Chapter 80
KUSHINA UZUMAKI
There was no man more feared and reviled on the continent than Izuna Uchiha, and looking at him now made her think of the past, and how he had been so little once, filled with so much life and vigor.
But duty and war had ruined him, and now the boy who had once been filled with love and joy was nothing but a cold warrior driven only by purpose and lethality.
Minato's death had shaken the very foundation of Konoha, and both Iwa and Kumo had tried to pounce upon them right away, thinking them weak and vulnerable, and in that moment as people looked for a leader, the young boy had stepped forward, and had taken over not only Minato's burden, but the Burden of the Four Great Heroes.
He had carried on their legacy single-handedly as he stepped onto the battlefield with the mantle of the Godaime Hokage, and slew Konoha's enemies. Yet he did not simply stop there, for he then ignored the class for peace and pushed for the continuation of the war, and while many believed that he did so as an act of revenge or desperation.
The truth was far crueler, for Izuna did not act out of revenge or power.
He acted for her.
He had to rectify a mistake from the past, one that had haunted her clan and had later led to their death. Hashirama Senju had committed a mistake when he had captured the tailed beasts, thinking them to be mindless creatures of hate and power.
But the truth was that they were anything but that. They were beings of enormous power, created by the Sage of Six Paths to lead humanity onto a better path, but the Sage's vision and dream were lost to the ages, and what remained was a history filled with cruelty and carnage that had filled these creatures with hate and anguish.
Izuna wanted to erase this hate and anguish, to fulfill the dream of the Sage.
"I have fulfilled my end of the bargain," the young Hokage whispered as he faced the massive Nine-Tailed beast, as he returned from the Five Kage summit, having secured the freedom of all of the bijuu.
"What a surprise?" Kyuubi grumbled as it lay there behind those massive golden bars, staring directly at Izuna as Kushina stood slightly behind him, ready to intervene at any time.
"To think that of all the people, a Uchiha would pay any heed to our plight," and Izuna was not impressed.
"I offer your siblings my protection. They can seek me through you if they are ever in danger," and those slit like eyes narrowed.
"How do you even know about that?" Kyuubi grumbled as it pushed forward its face, making her frown.
"Hey! Back away!" she thundered, and unlike Izuna and the Kyuubi, she had long become used to the giant fox's presence, and though they were not friends, she thought of it as family of sorts.
"No fighting!" she motioned to them both as the massive fox scoffed.
"I have no reason to fight him," the giant fox grumbled, backing away from the Golden Iron bars as its eyes narrowed at Izuna once more.
"No," it spoke up after a few seconds of silence.
"You are not him," he whispered, and Izuna agreed.
"I am not, but that does not matter. Your siblings are free now, and under the protection of the Hokage, and they shall have this freedom for as long as they don't harm humans," and so that was the accord that he had reached, and Kyuubi's eyes narrowed once more.
"And what if they do harm humans?" it threatened, and Izuna shrugged.
"Then their freedom shall be very short-lived," and with that, Izuna turned away from the giant beast, as she felt herself wake as the landscape vanished around her and she found herself in the Hokage office once more, as Izuna sat in front of her, imperious and powerful as ever, looking more in place than ever.
"So, peace at last," she whispered, and his face tightened at that as he nodded.
"Yes, peace at last," and then he gave her a brittle smile.
"Though I do wonder, with my luck, how long will it last?" and she both hoped and prayed that it would last for years and years, for the world had seen enough death and destruction, according to her.
"Still, I believe it is time that you live a little," and he had long been embroiled in the business of war, such that despite their clear attraction, both Izuna and Konan had refused to take any step at all, but if the rumors were true, all was set to change.
"The village could use a celebration," she added with an intentional smirk, giving him the hint as Izuna sighed.
"Not you as well," Izuna groaned, and for five years, he had shown himself to the world as a demon of death and destruction.
No, Kage before him had taken to the battlefield as much as he had, but his actions had saved hundreds, if not thousands, of men.
"What, me as well?" and though he may now don the hat and haori, he would remain to her an innocent and little apprentice.
"You are not a kid anymore, it is time for you to settle down, get a wife, and give Mikoto and me a few grandchildren to pamper and play with," and he sighed.
And given that both Naruto and Sasuke were now about to graduate in a few days, both hers and Mikoto's homes would be becoming empty, and they would both need something new to keep them busy.
And the thing that they had decided upon was Izuna's marriage.
"It is time, Izuna," she whispered, and he was not blind to his fears and apprehensions, for Izuna Uchiha was a boy who had lost nearly everything he had cared about to war.
His best friend had been the first casualty that he had suffered, and that had been followed up with the death of Kakashi, and then Minato, and so forth.
He was not the most reviled and feared man on the continent, and that would put Konan's life in jeopardy. But that would have mattered if the purple-haired girl were not an S-ranked shinobi herself.
Konan was now an elite S-ranked shinobi. She had honed her arsenal of techniques through various jutsus and had become one of the pillars of Konoha's offensive force.
"You like her, and she likes you. That is plenty enough reason to do it," she advised him, as he bit his lip, his fists balling up in doubt.
"But the war has just ended, I still need..."
"You need to live your life," she cut in, chastising him as a mother would.
"You have given this village more than twenty years. You have led it through its most tumultuous times, and though you may not feel it, but the people around you see that sacrifice, and want to share your burden so that you can live your life a bit." Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza, and a dozen other people had come to her as well and had asked her to intervene, for they wished to share their Hokage's burdens.
"So, for the next month you will be leaving all your duties in the hands of the jounin..." and just as he tried to shake his head, she shushed him and continued.
"And you will be getting married at the end of the month," and his eyes widened in surprise and he began to shake his head in denial.
"No. No. No, I c..."
"You can and you will or help me, God, I will bash your head in myself...."
0000
ITACHI UCHIHA
As the Konoha prepared itself for the wedding of its Kage, the continent had its first batch of genin graduates that did not have the specter of war looming over them, and as a newly minted jounin, Itachi found himself as the teacher of a certain group of three young genin.
Peace had come at last, and while before the five hidden villages had maintained a sort of balance in their power, his brother had ended that era. Now, Konoha stood at the top, and though they imposed no laws, sanctions against the villages were imposed except for the retrieval of the Bijuu, neither Kumo nor Iwa would have the necessary force or will to take on Konoha for decades.
Back in the clan, his mother led the charge as they prepared for the wedding of their most prized shinobi, and the very clan which had once denounced his brother as a coward and a weakling now prided themselves in associating with him, for Izuna was not just a Kage.
No, he was amongst the strongest kage ever to live. Such that there were many in the village who called him by the title, only ever given to two other shinobi in the village, the Shodaime and the Sandaime—The God of Shinobi.
Itachi felt proud of having a brother like that, and wanted to share on his burdens, and was set to take over the clan soon from his mother, hence giving his brother a credible hand to rely on.
Saiko-san and Anko-san had grown up as well and were the twin heads of their brother's ANBU division. While they were not S-ranked shinobi, their combined teamwork made them a menace on the battlefield.
"So, as the three of you may have already heard, but I am Itachi Uchiha," he introduced himself to the three young graduates sitting in front of him, all eyeing him with awe and fear, though he had an inkling that the fear and awe were not because of anything he had done.
"And I shall be your jounin sensei," he declared, and unlike the rest of the teachers, he had no plans on playing games. Testing the three of them on his philosophy in teaching genin was rather different from his own brother's.
"Are you really Hokage-sama's brother?" questioned the kunoichi sitting in the middle, and her long red hair was tied in a ponytail, and the girl in question had the same fiery and passionate gaze as Kushina-sama.
"Yes, I am indeed the younger brother of the Hokage," but that was not his only brother.
"I am also Sasuke's brother. I believe he was a classmate of yours," and his brother and Naruto had been assigned Asuma as their teacher, and the son of the late Sandaime Hokage had been rather dejected, for he had gotten the most troublesome and demanding team of all.
But they ignored the second sentence.
"If you are Hokage-sama's brother, then you must be quite strong?" the red-haired girl continued to probe, as her two teammates eyed her nervously.
"I believe I am," he answered, looking into her eyes directly, as the girl's lips rose in a smirk as she jumped up from the ground, and made an open declaration.
"That is good then, because I would never accept a weakling as a sensei," she declared hotly, reminding him of his brother's warning about Uzumakis and their rather infectious and unrelenting energy.
"After all, I am going to be the one to fulfill Kushina-nee's dream and become the FIRST WOMAN HOKAGE OF THIS VILLAGE!" and that was quite a lofty goal to have, but one he appreciated nonetheless.
"That is a great dream to have," he acknowledged as the girl smirked, before he turned towards the other two of his students.
"Hinata, Shino," and the other two genin perked up at his words as he addressed them.
"Why don't you tell me about your goals..."
0000