Chapter 76: Planning

Riku wiped the tiredness away from his face with his hand as he sat down in his mother's seat. Considering the circumstances and how he became the Rokudaime Hokage, he would never think of the chair as anything else than Tsunade’s. No matter how long he sat in it.

Finally, he took a deep breath and looked at Hiruzen who was waiting patiently to the side. An update was required. Opening his mouth to say something, the door opened. Strolling in were Homura and Koharu, probably done with the task Riku had given them. It was perfect. He dismissed the anbu on the spot and activated the security seal, locking down the whole office.

“The Mizukage recovered to full health. Missing parts regrown, face fixed. She was nothing but grateful.” He started with and before anyone could say anything about how she was an ‘allied enemy’ and shouldn’t receive too much trust, Riku raised his hand to stop them. “I know. No need to say it. We freed two powerful shinobis from Orochimaru’s mind control. Momochi Zabuza and his daughter are now fighting for us.”

“This is good news.” Homura said.

“One of the swordsmen of the mist and an ice user would help greatly.”

Koharu was more straight to the point than Hiruzen. “Especially since they are undead. They won’t tire and recover from any wounds.” ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ N0veI.Fiɾe.net

Riku nodded but nuanced the news. “They are A-rank shinobis at best. It won’t matter against S-rank and Kage level ninjas. They can take the heat off from our troops a bit, though.” He exhaled through his nose. “Uchiha Itachi.”

The name made more than a brow furrow. It was a very sore subject for the two elders and the former Hokage. The perfect shinobi. A genius of the tallest order that they used without thought and got broken by their late teammate. They all had a bitter taste in their mouths as a result.

“We need him on our side. Unfortunately…”

Hiruzen finished his successor’s thought. “Sasuke is dead.”

“Yes.” Riku nodded. “I never met him so I don’t know much. I know a lot about him as a shinobi but not about him as a man. Are you aware of anything that will make him join us?”

“Itachi…” Koharu said with surprising emotions. “Was very much like our late teammate Uchiha Kagami. An Uchiha with Senju ideals.”

“Peace through understanding, not strength.” clarified Homura who suddenly looked like he aged ten more years.

“He was perfect.” Hiruzen spoke up then. “He loved the village, its people, more than he loved his clan. He was strong. He was smart. He was talented.” The old man was looking outside the window, lost in thoughts. The regret and frustration of his face was made obvious by his wrinkles.

Riku understood then what Itachi was. “Your successor. You saw him as the Godaime Hokage. He had all the qualities needed. The cherry on the top of the cake was that he was an Uchiha. Decades of perceived slights… It would have quelled their resentment down. Appeased them but not really gave them any power because Itachi wouldn’t have prioritized his clan above the village.”

They all nodded silently to what Riku had said. Itachi had been the hope they needed to finally put to rest the difficulties the Uchiha created in the village after years of political conflict.

“Yet, something happened.” Riku pointed out. “He was sixteen. More than old enough to be considered a proper man and adult. His reputation as one of the most outstanding shinobi of the village reached even the lowest part. You only needed to officially take him under your wing,” He looked at Hiruzen. “To appease the Uchiha and the rumors about them regarding the Kyubi’s attack. I know you well enough by now to know you would have done it.”

Hiruzen’s mouth contorted into a rictus of fury. “He got sick.” He replied perfectly, controlling his anger. “A degenerative disease attacking the lungs. Something he got from birth.”

“So that’s how he died.” Riku leaned back against the seat. “The disease took him. It makes sense now. And why he went with everything… The only thing he had left was Sasuke and the village and he wanted to be sure it was protected from enemies within and without. Alright. Can we capitalize on this? On his love for Konoha?”

“Before his brother’s death?” Koharu asked. “Probably. Now…” Her words hung in the air leaving behind a trail of silence that no one had anything to say to break.

Riku scratched his chin in reflection. There were a few options but they were all complicated. They could of course go straight to it and hope for the love of Konoha being enough but it was risky. Sighing he went with one of the ideas he had.

“How about we bring him and Sasuke back to life?”

Hiruzen didn’t miss the implication in that question. “You want to give the Uchiha another chance? I thought you said it was good riddance that they were gone?”

That surprised Koharu and Homura to hear that. Never would they have thought that Riku would espouse what they had been taught and firmly believed in. Not like they hated the Uchiha per say. They hated their mindset. The few Uchiha like Kagami and Itachi? They liked just fine.

“It is.” Riku confirmed. “Less trouble, less headaches. But we need firepower the likes of Itachi’s. If the price for victory and saving the world is bringing back the Uchiha then it’s a small price to pay.”

“They are the ones responsible for everything happening now.” Homura pointed out.

“Their mindset is. If Itachi is still embracing the Senju’s ideals then it’s half the reconditioning of the clan done. The problem would be Sasuke. Most of his life is nothing but lies, psychological torture and revenge. We’ll need to watch out for him. At worst? Once he has a few children…”

“He’d be dealt with quietly, without Itachi getting wind of it.” Koharu finished the line of thought.

Homura shook his head. “He will suspect.”

“That’s putting the cart before the horse.” Hiruzen interjected. “We’d need to bring them back and it’s not a sure thing. Not without the Rinnegan.”

“That we will retrieve or recreate.” The conviction in Riku’s voice was firm.

“Afterwards we’re destroying them. For good. Death should not be taken that lightly. We shouldn’t have a resurrection button at the ready. The results would be very costly for the world as a whole.”

“I agree. The dead should stay dead. I know it sounds hypocritical when we brought back Minato and Kushina but they deserved it in my opinion. Regardless, convincing Itachi may require the truth about the Uchiha massacre to be shared with Sasuke.” Once again he raised his hand, indicating he wasn’t done. “Of course we will need to shift part of the blame.”

“Danzo.” Homura said with a nod, agreeing to the idea.

“Perfect scapegoat.” Riku said. “And it’s the truth. I would upgrade the security of your homes though. Even if your intent was to just eliminate the leaders of the coup, it included his parents.”

“It didn’t actually.” Hiruzen denied and explained further when Riku gave him a look of curiosity. “Fugaku was pressured by the elders. He agreed that something needed to be done as the Uchiha were segregated,”

“Hiruzen!”

“No, Koharu,” The Sandaime maintained his position. “It’s the truth. We should never have made them move their compound at the edge of the village. It was the last straw for them. It looked like a good decision at the time with the possibility of them releasing the Kyubi but by doing so we broke the unity. It was a mistake and I’m neither too proud nor foolish enough to not admit it.” He turned back to Riku, leaving his teammate to scowl deeply. “Fugaku saw little option for his clan to strive and get their due. It was with reluctance that he agreed to the coup that is why my original order was to have him spared. Not only was he a powerful shinobi in his own right, the likes of which was stronger than the elders, but he was also the head of the military police. His disposition and situation made him too invaluable to lose.”

Homura took it from there. “We wanted the Uchiha cowed but not disorganized or destroyed. Fugaku would have maintained the order.”

Riku nodded again. “Something else we can pin on Danzo, then. Good.”

Still scowling, Koharu changed the topic a bit. “What about the cover story for the village? We can’t integrate them back as if they did nothing. That would bring resentment and mistrust among the troops. Especially now with the change in leadership.”

She had been as tactful as possible, considering that Riku had just learned of his mother Death an hour ago. As far as she knew.

“For Sasuke, I was thinking of Orochimaru brainwashing him. When he defected the first time it was because of the curse seal. We did retrieve a piece of Orochimaru’s soul from it and it had been filed in the T&I logs. His imprisonment was not for any crime beyond defection but because of the possibility of Orochimaru still influencing him. As for his attack on the village with Akatuski… I was thinking of the same thing. This time we’re putting the blame on Uchiha Obito, which I believe should also reveal the involvement in the Kyubi’s attack.”

“So you do intend to make the Uchiha responsible.” Hiruzen voiced.

“Of course, although I prefer saying ‘accountable’. With their name to clear and their reputation to rebuild, Itachi and Sasuke will be too busy to plot.” Riku nodded. “ Especially the latter. His pride and love for his clan will be his shackles.”

“It could work.” Homura replied with a hum. Hand on his chin.

“And Itachi?” Koharu asked.

“More complex but a bit of the same thing.”

“Danzo usurped my authority through Itachi being in root. He gave me information that the Uchiha were preparing a coup. Information that proved to be false from the documents we found in his lair. He betrayed Itachi and sought to silence him but he was more resourceful than expected and had no choice but to defect when Danzo revealed his hand.” Hiruzen continued the line of thought. “He made contact with Jiraiya over the years and infiltrated the Akatuski, working as a spy for Konoha.”

“Simple, but it’s a lot to digest for the people.” Homura remarked.

Riku’s reply was swift. “That’s the best I came up with. If you have a better idea, I’m open to suggestions.

“Forced marriage.”

Everyone turned to one of Riku’s shadow clones. They were still there, reading the mountain of information Shikaku had shared. They had been so silent no one had paid attention to them.

“A marriage to a loyal kunoichi to raise the children properly? A good idea but it could backfire badly.” Koharu voiced her opinion on the subject.

“Perhaps not.” Riku replied. “We don’t need to force them to marry a kunoichi of our choice. Just give them a deadline. Just like for Karin and the- Wait why are we talking about this?” Riku was taken aback. “I was talking about justification to make the village accept them back not- Oh,” He suddenly stopped and considered the topic more carefully for a moment. “They still have their wealth. I don’t think mom had the opportunity to take it. Nor the land. That would be enough to interest merchants and kunoichi of marriageable age.”

“Your mother did not have the time, no.” Hiruzen confirmed.

“Then it’s settled. We’re going with that. Now let’s talk about something less headache inducing, like… raising the age of graduation.”

They all gave him a flat stare. They were in the middle of war and increasing the minimum age for academy students to become genin was not on the list of priorities.

Riku explained himself. “I just took the hat. My clones are getting acquainted with everything as we speak as you can see. I can’t do much about the war right now so why not discuss the future after it? Konoha was founded so children wouldn’t have to die in senseless battles. We’re now at a corner of History and I think it’s time to finally realize what Hashi-ji dreamed of.”

Hiruzen smirked at Riku's audacity. The way he wrapped the argument by reminding him and his teammates about why Konoha was built in the first place was absolutely devious. Devious but not wrong. During his first tenure he had increased the graduation age to twelve before waving that law away for the third shinobi war. He put it back in place during his second term but it wasn’t quite where he wanted it to be. At twelve, the genin were technically still children. Unfortunately he hadn’t had the heart to bring new change to the village, feeling himself too old.

With enthusiasm, Hiruzen took a seat and began to talk about the topic at hand. Koharu and Homura did the same knowing there wasn’t much they could do against it.