Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 42

"No." the blonde spoke firmly, his eyes now a little hardened making the Hokage quite surprised at the steel he could see in those young eyes.

Tobirama pursed his lips and Naruto now was feeling where this was heading to, but he let the man have his time.

...

"I am considering allocating a new place to the Uchiha clan…" he stated finally, and Naruto's heart skipped a beat at his words along with widening of his eyes. Tobirama could sense his shock and decided to elaborate further to make his point.

"With the Uchiha clan handling the village's police force, I am assigning them a bit more power and thinking of relocating them to the outskirts of the city where they will have a larger area to maintain said force and it's base of operations nicely.

It will be a self autonomous sector of the village like the one you currently reside in within the completely empty eastern corner of the village walls…" he spoke his point in a single breath, and Naruto absorbed it all in silently, while his eyes became unfocused in thought before blinking back in focus.

"Won't that be like isolating the clan to a corner?" he finally asked and Tobirama sighed, it was exactly what he had been thinking and the only thing that had him postponing it for so long.

"Yes, but it is for the good of the village, we can't have the police force's prisoners being kept in the middle of the village and the Uchiha will have a much easier time handling it someplace where they are close to them…" he explained his plan and Naruto pursed his lips silently.

"I won't leave." he finally said, much to the surprise of the man who could hear his voice and see his eyes hardening even more.

"I won't leave my house, this is my family's legacy. Even if the clan leaves, I won't." he spoke flatly and Tobirama sighed tiredly, already figuring as much.

"But this will become a desolate part of the village Naruto, until the village decides on what to do with the land in the coming future…" he was cut off by Naruto, which came as a new thing to him since there weren't many that ever dared to cut his words off like this.

"I don't care if this becomes a graveyard, this is my house. It's my property and I won't abandon it for anything…" he spoke firmly and Tobirama had heard that tone many times before.

It was how Mito spoke when she was hell bent on something and would remain stubborn to the end. It was no surprise he had inherited a bit of that flare too with how close those two were with each other.

"If that will be all Hokage-sama, I have some things to take care of…" Naruto spoke in a blank tone making Tobirama's eyes go wide at the dismissing tone he heard.

But it wasn't that what surprised him, never once had the boy ever called him by that honorific before. It sounded a bit weird after years of his usual addresses.

Tobirama stood up, knowing the boy wasn't happy in the least bit right now with what he had been told.

He wanted an Uchiha's honest opinion on the matter that wouldn't be biased to gauge how it will affect the clan, but apart from Kagami Naruto was the only one he could talk to with a personal level of words shared between them. Thus was the reason for his failed visit here.

"Hokage-sama…" the boy called out, making him stop at the entrance of the door and glance back with his left eye to see Naruto playing with the cub held in his arms while he had caught her paws playfully in his hands.

"You know Kiara and I have been with each other for a long time now…" the blonde started and Tobirama knew it wasn't about the cub, but something else and stood silently to hear the boy out for now.

"Sometimes I have to hide her in the closet while I hand her her favorite pillow and ball of wool if someone who doesn't know about her comes to visit…" he spoke and wiggled the cub's paws who mewled playfully and tried to touch his cheek with her paw but to no avail.

"She is always comfortable staying there for a little while…" he spoke and Tobirama narrowed his eyes, not getting where he was going with this when he scooped the cub up and nuzzled her cheek with his own to get a small purr from her lips while she licked him lovingly.

"But after a while she gets restless…" he spoke, gazing intently into his eyes and Tobirama knew now what he wanted to say and pursed his lips while turning his gaze around to the front of the door with a blank expression of thought on his face.

"Finally, when the time becomes too long, she becomes nervous and fidgets before she claws her way out of the closet door forcefully. Isolation and confinement can be such strange things ne?" he asked innocently and Tobirama closed his eyes, while a small smile lit up his face, unknown to the blonde behind him.

"Yes, it can be quite strange indeed. Thank you for the tea Naruto, it was nice as always. I'll visit you again in the evening to help you with that pet project of yours after I finish off some of my work back at the tower…"

He spoke stoically, still not turning around and Naruto nodded, kissing the cub who was about to fall asleep after her food but he spoke a small line before he parted from here.

"…right here." he spoke in a whisper and walked out, leaving a softly smiling Naruto behind who had heard and understood the meaning of those last two words in his whisper quite clearly.

...

Hokage Tower

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Hokage Office

Tobirama paced through his usual hallways before making his way into his resting chambers. Sure enough, he found Sasuke, Hiruzen, Koharu, Homura and Danzo sitting there no doubt waiting for his presence for the meeting to commence.

He took a seat by them and started on the topic he had to discuss right now without beating around the bush, it was the thing he despised the most in his life.

"As you may be wondering why I have called you here, I wish to discuss the Uchiha clan's relocation terms and how to go about it with you in this final meeting before I make my decision."

He spoke calmly and they nodded, already figuring as much. Sasuke decided to start off by speaking his mind bluntly with no mincing of words as usual.

"I am against it, the idea doesn't really sound appealing to me. Make a nice little headquarter for them to manage the prison over there and let them stay where they are, relocating a whole clan for such a petty issue is not the right decision in my honest opinion." Sasuke spoke his mind and Tobirama nodded, already figuring as much from the man.

Hiruzen decided to go after his father, since their views weren't that much different from each other but was cut off before he could put in a word.

"I think we should relocate them, the Uchiha clan have always been under suspicion by you sensei. Why not keep them there under strict walls and keep a tight eye on them?" Danzo stated his opinion and Tobirama nodded, not expecting anything else from him.

"I have to agree with my father there, but sensei why isn't Kagami here?" Hiruzen asked, seeing the empty seat of his friend and Tobirama looked on at the empty seat himself.

"He is scheduled to have a meeting within his clan regarding some matters that were left alone last night, but has already stated his opinion to me. He is against it." he spoke and they all nodded, already figuring as much.

"The clan heads wish for them to be put under lock and key too, and I'm afraid I agree with them since the Uchiha have always acted first upon the welfare of their clan and then the village.

This way they can be of use to the village and not be involved too much in it either." Homura spoke, fixing his glasses and Tobirama nodded, filing away his opinion in the back of his mind for later.

"I have to disagree sensei, the clan heads have always been envious of the power and freedom the Uchiha's enjoy. They are almost a self autonomous little section of the village themselves, and wouldn't be the least bit worried to break away if need be.

But they fought through in the last war till the end and haven't shown any signs of disloyalty till now…" her opinion was cut off by that of Danzo.

"And what of Izuna Uchiha all those years ago, that man wrecked a good chunk of the village in his vain of insanity." Danzo spoke up harshly making the woman scowl at her teammate.

"The actions of one man do not make up for those of the whole clan Danzo…" Hiruzen chimed in and Sasuke nodded.

"Plus, aside from the loss of life. Everything monetary was paid off by the Uchiha clan from the family's accounts to the village in whole, without any resistance whatsoever." Sasuke added in and the whole room was filled with tense silence.

Every pair of eyes turned to the silent Hokage who had his eyes closed and looked to be in deep thought upon the matter.

The table in front of them was laid out with various statements from the past few council meetings, with each clan's views on the matter.