Settling In

By Bashfulglowfly

After serving her guests, Kaho Uzumaki, the Uzukage poured herself a cup of tea. After taking a sip, she smiled at her guests "Are you and your clan settling in alright?"

Mikoto Uchiha smiled as her husband, Fugaku, nodded gravely then spoke "Yes, thank you." He gave a small smile "I will say that our elders are less than happy that they can't yell at younger Clan members to 'keep off their lawn.'"

Kaho laughed. "I'm sure once they get to know the various elders around Uzushio, they'll find some sort of mischief to get into."

Mikoto laughed "Mischief, indeed. I think the biggest thing that we're getting used to is not being in one district. That fact has taken some getting used to."

Kaho nodded. "Uzushio has never been big enough for individual Clan districts. And no offense to you, but I think we've been better off for it."

Fugaku replied "I will point out that Uzushio was also not founded by two clans with a long history of hatred and war against the other."

"True. But, other than that, are your Clan members doing well?"

"Yes. We're learning about your style of gardening."

"We don't have a lot of land, so we do use a lot of pots and vertical methods." Kaho took another sip of her tea. "That brings me to a question for you. Most of our shinobi have wind, water, or lightning affinities. There is only one person who has an affinity for earth. Would you be willing to have someone not only train this shinobi, but do you have someone who would be able to look around and see if there is some way to expand Uzushio using doton?"

Fugaku thought for a moment before he spoke "We Uchiha lean more towards Fire but there are a few who are strong with Earth. I can think of a couple who might be suitable for teaching your shinobi. And there would be one who would be good to ask about expanding the city. Of course, that person would need some time to study the ground to see if an area would be suitable for expansion. Is there someone who could show her around?"

"Yes."

Mikoto stepped into the conversation "Uzukage-sama…how is Naruto?"

Kaho took a sip of her cooling tea then smile "He's happy. Very loud and rambunctious. Much like my sister."

Mikoto closed her eyes and sighed. Opening her ebony eyes, she looked into Kaho's ocean blue ones. "Good. I'm glad he's happy." She hesitated then spoke again "We have papers in Kushina's hand giving us custody of Naruto, but we didn't use them." Despite her sitting position, she bowed deeply in apology.

Kaho indicated that the apology wasn't necessary. "From what I know about Konoha and Danzo, you and your family would have been killed shortly after presenting those papers."

Fugaku nodded "That's why we didn't use them. And I think Danzo would have used that as a reason to destroy our entire Clan. On our way here, we found out that he was beginning to manipulate our son, Itachi, against us."

Kaho stilled briefly. "Will your son be a danger to Uzushio?"

Mikoto glanced at Fugaku then looked back at Kaho "We don't believe so, but we understand if you will want to have Itachi…interviewed."

The Uzukage looked at them and said, "I will require that of any Uchiha whom you think was in close contact with Danzo."

"As you wish, Uzukage-sama."

The three adults turned as a loud clamor emanated from the front of the house. Suddenly a stampeding hoard of children came down the hallway.

"Children!" called out Kaho.

The rampaging hoard came to a violent stop and sorted themselves out into four children. Three were red heads but one was blond.

Kaho smiled and gestured to the two older children "These are my twins, Aki and Aya, they're eight. This is Chidori, my five-year-old. And my nephew, Naruto, is also five. Say hello to the Uchihas."

The children bowed politely and murmured proper greetings.

Naruto rose from his bow and stared hard at Mikoto then pointed "You're one of the shrub ninjas!"

Fugaku blinked in shock then looked at his wife "Mikoto…"

Mikoto smiled at Naruto. "You're very clever, Naruto-chan. I'm glad you remember me but how did you know I was one of the 'shrub ninjas'?"

Naruto scrunched up his face, clearly searching for the words to explain "You didn't feel like the others. Some of them felt mad. Some felt like they didn't like me. None of them ever talked to me. You and another one felt sad. An' you felt like sad and smoke and fire."

Mikoto and Fugaku exchanged a look then Mikoto leaned forward "Naruto-chan, the other shrub ninja that felt sad, what else did that person feel like?"

"He felt like…sad, howls and thunder lights." Naruto nodded decisively.

"What do you mean by thunder lights, Naruto?" asked Kaho who was just as confused by that description as Fugaku and Mikoto.

"You know…the lights that are in the sky then the thunder comes." Naruto rocked back and forth on his heels.

"Ah, lightning. I understand now." Kaho smiled "Say your goodbyes to the Uchihas and go get a snack from Yoko."

The goodbyes were distinctly less polite than the greetings as snacks were clearly more important than visitors.

"You know who he was talking about. And I didn't realize you were ANBU." Said Kaho.

"I never was ANBU." Replied Mikoto. "I did, however, 'borrow' a mask to make it easier to slip food and other things to Naruto." She looked at Fugaku who merely shrugged at the revelation that his wife had been impersonating a member of ANBU. "The other person he was referring to has to be Kakashi Hatake."

"The Copy Nin."

"Yes, and the student of Minato Namikaze, Naruto's father."

"Hmmm…what was his reaction to Naruto's disappearance?"

"I don't believe he even knows. When we left, he hadn't been seen in Konoha for several months. So, I think he was assigned to a long-term mission."

Kaho sighed. "And I don't have any spies in Konoha right now." She shook her head "Part of me regrets pulling Iruka from Konoha but on the other hand, he needed to get out of there as much as your Clan did."

Mikoto looked at her new Kage "I will tell you this, I think I'm glad that I'm not within the confines of Konoha when Kakashi finds out."

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Shikaku stepped into the Hokage's office.

Without appearing to look, he noted the seven bodies laid neatly on the floor; three were elderly and the other four were ANBU.

Shikaku approached the desk and looked at the shinobi who sat in the Hokage's chair who was idly cleaning the blood from underneath his fingernails with the kunai that more than likely caused some of the wounds Shikaku could see.

Kakashi Hatake looked up from his fingernails, the Hat of the Hokage on his head wasn't hiding the rage in his eyes "What happened to Naruto?"