AU RP--

[mooneye]

...

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[youngesthokage]

"Which things make you say that?"

[mooneye]

"Which things do you think?" He looked down at the table, then back up. "Hokage, baby," he said, ticking both off on his fingers.

[youngesthokage]

He gave him a wan smile and moved over to sit beside him, leaning into him as he closed his eyes meditatively for a moment. "I graduated academy at seven." He opened his eyes and sipped his tea. "I made chunin at ten and was immediately taken into ANBU. I was a captain at twelve. I was declared Hokage elect at thirteen and given the title at fifteen. Over the two years he let me handle the clan matter, which... was hard, but once that was finished he slowly handed over all the power of the position. I think he would have waited if I'd failed to find the solution I had."

[mooneye]

He shifted to put an arm around him, and listened quietly. "Very young," he commented. But then, many shinobi children were forced to grow up quickly. It was just what the world--this world--was like. And the thought that he could fix it if he wanted to came to him, the way it so often did when he thought something was sad or unfair. He could rewrite everything. Rearrange what was, what would be. Create a dream more lovely than reality.

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, like he always did.

"Well. I'm proud of you, you know. For all of that."

[youngesthokage]

"I was the youngest ANBU captain Konoha has ever had." It was a murmur, and he settled close to him. "I've had to fight tooth and nail to prove that my appointment isn't a sign that Konoha has weakened. Sometimes I wonder. I had more than half my ANBU change over when I came into office because they couldn't countenance the idea of being under my direct command so much of the time because of my age. There have been other shows of disrespect too." He paused, smirked. "But I found a solution to -that- at least."

[mooneye]

"I hope it's something effective and entertaining." And a little violent, maybe. Just a little.

[youngesthokage]

He hummed and smirked. "D-ranks."

[mooneye]

He grinned, shaking his head. "Cruel, Itachi. Cruel."

[youngesthokage]

"If they're going to doubt that I -pay attention- then they can deal with babysitting four year old civilian children. I don't care if they -are- elite jounin."

[mooneye]

"Ouch. Now I'm going to have to be more careful to stay in your good graces."

[youngesthokage]

He laughed softly and tilted his head. "If nothing else, that severely curtailed the outward shows of disrespect."

[mooneye]

"It sounds like you're handling the position well so far." He nodded slowly.

[youngesthokage]

"I learned very quickly that if I wasn't subtle, the impact would be less to my liking."

[mooneye]

"I wouldn't have been able to pull off subtle... or any of that. I would have lasted about three weeks as hokage and then either lost interest and given it up, or been taken down by my underlings."

[youngesthokage]

He turned his head and rubbed his cheek into his shoulder. "I had time to ease into it. First paperwork, then mission assignment. It was hard the first time I sent someone out and they didn't come back though."

[mooneye]

He drew him just a little closer, tilting his head to lean his cheek against Itachi's hair. And he didn't reply, at first. "Was it anyone... important?"

[youngesthokage]

"Everyone's important." There was a fierce note in his voice as he said -that-, but he took a deep breath. "But no one I knew well."

[mooneye]

Obito was quiet after that--not quite in agreement with him. Some people were important. But everyone? No. Not in his opinion. "Well," he said, at length. "At least there was that."

[youngesthokage]

He tilted his head, then he leaned forward and set his cup down before shifting in place, twisting around to meet his gaze as he brought his hand up to touch his cheek. "Obito-nii, do you know how I picked my ANBU?"

[mooneye]

He raised his own hand to trace his fingers along Itachi's jawline and down his throat. "How?"

[youngesthokage]

"I went through every single shinobi record I had, even the genin, and carefully evaluated their skills. I learned their names and abilities, who had families and how old they were. Who had medical issues and who had what reprimands in their files for what, and who failed what sorts of missions. Now tell me, what does this mean for when I finally stepped into office?"

[mooneye]

He was silent. That was a lot of work to do. A lot to learn about those people. But he couldn't guess what it meant, really. "I don't know," he admitted, after a time. "What?"

[youngesthokage]

"It means that every nin in Konoha, from my best jounin to my worst genin, is a person to me. I know them, even if they don't like me, I know who they are, I know what they're good at. There is no one to blame if I send them to a mission they can't handle but myself for expecting more than they were ready for."

[mooneye]

He thought about that, still trailing little touches along his collar, his shoulder. And he thought about the mission that had gone so very badly for him, Kakashi and Rin. He hadn't come back from that mission. What had Minato felt about that? Had it hurt him? He hoped that it had.

"...I can't imagine," he admitted quietly.

[youngesthokage]

"That's good. Being Hokage is... is being a sacrifice. If I do things right, the glow reflects on my shinobi. If I I do things wrong, then the blame is mine. I can't trip and fall while carrying my village in my hands. They put their trust in me, and I need to be worthy of that trust."