Inheritance
Whenever she had to wear the formal kimono, she always felt impossibly awkward - it had all the embarrassment of a child being caught wearing their parents clothes, combined with the dread that she was stealing her brother's rightful place.
Making things worse, she was absolutely certain that everyone else could see it on her. Acting and elocution lessons were one thing, but it'd be pure hubris to think that she'd be able to keep up a mask skilled enough to fool multiple jonin.
Still, she tried her best to keep her pace even and her head held high as she walked into the room, instead of descending into a shameful shuffle. She held back a groan as she stared at the seating - the Uchiha fan emblazoned on a seat right across from the Senju vajra, near the very head of the table.
She glanced around the unfamiliar chamber surreptitiously as she made her way towards her seat, comparing it to the more austere conference room that previous meetings had been held in. Each of the places she passed was marked with a clear clan symbol - many she recognized, and a few she did not.
There was just one exception: the seat just past her own, at the very end, elevated above the others - and engraved with the Konoha Leaf. It was empty. It being empty was why they were here.
Sarutobi wouldn't be here to help her this time, she realized, and that thought more than anything made her finally accept the reality that he was gone. She'd play-acted her role before, but this would be different. She'd have to stand on her own.
Inoichi nodded to her as she took her assigned seat, and something about his solemn, slightly sad smile made her entirely sure he had already read her like a book. Still, she nodded back, and unfolded her papers. He was the only one already there, which suited her just fine - she'd arrived well ahead of schedule precisely to avoid having to face all the stares at once.
Normally, she'd have quietly talked to the Hokage while waiting, making sure she was prepared for what would be discussed, but... that was impossible, now. And whoever was chosen to be the fifth, it still wouldn't be the same.
So stupid - why hadn't she done more to change things? She closed her eyes and tried to calm down, but all she could think of was that Sarutobi had been the one to give her advice on how to handle these meetings - and now there would be no more advice given. What she had would have to be enough.
Hyuuga Hiashi swept in next, and if Hisana's mask had been a flimsy thing easily seen through, then his was an utterly impenetrable barrier that didn't let a single hint of his feelings through. Still, despite the immense power his clan had, he had never acted like the lone genin in the room was at all out of place, and that was enough for Hisana to feel grateful.
Over the next few minutes, more clan heads filed in, and Hisana handed a copy of the files she'd gathered to Nara Shikaku with a true sense of relief. Nobody she'd examined had stood out to her as a likely candidate for secretly cultivating a Mangekyo - but, looking at just his file, neither would Obito, so that didn't mean much. Hopefully the Jonin Commander would get something more out of it than she had.
Still, with her only real contribution to the discussion already delivered, she hoped she would be able to try to sink into the background. She wasn't ready, not yet. The facade had always been difficult to maintain, but now, with the exhaustion and disbelief setting in, she could practically feel it falling to pieces.
She turned her head, so she wouldn't need to look at that empty seat at the end, and concentrated on not showing her tears. Trying not to hunch in on herself too obviously, she prayed that the meeting would pass without incident.
That hope shattered like fallen glass as the last few clan heads filed into the room - along with Danzo Shimura. He strode into the room nonchalantly, flanked by Mitokado and Utatane, the two members of the Konoha Council.
Hisana forcibly kept herself still, barely managing to keep herself from pulling a kunai into her open hand. He was here. He was here and he was looking at her-!
A hand came down on her shoulder.
"Maa, and here I thought that only clan heads and currently recognized Council members were part of this meeting." Hisana tried not to sag too obviously in relief as her teacher shifted his hand a bit, his gaze still laser focussed on Danzo.
Throughout the room, a number of the clan heads made aborted moves for their weapons at Kakashi's sudden appearance, but Danzo didn't so much as flinch, still calmly considering Hisana.
Kakashi kept talking, though. "Perhaps you got the time of the jonin and administration meeting mixed up with this one?" His visible eye curled into an obvious mockery of a smile. "I understand, it happens to me all the time."
Danzo's gaze finally shifted away from her, and up onto Kakashi. "You'd bar me from this meeting, while you yourself have intentionally avoided politics for a decade?" He sounded so very calm, so very reasonable, and Hisana desperately kept herself from shivering and giving more of her reaction away. "You'd bar me, but not this child?"
Kakashi casually took a seat in a chair Hisana could have sworn wasn't empty a few moments earlier, still smiling at Danzo. "Well, I decided that someone should represent the Hatake at this meeting, and Pakkun refused to do it, so here I am." And then suddenly the smile was gone, and Kakashi's tone was dead serious. "And you certainly wouldn't be suggesting to exclude the head of a founding clan from this meeting, would you...?"
Danzo kept observing for just a few moments more, then nodded. "Very well, I'll simply raise my thoughts in a different venue. Good day."
And with that, he swept away, and Hisana was pathetically grateful that the production Kakashi had made of things kept everyone focussed on him, and not on her.
Homura cleared his throat, slightly bewildered. "There wasn't any call for that behaviour, Hatake. Danzo is a trusted member of the community, and was the Hokage's close friend."
Kakashi shrugged, entirely unapologetic. "Sure, but he wasn't on the invite list for this meeting, was he? We've got to strictly obey the rules and times set out for meetings, isn't that right, Hyuuga-sama?"
The Hyuuga patriarch slowly blinked at being put on the spot, but managed to keep his expression neutral. "...Yes, decorum should be maintained. Shall we proceed?"
Utatane stepped forward. "Yes, let's. In short, Homura and I have already spoken to Jiraiya, and he has refused to accept the position of Fifth."
There was a brief outburst of muttering between the Inuzuka and Akimichi heads, before quiet voice of Aburame Shibi cut through the noise. "We should not yet begin discussing. Why? Because there is more that the Council members have not yet told us."
Homura nodded fractionally in appreciation. "Indeed. He refused, because he felt that Senju Tsunade would be more qualified, and expressed conviction that he could convince her to accept. Provisionally, do you, the clans of Konoha, accept Senju Tsunade as your fifth Hokage?"
There was a contemplative silence, as everyone gazed around, but... there were no objections to raise.
Tsunade was beyond legendary. She was an immensely powerful shinobi, of course, but beyond that... she was perhaps responsible for saving the lives of more Konohan lives than anyone else who had ever lived. If Jiraiya could truly bring her back from her self-imposed exile...
The Nohara clan head was the first to speak. "For her many contributions to medicine, saving the lives of countless Shinobi, the Nohara accept."
And then the floodgates were opened.
"For the strategic value her reputation would bring, the Nara accept."
"For the debt we are owed for her assistance-"
"For the unquestionable power that she possesses-"
"For her unyielding commitment to the causes of good-"
"-the Inuzuka accept."
"-the Yamanaka accept."
"-the Hyuuga accept."
And then... once again, everyone was looking at her.
She stood up, aware of how it didn't put her height much above that of the still-seated adults, and cleared her throat. Her eyes drifted to the empty chair where Sarutobi should have been, then to the seat across from hers, still vacant, marked with that six-pronged symbol.
She was still so small, and so weak. But this was an important moment, and it deserved her best effort.
"For the legacy that her ancestors have upheld, and for the shared history that binds us to this village, the Uchiha clan accepts Senju Tsunade as the Fifth Hokage."
