"I am deeply sorry for your loss," Hiruzen Sarutobi said as he poured a cup of tea. It smelled of mint and ginseng. Fugaku accepted the cup as his predecessor's servant brought it to him without a signal of acknowledgement to the woman. "It is a terrible thing for a father to put their child to rest. Your family and clan are in my prayers."

The 'God of Shinobi' prays, the Hokage thought humorlessly. "Thank you for your kind words, Lord Hiruzen." He lifted the cup to his mouth. The tea was scalding how he liked it and he followed the first gulp with a sigh as it burned in his chest.

"I know that you did not come to seek an old man's wisdom on grief," the elder said.

"No," Fugaku said. He measured the old man before he spoke. "Orochimaru was freed."

Hiruzen paused. "Freed?" he repeated. "By who?"

"We're gathering that information now," Fugaku answered. He took another sip of tea. "Which is why I'm here. You were his master. You advocated for his imprisonment, leveraged for it, in fact."

"What I did was out of love for my former pupil. I did not want to see a famed son of Konoha executed publicly," Hiruzen said.

"It would not have been public," Fugaku answered coldly.

"Hm." Hiruzen sipped his tea. "So he would have met the same fate as Danzo."

"Danzo died as he lived, in the shadows hoping for relevancy." Fugaku was irritated and tired. He would not admit to any other feelings. Not now.

"Speaking ill of the dead is beneath you," the old man chided. He reached for his pipe and lit a match. Smoke filled the air and from the smell, it wasn't tobacco. "I will answer the question you've yet to ask. I did not have any hand in Orochimaru being freed."

Fugaku pursed his lips. "I would not accuse you of that," he said. "But, would you have any inkling where he went?"

Hiruzen blew smoke from his mouth and nose. "I was not aware that he had allies outside of the village to flee to."

"I'm not surprised."

Lord Sarutobi took the jab in stride and dipped his head. "The rest of the Shinobi World knew him for the monster he is. I was just too blind to see it."

The fire of Fugaku's anger was sparked again. He tried his best to cool it before the words slipped from his mouth. "My son died because of that willful blindness. You read the report. We showed you his lab where he had kidnapped dozens, if not hundreds of Konoha's citizens and had it not been for you pulling rank, he would be nothing but ashes scattered across the earth."

"And you would not be the Hokage," Hiruzen said, holding Fugaku's stare. "Compromises are always made in the acquisition and maintenance of power. You knew that when you betrothed Sasuke to Lady Hinata bringing the Hyūga to your side. Even with that, it is only because I gave my approval for your appointment to the daimyō that you are privileged to sit in judgment of the choices I made." He took another puff of smoke. "Now, knowing the price for what you asked, would you have chosen differently?"

Fugaku felt like a child being lectured at the Academy. He did know that compromises and sacrifices were necessary. He remembered saying something similar to Hiashi when he made his proposal. He had chosen Sasuke to marry Lady Hinata and promised their seed would be Hyūga because he had believed Itachi was the future, not knowing the chain of events that would lead to that future being snuffed.

And now, he needed those terms renegotiated to save his bloodline.

He'd noticed the changes in his body since taking on the role of Hokage. Sleep had been hard to come by and what little he did get was sporadic and plagued by thoughts of what his next move would be to secure both his clan and village. All of this had started the day that he discovered that Kushina Uzumaki was pregnant and used the Sharingan to keep the Kyūbi at bay as she delivered her son. That act alone had secured Minato's loyalty to him and set in motion the path he'd carved through careful subterfuge and negotiation to get to this seat of power.

Despite those thoughts and his relentless planning…

He was tired.

"I don't have an answer to that," Fugaku said, finally. The words were bitter coming from his mouth.

Hiruzen took in a deep inhale from his pipe, coughed, and then set it down. "Wisdom begins when you acknowledge that which you don't know."

Fugaku was also growing tired of the fortune cookie quotes. "I'll take that under advisement."

Lord Sarutobi coughed out a short chuckle. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be more help in your search for Orochimaru. Perhaps, my other students will?"

Of course he knows. "I didn't call the Sannin back home to interrogate them," Fugaku said. "They will serve as my new Council of Elders."

For once, Hiruzen looked surprised. "They've agreed to that?"

"They will," Fugaku said. He'd already tasked Minato with making the request to Lord Jiraiya. Lady Tsunade was a simpler notion. Intel regarding her gambling debts had crossed his desk. He'd simply pay her a salary to keep her onboard and safe from whatever collectors would be foolish enough to pursue her. Though, something about Hiruzen's question laid a seed of doubt.

He had an alternative plan to pivot to, but it was still much too early to order Shisui to use his Mangekyo's ability to force the woman if she refused.

She won't refuse, he told himself.

As he stood to adjourn the sitdown and dismiss himself, Lord Sarutobi spoke again. "Before you go, would you like my advice on handling the situation in Kumogakure?"

No. "If you've got a speech prepared about how I dealt with Ā, I'd graciously ask you to save it," Fugaku said.

"I would never condemn you for killing an outside threat to our village, no matter their rank." The old man cleared his throat. "However, when you kill a fellow Kage and leave his country in disarray, there are political consequences that could have long-reaching consequences for the children of this village as well as Kumogakure. If some outside force has freed Orochimaru, then the world should focus on uniting to pursue that lead rather than going through another cycle of pointless war."

A monkey jumps and bangs cymbals where his brain should be, Fugaku thought. "I will not reveal that one of Konoha's brightest minds is on the loose. No one would extradite him back to us when they could either torture him or negotiate his release in exchange for whatever secrets he'd be willing to share." The Fourth Hokage drew his cloak around him and eyed Hiruzen. "When we find Orochimaru, he dies."

And he walked out of the door.

His bodyguard silently flanked him as he left. His uniform flowed behind him as he went from one meeting to the next. His mind wandered as his bodies moved on autopilot from Sarutobi's residence to the administrative building where his office was located.

He thought of Itachi. Holding him when he was first born. Feeling the joy of a proud father when he had performed the clan's rite of passage successfully in one try. Seeing him excel as a shinobi in ways that had even eclipsed him at times. And he allowed himself to feel.

Grief. Remorse. Sadness.

Then, as he was about to enter the Council of Elders chamber, he thought of Sasuke. He remembered how his wife had asked to name him after Lord Hiruzen's father, the famed and renowned Sasuke Sarutobi in hopes that their son would be an excellent shinobi. He lamented the years he'd spent ignoring him. He did not have Itachi's natural and prodigious genius. But, he did have a genius of another kind. Perceptive eyes, an incredibly sharp mind, and a work ethic that even Itachi could not compete with. In time, Fugaku believed, Sasuke could be a greater shinobi than either of them.

A shinobi that he could entrust with the future.

Strangely, when Fugaku sat down in front of the two Sannin he had called to meet with him, another feeling touched him that he hadn't felt in decades.

Hope.