AU RP--

[mooneye]

...

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[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."

[mooneye]

"It's a lot," he remarked. "A lot to carry." And he paused, thinking over what his cousin had said. "You are worthy of it, though. As worthy as anyone could be."

[youngesthokage]

He let out a soft breath, a hint of humor creeping into his voice. "It's not all bad though. Hiruzen-sama is perpetually in awe of the fact I manage to keep the paperwork down."

[mooneye]

Obito perked up. "And you get to wear that awesome hat. Don't you? If that hat's around somewhere, you have to let me try it on."

[youngesthokage]

He gave a soft laugh. "Now now, I have to do no such thing. Unless you're going to do my paperwork you don't get to wear my hat."

[mooneye]

He laughed, and feigned mild outrage. "I can barely pay attention to what I'm doing with a pen long enough to sign my own name on stuff... Come on, I'm your cousin. I'm going to make sure you don't starve while your mercenary housekeeper is off wherever you sent him to."

[youngesthokage]

"Still not hat level activities." He shook his head, chiding.

[mooneye]

"What besides paperwork would count as a hat level activity?"

[youngesthokage]

He pondered this for a moment. "It's not -just- paperwork. It's paperwork and meetings and handling a fussy Daimyo."

[mooneye]

"Ah. Don't think there's anything I can help with, then." He shrugged. "Let me know if you need someone... killed with trees, or something."

[youngesthokage]

There was a long beat of pause. "....What?"

[mooneye]

...Shit. Obito was quiet for a long time after that. Not quite sure whether he really wanted to explain or if it would be better not to.

[youngesthokage]

"...A tree?" He raised his eyebrows.