Time was of the essence.
The Hyūga affair happened not to long after Hinata's third birthday, and they were at least two and a half. She had a year, give or take, to overcome a centuries long rivalry (Though not as bad as it was with the Senju) and get close enough to the Hyūga to stop the event. And then get credited for stopping it without looking like the Uchiha set it up.
They had been on a few more play dates since then, with various clan kids from the original meeting.
She got along well enough with all of them, and had already started to see progress. The Akimichi clan was lending tips to her aunt and uncle who branched out to the rest of Konoha, and even discussed maybe combining some of their more minor foods.
Ino's clan who owned the flower shop let Mikoto buy flowers at a discount. Shikaku, the Nara clan head, talked with Fugaku at the police station. Apparently, Shika had asked about her. They had worked together on a case dealing with Shinobi criminals within Konoha.
Not much, but it was more than before.
Which then leads her to Hinata.
It was basically a competition at this point between their two fathers, sending their daughters to visit the same person. Then one day, she had enough and went up to Fugaku, asking nicely to play with Hinata and just Hinata, with Mikoto in hearing distance to hear her cry if he said no.
"Wanna pl'y wit Hinat." She spoke as clearly as possible.
The surprise was not something easily hidden, but he masked himself pretty well. Just as she was debating the pro's of wobbling her lower lip, his expression cleared into something distinctively positive.
A smile.
An actual, proud smile. He threw his head back and laughed.
Shattering dishes could be heard from the kitchen over the laughing as Mikoto rushed in to see the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Instead only to be greeted by her stoic, clan head, police chief husband laughing almost to the point of tears.
Miko was bewildered too. Like she had never seen him laugh this hard, and it's been two years. Scratch that, she had never seen him with that much expression, period.
And apparently neither had her mother.
After he had calmed down and explained to Mikoto, she was annoyed and crabby. Mikoto, who was friendly with the Hyūga matriarch due to all the tag-along play-dates, said she could arrange something.
Not really having anything else to do she decided to catch up with Sasuke. He had been upset with her spending all this time with strange other kids instead of him. Sasuke was delighted to see her again and to show his appreciation he planted a big sloppy kiss on her cheek.
"I love you, Sasuke!"
"Me too! Lets play!"
They colored with crayons until they heard a familiar voice announcing their arrival.
"Nii-san!" They shrieked, jumping him with two hugs. He donned a startled look, before it melted into a sweet smile. After promising Mikoto to do his homework later, Itachi took off his shoes and played with them.
They stacked blocks into pyramids and houses, then laughed when one of them accidentally knocked it over. She could see Itachi relax, especially when Sasuke tugged on his arm. While she knew Itachi loved everyone dearly, including her, he loved Sasuke with all his heart. It was clear that everything he did was in some way to protect Sasuke. Because if itachi failed in his duties as heir, that would fall to Sasuke.
Somehow, Itachi already realized she wasn't like Sasuke. Her acting was flawless, but you couldn't fake innocence. She had goals and people were starting to notice. And maybe that was a good thing.
Itachi was the one who originally killed the clan with the help of Tobi, if she really wanted to stop the massacre, she needed to get him onboard. She had been so focused on the others that possibly the one most vital had been essentially left out of her master plan.
Itachi had been admired from many people just because of his level headed-ness and lack of warranted arrogance. Itachi was different then most of the clan shinobi because of his respect towards others.
Ah. So that's what she could do with him.
But how was she supposed to manipulate one of the most powerful ninja's the world had ever produced? Did she need to manipulate him? Maybe all she had to do was point him in the right direction. Itachi could be a lifeline for the clan, connecting them to the village. He would serve Konoha faithfully and gain respect from the others and appease the stick-up-the-ass elders.
His cool head and compassion for peace was not to be understated. Hands went under her armpits and lifted her up to an inquisitive gaze.
"What are you thinking of, Imouto?"
Not knowing what else to do, she bit Itachi on the nose.