Chapter 19
There was an emergency meeting set in the early evening. Emergency meetings were a bit different than the regular ones because everyone was required to attend. Sasuke had to deliver the notices to several workers before school and even there, the entire morning felt jittery and rushed. So it wasn’t surprising when the teacher ended up dismissing everyone early.
“I don’t see what the big deal is?” Naruto had been mostly sleeping through the meetings but Sasuke always filled him in later and took notes. His father had even asked him to make a copy of them for later use. That copy jutsu his mom taught him really came in handy.
“We have to let everyone know what to expect now that we can take missions.” Sasuke explained and huddled a little deeper into his coat. Even if the winters were more mild, it was still too cold for the young Uchiha.
“Yeah, but….Do we even know what to expect?” Naruto had a good point but Sasuke didn’t want him to be right. He was quiet too long though so Naruto took it as a victory, grinning at the flustered look on Sasuke’s face.
“Well, there's going to be more people coming to the village.” Sasuke started. They hadn’t finished the inn yet but he knew one of the older kids would be quitting school to help run it when they started taking customers. “We also need to tell everyone about Shisui.” That had Naruto frowning a bit. All of the Uchiha were his family but he had a particular soft spot for his big brother. Sasuke couldn’t judge as he had the same problem with Itachi.
“Hopefully, it’ll be a quick meeting.” Naruto wasn’t as bothered by the cold weather coming in but his nose was beginning to pink up.
“Oh, I almost forgot. My mom wanted you to come over later.” Sasuke said while trying not to make eye contact.
“Whyyy?” Naruto was definitely suspicious.
“She just wants to talk about some stuff.” Sasuke honestly wasn’t sure what it was but it seemed pretty important. “Did you know you had a thing on your stomach?” He accidentally blurted out, not really sure on how to bring it up but curiosity getting the best of him.
“A thing?” Now Naruto was pulling up his shirt and looking at his belly button. The seal Sasuke saw the other night was long gone. “What thing?”
“It looked like a seal of some kind. I saw it once.” Sasuke didn’t go into too much detail when “once” was. The last thing he needed was his friend thinking he was some sort of pervert undressing him in his sleep.
“Is there?” Naruto sounded more curious than mad so Sasuke figured he got away with it.
“Yeah, I asked mom but she said you needed to know too.” It made sense to him.
“Maybe she’s gonna tell us more stories about my mom!” That was always a good topic for Naruto. The blond never tired of hearing stories about Kushina.
Sasuke agreed with a “Hn.” Now that Naruto was settling down, the two spent as much time in silence as they did talking. Shisui called it Sasuke’s recharging period. After he dropped Naruto off, he all but sprinted home. His mother was kind enough not to comment on him being out of breath but she did tease him about his frozen nose.
She didn’t need to ask him for help cooking lunch. With that amount of food, Sasuke knew Itachi and his father would be back home for a bit before heading out again. He helped set the table and cleaned up some. Mikoto was plating the food when the other two puffed into the kitchen.
Sasuke made a show out of fanning the smoke away but thought that was still the coolest way to travel. Apparently, the jutsu itself was too “advanced” for him but he was already practicing it and several others with Naruto in secret.
“Hello, dears.” Mikoto greeted the two and then maneuvered everyone into a chair. “Naruto will be coming by after the meeting today for that chat.” Mikoto made it seem like she was having a normal conversation but Sasuke could tell she was cluing Fugaku in something else too. More of that double speak. He didn't call them out on it since they already agreed to tell him about it later, but it was starting to get weird witnessing these secret conversations after his intel gathering lessons.
“Of course,” Fugaku coughed and looked away. Sasuke had a sneaking suspicion that his father would try to find any reason to not be in the house during this chat.
Dinner started out awkwardly but all it took was a few probing questions from Itachi to get Sasuke to start talking. He may not always be talkative but it was different with his family and was downright chatty in comparison.
“What do you think it’ll be like?” Sasuke asked Fugaku. He didn’t know what to expect with everything being so new but the excitement in his voice was clear.
Itachi seemed curious as well. Sasuke wasn’t too happy about him going on missions again, as he just got used to him being home all the time. Hopefully, father will be nicer about picking Itachi’s missions, so he’ll still be able to train with Naruto and Sasuke.
“It will take a while to get any substantial missions but we might be able to get some D ranks from the surrounding towns. There aren’t many because of….” He paused and looked at his children. Choosing his words wisely, he continued after a moment “unrest in this part of the country, many people could use some help and some might not be able to afford a mission fee.”
Sasuke frowned. “That doesn’t mean we can’t help them, does it?” He scrunched his nose in distaste at the very thought of not helping people because they didn’t have money.
Itachi chimed in “We could take on a certain amount of pro bono work to develop a better reputation. It might help us establish better relationships with others.”
Fugaku mulled it over before addressing them both “That’s not a bad idea but we would have to be very careful about what we accepted. We don’t want to lose a Sharingan helping outsiders.”
Sasuke didn’t like the way he said “outsiders” so he responded. “Aren’t we all outsiders now though. We should help where we can.”
“We would also get more work and better protections if our neighbors were doing well,” Sasuke loved it when Itachi took his side. He was a genius so Sasuke knew his father would eventually see things their way.
“You may be right. We would have to do extensive research on any missions taken like this though. Maybe a more private team for recon.” Fugaku mused.
Sasuke wasn’t sure why his mom frowned before she interrupted. “Probably not the best idea, dear.” She usually helped more with the planning after the idea was in place. Sasuke thought they made the best team. His dad would have an idea and his mom would do everything possible to make it happen.
Fugaku almost looked embarrassed at the correction “Ah, that didn’t turn out the best last time. Maybe just a temporary team made for each occasion then.”
“Much better idea.” Mikoto agreed easily, acting like the slip never happened.
They ate lunch fairly quickly compared to usual and went straight to the village center. Technically, they still had more time before the meeting but they needed to set it up. Sasuke figured it was because of the short notice so they didn’t have time to get the kids to clean up the clearing and prepare food like normal.
“Sasuke,” Mikoto got his attention while she wrote something down on some parchment. “Go to the bakery and give your aunt this note. Itachi, go get some wood from the wood shed. We probably won’t start the fire but I want to be prepared in case the meeting takes a while.”
“Honey,” She turned to Fugaku, who was standing at the podium writing something down. “Make sure you include Shisui on your list.” She shooed Sasuke away and looked over Fugaku’s shoulder.
Sasuke didn’t have to go far to find the bakery again. His aunt read the note and then put him to work with her. Apparently his mother sent word that they would need a ton of baked goods to snack on during the meeting and his poor aunt didn’t have any kids or a husband to help her so Sasuke was officially drafted for the next 2 hours.
They had to make special bread because they didn’t have time to let it sit for as long as it needed but by the time they were finished, they had enough to feed the Uchiha army that would be in attendance. That did leave one problem though. “How on earth do you intend to carry all of this?” His aunt asked as she began wrapping the food.
Sasuke looked for a minute before deciding “I’ll just make a couple of trips.” He was not looking forward to that but he didn’t see any other options.
Just as he was loaded up and starting to leave, he heard the door open and turned around to greet the customers. “Good afternoon.” Even though he didn’t officially work there, he helped out enough that it wasn’t an uncommon sight. Just as common were the visitors.
“Heya!” Naruto greeted/yelled. He was dragging poor Shisui by his good arm. Sasuke wasn’t able to wave with his hands full and Shisui took notice.
“Aunt Mikoto got you running again.” He sounded sympathetic as Naruto went to the counter. “You want help.” Now he was looking at his arm in the sling.
“I might get yelled at for letting you carry anything.” Sasuke admitted.
“Then I could carry some.” Naruto piped in. “We were just headed that way to see if Uncle and Auntie needed help.”
It didn’t take a second after Naruto said this that he was loaded down with his own boxes and the three of them were off. Sasuke was determined to ask someone to help get the bakery a cart before trade started because even at this short distance, he was sweating before they got to the center.
He let out a sigh as he plopped his load on the table. He didn’t stop Shisui from organizing it under Mikoto’s supervision and grabbed Naruto to get more. Even with the two of them, it took several trips and Sasuke was grateful to finally be able to sit after they were finished. More Uchiha were milling about or talking quietly to each other as he and Naruto caught their breath.
“Everyone seems tense,” Naruto commented as he munched on his bread.
“Are they?” Sasuke didn’t notice until now but the atmosphere did feel different than normal.
Naruto shrugged it off, already used to Sasuke’s inability to read the room.
“Thank you all for gathering on such short notice.” Fugaku greeted and the clearing went silent. Sasuke almost flinched at the suddenness of it. Usually it took a few tries. Fugaku waited to make sure all eyes were on him before he continued.
“As you are probably all aware by now, Shisui returned home yesterday. He brought great news.” Here Fugaku held up the scroll Shisui had given him. “Uzushio is now officially a hidden village Unfortunately, Shisui was attacked during his return home. He’s recovering swiftly but I would like to take this time to remind everyone of the situation we find ourselves in.” Even though everyone should be happy. The murmur of the crowd was anything but.
“Tekka will continue running our mission desk in the new town hall.” Here Fugaku motioned towards an unused building close by. “Obviously there isn’t enough room for all of us to meet but it should suffice for business only.” There were some giggles from that statement but it settled quickly as parents hushed the children.
“Every Shinobi that wishes to remain active needs to register with the mission desk so they can begin taking appropriate missions as they come in. Businesses should post prices for goods and services for outside customers. I imagine we’ll see some familiar and new faces when we open to the public. That will take place in one month.”
“What do you mean wishes to remain active?” Someone yelled out and that started a flood.
“I can’t take new work with everything i’m doing now!” That voice sounded outraged.
“Will we be safe if we allow strangers in?”
“What about trade….”
Sasuke couldn’t make out any other questions with the cacophony of noise. Fugaku tried to answer a question but another was fired at him before he could finish. Eventually it was Mikoto who broke. She let out a shrill whistle that was loud enough to drown out all the noise at once. With all eyes now on her. She huffed and straightened her clothing before gesturing to Fugaku again.
“Well,” He looked at her. It felt like he was asking permission to speak. “The Daimyo allowed us to post our basic services on the notice boards so we should get some work during the winter but it shouldn’t be overwhelming. In the spring, we’re going to send out a convoy to the other villages introducing ourselves and to secure safe travel routes. We should have enough products to sell by then. I have sent out requests to several notable merchants that work this area so expect some company for the next couple of days. These are all things that you should expect. There are also a few other things to discuss.” Fugaku motioned for Mikoto to take his place on the podium.
Sasuke felt Naruto fall limp on his side where he was taking his notes in the crowd. He was glad they had gotten the bread because it was already becoming late and someone had thought to light the fire Itachi had prepared earlier.
“We all know this area isn’t the safest right now because of political reasons.” Sasuke felt she had more to say as several people looked towards each other in concern. “For this reason, we’ve decided that more humanitarian actions need to be taken in our immediate surroundings. The bandit problem alone is a huge problem for possible trade and communications.” Sasuke didn’t know they had a bandit problem.
“We won’t turn people who need help away if we can help.” That got another set of murmurs in the crowd. “I know” she paused on her wording “traditionally, shinobi only take jobs for money or self interest but we felt like we would all benefit from helping our neighbors in these trying times.” Sasuke almost giggled at how professional it sounded compared to lunch.
”For this reason and others, everyone has the right to refuse a mission for any reason. That is what Fugaku was trying to explain.” That was an odd rule. Sasuke was taught in school that certain missions had to be done for the greater good so they were not supposed to say no to a mission assignment.
After all, the Hokage knew what each person in the village could do and never assigned something they couldn’t handle. That sounded wrong to Sasuke but he got in trouble and a letter was sent home to his parents when he said something in class. It was a first and last experience for him.
They talked for a while longer about small details of business and missions but Sasuke’s mind was beginning to become foggy with sleep. He was too tired to try to find out the time by looking up but the fire was still burning brightly.
He didn’t know when Itachi had taken his notes and started to add to them but he appreciated it. He didn’t want to let his father down and would probably need to read them later. He barely managed to stay awake during the remainder of the meeting, but he did have to be carried home by Itachi. His parents were still out answering questions so Itachi was the one to put him to bed. Sasuke had the feeling that with this meeting things were about to change.