Naruto x Digimon

Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined

Chapter 028

Song: Hoang & RUNN - People Change

Originally Written: Wednesday, February 1, 2023 809AM to 854AM

. . . . .

Masumi Uchiha ignored all the people looking at her as they passed by. Dressed in some of her formal clothes with the Uchiha crest most prominent on them, she waited for the Hokage to finish up with his current tasks. She adjusted the purse in her lap, and tried to not shake her head in disgust at how long it took her to get a chance for this meeting. She knew much about politics, especially the politics between the clans and the Hokage, but this was ridiculous.

She argued with Fugaku and the Uchiha council for three hours for this chance. She wasn't going to waste it. Even if she had made it seem as though she were going to talk about how the Uchiha were slowly being pushed aside. All treated as though they were extensions of Madara Uchiha at his worst. She took a deep breath that triggered a series of coughs.

Fugaku eventually let her take the chance, despite the fact that she refused to say why she was actually going to the Hokage Tower. She said what she said, and meant it to the very letter. Let them speculate and assume. It was their fault if they were incorrect on her reasoning.

Eventually she was called in. She stood slowly, and placed most of her weight on the cane she started carrying with her. She hated the thing, but it was a necessity of growing old. A shinobi of Chuunin ranking, helped her shuffle to the office.

"Masumi Uchiiha." A warm voice spoke to her as she waited in the doorway. "Come in."

'Hokage-sama." She didn't even try to bow. She'd topple over if she did. She settled in for a nod. She took in the white coat of the Hokage's jacket settled loosely around the man's shoulders. For years, Konoha's Hokage had dark hair. It'd take her a while to get used to the blond hair and blue eyes.

Minato Namikaze dismissed the chunin when Masumi was settled into the seat in front of his desk and the door was closed. "What can I do for you?"

Masumi appreciated the fact he got straight to business instead of going through the motions of asking how she was doing. So many were asking her that lately. People who weren't her friends, or the family she settled with. It was a little unnerving. Were they asking to keep up with appearances sake? Or did her little grandson Obito have that much of an effect on Konoha's villagers and they were now asking from genuine concern? She didn't know, but it made her feel older than she felt.

She settled her thoughts. "I wanted to discuss a particular situation concerning someone dear to me."

Minato waited for her to speak.

"I firmly believe that a child like Kakashi Hatake has no business having the particular ranking he's been placed in." She folded her arms over her purse. She gave him a look of knowing.

Minato folded his hands on his desk. Thinking of a response. "I see. Did he tell you this?"

"He had no need to." Of course the first thing he assumed was that he had told. It mattered not. The second someone saw him in uniform they'd know it was him. Placing Kakashi there was purely for show. He'd never tuck that Hatake gray hair away. "We all know he is far stronger and smarter than jounin."

"Then you also know there is no need for you to be worried." Minato replied. "He can handle the job."

Masumi pursed her lips. She clamped her hand around her purse. "With all due respect Hokage-same, that is not what I'm implying. So I'm led to believe…are you trying to kill him?"

Minato's hand briefly flicked upwards. Masumi knew she angered him, but that was the point. He hadn't placed Rin in Anbu. Nor Guy or Genma or the other one she couldn't remember the name of at the moment. No one hidden in the room moved as she expected them to.

"I'm certain you realize the risk you're taking with those words?" Minato narrowed his eyes.

"I said what I said, and I will mean them for as long as Kakashi Hatake is in this position." Masumi leveled a look at him. "He may have a sharingan, but in no way is he as strong as an Uchiha."

"He just needs a focus. He can handle it." Minato immediately replied.

"He's soft." She snapped. "Stop taking my words as an insult to yourself. They've nothing to do with you."

"Kakashi is a direct extension of myself. Any insult you make towards him or anyone in this village is a direct insult towards me, and any insult made towards me is an insult on everyone in the village."

She held her mouth, because saying what she wanted to would get her kicked out the office, and that wouldn't have helped anything. "I apologize Hokage-sama."

Minato nodded. "Kakashi will be fine. You don't need to worry about him. As his commander, that's my job."

She tried a few more times to get him to realize, but she was starting to understand what Obito meant the few times he told her that 'Bakakashi keeps calling Minato-sensei green.' It was long before he understood what that meant, long before the mission that took away his limbs and his initial purpose for living. He was so hopeful that Kakashi's will strengthened from battle like his own did. The Hokage simply didn't understand that being good at something didn't mean it was their calling.

So she settled on her words, spoken softly, that she hoped he'd truly take to heart. "Hokage-sama, you are going to make that boy hate you. And the other two will follow him."

Minato didn't openly react, but she knew she crossed a line.

She shook her head. "Hardass men like you and the Third don't see. You never will."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Madam Uchiha, but my decision stands."

She stood when she was prompted to, and was escorted out the office.

"I'm not sure why I came today." She murmured to herself. Still, the fact he reacted said a lot more about his character than what she was expecting. Orochimaru was a wreck, and wouldn't have even considered her concerns about Kakashi enough to let anyone insult him over it. After all, she wasn't even supposed to know Kakashi reached the rank.

She made her way home, escorted by a member of the military police. They didn't ask her anything, even though she knew something had to have spread through the clan. It wasn't often an Uchiha wanted to speak to the Hokage over the clan head. She was grateful they hadn't. She wouldn't have had a response for him.

Home was not her usual place, but the Hatake residence, because it was closer and her legs bothered her. She let herself in, for no one was home at the time. She settled in the kitchen and pressed her hands to her tired eyes. In time, the Uchiha left her to her own devices.

Nothing went how she expected. Things usually didn't, but today was a particular wrench in her side.

"Did you really not protest, Kakashi, child? Is this really the path you want to take?" She folded her hands over her mouth, tears pooling in her eyes. "I feel like a fool."

She wasn't sure if he'd be home tonight, but settled on making dinner and cleaning up around the house anyway. It gave her weary mind something else to focus on. His family would check in on his residence whether or not he himself would come.