AN: Depression is a nasty thing. While I was reading through this, I absolutely hated it, so I rewrote it. But starting it again was so hard because my motivation is simply lacking. I'm seeing someone for treatment, though, so hopefully I'll get better, and even better, hopefully my writing gets better as well. I'm still not satisfied with this, but hopefully you guys aren't so disgusted with it.

Btw, I'm surprised there are people who are actually satisfied with the Naruto ending, and even worse, think Naruto: The Last will be a good movie? Have you guys seen the spoilers? It's a bad shoujo movie with nothing but balant sexism and Hinata favortism. I don't hate her, but the movie should be called Hinata: The Last; it's all about her and her love for Naruto. Idk, I'm starting to drift from the series, which is sad because I grew up with it. But whatever, I guess.

...

The Meeting: Part III
...

The meeting room was deadly silent, almost to point of suffocating. Every Kage, every shinobi held their breath as Naruto stared his heated gaze into the eyes of the smug Kurotsuchi. Except for Nara Shikamaru. Honestly, the whole thing was more troublesome than it had to be. If Sasuke just kept his mouth shut, and Naruto kept his temper in control, everybody wouldn't have to be ready to attack each other at the sound of a pen dropping.

Why did he take up being the Hokage's advisor again?

Asuma, Kurenai, and the King.

That would always be his answer, even if the situation didn't call for it. Like that one time Akihiko stated that he hated him and he questioned his reasons to be a father. These were completely different scenarios, but much the same nonetheless. Being a genius made him see what others couldn't. None of them actually wanted to have another war, and certainly none of them wanted to seal the Uchiha spawns.

The village came first, and if they saw a risk of these brats being a danger to them in the future, then they had to do whatever it took to protect their people, even if met throwing away their morals. Even Kurotsuchi wasn't heartless enough to willing ruin these kids' lives, just unwilling to leave her people defenseless.

Shikamaru was glad he was never offered the Hokage position. He honestly did not know how Naruto could handle the burden that came with it. Just goes to show that he was the perfect choice.

Kakashi waved towards Shikamaru, when he caught his attention, the older man signed to him.

This is going rather well, don't you think?

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and signed back. They were being too rash, troublesome. We need to get this situation under control.

The kids?

The Nara nodded reluctantly. That's what they're here for.

"Hokage-sama," Shikamaru's lazy drawl softened the tension suffocating the room, "the brats?"

Naruto clenched his jaw hard enough for it to twitch, but eventually relaxed to tear his eyes away from Kurotsuchi.

"Right. We want their kids to testify, 'ttebayo."

"We somehow knew that the meeting would go something like this," Gaara also relaxed as he spoke, "so we brought…a plan "B" of sorts."

Finally acknowledging the elephant in the room, Darui eye's softened to its normal lazy manner as he observed the children. Shikamaru smirked when Hitomi waved childishly at the dark-skinned man.

He smiled in return. "Ah, I was wondering why they were here."

Sasuke placed a hand on top of Hajime's head. "I'm not going to force you if you don't want to." He caught the eyes of his other three younger children. "You don't have to do this."

Hajime gently knocked his father's hand away, sighing as he closed his eyes.

"My name is Uchiha Hajime," the room was quiet as he began speaking. The other three Kages especially eyed him suspiciously, obviously looking for something that somehow reminded them of Sasuke. "I was born in the Country of Waterfall in a civilian village. I never knew of my heritage, and still don't care to know much besides the obvious. When I was four, two Konoha shinobi found us. It was Kakashi, and Neji-ojisan."

The boy stopped to send the white-haired man a small smile.

"I think the reason they decided not to kill kaasan and tousan was because of me, and kaasan was pregnant with Hitomi. But, Kakashi-ojisan eventually gave them a choice."

"Y-you eavesdropped?" Hinata's voice was struck with guilt. Hajime nodded.

"Kakashi had informed Hokage-sama of our location and so later gave them an ultimatum: Stay unprotected and risk being found by any ninja who had no qualms with killing children, or go to Konoha where they will be imprisoned, but at least me and Hitomi will be protected. Tousan and kaasan eventually agreed with the latter."

Shikamaru remembered the disbelief Sakura and Naruto's eyes screamed that day. Their friend, their old teammate, hadn't killed the Hyuuga heiress, but instead conceived a child with her. He himself had read the letter Kakashi had sent, and it was almost painful having to say each word out loud knowing that they had to kill them both. It was law. Sasuke had already been a missing-nin, and Hinata willing married him also made her into one as well.

Because of her betrayal, everybody had to question how much she had done to help Obito in the war. If the reason he had kidnapped her was because he knew how easily manipulated the pure woman can be, then it was a no brainer that she was a traitor. Hinata had always been weak-minded, Shikamaru mused, even if he pretended not to notice, he did clearly see how much of a crutch Naruto was to her. If lied to enough, Obito could have made her done things for him without use of force.

So, Hajime wasn't wrong when he said they hadn't killed them because of the kids, it was true. Naruto would have followed with his obligations, which was to protect Konoha, and that meant killing an internationally wanted missing-nin, and a Konoha traitor. But the mention of Hajime and Hinata's pregnancy changed everything. The newly parents, Sakura and Naruto refused to go through with the killing. Even if it meant being seen as weak in the eyes of the other ninja villages, they wanted to protect the family at all cost. So, Naruto sent Kakashi a letter that would give Sasuke and Hinata a choice. Though they all knew it wasn't.

No matter how much people wish it weren't true, Naruto wasn't an idiot.

If Sasuke and Hinata denied the free access to the village, then Neji and Kakashi were ordered to kill Sasuke, arrest Hinata and bring Hajime to the village. If Hinata were to give birth as an official criminal, then she would lose both her kids. They would belong to the village as orphans, under the extremely watchful eyes of Sakura and Naruto, and Hinata would be imprisoned for life. Good thing they weren't stupid.

The threat was clear, which Hajime hadn't picked up on it since he was still a kid. And though they weren't being treated fairly, if he were to come to the village as property of Konoha instead as a citizen, then he wouldn't even be getting a trail for all this. Politics is politics, and sometimes Shikamaru questions his morality, which is idiotic of him. He wasn't allowed to have any.

The Nara didn't know much of Sasuke's and Hinata's story, nor did he really care much to learn besides what could give them an advantage. There weren't any, only the kids had the real power to switch everything into Konoha's favor.

Shikamaru focused back on Hajime and noticed he had his eyes open to reveal his bloody gaze. "We were hated, and the Konoha elders constantly abused us. My tousan…my tousan was tortured by T&I, and kaasan was victimized by the Hyuuga clan. We lived in the T&I headquarters for a few weeks before Hokage-sama disobeyed the elders' orders and allowed us live to in tousan's old home. I hated it there from the start. We weren't welcomed, and the ANBU stalking us still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. When tousan and kaasa received the seals, the elders decided it would be best for me to be a shinobi. I agreed only because I don't want to be powerless if a situation like this were to ever occur."

He shook his head. "It was torture. They constantly tested me to the point of exhaustion a five year old isn't capable of going through. Even when I was made genin, I had to go through tests in order for me do to missions outside of the village, which later made me handicapped as my team and I went through it."

Beside him, Sasuke clenched his free hand into a tight, angry fist.

"I'm a jounin now, and I'm strong enough to defy them, but that's what caused this whole situation." Scowling, Hajime's voice became tight with vindication. "They can't control me anymore, so now they want to find a way to do so by force. They want my family to be Konoha's dogs," he spat the last word out. "Hitomi is being mentally and emotionally abused for having both doujutsus. They have high expectations for her, and expect nothing less. They call her useless, idiotic, weak, a cow, and a disgrace whenever she fails them. It's come to a point where Hitomi is no longer a human when around them. She is what they want her to be, a perfect tool."

"Niisan…" Hitomi squirmed out of Hinata's arms to hug her older brother.

Hajime's softened his scornful expression to comfort her. But even with his arms around her, his bloody eyes stayed dark as he stared at the people that might end their lives.

"Kiyoshi and Ken were attacked a few months ago…Ken is still healing. They did nothing wrong besides being normal kids who want to become shinobi. We never hurt anybody in Konoha, but yet everybody still wants us dead because they're too afraid to attack our parents. It's only a matter of time before Toshiro is targeted as well. "

He stayed silent to measure everybody's reaction. Kurotsuchi had her eyebrows furrowed, though instead of it being out of anger, or even doubt, her whole body displayed second thoughts. Darui was much the same, though his soft smirk already made Hajime realize that the old man changed his mind a long time ago. Mei was unreadable, but he supposes years of being a Kage had been scarred into her mind to be so at all times. She wasn't bad, however, Hajime knew this…just…she was just trying to be a good leader.

"If you decide to seal us there are only two outcomes to this; my siblings and I will no doubt find a way to destroy the seals, or when push comes to shove, we will kill off the rest of the Uzumaki race. I don't know who Madara or Obito are, but I will be worse than all of them in order to protect my siblings. Knowing that, you can decide to kill us now, which will cause another Great Shinobi War. I want neither…what my siblings and I want is to live in peace."

Looking up at Sasuke, he was relieved when his father sent him a small smile. Hajime placed his cheek on top of Hitomi's head.

"That's all I have to say."

The room was silent as he finished up his story, and Shikamaru couldn't have been more proud. His sharp eyes was silently smug at the solemn expression the two female kages have. Darui was the easiest to convince from the start—he wouldn't have been a problem, and it was only luck that A decided to resign.

"Should we do one more?" Naruto whispered to him.

There really wasn't a reason to do so. Hajime had already shifted everybody's morals and opinions to where they would favor for the kids. But he decided that one more shouldn't hurt, and should only set in stone the final decision.

Shikamaru shrugged lazily. "The girl?" Naruto nodded in agreement.

Turning back to face the group, the Hokage sent the only Uchiha girl a kind grin.

"Do you have anything to say, Hitomi-chan?" Naruto asked gently. When she didn't answer, the blond man smiled deviously. He knew how to push the girl's buttons. "Who do you want to be like when you grow up, Hitomi-chan?"

Her answer was immediate, loud and unexpected.

"Ojisan!" She yelled as she pointed at the Scarecrow behind Gaara. Hajime flinched at the volume of her voice.

"Niece," Kakashi called back.

"Ojisan is so cool! He has that scar, he has the sharingan, he super strong! Ojisan has lightning! I wanna learn lightning. Oh! And I want to be pretty like him!"

"Pretty?" Kurotsuchi crinkled her nose at the word, eyeing the aged man with doubt.

Kakashi sensed her gaze, so he sent her a smile. "Aren't I pretty?"

The Tsuchikage rolled her eyes. "Yeah…you're very pretty…"

Darui laughed. "Lightning, huh? I'm a lightning affinity too, little girl."

Wiping her tears, Hitomi narrowed her dual-colored eyes at the old man. She stepped away from her brother, though kept a hand held in his.

"Tousan does too, but all he knows is chidori!" No one seemed to notice the small pout on Sasuke's lips. "Ojisan knows more techniques than tousan! Ojisan is the coolest."

"No offense little girl, but Kakashi is rather dull. Sorry," he added at last second.

Kakashi waved his apology away.

"I have cooler techniques than your pretty ojisan ever well."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Darui pointed to left arm. "See this tattoo? My Boss created this, and only he and I can use it."

Shikarmu tensed as his suspicion began to ring bells in his head. He eyed the Raikage discreetly with distrust, questioning the reason to reveal something so personal to the little girl.

"Raikage-sama?" Omoi stepped a bit closer to his Kage. "Are you sure about this?"

Darui ignored him. "It's called Black Lightning."

Hitomi's earlier contempt was replace with wonder.

"Oooh, sound cool, what does it do?"

Sasuke stepped in front of his daughter when she came closer to Darui. "What's your ploy?"

Darui's kind gaze immediately designated into a stone wall of malice. Sasuke had caused great displeasure in the Land of Lightning, especially during the war. He had attacked many of the villages in the country and had massacred many innocent people all in the name of his clan. Darui did not particularly like the Uchiha man, and the feeling was mutual. Shikamaru suspects that the reason the dark skinned man was so keen on making Hitomi trust him was to, in some way, get back at Sasuke.

But that didn't make sense. Darui wasn't a petty man, no matter how much pain Sasuke had caused, the man was just as lazy as him when it came to such things. Revenge wasn't his goal, so what was?

"Tousan?" Hitomi pulled on Sasuke's pants, pouting when he refused to tear his red eyes away from the blond man.

"Stop, Hitomi." Hajime tried to pull his sister to him, but she snatched her hand away.

"Kaasan, what's going on?"

Hinata's hardened gaze soften when her daughter spoke to her. However, her smile was tight and her attention never drifted away from Darui.

"Nothing, Hitomi-chan, otousan is just worried."

"Oi, Darui, what are you planning?" Naruto question indigently. His suspicion was just as much as Sasuke's, though with less considerable malice.

Mei and Kurotsuchi also eyed their fellow Kage with mixes of distrust, and doubt. As if they were questioning his sanity. Shikarmu was beginning to understand his motive, however, but just needed more information in order to confirm his thoughts.

Darui ignored both Sasuke and Naruto's question, instead smiling once again towards the little girl.

"I can't show what the technique can do, the room is too small so it'll do more damage than good," he chuckled lightly at the star struck gaze the girl has at the mention of a possible destruction. "It's very strong, and it's much darker than a normal lightning technique."

"Raikage-sama," Omoi's tone was warning, but it was left unnoticed again.

"What do you think, Hitomi-chan?"

Shikamaru twitched at the confirmation of what he was thinking. Couldn't say he was surprised, though why her of all people?

"You want to train her," Shikamaru stated, causing everybody in the room to bristle at the surprising words.

Sasuke's eyes widen in surprise before narrowing threateningly. Hinata even took a step forward, eyes hard with malice.

Darui chuckled. "Ha, caught me. I shouldn't be surprised that you figured it out, Shikamaru-san…how dull." He leaned back into his seat, eyes closing into a smile. No one could tell if it was sarcastic, or honest. "When Boss resigned I knew I needed a partner, or right hand man if you will. Omoi…"

Omoi relaxed his stance. "I'm not capable of being the Raikage's partner. I don't have the abilities to do so." He showed no sign of disappointment, or frustration, or even envy, it was simple fact.

"What makes you think Hitomi is capable?" Gaara's voice was unusually dark—protective, even—when he questioned Darui. "She's only seven, and an Uchiha."

"Gut feeling…instinct—I just have a feeling." His explanation didn't seem to satisfy Hitomi's parents, so he sighed out of annoyance. "I have nothing against your children, Uchiha-san, just you in fact. While it's not necessary, I would like to have someone fight alongside with me, and according to the alliance, I can choose whomever from any of the four main ninja villages."

In other words, he was implying that he was voting against sealing the kids. Knowing this, Sasuke and Hinata relaxed in their stances.

"We can't leave the village until we're twenty-one," Hajime stated.

Naruto laughed. "I'm sure we can find a loop-hole for her, dattebayo. Being trained under a Kage is a huge deal, though she's already showing hints of having huge chakra reserves, so her parents already agreed on me training her for a bit." The blond man grinned boldly at Hitomi. "What do you say, Hitomi-chan, you want the Raikage to train you?"

Hitomi bit her lip, though her eyes screamed of excitement, there was an obvious hesitation that, no doubt, involved her family.

"I don't wanna leave…kaasan and tousan…"

"You don't have to make a decision now," Darui reassured her, "the offer will always be there. It'll be dull just doing desk work, but I can wait."

Hitomi nods, though stays silent as she steps back in place next to her brothers. Ken and Kiyoshi stared at wonder at their older sister, no doubt thinking what everybody else is thinking: why her? Though, Shikamaru supposed it didn't really matter as of now. If she does decide to be trained under Darui, then the Nara would have to push said man into confessing his motives when the time comes.

"Would the other two like to say anything else, 'ttebayo?" Naruto smirks at the twins.

Kiyoshi was just about to open his mouth, but Ken slapped a hand over it. The younger twin ignored the muffled protests, shaking his head. "No. No. Please, don't make him talk." He looked up at his mother, eyes pleading for her.

Hinata smiled, amused, but complied. She placed a firm hand on Kiyoshi's shoulder, squeezing hard enough for him to take the warning. The older twin pushed his brother away, pouting as he crossed his arms across his chest. Good, Shikamaru thought. That boy had more ego than Naruto and Kiba ever had combined. He was too boisterous to be an Uchiha, and to be frank, Shikamaru actually hated how loud he was. Hinata and Sasuke always brought their youngest three kids in Naruto's office when the situation calls for it, and in the early morning, hearing the kid complain and talk incessantly graved on his nerve. He didn't hate the kid, just his mouth.

Funju walked until he was in front of the Uchiha family once again. He hit the hilt of his sword against the floor, gaining the attention once again.

"Am I correct to believe that the testimony of the Uchiha family is complete?" He looked over his shoulder, receiving a nod of confirmation from both Hinata and Sasuke. "Very well." His dark eyes danced between the Kages. "If you need more time for further discussion, just say so." He continued when there was no protest. "If there is even one vote from everybody agreeing, we must discuss your plight, otherwise your relationship with each other may be strained from now on. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Kurotsuchi said impatiently.

"Those who do not wish to seal the Uchiha children, raise your hand."

Obviously, Gaara and Naruto were the first to do so, then Darui. For the first time since arriving to this place, Shikamaru felt himself break into a cold sweat. He rarely doubted himself, because he was never wrong, but this involved the lives of children. Granted, children to a man he kind of hated, but they were kids nonetheless. Screw having to throw away his morals, if he didn't succeed in this simple task, then he would consider himself a failure.

So after a few minutes of agonizing silence, Shikamaru felt himself sag in relief when the Mizukage and Tsuchikage raised their hands. Kiyoshi's and Naruto's booming laughter shattered the silence, though this time, it wasn't unwelcomed. Hitomi hugged her parents, but soon clanged onto her mother, no doubt crying in relief as was she. Sasuke had his hand on top of Hajime's head, both smiling at the chatter the twins were making. The Uchiha were celebrating, and Shikamaru felt a little guilty. No other parent had to fight for their kids' freedom as much as they have.

No other children had to suffer as they have for that matter. His bias towards Sasuke had blinded him a bit to be apathetic to these kids, something he hadn't realized until now. He never hated them, but he forced himself to believe that if these kids were to become prisoners, it would be at the village's best interest at heart. Obviously, that wasn't the case.

The lazy Nara smirked, nodding happily at Kakashi's thumbs up.

Funju turned to the family.

"It has been decided; these children are not to be sealed, and therefore, they are free," Funju announced, smiling for the first time.

Shikamaru mentally pat himself on the back as he stared down at the relief and pure elation Hinata and Sasuke were communicating through their eyes. Their kids were free, and despite being trapped themselves, their children's happiness was all that really mattered now.

He supposed they weren't so bad after all.

AN: I've been cringing nonstop while proof reading, though I'm sure there are still a lot of mistakes since I skimped it. But considering my condition, this is literally the best I have to offer, which sucks to no end. I'm taking medicine, so I'm taking a small break until I visit my therapist on the 13th.

Also, I wanted to have Darui's POV in here, but the way in transitioned from Shikamaru's POV to his was extremely messy, so that's why I rewrited this chapter. So, his interest in Hitomi will be further explained in another chapter, and will be in his POV. Next chapter, though, I think I'll do one involving Neji, Hiashi, and Hanabi. Neji's death was rather pointless after all that, and Hiashi and Hanabi aren't really important no matter what the first part of the series suggested. So, the next will be a homage to them, I suppose.