Author's Note: I am SO SORRY for how long it took me to update this. There has just been a lot going on in the past year and I needed to sort some stuff out. This fic is very complex and I've been trying to plan it out in a way that makes sense (alternate timelines are tricky!). But I finally had a chance to jot down some ideas, and here is the product before you. It's unedited beyond my own two eyes, so forgive any major typos, I'll get around to fixing those at a later date. Here's hoping it doesn't take me so long to update next chapter :)

Almost two months after the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Obito Uchiha awakens in a prison cell at Konoha's police station.

Or more specifically, on the floor of a prison cell.

It's not the first time since returning home that he has found himself a guest of Konoha's Military Police; nor is it the first time he has woken himself up with his own thrashing and screaming. He knows it won't be the last, either.

Every night since Kannabi bridge, Obito dreams of Kakashi.

Minato calls it grieving, while the one time he mentioned it to her, Rin suggested post traumatic stress. Obito thinks they're both wrong. He thinks he's being haunted.

Despite how at-peace Kakashi seemed in death, the ghost that stalks Obito's nightmares is anything but. It berates him for not keeping his promise, repeating the nonsense he spouted in his final moments.

Names that mean nothing to him and entreaties to listen. Oaths sworn in the face of death.

Rin said that it's very likely that in his last moments Kakashi was deprived of oxygen, causing the speech centres of his brain to malfunction. During the day, Obito can repeat this to himself and ignore the nagging sense that he is supposed to be doing something important. At night, however, he is unprotected from the memory of Kakashi's judgement.

Speaking of judgement…

He can feel it practically radiating from the door of his cell.

Obito squints across the room, half-expecting to see Rin standing there, hands on her hips and a disapproving expression on her face, or even Minato with a worried frown. Instead, he stares up into the unyielding, hard-jawed face of Fugaku Uchiha, the captain of the police and the head of the Uchiha clan.

"S-sir," he mumbles, stumbling to his feet and attempting something resembling a bow.

"Obito," Fugaku says, his deep voice worryingly neutral as he addresses him. "The Illusionist. Hero of the Kannabi Bridge. Pride of the Uchiha—or so I've been told." He says all of this without any inflection, and each syllable rings with judgement. "Looking at you now, you don't live up to your legend."

"Uncle…"

"No. I am not your uncle here," Fugaku reminds him sternly. "I am your superior and your clan leader. And I am waiting to hear the explanation as to why a hero of the Third Shinobi War is frequenting taverns and picking fights with his clansmen."

Obito winces.

"We have lost enough of our people to the war, we will not have infighting here," the head of the Uchiha continues in a forbidding tone. "Especially not from those lucky enough to return home. Others did not have your fortune. Too many of your cousins have died. Inabi Uchiha is more respectable than you, and he and his team gave their lives in the final hours of the war. You dishonour their memory with your behaviour."

"It's the memories of those we lost that I was trying to defend!" Obito snaps, and then adds a quick a tentative, "Sir."

Fugaku narrows his eyes. "Explain."

Obito scowls, wondering where to begin and how to avoid sounding like he blames Kakashi for all of this.

As the war entered its final months, Obito came into his own completely. His newly awakened Sharingan was much more powerful than he expected it to be. Coupled with the chidori he learned from Kakashi, no man who stood against him on the battlefield lived to tell the tale. He and Rin were instrumental in helping Minato end the war several months earlier than anticipated, once their squad destroyed Kannabi Bridge.

They returned to Konoha as heroes, and suddenly everything was different.

Minato was nominated as Hokage and Rin went on indefinite leave from shinobi duties in favour of working in the hospital. Obito never had responsibilities before the war, not beyond looking after his grandmother, and so he was unprepared for the welcome awaiting him.

Aunts and uncles sang his praises and children followed him in the street. One of his distant relatives asked if she could name her newborn son after him. Cousins who had no time for him before the war—who couldn't debase themselves by being around a dead-last screw-up like him—were all suddenly clamouring for his attention. They plied him with drinks and spoke to him as if he held the future of the Uchiha clan in his palms.

And he welcomed it all.

Because the drinks numbed the pain and the memory of watching the life leave Kakashi's eyes. And those loud voices laughing and joking in the background drowned out the cold silence that Rin treated him to since that day.

For a while, he could forget the blatant absence of his friends.

Until the good-natured conversation about the war turned to criticism, and his clansmen started to speak about Obito's comrades. About how Minato was made Hokage to be a puppet, and how Rin obviously wasn't strong enough to continue the shinobi lifestyle. About Kakashi maybe not dying to save them, but simply looking for a way to end his life quick the way his cowardly old man did.

That last one is the reason Obito is currently in jail and why he's pretty sure the knuckles of his left hand are broken.

But he's not about to explain all of this to the leader of his clan. Fugaku Uchiha isn't known for his sympathy or patience toward emotional outbursts.

"Those guys were disrespecting the people who fought and died to ensure the peace they currently enjoy," Obito eventually bites out. "Maybe beating the shit out of them wasn't the best choice, but it will make them think twice before they do it again." He pauses, then again adds, "Sir", though it's less deferential this time.

Fugaku is silent at this, considering Obito for several moments.

Then his mouth lifts in something that might—if it's not a trick of the light—be a smirk.

"I imagine they will," he says. Then narrows his eyes. "But if you do it again, I'll have you cleaning every public toilet in the village."

Obito gulps.

"The war is over—now is the time to decide what you intend to do in the future," Fugaku continues gruffly. "With a little discipline and perhaps learning to practice better judgement, you could do well as an officer."

"An…officer?"

"Konoha's police require men of substance, not simply strength."

Obito's eyes widen in surprise, having not expected a job offer of all things when he woke up this morning. To be honest, he's never even considered working for the police force. He intends to become Hokage, after all, and to do that, he needs to rise through the shinobi ranks, which unfortunately doesn't include the military force.

"Respectfully, I must decline, Sir," he says. "I, uh, I have other plans."

Something like amusement twitches at the corner of Fugaku's mouth.

"I thought as much," he says quietly.

Then, in yet another surprise move, he opens the cell.

"Go home," he tells him. "Get your hand seen to. Sleep it off."

"Y-yes, Sir." He turns to leave.

"I'm not finished with you yet, Obito. I want you to meet me at this location at sunset," the police captain orders, pressing a paper into his hand. "Don't be late."

His tone hints at the consequence of defying him. Considering he once sentenced an officer of his to a month of manure inspection on the farms surrounding Konoha, just for having a crooked armband, Obito doesn't question him.

Instead, he swallows and looks down at the paper in his hand, carefully unfolding it. A moment later, he yelps as it bursts in to flames – but not before he sees the words imprinted on it.

Naka shrine.

火

Rin Nohara strides between the beds of several of her patients, making observations on their charts and scribbling notes into her clipboard. Her stomach growls, but she ignores it, used to going with meals while on a mission.

Even if this isn't exactly the same type of mission she trained for so painstakingly.

Since the end of the war, she has worked as a doctor in Konoha's hospital. It's a far cry from the danger of active shinobi duty, but she tells anyone who questions her decision to be here that medicine is her true calling. It's almost completely true, if not for the gaping hole in her life where her friends used to be.

A wound that will never heal, she supposes. It's permanent in the same way that Kakashi's death is. Somehow the idea of going back out in the field without such an integral part of her team—and integral part of her life and her heart—makes her feel sick.

His death should not have happened.

She goes over that day in her head over and over, walking herself through every option she could tried, every sacrifice she could have made for him to live and can't find out how. She isn't entirely sure what she'll do if she ever figures it out.

In the meantime, she refuses to let some other girl go through the pain of losing a comrade in the field, and throws herself into her medical studies. She was always a good student, but now she is obsessed, delving into the most technical basics of medicine and chakra manipulation to come up with a way to battle with Death…and win.

"Don't you ever go home, Rin?" one of her patients asks, joking tone unable to completely disguise his concern. He's is an older veteran of the war, who lost both his legs in an encounter with Iwa's Explosion Corps. "You have to sleep, don't you?"

"If I slept, who would take care of you?" Rin challenges with a smile, replacing an empty IV bag with a fresh one.

"You're too young to be so busy. Don't you have some nice young man to keep your company? I bet he's missing you."

Rin schools her features into her usual defence, a smile without substance and a light laugh. "No, no one's waiting for me. Aren't you lucky, you get me all to yourself."

He chuckles and agrees, and Rin leaves.

As she heads to her office, she frowns, thoughs flying to Obito.

It hurts to think of him too much, to think of either of her remaining teammates really, but him especially. She hasn't treated him very well, and knows it; but she has no idea how to be around him anymore.

The memory of his confession—"Heh…I'd be a pretty crappy guy if I let the girl I love get killed, wouldn't I?"— is all tied up with everything else from that day. Fear and pain, the taste of blood and tears, Kakashi's kiss, the loss of a piece of her heart. It's not something she can explain to Obito, or even Minato-sensei when he tries to get her to speak.

Turning the corner, she almost ploughs headlong into another body.

"Sorry," she apologises distractedly.

"You should be," a voice replies. "Parental abuse is a serious offense."

Startled, Rin peers more closely at her hapless victim, and flushes in guilt as her father gazes down at her. Ryūma Nohara is a tired man in his late thirties, with light brown hair and the brown eyes she inherited, although his are ringed with more worry lines than hers.

"You're still here?" he asks her, grave and worried. "You should have gone home hours ago."

"I had to check on my trial results before I left," she replies.

"Your results won't be affected by a few hours of rest. Go home and sleep. Come back tomorrow."

"But I—"

"Consider it a directive from both your father and your boss," he tells her, affecting a stern frown. "You're already past your maximum shift hours."

"How do you…?"

"The nurses. They know everything," he smirks, but then his expression becomes grave again. "Rin…"

She can hear the worry and disapproval in his voice, and it makes her heart twinge. She only ever became interested in the field of medical ninjutsu as a genin because of him, and now here she is disappointing him.

"Fine," Rin sighs. "Just let me fill in the last of my charts and I'll go." Ryūma raises an eyebrow at her, and she assures, "I promise!"

Her father's expression softens. "How can I doubt you when you look at me like that? It's just like your mother."

Rin smiles sadly. Her mother was an elite ANBU who lost her life protecting the Third Hokage. The wound isn't as recent as others, but it still stings. She wonders how her father found the strength to go on afterward. She's never asked, though, afraid he'll tell her what she already suspects.

Ryūma glances around mock-surreptitiously, and then reaches over to give her a hug, which Rin returns. Then, they go their separate ways as they hear him being paged over the intercom.

Once in her tiny office cubicle, which is really more like a broom closet, Rin jots down the most recent results that she noticed amongst her trial patients. The past few days have been a string of nothing, and it's frustrating, but it's also better than she hoped.

No news is good news in this case, she decides with a sigh, sitting back against her chair. Maybe Dad's right, and I should—

"Rin!"

She sits bolt upright as one of the nursing students hurries in, looking anxious. "What is it?"

"It's your friend—the Uchiha boy. He's here and he's asking for you."

"He knows better than to interrupt me at work."

"No, that's not…he's in the emergency care wing. He's been injured—"

Rin drops her clipboard and makes a run for it before the woman has even stopped talking.

Obito! Hurt!

Heart in her throat, her mind casts back to the last conversation they had. She knows he's on the active duty roster, and Minato-sensei worried he might do something stupid, but she dismissed him and asked him to leave because she had work to do and—

Oh, gods, what if something happens before I see him again?!

She practically throws the door to the examination room of its hinges, fully expecting to one of the other healers desperately trying to grasp him from the jaws of death.

Instead, she sees Obito, eyes clenched shut and gritting his teeth while her father sets the bones in his broken hand.

"Obito?" she croaks, confused. "Dad?"

"It seems your friend here needs to learn to be more specific," Ryūma says, sounding more amused than he should under the circumstance. "He asked for Doctor Nohara expecting to see you. I think he got a bit of a shock."

"This is…ouch…not how I pictured meeting you, Sir," Obito bites out.

"I wasn't aware that you wanted to," Ryūma replies brightly, shooting Rin a look that is both knowing and expectant. She can see a particular gleam in his eye that she's learned to be wary of.

"Well, you look like you've got a handle on this," Rin says quickly, starting to back out of the room. "I finished the last of those charts, Dad, so I'm actually going to head home, just like you said—"

"Now, now, don't run off, this is your friend," her father chides. "I have an idea—why don't you finish fixing his hand, and he can repay you by walking you home? I'd say that works out for everyone."

Obito's eyes bulge in panic, like he's both overjoyed and terrified at the prospect. Rin, on the other hand, feels like she can't breathe. Ryūma watches her expectantly, like he's waiting for her to come up with an excuse. She knows if she does, he'll have questions, none of which she wants to talk about.

"You're right," she brusquely, striding forward. "I've got it, Dad. You can go back to work now."

"See you around, sweetheart," he tells her. Over his shoulder, he adds, "Come by for dinner some time, hey, kid?"

Obito makes an undignified squeak in response.

With that, her father leaves her to finish caring for Obito's hand. Her own desire to flee warring with her training, she eventually sighs and reaches for the bandages.

They sit together in heavy, forced silence for several minutes, before Obito breaks it.

"So…" he begins. Her eyes flash at him in warning, and he swallows whatever he was going to say. Instead, he clears his throat, and mumbles, "How's work?"

Rin nods to herself; this is a question she can answer. It's easy to talk about work.

She checks that the bones have been properly fitted back into place, she concentrates and allows her chakra to flow outward, mending flesh and bone back together. At the same time, she relates in great detail how she's furthering her medical education, the surgeries she's sat in on the hours she's put in at the lab or researching in the library.

"I don't think I'll ever master anything like Lady Tsunade's Sōzō Saisei, but I'm developing a healing pill that could allow for rapid healing in combat," she tells him. "It's still in the test stage, though, and there are a lot of kinks to work out."

"Like what?" he asks.

"It's excruciatingly painful during the healing process, and there's a long recovery time. You can be absolutely useless for days after using it while the body tries to recover from such a quick healing—kind of like a coma."

"That sucks," he agrees. "But it sounds like it's a start, though."

"It is," she agrees, sitting back. "How does that feel now?"

Obito studies his hand, waving his fingers and flexing his palm. "A lot better. Thanks, Rin."

"So are you going to tell me what you did?"

"Do I have to?"

She folds her arms, unimpressed.

"There was a…tiny disagreement," he admits. "That maybe involved fists and jaws."

"I got that, yes."

"They were saying stuff they shouldn't have."

"And you decided throwing yourself into a fist fight would fix that?" she demands, smacking him not-so-lightly in the shoulder. "Why would you do something so stupid?"

"It's not that stupid…"

"Getting your hand broken is pretty stupid! Especially when you consider what could have happened if you picked a fight with the wrong person! Just because you're a hero now doesn't mean that you can't get hurt or die just as easily as anyone else!" she lectures him, voice rising out of her control with each syllable. "I'm supposed to watch out for you, which is kind of hard if you get your stupid self killed!"

"Rin—!"

"Go on, tell me what was so horrible that they said which you couldn't just let it go and walk away?"

"They were talking shit about our team!" he protests. "About you a—"

"How many times do I have to tell you, I don't need you to defend me!"

"It wasn't just—" he starts to shout back, and then his shoulders sag and he looks away. "Never mind."

Her sudden rage stalls, sense returning to her.

She realises he wasn't just defending her, but Kakashi.

A beat later, she exhales and asks flatly, "Do they at least look worse than you do?"

He glances up in surprise, and then a sheepish smile appears. "Well, I dunno…I ended up arrested. But I think I saw one of them in the emergency room when I came in, so…"

She stands, turning her back on him.

"You still shouldn't have done it. Picking fights won't bring him back."

"No, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something," Obito returns bitterly. "He didn't exactly leave us with a way of remembering. Not really."

She clenches her fists, hearing Kakashi's voice in her head.

"Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Remember those names."

"And it's not like I can go to anyone else about it," Obito goes on. "The only person in the world I know who gets what this feels like…and you don't want anything to do with me."

"That's not true!" she protests.

"Yes, it is. You're different than you were. Distant."

"It's called grieving."

"I'm grieving too, but I don't want to be away from my friends while I'm doing it!"

"Maybe that's because it doesn't hurt you to be around us the way it hurts me to be around you!" Rin shoots back before she can stop herself.

Silence rings between them, and right away she sees the agony in Obito's eyes. It's familiar to her because she saw it the day he said goodbye to his best friend.

"Obito, I didn't…that's not what I…I didn't say that right…"

"Would you have been happier if I had been the one to die instead?" he asks, cutting of her explanation.

Rin instantly feels as if she has been turned to stone, then cracked into a million painful pieces. Her tongue is like lead in her mouth as she tries to respond to such a thing.

Obito obviously takes her silence as a 'yes'.

"I see," he says, getting up to go, but she snatches out a hand to stop him.

"How could you haven even asked me that?" she rasps, the words dragged from her throat as if over a bed of knives.

"Well what else am I supposed to think?" he counters. "All you've done since we've been back is shut me out. I thought it was just the grief at first, but it's not just that. You're hiding from something. I never thought you were a coward. You were always so brave, and good, and the best of the three of us. So why are you doing this now?" When she can't answer, he exhales angrily through his nose. "No, you know what? Forget it."

"Don't you dare," Rin snaps. "You don't get to…to just start this, and then leave!"

"I think you've made it clear you don't want me around."

"I do want you around!" she cries. "I just don't…I don't know how anymore. It…it just reminds me…and it's not fair to you when I…"

"I know you loved Kakashi," Obito tells her quietly. "I know you always will. I'm not asking you for anything that would dishonour that. I just…I want my friend back. I want us to be like we were before."

"It will never be the way it was before," she whispers, entire body trembling.

"I'll wait," he says. "Your friendship is the most important thing left in my life. And I'll earn it back if I have to wait forever. I just hope you don't make us both go through that."

The way he gazes at her then, she knows he believes that to be true. Tears well in her eyes, and she looks away.

Obito sighs.

"Thanks for fixing my hand, Rin," he tells her, and she feels the air displace as he moves past her. "I'll see you around. If you want."

She waits until she's sure he's gone before bursting into tears.

火

The recently elected Yondaime Hokage peers across the desk of his office, considering the man in front of him. The man who, by all rights, should be the one sitting in his chair.

If it weren't for the distrust of the Elders and fecklessness of the daimyo, he would be.

Fugaku Uchiha is shorter than him, but he still manages to be imposing, with a face like granite eyes that are sharp even when his Sharingan is not active. In Minato Namikaze's experience, his temperament is even less welcoming.

"Will you have a seat?" he asks the head of the Uchiha clan, offering what he hopes is a disarming smile.

"I'll stand," Fugaku replies.

The response isn't a surprise, but it suggests what the tone of the following meeting will be. Rather than betray his exasperation with the stubbornness, Minato simply smiles wider and stands, walking around his desk until he is a few feet away from the other man. Leaning against the desk, he keeps his eye level with Fugaku, telegraphing a message while his hands rest on the wooden edge in subtle reminder.

We may be equals, but I'm still the one wearing the impractical hat. So even if you don't respect me, you will respect this office.

One of Fugaku's eyebrows twitch, and for a moment he looks like he's about to bestow a nod of approval. But the moment passes, and Minato is once more staring down impassable granite.

So much for breaking the ice, he thinks with a sigh. Out loud, he says, "There were complaints about a disturbance in the Uchiha Compound."

"A matter which does not fall under your jurisdiction."

"The whole village is my jurisdiction," Minato replies, a bit more bite to the reminder than he intended. "The police are an extension of this village."

"Perhaps on paper."

Minato narrows his eyes now, losing a little more control over his politician's mask in the face of this frustrating individual. Something of the elite jōnin must show, a reminder that even if it was a twist of fate that made him Hokage, he is not without the skills to back up that appointment.

"It has been handled," Fugaku states neutrally.

"And for that I thank you." He allows his smile to re-assert itself. In a softer tone, betraying a little worry, he asks, "Was Obito really involved?"

"Not in the way you imagine," Fugaku says, and this time he sounds more weary than guarded. "It was a youthful scuffle. Someone forgot himself and a made a disrespectful remark concerning the dead."

"Even a grown man could be forgiven for reacting badly in that case," Minato suggests. "Recovering from a conflict such as we have is easy on no one. Much less so given how many we've lost."

"An Uchiha should be able to better control himself. It does not do well to lose control," Fugaku dismisses. "What did you really call me for? If it were just a question of security in the village, or concern over a former pupil, a message by hawk would have sufficed."

No one could ever say he isn't forthright, Minato thinks with a wince. He knows what follows will not be a pleasant conversation. Still, he decides to grant him the same candour.

"In the spirit of solidarity and to promote lasting peace in the village community, the Elders have suggested that the Konoha Military Police begin accepting candidates from beyond the Uchiha clan."

He allows the message to set in, keeping a close eye on the clan leader. Fugaku doesn't betray any reaction as he processes, and after several long moments, he finally says, "I would have to personally evaluate the fitness of each prospective candidate."

"Well, yes, of course," Minato agrees, relieved. He really did think it would be more difficult than that.

"Where would these recruits be coming from?"

"I imagine the same place you get your recruits now."

"They are recommended by current officers based on observations they make in the community and their own knowledge of our values," Fugaku says. "So, allow me to rephrase: who would be making the first recommendations to the force should my admittance requirements be…relaxed."

"The Elders have a few candidates in mind, I'm sure. Danzō Shimura in particular has experience choosing capable men and women."

"Ah. There it is," Fugaku says, and his mouth finally turns upward in a smile, but it's a hard and bitter one. "Tobirama's student wishes to insert his people into the one place in Konoha where he doesn't have ears."

"Spying? A serious accusation, and a giant leap to take," Minato says mildly, though it's an act.

He's more than aware of Shimura's distrust of the Uchiha, having seen it first hand when he convinced the other council members and daimyo, one by one, that Fugaku Uchiha should not be Hokage. He's even experienced the man's scrutiny himself. Of those who voted on the position of Fourth Hokage, Shimura is the only one who refused to support Minato's candidacy. Since then, every interaction they've had has left Minato feeling like the older man is looking for the smallest weakness to start chipping away at him.

"It's better to take that leap if there's a dragon chasing you," Fugaku maintains stonily.

"Perhaps. But you make it sound like you have secrets."

"Every clan in this village has secrets. And every clan is entitled to those, so long as they don't jeopardise the security of the village. That was put into law by the First Hokage, if my history is correct."

"And what better way to protect the village than ensure its security is being maintained by the entire village and not a simple few?" Minato points out, returning to the issue at hand.

"If that were truly the case, the police would never have been assigned to the Uchiha," Fugaku snaps. "It was Tobirama Senju who enacted that as a means to isolate our people. We knew this, but accepted it so as to keep the peace in Konoha. Over the course of generations, we have made it an honourable and worthy institution in Konoha. And now you would take it from us?"

"That's not what this is."

"Then please, enlighten me as to what you, in your naivety, think it is," Fugaku growls. "Generations have passed without Konoha's leaders paying any attention to the police force or the men who serve. And now suddenly, a war ends and they decide it's the best time to stir the pot? The distrust was always there, Lord Hokage, but attempts were made to keep it under wraps. This is blatant and unapologetic."

By the time he finishes speaking, his shoulders heave with anger, and Minato suspects it isn't often that the leader of the Uchiha loses his temper in that way. His own anger simmers beneath his calm façade, because there is nothing wrong in what Fugaku has said.

"I am not naïve," Minato states coolly. "I know the history, and I can only guess at the motivations behind this move. But I also trust in this village. The will of Elders is not the will of the people, and the only way to ensure that the people are served is through cooperation. And I will need yours."

Fugaku frowns at him, calculating.

"You really don't know what they intend, do you?" he eventually realises.

"No."

"But you have suspicions."

"Yes."

The Uchiha leader raises a challenging eyebrow. "Care to share?"

"A naïve man would say that in light of the recent war, with so many of our heroes hailing from your clan, it's simply an attempt to extend the proverbial olive branch. A forgiveness of past distrust and a hope that in the future, Konoha will be less divided."

"If that were the case, restructuring the police is not the way to do it. What do you really think."

That they're afraid of you, Minato thinks but doesn't say.

There were so many heroes among the Uchiha, ninja that are spoken of with awe both inside of the Compound and outside of it. If they become popular enough, there's no reason why one day, an Uchiha might not become Hokage. It's something Danzō and the Elders want to stop happening at all costs.

Revealing that to Fugaku, however, would be unwise at this juncture. Not while it's still only suspicion. It's better to not sow resentment and suspicion where it isn't yet warranted.

He flashes an edged smile. "It's too soon to say. And you never know who may be listening."

"Well, at least you have some sense," Fugaku snorts.

"In the meantime, I do have to relay something to the Elders," Minato says, returning to his chair and sitting down. "If they decide I'm being ineffective, they'll make running this village difficult. And not just for you or I, but for everyone."

Red tape, I'm learning, can be a bitch.

A muscle works in Fugaku's jaw, and it appears like he is doing some rather quick thinking.

"Tell them I will take their suggestion under advisement at the next clan meeting after Konoha's official period of mourning ends."

Minato's mouth tugs upward. "That's a year from now."

"Then I suppose you have a year to give more substance to that suspicion of yours."

"You know they won't be content with just that, though. They'll want evidence that I've got you well in hand." Fugaku raises his eyebrow again, the expression somewhat mocking, and Minato feels his cheeks darken. "You know what I mean."

"What exactly do you have in mind?"

"Some suggestion that the Uchiha are willing to put the village's needs first."

"I take it you have a recommendation."

"A change, perhaps, to that clan law of yours," Minato says. "The one where anyone who marries outside of the Uchiha has to live outside of clan boundaries. Is that something you might perhaps…relax?"

"So the village doesn't just want to put their people in our police force, but in our homes as well," Fugaku snorts.

"Now that is beneath you," Minato retorts. "Especially since I know you've been considering amending that law on your own."

"And what is your interest in it?"

"Let's call it personal experience," he suggests. "My parents chose to marry against their clans' wishes. I grew up with a name, but no connection to my family on either side. It's not a feeling I would wish on my child, and I doubt you would wish it on your own."

Fugaku folds his arms over his chest. "And how does this convince the villagers of my cooperation?"

"It's all in the manner it's presented," Minato points out. The other man makes a gesture like he should continue. "How do you expect the children of your clan to have a connection to their family and their village, when from birth they're told they're outsiders? You may see no benefit in the military police opening its doors to outsiders, but surely you can see some in value in allowing your clan to do so? Or do you intend to follow the example of the Hyūga?"

"To live amongst the Uchiha, one must be Uchiha," Fugaku retorts, and Minato stifles a groan, until he adds, "Any individual who married into the clan would have to renounce their name if they intend to live with their spouse within the compound."

Minato winces. "That's…not quite what I meant."

"It's the most compromise my clan elders would be willing to accept."

Minato considers him for a long beat, and then sighs. "It's a start. I can work with that."

Fugaku nods in return.

"Alright," Minato exhales, feeling a little relieved. That wasn't as completely painful as he thought it would be. Perhaps this meeting can end on a good note, after all. "Now, on to another matter: I was thinking we could have dinner sometime."

"No offense, but I believe I can do better," Fugaku replies with neither expression nor intonation.

Minato blinks, realises what he just said, and then sputters.

"That's not…not what I…what I meant was…I'm not—!" He sees the glint in the other man's eyes, something merciless but amused at the same time, and he scowls. "Hey…" Fugaku's expression remains maddeningly unchanging while the Hokage clears his throat, embarrassed. "I only meant that Kushina would like you and Mikoto to come over for dinner. And bring Itachi. Since our wives are already friends, I think we should be as well."

"Why?" The leader of the Uchiha sounds as if he genuinely can't fathom a reason for it.

"Well…why not?"

"Hmph. This is not the Academy, boy."

"You're like seven years older, that hardly gives you the high ground to call me boy." Minato grumbles, but when Fugaku continues to look expectant, he says, "Alright, if you have no interest in friendship for friendship's sake, how about as a means of promoting unity in the village? If people can see the two of us getting along—"

"Ah, so it's a political ploy."

"Would-you-stop-twisting-things!" Minato hisses. "This is an olive branch, so stop being a stubborn asshole!"

Silence rings between them, and Minato's eyes widen in horror. He's never lost his temper like that before, not least of all while sitting in the Hokage's office where diplomacy and patience are meant to reign. And in front of a man whose support he's trying to garner…?

"Forgive me," he bows his head stiffly. "I only meant—"

"And here I thought you were just the spineless puppet they stuck in a hat to look pretty," Fugaku interrupts, and that's definitely something bordering on approval in his eyes. Possibly even respect, if Minato were desperate.

Whatever it is, I'll take it!

"Blame Kushina," he says, laughing nervously. "I think she may be rubbing off on me."

"It's a poor fool who doesn't learn some of his wife's habits," Fugaku agrees. For a brief moment, they exchange a glance of companionship, the one beleaguered husbands with strong-willed wives always share. Then the other man's expression turns serious again. "But friendship won't change generations of distrust."

"Well, I don't know if I agree with you about that…but it's a start, don't you think?"

Fugaku thinks about this, and then says, "One of many, I suppose." He turns away. "We'll see in the coming year, I imagine, if that has any bearing."

He pushes open the door and disappears, leaving Minato staring at the door.

"So…is that a yes to dinner?" he calls after him. "You didn't exactly answer me…" There is no response and he sighs. "Uchihas…"

I was actually going to write more for this chapter…but it is sooooo long already. Besides, let's leave some stuff to be done for next installment. Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated! Thanks for your interest in my work!

クリ