I do not own Naruto. I do, however, own Chiyuki, any original characters, and this story's plot.
brave new world
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Sarutobi Hiruzen is 56 years old with a 13 year old daughter that had been mostly an accident, albeit a happy one, and the man has no qualms in admitting that even he gets taken aback by her sheer oddity every once in a while.
The Sandaime Hokage is a man with many mistakes on his shoulders - and twice as many achievements - and although he is very much aware of every single one of his flaws, he somehow can't bring himself to think he was so wrong he was very nearly labeled a criminal.
However, nothing had hurt more than when his youngest, brightest child, the apple of his and Biwako's eye, sought out support from the Nara and the Uchiha instead of going to him.
Was he really that unreliable?
He'd done his very best in protecting Konoha for decades, and although Danzo's methods may have been questionable, his former teammate and the Council of Elders only had the village's best interests in mind.
(Right?)
Yes, Hiruzen had turned a blind eye to it all, even when Danzo started to kidnap children and keep his own sister on a tight leash - because in the end, that's what it means to be Hokage, isn't it? To put Konoha above all and protect it under all costs?
(Isn't it?)
When his child nearly gets murdered in his own house, however, things change a little bit.
(Why is it any different now, though? Shouldn't the village be put above everything else, with no exceptions?)
The day he finally hands the hat over to Minato, his daughter hides behind the towering figure that is the Nara clan head, avoiding everyone's eyes, and the guilt nearly swallows him whole.
The Sandaime watches with suffocating shame and regret as his Chiyuki - bright, charismatic, too smart for her own good - hides from him, and he thinks this is the price he has to pay for his sins.
Time slowly does its job of healing all wounds. Although things will never quite go back the way they were, by no means they're bad, except that-
His own daughter scares him, sometimes.
He might have been lenient with her and let her run around the Hokage Tower as she pleased, watching with fond eyes as she absorbed all that had been taught to her like a little sponge-
-felt pride puff his chest out when she demonstrated interest in his job, gave her full access to the library, let Biwako and his secretary quench her insatiable thirst for knowledge-
-but sometimes, he can't help but feel as if her mind is leagues ahead, as if a 13 year old shouldn't be thinking about the economical and political repercussions of a war, shouldn't be thinking about alliances and being an ambassador and how much her actions can affect the biggest, most powerful ninja village.
(Should she not? Isn't this what she was raised for? Isn't this what he let her do?)
(Didn't he, along with others, build her throne of iron on top of rotting roots, only to be surprised when the splinters broke her skin?)
The night before she's set to leave for Ame, she looks him dead in the eye and stands confidently in the middle of a rotting forest, with a torch in her hands.
"Fear isn't peace."
"What is peace, then, my child?"
She grins at him - a fearsome thing full of white, sharp teeth and a dangerous glint in her wide eyes - and sets fire to the dead trees.
"Favors."
All the hokages were children of war, and Chiyuki would be no exception to that, as regretful for that as he is.
Why is it, then, that she thinks so differently from them?
"No ninja - or samurai - would ever forget the debt they owe."
The forest burns to ashes around them, and Hiruzen is unable to lift a single finger to put the fire out.