15

Chapter 15: would you see me differently if i made myself taller?Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Hey, nii-chan," Raijin starts, abruptly looking up from where he'd been reviewing for his upcoming jounin exam, "can I ask you something real quick?"

Minato glances away from the report he'd been working on in companiable silence with his brother and blinks. "Yes, of course." If Raijin didn't know any better, he'd say Minato seems almost eager to be of assistance.

As much as he'd like to linger on the fondness that brings to him, Raijin swiftly moves on. He has been meaning to broach a slightly difficult topic with Minato and he needs to pay attention to observe his brother's reaction. "Does the village like…have something against the Uchiha?"

Minato's eyebrows shoot up for only the smallest fraction of a second before a significantly more guarded expression takes place of the initial surprise. He eyes Raijin contemplatively, the scrutiny of an experienced shinobi at the forefront of his demeanour. "What makes you think that?" he asks carefully, setting his report aside and turning to the younger man.

Raijin swallows under the heavy weight of Minato's full attention. He has a feeling the man before him is less brother and more shinobi right now. This is the Namikaze Minato who became the youngest Hokage ever.

"I could be wrong," he blurts out, looking away from the overwhelming sharpness of Minato's gaze. He knows he isn't, but it's dangerous territory to bring up to a shinobi loyal to their village—a lot of the times, loyalty can mean being unable to admit the faults of the system they belonged to. He doesn't know enough about how Minato was or is to be able predict where the man may lie on that spectrum. Raijin bites his lip and thinks over his words cautiously. "It's just…strange, I guess."

Sensing that Raijin's guard has gone up, Minato softens his own edges. It's a difficult line to walk between family and work, but he won't get anything useful out of Raijin this way. "Hey," he lowers his voice and peers over to catch his little brother's eye, smiling encouragingly, "it's okay. You can tell me."

It feels like a trap. Raijin regards Minato with pursed lips and sighs. It's not like he has a choice. He can't do anything about the Uchiha without relying on Minato's aid politically since there's no real way to garner that much trust and influence within the time frame he has. Sometimes there's no other way but through.

"It just doesn't make much sense to me," he settles on at last. "I know they're a founding clan—the only one left now, right? So why are people so wary of them?"

Minato blinks, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Like, I've seen them just go about their business and they get these…looks, I guess? They almost never talk to anyone outside their clan from what I can tell. The civilians are always skittish in their interactions with them and the shinobi seem to avoid them too, and I couldn't really figure out why." Scratching at his cheek, he sheepishly admits, "I considered getting my foxes to investigate but I figured that'd probably be a bad idea when I'm barely even part of the village yet."

Without missing a beat, Minato frowns. "Of course, you're a part of the village now, Raijin."

Raijin shrugs carelessly. "Sure," he nods, "but I'm the new guy in a shinobi village during wartime. It's a weird position to be in. Anyways, that's not the point."

Minato hums, tilting his head. "Well, it's not abnormal for people to be wary of those in power. The Uchiha are our primary law enforcement after all. It's probably hard to not be overly aware around them."

Making a face, Raijin shakes his head. "I guess, but—" He hesitates. "Look, this is purely an outsider perspective, okay? I'm not, like, trying to point any fingers."

"I know that, otouto," Minato says patiently, "I'm not saying you are."

"Right." Raijin nods once. "When you're that wary of someone, it comes off as kind of distrusting, you know? It can't be easy to have the entire village treat you so distantly. Like you're not part of them or different from the entity of the village somehow."

Minato frowns but he appears to be deep in thought, turning to look at the table they'd been working at with narrowed eyes. "You're not wrong," he concedes slowly. "The Uchiha also end up in conflict with the ANBU often because their jurisdictions as in-village peacekeepers overlap sometimes."

"Their compound is what really got me thinking, to be honest," Raijin brings up. "It's a mini-village in there. And that's cool and all, I guess, but I didn't get why they had so many of their own shops for food and clothes and weapons when the whole point of the Hidden Villages was to take the economic burden of self-sufficiency off of the individual clans. Like, pooling resources together and redistributing them is practically the basis of village function. So why are the Uchiha separate enough to the point that they could close their gates tomorrow and still survive within those walls for years without a problem? Unless, of course, I'm talking out of my ass here and all clan compounds in Konoha just work like that."

Mouth twisting, Minato shakes his head. "No, you have the right idea. Nothing's stopping them from doing it, but most clans don't bother being self-sufficient anymore. The individual unit for external conflict has gone from being a clan to a village, so it's an unnecessary allocation of their funds to prepare to be able to function that way. As far as I know, no other clan in Konoha partakes in the practice anymore."

"Except for the Uchiha," Raijin says knowingly, "and that tells you something, doesn't it? I get that it might not be my business, but this just…it really doesn't seem like a good thing. No other clan is being treated this way from what I can tell, and I think the Uchiha are aware of that too. It doesn't feel sustainable. Something's got to give at some point."

Minato regards him with a calculative gleam in his eyes. Raijin tries not to shudder at the way being observed in such a distinctly cold way makes him feel like an insect under a magnifying glass. "You're awfully sharp, Raijin," Minato comments at last. "It isn't easy to take so many pieces and put them together so quickly and accurately."

Ducking his head to avoid his brother's stare, Raijin laughs nervously. "Ah, you think so?" He taps his finger against his knee and smiles thinly. "I guess I'm just good at being nosy."

"You shouldn't be so dismissive of your own talents," Minato frowns. "You've been here for a month, Raijin. It only took you that long to observe a situation, add context clues and then come to a startlingly accurate conclusion. A conclusion that should be staring us natives in the face even." He tilts his head at an angle that sets Raijin's teeth on edge. "And yet, it didn't even occur to me to consider the potential future ramifications of the Uchiha clan's precarious position within the village."

'Oh,' Kurama says within the seal, having sat up fully to pay attention to what was unfolding before his jinchuuriki's eyes. 'Oh, I don't like this one bit.'

Raijin agrees. He doesn't think anything about this conversation is going to land him in T&I for treason or espionage, and that's a win in his mind, but he feels an awful lot like prey being regarded by a predator right now and he doesn't like it. 'Think we need to book it? If I run now, I might catch him off guard and get a head start to Uzushio.'

'You're probably fine,' Kurama says slowly, but his ears are still perked up and tense. 'I'll lend you my chakra if it comes down to it, of course.'

It's not like he wants to run away from Minato. He really does like having a brother and belonging to a village again. But he's not going to take any risks before he can take Danzo's scheming ass out of the picture for good. Raijin stays where he is, muscles tense and jutsu on the tip of his tongue just in case Minato decides he's a spy or something.

"Raijin," Minato begins, "what do you think is likely to happen if nothing is done about the Uchiha?"

The younger man presses his lips into a thin line. His brother is testing him, he can tell; he just doesn't know why. Still, he doesn't think there's much point in lying. Especially if he can secure help to prevent an entire clan's massacre. Face set with an edge of grimness, he says, "If people believe they aren't receiving what they are owed, they are likely to take it by whatever means are necessary. The Uchiha might not ask to be included at all; in the worst case scenario, they'll simply take what they believe in rightfully theirs." A coup d'état and then a culling. 

"A bold allegation," Minato comments lightly.

"A theoretical possibility," Raijin corrects simply. "They could also just politely ask to renegotiate their position."

"But you don't think they will."

In his mind, Kurama rumbles, 'Careful, kit. Watch where you step.'

Gritting his teeth, Raijin resists the urge to stand up and put physical distance between himself and his brother. "I think that they're a founding clan and started out as one of the main pillars of this village. An entire clan of such standing doesn't just get to where they are in like half a century. It doesn't work like that."

"So?" Minato prompts, leaning back leisurely.

Raijin's eyes narrow slightly. He licks his lips. "Their treatment doesn't seem like a mistake to me," he admits finally. "If I really think about it, the problem starts all the way back with putting them solely in charge of the police force and then making their headquarters on the outskirts by the prison. And maybe that wasn't an intentional slight against them at first, but Konoha has consistently remained famous for its geniuses, and I find it hard to believe that none of them ever noticed how an entire clan is slowly being pushed out of the village. Someone out there knows and might even be making it happen. The Uchiha might not have enough faith to ask to negotiate if they feel like no one will listen."

When Minato smiles, it is a restrained thing, and still, it somehow feels like a baring of teeth. Raijin eyes it warily and keeps himself carefully still. He almost jumps clean out his skin when Minato's arm darts out lightning fast. His hand immediately hones in on its target before Raijin can so much as blink, and then the younger shinobi stares somewhat blankly as his elder brother scrubs at his hair enthusiastically.

"Where did you come from, hm?" Minato coos, leveraging his weight against Raijin to keep him in place when the younger tries to dodge his grabby fingers. Minato pinches at whiskered cheeks and grins, eyes bright with a wicked gleam that is equal parts calculation and pride. "How did you get so smart? Where have you been hiding all this time?"

Immediately giving up because Minato has the upper hand in both height and weight, Raijin lets himself get manhandled, allowing Minato to put an arm around him and bring him close until their shoulders are pressed together. "Maybe it runs in the family," he suggests weakly.

It's not like he can admit to coming from the future and being privy to all sorts of secrets he has no business knowing. 

Minato laughs, bright and high, throwing his head back and leaning against Raijin. "Maybe," he agrees, grinning. "I meant it earlier, you know. You really are skilled to be able to see these things so clearly—how they might have come about and how they are likely to affect Konoha." He tilts his head and raises an eyebrow. "A head for bureaucracy, perhaps?"

Raijin sinks further back against the sofa in his apartment, ducking his head. Minato has taken to absentmindedly scratching at his scalp, and it feels unfairly nice. "I don't know," he mumbles.

"Don't go getting shy now," Minato teases, chuckling as he deftly dodges the swipe Raijin makes for his face. "I'm serious, Raijin. You bring a uniquely objective point of view to the table and you have a good sense of insight to back it up. Almost intuitively too, it seems. That's valuable to a place like this."

Frowning, Raijin pulls his knees up and wraps his arms around them. "It doesn't really matter, does it?" he points out wryly. It's not like he's going to run for Hokage or something now. "No one's going to listen to what some random nineteen-year-old who doesn't even have an official rank yet has to say." He snorts and shakes his head. "What are they going to do—invite me to a council meeting out of nowhere?"

Minato smiles, contemplative and secretive. The hair on the back of Raijin's neck stands up on edge as he gets that distinct prey vs predator feeling again. In sheer juxtaposition, Minato pets him like he isn't actively making Raijin consider the benefits of becoming a hermit on an abandoned mountaintop somewhere far away thanks to his weird cryptic behaviour.

"Well, you never know."

"What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?"

"Don't you go worrying about that, otouto."

"You're so goddamned weird, nii-chan. This is why I like Kushina-nee better."

"Hey, you take that back!"

Notes:

This was supposed to be covering the jounin exams but then my love for scary politician Minato got away from me and took over the chapter instead. I think Minato can be lowkey feral every now and then, as a little treat.

Just to clarify, Raijin is so on edge around Minato not necessarily out of fear. Lbr our homeboy Naruto could probably solo god himself and still have time to grab ramen later.

Raijin is raw, unrestrained natural power-- very fittingly a hurricane. To me, Minato represents something a lot more controlled and honed. He's smart and resourceful. His strength is scary, sure, but it's how he uses it that makes him so successful as a ninja. He's creative, thinks critically, and does whatever it take to get the job done.

The apprehension is more to drive home that Minato really is an apex predator of his habitat even when he's a loving family guy, and even Raijin can acknowledge that he can't let his guard down around someone like that.

And Raijin doesn't get it yet but Minato absolutely intends to make good use of his brother when he becomes yondime hokage .They're shinobi and everyone is a resource. Minato is too smart to let Raijin's flair for bureaucracy go to waste.