"Hehe," Mikoto continued with a grin, "I've already taken care of that."
"Taken care of what?" Kushina asked, bewildered. She had an inkling of what her friend was hinting at, but she couldn't bring herself to believe that Mikoto could actually help with Hotaru's situation. She didn't want to get her hopes up only to be disappointed.
"When Hotaru graduates from the ninja academy, I want him to join the Konoha Military Police Force," Mikoto announced, her smile widening. "I've already taken care of everything. We don't need to be worried about Hotaru's safety ever. He can safely work in the village—no one would ever find fault with him if they knew his circumstances."
Kushina was so shocked by this that she stood speechless for a moment.
"So, Kushina, don't worry about it anymore—just be happy," Mikoto urged, placing a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder.
Kushina's eyes filled with tears as she processed Mikoto's words. "Mikoto… Y—you… did t—this?" Kushina stammered, blinking back tears. "But… But what about the Uchiha—"
Mikoto cut her off. "As I said, Kushina, I've taken care of everything. It's alright. You don't need to be worried about the Uchiha saying anything. The clan was okay with it, too."
Kushina couldn't hold back her tears anymore. Finally—throwing herself onto Mikoto—she started crying. Mikoto pulled her friend into her embrace, patting her back as she whispered, "It's okay, Kushina. Everything will be alright."
"T—thank y—you, Mikoto," Kushina whispered between sobs. "Now I am completely happy with no worries. Thank you so much."
"Why are you thanking me, Kushina? After all, he has me—Uchiha Mikoto—as his godmother," Mikoto responded in a mock affronted tone. "And what kind of godmother would I be if I couldn't even take care of such a small matter like this? I'm simply looking after my own family."
Letting out a laugh between her sobs, Kushina wrapped her arms tightly around Mikoto, still whispering "Thank you" over and over.
Although Kushina was a strong kunoichi as well, Mikoto was different. She was the wife of the Uchiha clan's patriarch, and had an entire clan behind her. A matter like this was a piece of cake for her.
Meanwhile, Itachi watched his mother and her friend with a smile.
He thought back to the impromptu clan meeting held yesterday.
***
Itachi had come home late that night, just as he did every other night. He had been working on his ninjutsu—more specifically, an application of the Shadow Clone Jutsu he had discovered in a scroll just two days ago.
Itachi had stumbled upon this application in another scroll unrelated to this jutsu, by chance. He felt a bit disappointed that he hadn't thought of this application of Shadow Clones himself.
"And now that I've read the scroll, it seems so obvious," he growled, his brows creased in frustration. "It's a natural progression of the jutsu for someone with my fighting style." He had just taken a bath and came out from the bathroom.
Nevertheless, it was better late than never.
He had graduated from the ninja academy nearly a month ago, and although he had not yet been assigned to a team, he had never slacked off; in fact, he had been training even harder.
"One good thing about graduation is that I don't have to hide the fact that I've been sending a shadow clone to the academy in my place," Itachi said with a smile, wiping off the water from his body with a towel. "That was a fun time, hiding from everyone until evening and training by myself."
A cool night breeze sent a shiver through him, and he hurried to put on his clothes.
Just as he finished putting on his shirt, there was a knock at his door. Two seconds later, Mikoto entered with Sasuke in her arms. Judging by the slow rhythmic rising and falling of the baby's chest, Sasuke appeared to be asleep.
"Itachi, can you look after Sasuke?" asked Mikoto. She looked to be anxious, he could tell that she was worried about something.
"Sure, Mother," replied Itachi, nodding. "Are you going somewhere? When will you be back?" he added, frowning slightly. Ever since last year, Mikoto sometimes visited Kushina and then come back the following day. But she would usually take Sasuke with her.
"Oh, I'm not going anywhere. We are having a clan meeting at home," she explained, handing Sasuke to him. "Everyone will be here soon. Take care of Sasuke until we are done with the meeting, okay?"
Itachi felt puzzled. Clan meetings were always held at the Naka shrine. He had never heard of them being hosted at someone's home.
"Why are we having a clan meeting at this time, Mother?" Itachi asked as he took Sasuke from her. "Not to mention—in our home."
Creak!
They heard a door creaking open, and based on the sound, it was the main door.
Tap Tap.
This was followed by the soft sound of several people's footsteps entering the house.
It seemed that the clan members had arrived for the meeting Mikoto had mentioned.
"Something just came up, Itachi, and we need to discuss it among the clan," Mikoto said, staring in the direction of the sound of the footsteps. "Anyway, look after Sasuke for me. I hope this doesn't take too long," she added, and walked toward the door with quick footsteps.
Itachi watched Mikoto hurry toward the door, a sense of unease settling in his stomach. "Why does it feel like something serious is going on?" He felt it was strange that his father, Fugaku, was holding the meeting at home.
"Father is a very strict person who always adheres to the clan's rules and traditions," Itachi murmured, frowning. He knew that there was no rule forbidding clan meetings outside the Naka shrine, but it was how they had always done it.
Holding Sasuke in his arms, Itachi stared absentmindedly at the ceiling for a moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. After a while, he concluded, "Something serious must have happened, and they can't wait until morning to discuss it; they don't have time to waste traveling to the Naka shrine."
Then a glint shone in Itachi's eyes, and his face was filled with excitement; he could smell an adventure—a late-night adventure.
Sasuke, who was cradled in his arms, felt a shiver and huddled closer against Itachi's chest. Looking at Sasuke, Itachi face softened, and soft smile graced his features, but the glint in his eyes was not gone.
"So, I have to take care of Sasuke now, while also finding out what is happening in the meeting," Itachi said in a soft tone, "How do I accomplish both things at the same time."
Itachi fell silent for a moment, seemingly deep in thought, although he already had his answer. Then, letting out a helpless sigh, he said, "Well, there is no helping it. I can only use the Shadow Clone Jutsu."
So, like any other curious, normal seven year old child, he decided to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu to accomplish both tasks at once.
Itachi gently placed the sleeping Sasuke on the bed, taking care to place a pillow next to him so he wouldn't fall. Then he moved swiftly.
Itachi put his hands together in a Ram seal and began to mold chakra. A few seconds later, light blue chakra emanated from his body. Seeing this, Itachi muttered in contemplation, "My body chakra capacity is still low. The amount of chakra needed for this jutsu exceeds my body's capacity, and so it is leaking outside. Well, there is no helping it; I can only wait for my body's chakra capacity to gradually increase."
While still pondering, Itachi crossed his hands—one horizontal and the other vertical—intersecting at the index and middle fingers of each hand raised together. Then, with a—
POOF!
—a puff of smoke appeared for a moment, and suddenly, there were now two Itachis standing next to each other. One dashed toward the door, while the other remained behind to take care of Sasuke.
Once outside, Itachi suppressed his chakra and scanned for the meeting's location.
After walking around for a bit, he finally found the room. He looked for a good place that was close enough to listen to the people inside, but not be accidentally discovered by someone who randomly exits the room.
"Tch. There is no such convenient location around the room. Hmm… What should I do now?" Itachi muttered. Now that he was here, he was unwilling to return empty-handed.
After looking around for a little more time, he found a way.
"This could work, but I have to be very quiet while getting up there," Itachi whispered.
He slipped outside, moving quietly as he circled the house, careful to stay within the shadows cast by the moonlight. Once he reached the side of the house closest to the meeting room, he molded chakra with a Ram seal once again, but this time, there was no chakra emanating from his body. He carefully focused the chakra he had just molded at his feet.
Itachi approached the wall slowly and placed one foot against it. Then he raised his other foot and placed it even higher. But he didn't fall; the chakra on the bottom of his feet made them stick to the wall. And he started walking on the wall.
Itachi's mind drifted back to the first time he had climbed a tree, his father's proud smile as he demonstrated chakra control. A small smile curled his lips as he recalled that memory.
Just like that, Itachi was on the rooftop in no time. Once he was on top, he lay down against the roof and slowly crawled toward the room.
As Itachi crept closer, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He felt a familiar rush of adrenaline coursing through him, similar to the previous times he had successfully spied on the clan meetings in the Naka shrine.
Once he got close enough, he focused his hearing on the voices inside the room. It seemed he hadn't missed much, as the meeting had just started.
"It's alright, Mikoto. We don't mind it at all. It must have been something important for you to call a meeting on such short notice." said an elderly voice. Itachi recognized this voice belongs to at once—his grandfather, Uchiha Masato.
Itachi took a sharp breath in surprise; his mom wasn't one to involve herself in clan matters, she let Fugaku to handle them.
'To think Mom would call for a meeting, and an impromptu one at that. Something must have happened.' thought Itachi, his heart quickening in anticipation.
He didn't wait long before Mikoto began to explain the reason for the meeting.
"Today, when I went to visit Hotaru, the Fourth Hokage's son—" there was a rustle as everyone who was inside shifted in their seats and sat up straight upon hearing who Mikoto was talking about.
Itachi perked up his ears so as to not miss a single word. He knew the person in question after all; Uzumaki Hotaru was Kushina's son and he used to visit them all the time a few years ago. 'Did something happen to him? But he's the Fourth Hokage's son. Who would dare to do anything to him?'
"Hotaru? Uzumaki Hotaru? What about him? Did something bad happen, Mikoto?" asked another voice laced with anxiety. It seemed someone else had the same thoughts as Itachi. This time, it was a woman speaking. Itachi recognized this voice as well—it was his grandmother, Uchiha Aika.
"Hotaru woke up from his coma today when I visited him in the morning," Mikoto announced in a loud voice.
Silence.
Itachi had to stop himself from squealing in surprise. This was huge news, and judging from the pin-drop silence in the room, the others seemed to think so as well.
Itachi waited for someone to ask the next question, and soon a voice he couldn't recognize said, "What? So suddenly? How?"
Mikoto then recounted everything that had happened since morning in the hospital, including the medical-nin's assessment of Hotaru's condition.
There was another stretch of silence after Mikoto finished informing them of Hotaru's condition.
"I feel so bad for that girl, Kushina. Poor thing." said Aika in a gentle voice, "I saw her growing up, laughing all the time, and now she rarely does. The past few years have been very hard on her. And now Hotaru doesn't remember anyone."
Aika took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "No. We should be happy that Hotaru was at least able to wake up and the worst-case scenario didn't happen. I hope Kushina feels better now that Hotaru is out of his coma."
"That's true. At least the boy woke up and is no longer in danger. We should be satisfied with this outcome," said another voice that Itachi couldn't recognize.
It seemed everyone agreed with Aika's words, as there were more murmurs of assent.
Although taken aback by the sudden revelation of Hotaru's amnesia, Itachi was happy for Kushina. While no one talked about the worst case scenario within earshot of Kushina, even Itachi could guess what it was.
"As Hotaru's body worsened each day, I knew—though I never said it out loud, even to Mother—I feared he might pass away sooner or later if his condition persisted," Itachi said, taking in the cool night air and sighing in relief. "As Grandmother said, we should be happy that the worst didn't happen."
"There is one more thing left to discuss," Itachi heard Mikoto's voice once again. The murmurs in the room died down upon hearing her.
Taking a deep breath, Mikoto mustered her determination and said, "I have decided on something—" there were a few gasps from the crowd upon hearing that she had 'decided' on something; however, she wasn't interrupted "—I am going to have Hotaru join our clan's Police Force once he graduates from the ninja academy."
Even Itachi was taken aback. The simplest matters often took a long time to reach consensus among everyone, let alone something as significant as this. From all the meetings he had spied on, he had seen very few instances of agreement. And Mikoto one-sidedly said that she decided on something. This was sure to raise a storm of rage in the meeting now.
The tension in the room was palpable, and Itachi could feel it even from the rooftop. He braced himself for the arguments about to erupt—as always, half the clan would support and the other half would oppose.
And the matter would simmer for months and eventually forgotten by everyone, and nothing would ever be done about it. Of that he was sure; it would be no different this time.
Itachi shook his head in disdain and clenched his fists; these people would never change.