would not make a good first impression."
Iruka sighed as he picked up the messy mud covered blond who'd somehow managed to knock over a rain barrel and turn the street which was just packed dirt at this point in time into something that resembled a pig's wallow. Not for the first time, and surely for what wouldn't be the last time, Iruka found himself longing for the paved roads of Future Konoha.
Even though he'd spent most of his time in Konoha as an Instructor and an Administrative Desk Chunin, and then later as the Head of Konoha's ninja Academy, he had not expected to outlive Naruto, much less Naruto's son, and his grandson. Shiranui Genma, who had been one of Naruto's father's guards, had been even older than him by seven years, and Ebisu was older than him by six.
Despite the hope that the peace would last forever, peace only came to the ninja world in fits and starts. All of the major countries may have cooperated and signed treaties that would've had them basically slitting their own throats should they start a war, but there were always super strong, insanely powerful individuals and unaffiliated groups who were determined to create conflict no matter the cost.
Naruto, who had done an admirable job hiding the fact that carrying the Kyuubi still weakened him in the long run despite his and Kurama's rapport and the concomitant change in the Kyuubi's Chakra, had been killed by one such individual when his children were still in their teens. Konoha had been destroyed once again, and had been forced to rebuild once again after Boruto had defeated the threat. Konohamaru had stood as Hachidaime and Sarada as Kyudaime in an era that looked to be one of potentially lasting peace. Boruto and ChoCho's son had been shaping up to be a fine ninja at the re-re-re-rebuilt Ninja Academy, and he'd been preparing to retire for good when the final tragedy which had had its roots in the here and now and been completely overshadowed by far more pressing matters had struck, destroying just about everything once more. This time in a more permanent manner than the last several near world-ending cataclysms.
Konohamaru had wanted to go back and fix things, but he couldn't be there with them because he'd been all of a year old at this point and wouldn't have been able to handle the memories of his future self which his infant brain wouldn't have been able to process.
It was pretty much up to him, Genma who'd been absolutely pissed about losing four active and three retired Hokages on his watch, and Ebisu who was there because he'd survived the cataclysm against everything that was coming. The problem was, aside from the fact that they had to move very conservatively in order to not lose the advantage of their foreknowledge, none of them could just stand back and do nothing for Naruto this time around no matter how hard they'd tried to do so in order to direct Naruto along the path he needed to follow to save the world and preserve the best parts of the timeline and give Naruto the full and long life he should've had. Naruto was just as magnetic as a small child as he would grow up to be, and none of them knew how they'd resisted the pull that dragged even the strongest and greatest of the world's shinobi in before.
The easing of the isolation which had been a major force in shaping Naruto into the great Hokage he'd become was beginning to get worrisome. First of all, it was easing at a far greater degree than they had anticipated, because people who had previously been neutral towards the boy were taking more of a positive attitude towards him since they could see that they wouldn't be alone in doing so. That, and who was starting to hang around the boy was creating a great deal of stress for the three.
It would seem that, upon seeing that Shiranui Genma - former bodyguard to the Yondaime Hokage - was interacting with Naruto with no ill effect, such as assassins from Iwa jumping out of dark corners trying to kill the boy, those amongst the Yondaime's lesser acquaintances who didn't blame the boy for the Yondaime's death had decided that it would be safe to interact with the boy as well. Shinobi who had previously done an admirable job of hiding Naruto's other secret were now patting the child on the head and occasionally giving him small treats and trinkets rather than completely avoiding him so he couldn't be tracked back to them, and through them, to his father Namikaze Minato. The sheer amount of potentially dangerous ninja equipment that Iruka and Ebisu had been forced to confiscate from Naruto after such brief visits was utterly mind-boggling, and Iruka was constantly afraid that Naruto would somehow manage to set off an explosive tag while he wasn't there to stop him.
All it would take would be one slip at the absolute wrong time, and things would become a hundred times more dangerous for both the now mud-covered boy and the plans of the three time travelers who were trying to fix the world so it would last beyond Naruto's grandchildren's generation.
Waving off the assistance of the Eternal Genin Maruboshi Kosuke, who had served under the Ni, San, Yon, Go, and Rokodaime Hokages and had amazingly lived long enough to see the Nanadaime's Inauguration all while remaining a Genin, Iruka carried Naruto back into his apartment where the boy had stayed under guard the previous night while he, Genma and Ebisu tried to figure out what was going on with the village-wide announcement that the Hokage had announced would be taking place today. None of them remembered any such announcement having been made in the past. But, then again, today was nearly fifty years ago for them. The announcement could've simply been something that had slipped their minds in the intervening decades since today.
Expertly stripping the filthy rags that had been a reasonably adequate set of play clothes only an hour ago off of the small boy, Iruka carried Naruto towards the bathroom for what would be his second shower that morning.
"Should I be worried that there's a naked boy in an apartment containing a mostly-grown teenager and two full grown men?" a casual sounding voice that had an oddly menacing edge to it asked when Iruka had nearly reached his small apartment's bathroom.
Recognizing the voice as belonging to that of the future Rokudaime who'd died well before he could come back to the past with the rest of the team, Iruka marginally relaxed.
"Two grown men?" Iruka asked. "So, who's out getting breakfast before the announcement, Shiranui or Ebisu?"
This was not the response that the Hatake had been expecting. Considering the fact that the first people to befriend Naruto in the small boy's short life had been adult and nearly adult males, it was understandable that the Hatake,who was far more protective of the Uzumaki than he let on, would have certain suspicions. Catching the youngest, and therefore presumably the weakest link of the three, off guard was a good way to see if his suspicions would be confirmed or not. After all, the youngest would presumably not have as much experience covering up certain actions as his older peers, and would have a number of tells that the Hatake would be able to read with that Sharingan of his like an open book. The tells of the now young Hatake whom Iruka had grown to be very familiar with over their long acquaintance with Naruto showed that the reply that Iruka had given which had shown absolutely no guilt or nervousness whatsoever, since there was no guilt to be had in regards to this matter and Iruka had long since learned to conceal his nervousness from those little Academy brutes who could smell blood in the water from a mile away and exploit it, had thrown the Hatake for a loop.
"Can you help me keep Naruto in the shower?" Iruka asked, using a tone that sounded as if he found nothing the least bit odd about the fact that Hatake Kakashi, who he would not meet until next year, was in his apartment, which he was sure would further throw the young man who he had several reasons to get revenge against, including those Chunin Exams that he'd told the man not to enter Naruto into. "He tends to escape, and I don't want muddy handprints and footprints everywhere."
Kakashi, who had followed Iruka to make sure there was no funny business soon discovered exactly why giving Naruto a shower when he wasn't in the mood for one damn near required a full squad and could almost be counted as a B-Ranked mission in and of itself. The eventful incident which had involved Naruto climbing over the shower stall, leaping over both men and nearly escaping the bathroom several times had kept both men on their toes despite the fact that Iruka had nearly fifty years experience keeping children in line and making sure they behaved long enough to get the ninja basics drilled into their little heads, and Kakashi was an A-Ranked ninja at this point. Eventually, Naruto was deemed sufficiently clean, and he was caught and shucked into clothes before he could run out the door naked. Kakashi had even thoughtfully used a Doton jutsu to clean up Naruto's "mud puddle" so they wouldn't have to go through the ordeal a second time and end up late to the Hokage's important announcement.
Eventually, despite the fact that there had been an interesting adventure involving a black cat which had caused the Hatake to say "So that's why Obito would go the long way around...", the three of them, Iruka, Kakashi, and a Squirming Naruto who had grown bored with riding on Iruka's shoulders reached the plaza outside of the Hokage tower where a great deal of the Konoha citizenry were gathered only a few minutes late from the looks of it. The Hokage was already in the middle of whatever the announcement was when Iruka and Kakashi had gone to join the pale looking Genma who was furiously gnawing on his senbon and the slack-jawed Ebisu.
"...Once again assure you all that this candidate has been very thoroughly vetted." the Sandaime was saying. "And, without further ado, I will introduce your Godaime Hokage..."
Wait. WHAT?
A dark haired man in a familiar modified shinobi uniform stepped out onto the balcony from whence the Hokage was making his announcement.
"...Uchiha Fugaku." the Sandaime said, moving aside for the man so he could stand front and center on the balcony and possibly address the crowd.
Genma came within a millisecond of swallowing his senbon. Ebisu looked like he was using every technique available to overcome Genjutsu. Iruka, well Iruka did something he hadn't done since he was younger than his body was now.
"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" he screamed.