Itachi had to resist the urge to be concerned when he received a summons from Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third Hokage of Konoha.

The summon's worried Itachi. He was to appear atop the Hokage tower with the stipulation, "Arrive in formal clothes." Which was an issue, considering that was not something he owned. Outside of his Anbu uniform, he barely had any clothing that wasn't either simple, black and casual or normal training attire. If the message wasn't so urgent, Itachi would have consulted his father.

After getting dressed in his "best" clothes, Itachi headed towards the directed destination. There were more oddities as he made his way there. Why were there so many people in the streets? It was as if there was festival going on. Not quite as immense as some of the holiday events Konoha is accustomed to, but much larger and more organized than a market day should be.

His worries were compounded when he spotted the Hokage tower. Hiruzen stood on the roof looking out over the populous. Did Itachi miss an important event? None came to mind. In addition, there were several jounin present on top of the building as well. Notable members included Might Gai and Kakashi Hatake, as well as the Ino-Shika-Cho leaders.

Though most importantly was his friend, Shisui, who had the biggest most unnerving smile on his face. The pit in his stomach only grew.

"Lord Hokage?" Itachi addressed the Kage as he landed next to the old man. Hiruzen turned and smiled at Itachi. Itachi did not like that smile. It was a knowing smile. An apologetic smile.

Hiruzen was planning something. Something Itachi knew he wasn't going to like.

"Ahh, Itachi," The Hokage greeted while handing him a white cloak. "Put this on quickly.".

Itachi took the garment and examined it briefly before looking around at the others around him. No one else was wearing anything similar.

"Come now, we don't have much time." Hiruzen urged as he turned to face the crowd.

Loyal as always, Itachi sighed as he flung the cloak around his shoulders and slipped his arms in. He noticed briefly the red letters on its back. "Godaime", it read. Itachi felt his blood freeze.

"Lord Hokage?" Itachi whispered out shortly. He was wearing the cloak. Why was he wearing the cloak? He shouldn't have put on the cloak. He saw Hiruzen take a deep breath before a wide, victorious smile of a plan coming together spread across the man's wrinkled face.

"Citizens of Konoha." Hiruzen outstretched his arms, taking off his hat. The hat of the Hokage. The hat Itachi had never seen Hiruzen without. The hat that was rumored to be glued onto the old man's head by a prank. The hat that was rumored to be cursed with killing whoever wore it. Hokage's just didn't die of old age. "It has been my honor and my privilege to serve as your Hokage."

Itachi's mind was filled completely and utterly with nothing, for the first time in his life he had no answers! There was just no way this was actually happening. No way it should be happening. This was a genjutsu, right? Itachi's eyes quickly darted to his father as he appeared in the crowd, looking equally perplexed and confused.

"Now the time has come to once again name a new Hokage," Hiruzen said proudly. "So I present to you, " Itachi was suddenly standing before the Sandaime. How did that happen? He didn't remember his legs moving. This was a dream, right? How would this mend the ties between the village and Uchiha? "Your Godaime Hokage, Itachi Uchiha!"

Blinking in confusion, Itachi felt his arm began to wave. He turned to see Hiruzen smiling at him. Itachi still did not like that smile.

"What?" was all Itachi could say as he continued to wave at the village in front of him. There was shock and a slow gasp. Then, with a few sudden movements, the crowd erupted into a flurry of cheers.

"I am placing a horrible burden on you," Hiruzen said next to him. "But, I believe this is the best course of action for the Leaf. If you need my counsel, I'll be here for you. " Itachi could only nod dumbly.

At the age of sixteen years, he had become the first Uchiha Hokage.

XXXX

Itachi gave a long yawn that seemed to last forever. He threw his arms back over his head and pressed against the back of his chair. He leaned back just far enough for the front chair legs to lift off the ground slightly, holding the pose for a moment to make certain that he was suitably stretched.

He righted himself then stared at his desk. On active duty, he would never have yawned like that. Perhaps being the Hokage was making him soft? As though to prove something to himself, Itachi casually tossed his pen towards a fly that had entered the office nearly an hour ago.

He sat in the relative silence of the Hokage's office for a few moments as he relished in a small bit of self-satisfaction. That fly had been a minor annoyance since it first appeared. Looking up at the clock, he realized he only had thirty minutes until his assistant would come with the afternoon's stack of paperwork and inform him of his next appointments.

When Hiruzen had appointed him Hokage, the old man had apologized profusely about the heavy burden of paperwork. His predecessor had made it sound like a death sentence. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. As long as he stayed on top of it, it wouldn't stack up.

"I see our Hokage is hard at work keeping the fly population of Konoha in check," Shisui said as he climbed through the window. The life of an elite jonin agreed with Shisui a great deal. Even when he was his normal cheerful self, there was a subtle bit of extra joyfulness in the way he talked.

Itachi could have sworn that he had locked that window this morning. Still, he leaned forward at the welcomed intrusion and placed his elbows on the desk, his fingers interlacing to form a bridge in front of his face. "Yes, well, apparently I can't trust Leaf Jonin to keep windows shut. I believe we may have an epidemic on our hands."

Shisui got the hint and closed the window. There was a smile on his face as he did a silly walk around the office. "Man, I still can't believe they made you the Hokage after everything that happened."

"It should have been you." He meant it too. Without Shisui, everything would have been much worse. It was fortunate that their plan had succeeded and now the Uchiha were loyal to Konoha. It was hollow at first. Now, however, the Uchiha loved their home as much as he did.

A crude boorish snort came from Shisui as he went about reorganizing a few books on the bookshelf. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that chair! It's boring just sitting there all day; I'd be months behind on paperwork and probably just hanging out at the academy right now. So, you're perfect for the job! You actually manage to do the homework without setting it on fire!"

Pausing, he placed one final book in the wrong spot and spun to look at Itachi. "You don't burn it, do you?"

"Just a few of the confidential reports I receive." Itachi couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at the look of sheer horror his friend wore. He gave Shisui a knowing smile. "So, you've been to the academy recently? Does that mean you've thought about my offer?"

Shisui shrugged and made his way to a potted plant that he needlessly adjusted. He was doing this on purpose to mess with Itachi. It wasn't working. "A bit, yea. I do admit that being around Konoha more does appeal to me but, why me?"

"Why not you?" Itachi began in earnest, placing his hand down onto the table to stand away from his desk. He crossed the distance to Shisui and put the plant back in its original position. "You're easily one of Konoha's more recognizable ninja and, furthermore, if you could teach a group of genin to love Konoha and peace as much as you do, then Konoha would be all the more for it."

"I could just use my Sharingan on them all," Shisui offered with a flat no-nonsense expression. It only lasted for a moment before both of them gave a soft chuckle. When it was over, he placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder and nodded. "Fine, I'll take a team this year but, I want to pick them."

Shifting on his feet, Itachi's smile vanished into a small frown that was better suited for delivering bad news. "That's not how it works."

"Then, no deal."

"I could order you to do it."

"That's not how you work."

That half cocked grin Shisui gave him should be outlawed for how stupid it looked. Shisui was on the verge of drowning in self-satisfaction at his little quip. Itachi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, defeated. He whirled around in mock anger and waved his hand in the air. "I can at least hear you out."

The smugness was nearly radiating from his friend. He had to admit he was curious at what kind of dream team Shisui could dream up with this year's potential graduates. Sitting down, he regarded his friend, who had attempted to stealthily spin the plant back around. "Well?"

Shisui took two large steps and stood in the center of the Hokage office. He gave the standard bow that Itachi would never get used to receiving, though that stupid smug smile of his remained. "I request Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki be placed under my tutelage."

"And?" Itachi rolled his hand forward in an attempt to get Shisui to continue.

"And what?" Shisui asked, his face twisting into confusion. At least his complacent look finally retreated.

Itachi sighed and slouched into his chair, now aware that he was hungry. Shisui always did have a habit of exhausting him. "Who is your third member? Teams are evaluated as a whole, not just with the synergies between two members. Besides, why those two?"

"I want to set them up."

"You're just using this as an excuse to play matchmaker, aren't you?" Itachi smacked his lips and groaned into the palm of his hand.

Shisui just smiled again, it wasn't the smug smile from before it was the same smile he wore when they had avoided an Uchiha coup. "Call it strengthening the bond between the Uchiha and Konoha. That little girl represents a lot and, given her heritage, there is no doubt she'll make a name for herself."

The worse part about this whole conversation was that Shisui made sense. Beyond that, Naruto may be good for Sasuke, and vice versa. He might calm her down a bit. Still, there was a reason for the team system. "Figure out a third member and I'll hear you out."

Shisui pouted but gave a curt nod. "Fine. By the way, if this doesn't go through, I'm resuming operation 'Get Itachi laid'"

Itachi rolled his eyes and sighed. "Speaking of romance, how are you and Futaba?"

"A lot better actually, she went outside on her own yesterday. She even said she'd like to go out on a date later this week!" Shisui's smile returned as he talked about the unusual woman from R&D that he had rescued from Orochimaru nearly a year ago. She was a brilliant researcher, albeit incredibly shy. For nearly six months the only person she would speak to directly was Shisui.

Somehow, he fell in love with her.

"I see, that's good." Itachi had only spoken to Futaba a few times recently, the girl was afraid of anything that wasn't Shisui or his cat Morgana. As the Hokage, he saw her as a valuable resource to Konoha, as a friend he was happy for his friend, a good life partner seemed so hard to find.

"Hey, you should come get drinks with me tonight!"

"I'm not old enough."

"You're the Hokage! Nobody's going to tell you that you're too young to drink! Hell, you could easily pass a law right now to change the drinking age."

Itachi allowed a feeling of triumph to wash over him as he responded with, "That's not how I work."

Shisui groaned, deflating to one side so that his shoulder slumped. "Come on, you've never even had a girlfriend! We need to get you out there! It's not like the love of your life is going to fall from the sky and land in your lap."

Part of him knew that Shisui was right but, that didn't matter. A love life was the last thing on Itachi's mind. He had to balance being the Hokage, being the next head of the Uchiha clan (a job he desperately wanted to pass on to Sasuke), and maintaining his skills as a ninja. He had no time for romance.

Besides, being free from a relationship meant he could accept a political marriage to put Konoha in a better position.

Suddenly, a loud crack ringing out from above him caused him to look up. There was an unexpected, new hole in his ceiling. Then, an eep echoed as the roof fully fell in, sprinkling Itachi and his desk in debris.

A small blonde girl was now in his lap. She was heavier than she looked.

Itachi brushed a bit of drywall out of Naruto's hair and allowed her to shift so that she was sitting comfortably on his legs. He gave her a soft smile. "Good, afternoon Naruto. Here for my weekly assassination attempt?"

The girl blushed and gave a slight nod. She took the kunai in her hand and poked Itachi in the chest with the handle. "Hiyaa."

"We'll call this attempt successful then." Itachi mused, looking up towards Shisui to see a happy face that filled him with dread. He narrowed his eyes and briefly wondered if he had any suicide mission available.

"Don't even think about it, Shisui."

Shisui grinned. "Too late!"

AN: Beta'd by Maethoriel!

I might have fallen in love with this while writing it. Who's ready for some good old fluffy romance as Shisui tries to get Itachi with Naruto?

New new main project I think... please like it So that I can justify continuing it!