She did not over-analyze or philosophize her work, did not seek some moral justification or dwell on known friends and acquaintances lost in the years of her employ as a Jounin and Anbu. Grief had its place, as did guilt but ultimately things were simple in their world.
Everyone died.
Be it friends, or enemies people were going to die in these little, every day wars the ninja villages held against one another. It was unavoidable and simply a necessary bi-product of the way their society was formed.
But this was something that did weigh on her. Had been weighing on her since she learned of it.
Rebellion.
One where she was to be the tip of the spear.
Was she strong enough to outright defeat Hiruzen?
Perhaps.
Already she was strong enough to defeat Hatake-sempai in half their bouts.
Outside of him, there were very few others, if any that could lay a claim on being a challenge.
But Sarutobi...
The man had been known as the God of Shinobi and with good reason.
Even on her best day a perhaps was the best any could hope for.
Not only that, butSarutobi was a good man...
A good man that was also Tobirama's student, and Tobirama's hatred of the Uchiha ran deep.
Deep enough to infect Sarutobi, Homura and Koharu.
The three didn't trust the Uchiha, relegating them to base rolls within the village. Platitudes that displayed favor to the world but were really just another means of control. Of stunting the clan.
They gave them a corded off piece of land to build their homes, away from the village proper, nearly isolated, walled off to keep them corralled whereas the Hyuuga were nearly in the heart of Konoha proper.
They assigned them the role of the police force of Konoha. But how much strength and battle experience does a ninja acquire from dealing with drunken louts and investigating petty crimes. The rare murder conducted by a ninja above the rank of chuunin was handled by T&I or Anbu, or the elite Hunter ninja if the culprit fled the village.
And even if they weren't, those cases were too few and far between.
How much could a ninja clan that never did field work truly grow?
How many allies could they gain with the resentment held in the minds of some of the commoners with their "privileged" status. A resentment that grew when, day after day the Uchiha were the ones that did the dirty work of enforcing the iron rule of the village laws.
She was the exception, not the norm. She was one of only seven Uchiha that did field work.
Seven.
Everyone else was stuck in the clan district in perpetual routine.
Corralled and meek. Ready for slaughter should it be needed.
Namikaze was the one to first break the routine, engaging Fugaku, a man that had been in the same graduating class, in genuine talks of expanding the Uchiha's role within and without the village.
Then Minato died.
But those seeds of promise were already sewn within her father's mind
He wasn't happy just quietly returning to the status quo that had been under Sarutobi.
And after being rebuffed by Sarutobi once the older man was back in office left a galling...bad taste in his mouth.
That bad taste had malformed into resentment, and from resentment a quiet hatred.
And now...here they were.
With him plotting to overthrow the Sandaime.
What then?
Take control of the village?
Subdue other ninja and clans that would no doubt rise up against the "unwarranted" attack from the Uchiha?
They were a clan of 200. A third of which had never even held a knife, the other part of them that had were men and women that were part of the police force, they were not capable of besting Jounin or Anbu.
But in her fathers mind...Sarutobi, Homura, Koharu and Danzo were the four, stubborn walls that stood between the Uchiha clan and something better than these worthless platitudes and measures of passive aggressive control.
And he was probably right on that regard.
But to think that, after an act of overt hostility the negotiating table could be taken up...
Sarutobi was too well loved, and with good reason for the most part.
The sheer mob of people that would be seeking their blood would be enough to overwhelm him, no matter how many allies he had or had not secured to help in this coup.
He had to-
"Itachi-nee!"
She blinked, placing a gentle smile over her features before she turned, finding little Sasuke running towards her, beaming. "Sasu-chan."
She let out a small laugh at his scowl. He doesn't like the name. Naruto hadn't liked "Naru-chan" either.
"How was your first day." She asks turning to face him fully just before he hugs her waist.
"It was good." He says quickly before looking up at her. "But you promised to help me practice shuriken throwing today."
She nods smiling. "I did didn't I?"
-0-
It is later, after the children are taken by the med nin, after they're treated and cared for that the sannin finally finds an adequate moment to demand his answers.
The hand that clamped down on Naruto's broken wrist and twisted jostled him firmly out of the fugue of the unconscious world.
He would have screamed if not for the other hand that fell over his mouth.
"Now, I'm going to ask you some questions." The Sannin drawled, gold eyes glinting. "You're going to answer fully. Do we understand eachother?"
The blue eyes narrowed, the ghost of the expression that had forever graced Naruto's features around him since he was four morphing into its manifestation of open hostility.
.
.
.
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