The quarterly village council meeting, the second one this month already, was commencing. An emergency one was called two days ago. At the round table there were the major clan head leaders, the elders of the village, and lastly, a few civilian ninjas and normal civilians to represent the civilian populations.
"Lord Fourth, please reconsider this decision!"
"We have to do something about this, or at least for a while!"
"I am against this, it would be better to keep this under control in a different way…"
Most of the other Clan leaders at the round table looked at the elders, it seemed like they should be grimacing. But no, all of them had put on a poker face, if one were to look closely, only a subtle hint in their eyes was betraying their indifference.
This time Danzo spoke. "How about this, we only go with this plan if there is proof that the Uchiha have not had any hand in this previous incident. In the meantime… Surely some light precautionary measures are justified?"
He seemed reluctant to do the actions. Danzo acted like some sort of compromising mediator between the other elders and Hokage, but in truth he wanted to use this opportunity to restrain the Uchiha just as much as the others if not more.
"Of course," as soon as Minato said that one didn't know if Fugaku was offended but his expression remained unreadable.
"Those measures will exactly be handled by the Anbu, Lord Danzo. Regardless, I am not putting the Uchiha Clan under constant scrutiny for that. There is too much we don't know, but with what we do, it doesn't logically make sense for the Uchiha Clan to do this incident and in such a mannerism."
Hiruzen decided to support Minato's position and added, "The man had the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan. And it was only one man, if the Uchiha Clan was behind this, they would have made sure to accomplish whatever goal they hoped… which would have been hard to do with only one man."
Homura, one of the village elders, pushed back. She shook her head. "Which is exactly why I find it curious that this attack occurred precisely when Lady Kushina was most vulnerable. The seal weakening during childbirth is not common knowledge... yet the attacker knew exactly when to strike."
Koharu—the other elder, nods at her partner and says, "You're right, which is why I recommend we should relocate the Uchiha, to the outskirts, to better monitor them."
Ignoring Koharu's proposal entirely, Fugaku spoke. "Elder Homura raises an interesting point." Fugaku said calmly, continuing in the same pace, "The attacker possessed intimate knowledge of security protocols and timing. Knowledge that extends beyond the Uchiha. Even the Anbu guards were defeated easily. Perhaps we should investigate who else had access to Lady Kushina's schedule?"
Homers countered, "Regardless, we must not forget history. The Nine-Tails was once controlled by Madara Uchiha. The Sharingan's power over tailed beasts is well documented."
Before anyone could say anything else, Danzo added his own words of scheme. "I trust Clan Head Fugaku's judgment, of course. But we must consider: what if the attacker returns? What if next time they succeed? Can we afford to assume the Uchiha compound isn't harboring information about this threat?"
His words implied there is evidence to say that the information was leaked. Pointing fingers at the Uchiha.
A few more exchanges happened back and forth between the elders and the Hokage's faction…
After a vote of hands to see what should happen…
The Hokage sighed and repeated the decision, "The Uchiha Clan will not be moved to the outer parts of the village. Instead, the Anbu will monitor them with some assistance from Root."
A few months later.
"My baby is a genius!" The black-haired woman exclaimed.
"Hehe, Are you sure? Have you seen my Ryu-chan?" The red-head asked.
"Has he spoken his first word yet?"
"Uh… not yet but What? Itachi did what? What did he say? Spill it!"
The two women were Mikoto and Kushina, each bragging about their toddlers.
Mikoto looked at Kushina smugly and said, "He said Kaa-san!"
Kushina's competitive side flared, "But can he walk? Hah! I will win this one. For once!"
Mikoto hesitated and said, "Yes… in fact he learned to do it for the first time this morning."
Kushina's face fell. "Mine too! Ahh… that precious feeling when they take their first steps…"
Mikoto shook her head, "You do know my son is older than yours by a month, right? So it's normal for this to be different for the two babies. Besides, every child develops at their own pace."
"You're right! So technically I won this round, you know!"
Mikoto resisted the urge to put her hand on her own forehead or shake the crazy woman in front of her.
Instead, she simply chuckled and looked around to see both of their children playing with each other and the teething toys around them. Ryujin was about 9 months old now, with Itachi just turning 10 months.
Even though Kushina acted immature sometimes, she was genuinely a caring and thoughtful mother. Parenting had been like her saving grace, a time to wind down and finally have a settled family of her own.
And Mikoto? She was like an angel from the heavens who Kushina could vent all her parenting frustrations to. Granted, Mikoto did the same, so it was mutual.
"Thank you, Mikoto. Really, I am so grateful to have you."
"What brought this on?" Mikoto smiled warmly. "I'm grateful for you as well."
"Nothing, you know."
*********
[A/N: Patience, my friends. Our main character is still a child. Quite literally and figuratively(?). I am sorry if it feels slow… but slow and steady wins the race… It will make sense.]