Every pair of eyes turned to the silent Hokage who had his eyes closed and looked to be in deep thought upon the matter.
The table in front of them was laid out with various statements from the past few council meetings, with each clan's views on the matter.
...
Each of them knew what it was, it was at a stale mate. The same thing that had happened when the talks regarding the matter were taken up in the council meetings before it. The Uchiha were against it, but would have no choice in the matter should the village decree it.
Sasuke stood up, already knowing how suspicious Tobirama was of the clan his whole life and what his decision would be, there was absolutely no point in discussing this any further whatsoever…
"The relocation of the Uchiha clan is denied." his voice rang in the room and Sasuke's cigar slipped down from his lips and fell to the ground in shock. Each of them had their eyes turn to the size of saucers and look at the man in disbelief.
"What?" Danzo couldn't help but ask his sensei and was the only one right now who had found his voice, the others were far too much in shock at what they had heard.
"I think I made myself quite clear. The decision was at a stalemate, with only mine and the feudal lord's signatures needed on the matter regarding the relocating lands." he spoke ever so calmly, as if it was the weather report and they nodded numbly at the logic behind that statement.
It was only a pretense of democracy in front of the villagers, the feudal lord didn't have any say in these matters except for funding, that he was more than willing to provide if the idea did go through by the decree of the Hokage.
The final word did rest with the stamp of the Nidaime Hokage and even the Uchiha knew it was a losing fight and they would be isolated. But this…
"That is the decision I've made, have the prison built along with a fortified HQ on the allocated lands that will be under the authority and direct control of the Uchiha clan.
The relocation shall be quite a hassle in these times of tensions as is and the empty lands left that were to be used for the residential areas, will now be used to train and monitored by the Uchiha Police Force themselves…" he spoke in authority and each of them couldn't believe their ears at what they were hearing.
"Sensei, you are giving more power and authority to the Uchihas? A new HQ and a new division means more power to them, only if you do not go with the relocation of their residence to the sidelines as well." Danzo asked incredulously, still not being able to fathom it and Tobirama merely gave a curt nod.
"That is exactly what I'm saying…" he spoke and stood up, closing the matter up for the time being.
" Have it announced now...
The Uchiha clan are in charge of internal security matters for now and follow up on all the plans we had been building up for this situation." he spoke, in a tone of finality that left no room for arguments and stepped out, leaving a stunned group of people behind.
Sasuke left after him, and fell in step with the man who was quite stiff right now at the instinctive decision he had made. It defied all sense of logic, he had gone on a gut feeling alone and that was unlike him. He was a man of logic but the…
Finally, when the time becomes too long she becomes nervous, and fidgets, before she claws her way out of the closet door forcefully. Isolation and confinement can be such strange things ne?
He couldn't, for the life of him get those words out of his mind. The certainty in that calm voice was like it would happen had he gone through with it, and the thought of a rebellion by the founding clan of the village.
The image of Konoha alone would suffer massively, as much as he despised the clan they were one of the two founding clans and held an extreme amount of influence even still, after being weakened so much.
But the Uchiha clan rebelling?
Preposterous, that was something he wasn't willing to let happen no matter he reason. They were a part of the village and to keep the village united, while also keeping it under security were his jobs as Hokage.
But the thought of going against all logic and going on instincts was so unlike him, it annoyed him. It irritated him to think that he was acting like… Hashirama…
"That boy I swear…" he muttered under his breath and everyone made way seeing the irate Hokage stomping into his office as if the Shinigami himself was waiting for him there.
"This is unlike you Tobirama…" a voice spoke when he stood in front of his window to calm down his nerves. A sigh escaped his lips and he crossed his arms behind his back, nodding in agreement.
"I know…" he spoke, and Sasuke nodded. He could see it had been tough for the man, hell when he had figured Tobirama Senju was going to be the deciding factor, he had been making images of every Uchiha packing up their stuffs in his mind.
"What made you change your mind?" Sasuke finally let the curiosity get the better of him and Tobirama looked on at the village with a contemplative gaze.
"I merely had a new perspective on things, that's all." he spoke in a spaced out tone and Sasuke was curious as to the source of this perspective that had changed the stone cold Hokage of their village to act on his gut feelings so hastily.
"But the Uchiha are under no way out of scrutiny…" he spoke firmly, and Sasuke smiled. Now he sounded like the Tobirama Senju he knew.
"The new division I am creating directly under my command, will be keeping an eye out for them and report directly to me about the way they function the police force and themselves.
If they so much as think of picking up a mere plank of wood that could harm the village…"
The dangerous whisper trailed off and Sasuke almost shivered, feeling the insane blood-lust and cold fury in his voice which died down in a second after it came out as he calmed himself down.
"I will maintain order and authority in this village like I have under my reign till now. Neither the Uchiha nor anyone else shall change that until I draw breath and am under obligation to look after it." he stated firmly, and Sasuke nodded with a proud smile and decided it was time for him to leave.
He decided to not question a gift in a horse's mouth for now and thanked whoever had influenced the man so much to change his view so significantly in a mere night. Because the last he knew, Tobirama Senju was willing to put the Uchiha to the side lines for good without even so much of a twitch of his cheeks.
He turned around and twisted the door knob, but did not leave before a few parting words.
"For what it's worth, it was the right decision in my mind. And thank whoever it was that changed your mind so much from my side."
He spoke and walked out, clicking the door close behind him and Tobirama let out a smile while he stood alone in the empty room now and gathered up his thoughts.
"Thank him yourself, he is your subordinate after all." he thought and wanted to chuckle but held it in. Enough instinctive things for today, that boy would be the death of his image one day and maybe even him.
He could almost feel a hair or two turning gray from the sleepless nights he would have, after he signed that official paper to stop the preparations for the relocation that is.
"Kami forbid the demon that created paperwork…" he cursed and sat on his desk to clear up the growing piles of papers upon his desk before he had to go and meet the blonde boy to see what progress he had made on the scroll he had him prepare six months ago.
...
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