Zuko joined ANBU when he was eleven. He just earned his chuunin promotion the year prior while tensions between the clan and the village mount further. Fugaku, continuing to prove himself a wise and sensible man, sent his eleven-year-old son to be the clan’s spy in ANBU. Because obviously, no one would ever suspect Uchiha Itachi of being a spy for the Uchiha clan.

Honestly, it’s gotten to the point that Zuko was embarrassed that he's related to the guy, because the Hokage definitely knew why he was entering black ops. His advisors all knew. Even the ANBU members themselves knew what Fugaku was playing at.

The mask and codename he’s given was probably a passive aggressive form of revenge, and proof the Leaf had a twisted sense of humour.

Weasel. Itachi.

Shisui loved it. Zuko’s honestly just relieved; his sense of identity was very ingrained, and it took him a while to learn to respond to Itachi – sometimes he still expects to hear ‘Zuko’ instead.

ANBU hazing was particularly harsh.

His standard issue katana came as a blunted child’s training bokken. Zuko shrugged and retrieved his dual swords from his room, and the quartermaster discovered his own katana refused to sharpen, no matter how many times he ran his whetstone down it.

Someone tried to put itching powder in his uniform; the woman mysteriously mistook her own locker for Zuko’s, and she shuffled about awkwardly through the entire subsequent training session. Even after going to the medics to heal the rash, she still felt an intermittent itching sensation for the next week – coincidently whenever in the presence of the team's youngest member.

Zuko spent an entire afternoon cleaning the bathrooms in headquarters at ANBU Lynx’s behest, only to find out it was the man’s own turn on the roster.

Several days later, Shiranui Genma was benched from missions pending an urgent STD exam. An overweight middle-aged man recently tested positive in the sexual health clinic, and Genma’s name somehow appeared on the list of his partners the clinic needed to contact.

Oddly enough, all attempts at hazing stopped after that.

(The name Uchiha Itachi began to be whispered in hushed tones and fearful voices in the deepest shadows of Konoha)

The art of illusions was probably the greatest invention known to mankind; Zuko loved them. If genjutsu can’t solving your problems, you’re not using enough.

This attitude will likely cause him lots of trouble one day. But since Zuko seems to be perpetually caught a state of suffering and that day was not today, his motto remained unchanged:

Keep calm and genjutsu on.

After the training period was over – to the great relief of his team and disappointment of Zuko – they embarked on missions.

Between a lot of boring guard and look-out missions, Team Ro stole scrolls containing information, kidnapped people for T&I, created a huge amount of property damage – sometimes even on purpose – and sabotaged the diplomatic proceedings of other nations. They even rescued an actual princess on one memorable occasion.

They also assassinated a lot of people.

Zuko was no stranger to assassinations, though he’s normally on the receiving end. Mai was the one who caused most of the ‘accidents’ to happen to some of his political opponents when he first took over as Fire Lord. With the brainwashing and propaganda being entrenched for generations, there was no way Zuko would have been able to keep his throne without proper enforcement. Would-be rebel leaders and Ozai loyalists – men and women who believed in world conquest so fanatically that they were impossible to dissuade – were quietly disappeared.

Sokka knew. Katara knew. Toph definitely knew. Aang – well even he caught on at some point, but whether he believed the rumours or not, he never confronted Zuko about them.

So while Zuko hated assassination, he does acknowledge the necessity of it.

He will not, however, kill an innocent. Thankfully Konoha hasn’t asked him to cross that line, or else he would be in serious trouble; ANBU aren’t allowed to reject missions. Ever.

His mask also picked up an annoying nickname: the White-Fire Weasel.

Very descriptive. Much imagination. Many eloquence.

There’s no stopping Shisui’s unending glee when he finds out. It’s nothing at all like his own nickname - Shunshin no Shisui. Zuko was unamused, but in all honesty, he should have been expecting something of the like. Nicknames all seem to be unimaginative, highly unflattering or both:

The Slug Princess – also known as the Legendary Sucker, and really, both are terrible

The Yellow Flash – could also be tweaked to Yellow Flasher

Unruly A – a blatant insult to his ability to hold his temper

Hell, the only woman of the Seven Swordsmen was literally called ‘The Bitch of Kiri’.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

And no, he’s not making this up.

Zuko was annoyed, but at this point mostly resigned (also secretly relived, with his luck it could have been much, muchworse). He preferred his last masked nickname, even if The Blue Spirit wasn't any more imaginative than the one he’s been saddled with now.

While things in ANBU were going well, matters within the clan continued to deteriorate. As the months turned into years, it became more and more apparent to him that there was no room for compromise between the village and the Uchiha. Shisui was working desperately to show both sides the good that can happen when the two work together, but Zuko was not as optimistic as his cousin.

It was, to be frank, a complete waste of resources to have most of the clan stuck in the police force. Zuko was now one of only fourteen Uchiha who served in general forces, compared to the seventy who served during the Third Shinobi War.

Zuko was not blind. He knows the upper echelons of Konoha have reservations against them. He’s heard the rumours and the seen the subtle distrust that borders on discrimination that his status as Heir and a genius has mostly shielded him from.

Now he knows Uchiha bodies have gone unaccounted for; Uchiha eyes have gone unaccounted for. Not a lot, but even one is too many.

The Uchiha have no proof. Nor do they have the political standing to accuse the higher-ups and come away unscathed. All they have are suspicions that have gnawed away at them for years, building resentment that has since morphed to anger.

However, this…

“A coup.”

The words hung heavily in the air as he stood in a hidden room beneath the shrine with his mother, father and the more influential members of the clan.

“They have always feared us. They have always envied our sharingan.”

Uchiha Tetsuo sounded just like the nobles of the Fire Nation when Zuko had first taken over.

He shot the man a glare. “And when we strike down the Hokage and the blood of innocents runs in the streets, we will have proven ourselves to be everything they have ever believed,” he bit out acidly.

“Some fighting will ensue," Fugaku spoke. “But with your help as a member of ANBU, a bloodless revolution can occur.”

Zuko stared at his father in disbelief. Can you believe this crap? Bloodless revolution? Bloodless revolution? Such a thing doesn’t exist.

He should know, he helped spearhead one when he took over the Fire Nation. People hadn't exactly been thrilled to serve 'The Phoenix King' or Azula and her increasingly apparent insanity, and yet there were still many who refused to follow Zuko.

“I am a single person in ANBU. One of nearly a hundred. And how do you suggest we suppress the rest of Konoha? The Sandaime Hokage is called the God of Shinobi for a very good reason. His council have not survived to their age by chance.

“And suppose we succeed in overthrowing the upper echelons? The other clans will not stand for what will appear to be an Uchiha grab for power. The Aburame, the Hyuuga. The Akimichi, Nara and Yamanaka. Konoha’s clans are numerous and as far as I can see, content. We have no allies here.”

Old Terumi’s face scrunched up, looking like she’d bitten a lemon. “Exactly. We have no allies here. Something must change.”

“Yes,” Zuko agreed with that. “But violence only begets more violence. It will engender no good will within the village for our clan. We are mistrusted and we are feared. But after we spring a coup, we will be hated.”

He bore the combined weight of their gazes without flinching, spine straight and shoulders back.

“Hatred is an empowering emotion, it evokes action. The Uchiha clan will be slaughtered to a man.”

Tetsuo sneered at him. “Then what do you propose we do, Itachi-sama?”

Zuko… he couldn't think of anything. But there was a solution to this. There must be.

He just has to find it.

“The Sandaime is old – “

Bitter laughter cut him off. “Do you think we haven’t already tried to install one of our own as Hokage? When the Shodaime died, when the Niidaime died. When the Sandaime was in power and it became apparent he was going to choose one of his students. We pushed to have an Uchiha placed into that line of student tutelage, and who do they assign to Namikaze? Uchiha Obito.”

The name was spat with hatred so strong it stunned him. Fury coated the name like dried tar; not even Senju Tobirama was spoken of with such vitriol.

“A foolish, talentless boy whose only legacy was to awaken his sharingan late and leave it to an outsider. No. There will be no Uchiha Hokage as long as Senju students rule Konoha.”

Zuko’s lips thinned. The Uchiha Clan had been patient. This was frustration that has been building for decades at this point.

He was not the Fire Lord here. He doesn't have the support of the Avatar. To them, he was just a boy they don’t have to listen to.

“We cannot launch a coup. It will not help our situation in the slightest.” He was adamant on this part.

“Then our people will remain discriminated against. Our eyes will continue go missing, harvested from our corpses.”

Zuko closed his eyes at the vitriol being spouted. But he cannot disagree.

“We can leave.”

The words surprised even himself, but as soon as he said it, the idea crystallised and he realised it could actually work.

“When we signed the treaty with the Senju, when all clans joined Konoha, there were provisions which allow us to leave at any time. Legally, even. We were promised safety for our children, we were promised protection from bloodline thieves. Konoha has not delivered. They have broken their word, not us. Legally, we are no longer bound to serve the village anymore.”

Zuko’s mind raced ahead, the words of the treaty swimming in his brain, mouth moving as he thought.

“The Daimyo has his own copy. If we bring our grievances to the Fire Court, we can even have his protection when we leave. Any move Konoha takes against us will be – “

“Do you even hear yourself?” Fugaku cried, leaping from his chair. “Abandon Konoha!?”

Zuko jolted. Everyone was looking at him like he was mad. Like they had never seen him before.

Something within him grows cold.

Unlike all these people here, Zuko knew something other than Konoha. He remembered loyalty to another country, understood from his travels that at the end of the day, people are the same everywhere. Everyone has hopes and dreams, everyone laughs and lives and loves no matter the land they were born in. Being reincarnated only made him believe this more.

Konoha was not the centre of his world, she did not hold his loyalties as she does the Uchiha.

For all their talk of launching a coup, they are not disloyal to Konoha. Just her rulers.

Zuko has never felt the differences between them so strongly as he does now.

“We have no allies here," he repeated, this time softly, for it was a truth that hurt the clan no matter how they pretend otherwise. “We launch a coup and incite the whole village to rise against us. We do nothing and our people will remain discriminated against. Our eyes will continue go missing, harvested from our corpses.” He wields their own words against them, the harsh truth that they threw in his face only a minute prior.

“Something must be done.”

In the ensuing deafening silence, Mikoto breathed out, a slow unsteady breath.

“I believe… we should retire for the night. Take some time to think things over.” Even his mother sounded shaken.

Casting a last glance across the faces of the people before him and imprinting their expressions into his mind, Zuko bowed, turned on his heel and marched up the tatami shrine steps.