It was nighttime when Hanako left the Uchiha Shrine. Fugaku had summoned her and Shisui to the secret meeting place.
"This is not precisely a meeting, but there's something you should know," he explained once they stood in front of the seventh tatami. The stone rose slowly, revealing an entrance. "It's about Itachi," Fugaku continued as Hanako followed him down the stone stairs. The entrance closed behind them. When they reached the room, Hanako looked at Shisui. He was standing in the middle of it, eyeing the monument stone.
"What about him?" Hanako asked as she eyed the leader suspiciously. Fugaku turned to look at her with his Sharingan. The fire from the torches lit the room dimly.
"Itachi has been recommended to join Anbu." Hanako's eyes widened.
"Anbu?"
Fugaku nodded. "His enrollment will be assured according to his performance in his mission tomorrow," he explained. Hanako looked at Shisui, but he was staring at the ground. His attention had been withdrawn from the stone. "I will go with him to make sure he gets into the Anbu."
Every time Fugaku mentioned Anbu, Hanako felt a pang on her chest. How could he speak so easily about letting Itachi into the Anbu?
"Hanako, I know you're working under Ibiki in the Anbu." Fugaku's words were stern. "I also know you mastered the Mangekyou." She flinched. Shisui had told her to make sure no one knew about her eyes, but he seemed to trust Fugaku to know. "I recognize you are one of our most powerful members, the Mangekyou isn't an easy achievement, and almost no one is fit for it. Make sure to give it the right use." Hanako nodded. "Before being an Anbu, you are a member of the Uchiha Clan. Remember that."
There was a bitter taste in her mouth. "Yes, I know."
"What about tomorrow's meeting?" Shisui interjected. "I think the leader shouldn't skip it."
"It can be postponed."
"Really," Shisui finally looked at him. "Let me go with Itachi. I think it'll be the most comfortable for him."
Fugaku narrowed his eyes. "I think Itachi can make that choice."
Shisui smiled. "Of course, he can."
"Wait a moment," Hanako stood in between the two men. "Who recommended Itachi?"
Fugaku sighed. "Danzo did, with my permission." Hanako looked at their leader with suspicion. "You work for the Intelligence Division, you have access to all records from Konoha shinobi, Anbu included." She already had an idea where he was heading. "Once Itachi joins Anbu, he will become our spy. We will have eyes and ears inside the government."
"What for?" she asked. "Are you really going to go with the Clan's wishes? Do you really think this is the answer?"
"Listen to me, Hanako. Take a look." Hanako looked away from him, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. "Everyone in the Clan is miserable. We were forced to move out of the center of the village. Far from stores, far from hospitals, far from restaurants, far from everyone else. Civilians only criticize our role as the Police Force and question our authority. Behind the lie of our auto-determination, we were cast out of Konoha a long time ago. According to the village's council, we're nothing but outsiders invading their territory."
Fugaku approached the stone, Hanako looked at it while following his movements. She wondered if Fugaku could read what was written there. "Once I'm Hokage, I will change all of this. I will build a village that doesn't cast anyone out, and doesn't discriminate on who to protect."
"I want to change this world," Madara had said. "I want to bring the so desired peace. I want to create a world in which only love, joy, justice and tranquility triumph. A world in which only winners exist; where there's only light and no wars nor hatred nor darkness. I want to create a world in which no ninjas exist, nor chakra, so that no one will be superior to anyone."
His words were familiar. She looked up at Fugaku, but she could only see Madara's silhouette. "Itachi's mission will not be a failure." He finally pulled away and looked at Hanako. She returned his look, expressionless.
A coup d'état was a call for revolution, and revolutions were always violent. The Uchiha Clan conformed a high percentage in Konoha's military power, and Fugaku was going to take advantage of that. A lot of blood would be spilled, and other villages would take the opportunity to attack upon Konoha's vulnerability. It would evolve into a full rage war.
Shisui seemed to know what Hanako was thinking and walked to her side. He put a hand on her shoulder, hoping that would reassure her. "And what do you expect me to do?" she asked.
"When he's inside, I want you to research on all of Konoha's weak points. Anbu captains, important shinobi, anything that can deliver a strong hit to Konoha's forces. Then, I want you to eliminate them."
Hanako gritted her teeth. "Is this what I am to you? A weapon you can use against our own village?"
Fugaku trained his eyes on her. Shisui tightened his hold on her shoulder. "Hanako, you are a member of the Uchiha Clan." She didn't say anything as she looked up at the leader. Over her silence, Fugaku continued. "Your father wanted me to protect you, but I also must protect the clan. If you want to honor your father, do as I ask. Show him how powerful you have become, show him you can protect the clan with me." He turned his back on her, and focused back on the Uchiha stone.
Hanako pressed her lips into a thin lips. This was not how she wanted to protect them.
They left early after the brief meeting was over. Shisui didn't say anything and disappeared without a trace. Fugaku had to meet his son. Hanako let herself fall on the stairs of the entrance. She felt like dragged to the ground by an invisible force, but she didn't know what it was, or why it was so heavy. Tears fell from her eyes, but she didn't know why. She couldn't understand the sudden sense of impotence.
"No," someone exclaimed in disbelief. As if they had seen a miracle happen. "Hanako Uchiha, crying?!" Inabi was with the other two seniors, Tekka and Yashiro. They seemed to be going everywhere together lately, and for some strange reason, they always knew where she was.
Hanako was aware that Tekka was a sensor like herself, but precisely because of that she knew that it wasn't Tekka the one who found her. Her eyes skipped between Yashiro and Inabi. One of them must have placed a locator on her or something. They were following her movements very closely, so she didn't have much freedom to move around since she joined the Anbu.
"Hey," Inabi spoke again, "We needed to speak to you about something important, but are you okay? Should we come back later?"
The mocking in his voice fed Hanako's sudden urge to kill. "Don't bother me right now." The threat was clear in his voice, and she felt something pulsing inside her. She closed her eyes and the image of a flame was clear in her mind. A flame that grew each passing second. What is this feeling? I'm literally burning inside.
Inabi was going to continue, but Tekka put a hand on his shoulder. He was staring intently at the Uchiha girl, she was laid down but her chakra was flaring. "Inabi, something's happening to her. She's not controlling her chakra."
Inabi pushed Tekka away and neared the girl. He grabbed her neck and forced her to look up at him. His Sharingan was on display, three tomoes surrounding his pupil. "Listen here, you half-blood. I don't know who you're siding with, but if you think about betraying us I will personally rip those pretty eyes out of their sockets and make you eat them before I kill you."
Hanako felt her lips tilt up into a smug grin, a chuckle escaped before erupting into a full laughter. Inabi let his rage take control of him and his arm move to slap her. Hanako felt a stinging pain of her cheek as her head was thrown to the side. Inabi let go of her, and she fell back on the stairs. Her laughter stopped, but the fire sensation in her stomach grew larger.
"Who the hell are you calling half-blood?" Hanako tasted blood in her mouth. She grunted in disgust thinking she probably bit herself when the bastard hit her.
Inabi raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you didn't know? That your mother betrayed your dad with a man that's not even from the Uchiha Clan, had you, and then pretended you were Yusuke's?" He laughed.
Hanako looked up at him with confused eyes. "And not from any clan." Inabi continued, ignoring whatever Hanako was thinking. "Your real dad is a man from the Senju Clan! They even had the guts to send a letter to Fugaku, asking for a meeting with you." Inabi was laughing so hard, that he had to grab his stomach. "Of course I threw it away before he saw it, we don't need someone from the Senju Clan around here."
Hanako put a hand on her pulsing cheek. The pain had stopped, but she was sure the red mark of his hand was still there. "You're just trying to get on my nerves," Hanako replied calmly. Her eyes shut. The flame receded. "I won't be provoked by you."
Inabi smirked. "Really?"
"Inabi that's enough," Tekka warned. He wasn't sure what the man was planning by saying those awful things to Hanako, but they would get in trouble if Hanako spoke to Fugaku about this. They could lose everything they had been working on. Inabi ignored him.
"I have two facts for you. One, you are a half-blood. Half Uchiha, half Senju. And two," he leaned closer to mutter next to her ear. "Your mother's a whore."
In a fraction of a second, Hanako sneaked a punch straight into Inabi's jaw. She had gathered enough chakra to push him back down the stairs. Inabi spit out blood before reaching his hand to where she had hit him. He stared at his unmoving partners with anger. "What are you doing?! She punched a senior police man, arrest her!"
Yashiro was the first one to react and produced a pair of handcuffs from his pouch. He went to trap each of her wrists behind Hanako's back and smirked at the clicking sound when he locked them. Hanako let him do whatever he wanted, indeed she had just attacked the police. He had let them provoke her.
She gritted her teeth. He did it on purpose!
"What do you think you're doing?" Hanako opened her eyes when she recognized Kakashi's voice. He was standing at the base of the stairs before the Naka Shrine. She recognized the passive-aggressive look on his face. His stance was relaxed, with both of his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped. The tone in his voice hid a warning.
Tekka turned to look at the Anbu Captain with a serious face. "What is an Anbu doing in our territory?"
Kakashi narrowed his sole visible black eye. He knew that people were hiding something when they answered a question with another question. "It might be the Uchiha Compound, but the Naka Shrine is still a public place."
"During the day. The Shrine closed its doors awhile ago. Come back tomorrow."
Yashiro pushed Hanako to a standing position and forced her down the stairs. "I don't think you understand." Kakashi's eye was focused on the girl. "But I'm sure you know that you can't arrest an Anbu without a direct order from the Hokage. We are above you in terms of power."
Inabi stood from the ground. "You arrogant bastard. Meddle in your own business! She punched me and now she is going to pay for it by spending the night in a cell!"
Inabi's left cheek swelled and turned purple. His voice was muffled due to the pain that speaking caused. Hanako smirked slightly. Kakashi's eye inspected the giant swollen bruise.
"I'm pretty sure you deserved that." Inabi widened his eyes in disbelief. "You did say some pretty nasty things. Now, release her."
Inabi glared at the Anbu one more time before looking at Yashiro. "You heard him. The kid's lucky because of her position. Let's leave it."
Yashiro clicked his tongue and unlocked the cuffs. Hanako rubbed her wrists with a smug grin. The three seniors left with a low blow to their pride, but Hanako couldn't qualify that as a win.
"Thanks," Hanako muttered to Kakashi. "You saved me from a cold night behind bars."
Kakashi kept looking at her with sympathy in his black eye. "I've noticed the Uchiha have become...a little violent in the last few months."
Hanako sighed. "You don't have to watch your words around me Kakashi. I know damn well they're losing their minds, you can say it as it is." Her eyes met his. "That's why you are watching us, making sure we don't lash out and put the civilians in danger."
"But to think they would lash out against one of their own..." Hanako said nothing. "How do you feel?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Kakashi. Not yet." Her eyes were lost, but Hanako was focused on her mind.
Kakashi approached her. "Are you free tonight?"
Hanako looked at him in surprise. "You're not asking me out, are you?"
Kakashi scoffed, there was a light flush on the little skin revealed on his upper cheek. "I just thought you might want to release some steam after what happened. Do you want to spar?"
She had never fought against Kakashi, and she had wanted to ever since she was assigned under him in the Anbu. She tilted her head, trying to make it seem as if she wasn't excited about it. "A sparring match against the one and only Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake? I'll think about it, but I guess I do have some time to spare..."
Kakashi chuckled and ruffled her hair. Hanako watched him walk the path towards the exit of the Uchiha Compound and followed quietly behind him. Her mind still spared glances at the memory of Fugaku announcing that Itachi would now join the Anbu. She closed her eyes. Please be okay, Itachi.