Chapter Text
The alliance with the Land of Fire further solidified Konoha’s standing as a proper village, causing another surge in their population. Although still smaller than the Konoha of his time, it was beginning to resemble a real village.
Naruto took great joy in walking the streets which were both so similar and so different from the Konoha he knew. Everywhere he went, people bowed and greeted him with smiles on their faces. It was an odd feeling. Towards the end of his first life, people had finally stopped glaring and muttering under their breath when he walked by, but it had never seemed entirely real. In the back of his mind, he had always known that he was still a jinchuriki in their eyes, and that there was nothing he could do to change that.
But here, in this time, none of that meant anything. In the eyes of these people, he wasn’t a monster who had somehow become a hero. He was simply a hero.
He had just returned from one of his usual walks when Gebu entered his office, bearing a tray of scrolls and letters of correspondence. One of the scrolls on the top of the stack immediately caught his attention. The glossy sheen of the paper spoke to its high quality, and it bore a black seal that the Hashirama part of his mind recognized as belonging to the Shimura clan.
He looked at Gebu warningly. “Not a word of this to anyone. Not yet, anyway.”
“Of course, Hashirama-sama. “Also, regarding the reply to daimyo-sama...”
“I know, Gebu. I’ll have my response ready by tomorrow.” He picked up the glossy scroll and started to unfurl it. “You may leave now.”
A few minutes later he set the scroll aside and sat back in his chair with a tired sigh. It looked like it was time to have a talk with Sasuke.
He scrawled a hasty note and sent it away with a messenger pigeon, then went up to the Hokage Monument mountain to wait. He would need complete privacy, and there were too many interested ears inside the walls of the Senju and Uchiha compounds.
He didn’t have to wait long before Sasuke arrived, looking rather harried. It appeared that he wasn’t the only one having a hard time adjusting to being a clan head and running a village at the same time.
“What do you need, idiot?” With no one else around, they slipped back to using their old monikers.
“I got a message from the Shimura clan,” he said without preamble. “They want to become part of Konoha.”
Sasuke tensed. “Turn them away,” he said flatly.
“I thought about it, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. It might change things too much.”
“Wasn’t changing Konoha the whole point of all this?”
“I know, but just listen. If we change too much, you and I may never be born in the future, and then the prophecy will never be fulfilled. We need to make sure that our future selves exist so that they can save the world when the time comes.”
“I don’t care about any that,” Sasuke ground out. “As long as I can save Itachi and my clan, the rest doesn’t matter.”
Naruto resisted the urge to shake him. “Don’t you get it? If we change things so that you aren’t born, Itachi probably won’t be either. And besides, if we deviate from our timeline too much, all of our knowledge will mean nothing. We won’t know how to save your clan or Itachi when the time comes.”
“Fine,” Sasuke said, “then let me kill Danzo.”
“Kill him? Sasuke, Danzo’s just a kid right now. He’s probably barely old enough to be an Academy student.”
“I don’t care. I’m going to have to kill him anyway, so I might as well get it over with. It will be easier now than when he’s older.”
Naruto stared at his friend. Although he couldn’t necessarily fault his logic, that didn’t mean that he agreed with it.
“I can’t allow you to do that,” he said finally. “Regardless of what happened in our time, this Danzo hasn’t done anything wrong yet. We can’t just kill an innocent child, Sasuke. It goes against everything Konoha stands for.”
“What’s your plan then?” Sasuke asked angrily. “To talk things through with him and get him to have a change of heart? To turn that monster into some type of soft-hearted humanitarian? Yeah, right. Or will that change things too much?”
“I don’t know yet,” he said, meeting his friend’s gaze steadily. “But I know that killing Danzo now will make us no better than him. If he grows up and starts going down the wrong path again, I’ll allow you to kill him, but until then, I need to know that you won’t act recklessly on your own. Can I trust you with that, Sasuke?”
Sasuke glowered at him, but finally he gave a jerky nod. “Just don’t blame me if you end up regretting it. Remember, if this grand plan of yours doesn’t work...”
“I know, I know.” He gave an exaggerated grimace. “It’s my head on the line, right?”
Sasuke’s lips twitched into the smallest of smiles. “As long as we’re still clear, idiot.”
There was a brief lull in the conversation as they both fixed their eyes on the sprawling village below them. The sun was already beginning to set, painting the scenery in vivid shades of orange and red.
“There’s something else,” he continued. “I got a letter a few days ago from the daimyo. He wants us to select a leader to represent Konoha—for diplomatic purposes, I guess.”
“A Hokage.”
He nodded. It was hard to say what came next, but he had already made his decision. “I think it should be you.”
Sasuke looked at him sharply. “Me? Weren’t you just saying that we’re not supposed to change things too much? Surely even you know that Hashirama was the First Hokage, not Madara.”
“I know that,” he said with irritation, “but as long as it’s you, it should be ok. Think of it as payback for agreeing to go along with my plan.”
Sasuke fell quiet, and he could tell that he was thinking. Finally, he said, “I don’t want it.”
“What? But didn’t you want to be Hokage? Before all this happened, I mean.”
He shook his head. “Not anymore. I’ve got enough work to do already. I’ll leave the piles of paperwork to idiots like you.”
Naruto grinned, unwilling to admit how relieved he was. “Fine. But don’t be getting jealous when you see how cool I look with the hat on.”
“If you can manage to look cool in that get-up, I’ll personally congratulate you, idiot.”
“I’m holding you to that,” he shot back. “Just you wait, dattebayo.”
They sensed the chakra signature at the same time, and they both stiffened. It was Tobirama.
“What are you doing up here, brother?” He sent a suspicious glance in Sasuke’s direction. “Toka’s already realized that you’re gone, and she’s not pleased.”
Naruto dragged himself to his feet. “I was just about to head back.” He turned to Sasuke. “Thanks for meeting with me. I’ll see you around.”
And with one last regretful look at the panoramic view, he started reluctantly down the mountain to face the wrath of the woman who was even scarier than Sakura-chan.