The Hokage's Mandate
Konoha's elite are being hunt down and murdered by a rogue group known as the Akatsuki. Because of this, Tsunade issues a mandate to ensure no more lives are lost. One anbu member is to accompany all ninja, jounin level or below, whenever they leave the village to go on a mission. When Sakura is required to leave the village on an emergency mission, she isn't quite sure how to take the anbu she is assigned. ItachiXSakura non-massacre
Hello all! I am dedicating this story to the wonderful BloodyMoonEclyps, because she was the 1000th reviewer on one of my other stories! I'm not quite sure how long this story will be, but it definitely will not be a one-shot. Now please, sit back and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
The day had started just as any other day for Sakura. She had woken to the sound of her fridge door being slammed shut, and to Naruto and Sasuke-kun's loud whispers as they fought over who had to be the one to wake her up this time.
Kami-sama she loved those two, but seriously? She had just gotten home from a double shift at the hospital, where she had to perform emergency surgery twice. If Sakura didn't get some more sleep she was seriously going to murder someone… preferably which ever teammate deemed themselves brave enough to come into her room to wake her up.
Shoving her face into her pillow, Sakura desperately tried to ignore the two as they bickered, but it seemed like today just wasn't her day. At this point in the morning, the sun was at the perfect angle to shower her bedroom with a copious amount of sunlight. The two were only getting louder too, so even when she tried to find salvation under her pillow, she just couldn't.
Deciding that if she was going to be up she would need some coffee, Sakura ignored the clothes she was currently wearing, because the boys had certainly seen her in blood stained hospital scrubs before, and headed into the kitchen.
"Why does it always smell like death in here, Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked as his nose wrinkled when she walked into the kitchen. "You need to clean your apartment more."
"Excuse me?" Sakura asked with an eyebrow raise. He seriously wasn't implying that his apartment smelled better than hers, was he?
"I was just saying Sakura-Chan," Naruto said as his eyes moved over to her form. Sakura took great satisfaction in seeing Naruto's wide, doe-eyed look; serves him right for breaking into her apartment at- Sakura turned to look at the clock- nine in the morning. "You look awful Sakura-Chan! Why aren't you still sleeping?"
"Gee," Sasuke said as he flicked one of his cherry tomatoes at Naruto's head. "I wonder why she's awake, Dobe. I told you we should have been quieter."
"Well I didn't know you had to work late yesterday, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto said while he quickly stood from his seated position at the table. If he knew what was good for him, he'd grab her some coffee. If she didn't get coffee soon, Sakura was sure she someone really was going to die.
"I wasn't supposed to," Sakura said while she found a seat to slouch in. Sakura usually took great pride in her posture, but after the rough day she had yesterday, exhaustion weighed heavy on her shoulders, and a slouch was her preferred method of sitting. "I was pulled into a second shift after two different jounin teams came in…"
"What happened?" Naruto asked in curiosity as he passed her a mug full of coffee. It seemed the blond did know better.
"Classified," Sakura said while she took a long sip of coffee; it wasn't unknown to others that Sakura found coffee to be the most precious liquid in the whole world. Whenever she wasn't on a mission, she also wasn't functional without it.
Now that sleepiness no longer clouded her mind, her thoughts floated back to Naruto's question. Even though Sakura wanted nothing more than to tell her teammates about what had happened, she knew how important it was to keep this information quiet for the time being. The information was sensitive, but she knew the Hokage was going to have a meeting regarding the issue later today.
It had become a reoccurring theme. Over the past month, twenty Konoha teams had come back to the village severely injured, and three teams had not come back at all. It seemed that whatever was happening was a not-so-subtle attack on Konoha.
She doubted another Hidden Village would be attacking them so openly, and to such an extent. Konoha did not get along with some of the other villages; having many of their relations be called strained was a bit of an understatement. That did not mean any of the other Kage were stupid enough to start this type of war against Konoha; especially in Konoha's own backyard without the Hokage even knowing.
The attacks couldn't just be written off as coincidence either, because of the amount of instances that had occurred and the severity of them. There was something or someone out there hunting Konoha shinobi.
"…Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked after Sakura took another sip of her coffee. Her eyes widened for a second before an embarrassed smile caught her lips.
"Sorry Naruto," Sakura said as she looked at the neglected looking blond. A pout was scrunched up on Naruto's face; he looked more than a little ridiculous with his bottom lip jutted outward. "What were you saying?"
"He ignored the fact that you said whatever happened at the hospital was classified and was trying to accost you for an answer," Sasuke said with a slight shrug. For this reason only, Sakura appreciated Sasuke-kun's brother being in Anbu. Whenever Sasuke heard about something being classified, he understood not to pry. Naruto on the other hand…
"But Sakura-chaaaaaan," Naruto pouted, and Sakura shook her head before standing. She walked over to the coffee pot and poured herself another cup of coffee.
"But Sakura-chan nothing," Sakura said with an eye roll. She started to head back out of the kitchen before she paused in the doorway. "I certainly hope you two didn't eat all the food I had in that fridge… I just got groceries before I started work yesterday, and Kami-sama knows I'm going to be hungry after I get out of the shower."
Sakura could hear the two gulp as she started to walk away. After being teammates for six years, those two were almost too easy to manipulate.
XxX
No one had ever accused Itachi of being stupid, quite the contrary in fact. As Itachi grew older, everyone had only continued to tell him how incredibly intelligent he was for his age. Even now, at the age of twenty-four, everyone saw him as one of the strongest shinobi in the village.
That was why when the Hokage had called him into her office this morning, he already had an idea as to what she was going to say.
"Hokage-sama," Itachi bowed fluidly as he flickered in front of her. Tsunade-sama was more than used to Itachi appearing in front of her in such a manner, therefore she did not seem to be fazed at his sudden appearance. "You wished to see me."
"You probably already know what this is about," Tsunade said while leaning back in her chair. Itachi noticed the heavy stress lines that marred the Hokage's face, and knew that the topic she wanted to talk with him about had caused her a great deal of stress.
"A little over one month ago," Tsunade began, defeat rang heavy in her tone. "I sent a team of two chuunin and a jounin to recover a lost scroll from Wave. On the way back from their mission, a group of ninja intercepted them, and left them all in critical condition. Two of the team died, and the other one is still in a coma… That was the first of the attacks."
"There have been twenty confirmed cases," Itachi spoke easily recounting the attacks and remembering exactly when each attack had happened. He was no Nara, but Itachi's mind could easily remember the dates. "And three teams who have gone missing."
"Hai," Tsunade said as she clenched her fists. "This silent attack… it's a declaration of war. I have my theory as to who is behind the attack, but without confirmation my hands are tied."
"What are you going to do?" Itachi wondered, for she had many different courses of action she could take.
"I refuse to let any more of my ninja die," Tsunade said in determination. "But I also cannot turn away missions, for we need revenue. Therefore, at the meeting later today, I am going to issue a mandate of sorts. Every ninja under Anbu rank will be required to travel with an Anbu member for the whole duration of their mission."
"Hn," Itachi spoke sounding thoughtful, "This mandate will make many people unhappy… they will believe you are undermining their skill."
"I don't care whether they like it or not," Tsunade said with a frown. "This is what needs to be done to keep my ninja safe. With the seemingly invisible threat that is out there, they will come to understand how important this mandate is."
"And as an Anbu captain you want me to help coordinate which Anbu member should be placed on each mission," Itachi drew his own conclusion, though he had little doubt he was wrong.
"Are you sure you don't have a Nara in your ancestry?" Tsunade made a poor attempt to joke with him, though Itachi knew it was enough to ease some of the Hokage's own tension.
"Aa," Itachi said with a slight quirk of his lips. "I will tell Okaasan I will be late to dinner then."
"You Uchiha and your mothers," Tsunade said with a slight shake of her head. Itachi had half a mind to be offended, though he knew how much of a mama's boy he was… Sasuke reminded him daily about that. "I'll see you in a few hours then."
"Aa," Itachi nodded before flickering out of her office. Once he had landed in the streets outside of the Hokage tower, Itachi took purposeful strides toward the Anbu headquarters. Itachi would need to look over the files on his fellow Anbu members if he were to feel confident enough pairing said members with Tsunade-sama's ninja.
He would also need to find Shikamaru. Shikamaru's mind was unmatched in intelligence, and Itachi was sure he and Tsunade-sama would need Shikamaru as a consultant while they matched up Anbu members with regular teams.
"How could you eat everything in her fridge, Dobe?" Itachi was mildly surprised when he heard a familiar voice. He of course could sense Sasuke and Naruto's chakra, but he hadn't given it a second thought until he had heard his little brother's voice.
"I was hungry Teme," Naruto's voice whined. "And don't tell me I was the only one eating her food… how were we supposed to know she had been in back to back emergency surgeries anyway?"
"There's been a lot more of those happening recently," Sasuke sounded suspicious. Had his Otouto caught on to the attacks occurring outside of Konoha? Sasuke was rather intelligent himself, so Itachi had little doubt believing his brother hadn't noticed something devious was going on.
"Poor Sakura-Chan," Naruto said, and Itachi could hear the frown in his voice. Itachi took that moment to think about what he was supposed to be doing. He really did not need to find Shikamaru immediately; the lazy Nara would be required to be at the meeting this afternoon anyway. Itachi would approach him there, and gain his assistance in pairing up teams. He could also go over the Anbu files at night and look through them in leisure. Itachi found himself barely sleeping as it was, so it wasn't like he didn't have enough time to review them.
For it had been a while since he had last had a chance to see his beloved Otouto. Between the missions both of them took, Itachi thought it had been a month since the two had last conversed. Making his decision easily, Itachi relocated and found himself standing behind Naruto.
"I thought Okaasan usually did the grocery shopping, Otouto," Itachi said while he came into view of the two. He watched Naruto jump at his sudden arrival, and Itachi found it mildly amusing. He was more than proud to see Sasuke had not reacted at all; it seemed the Hokage wasn't the only one who was used to Itachi's stealthy appearances.
"Don't scare us like that Itachi!" Naruto scowled as he went back to looking at the food stand in front of them. "I thought you were Sakura-Chan for a second… If she comes out of that shower before we bring her back some food…"
Both Sasuke and Naruto cringed at that thought, and Itachi felt his amusement rise. Yes, he had heard many things about his little brother's teammates, but it had only been recent, within the past few years in fact, that news had begun to spread about how terrifyingly strong the young pinkette was. The rumors had probably started when she had taken her apprenticeship with the Hokage.
Hmm, now that Itachi thought about it, he had never really seen Sakura's abilities, inside the hospital or out. If it was enough to make both Naruto and Sasuke flinch, though, it may be looking into. Anbu was always in dire need of medics of high caliber.
"Why would you be buying Sakura-san food, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked as if he hadn't heard the two complaining about eating all of her food earlier. He was mildly curious as to why the two had eaten the food in the first place; Itachi knew they both had their own food to eat, or they could have went to that ramen stand.
"He ate all her food, Aniki," Sasuke drawled out with a sigh; Itachi knew this whole situation was giving his little brother a headache, but Itachi could feel no pity for him. It was likely Sasuke was just as much at fault as Naruto was for this.
"We," Naruto gave Sasuke an accusing look. "We ate all her food Teme."
"…She keeps tomatoes in her house for me anyway," Sasuke said with a small glare as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Itachi's lip twitched upward at the two. Sasuke and Naruto hadn't always been so amicable when they had first started as a team. Naruto and Sasuke fought much like cats and dogs did. It wasn't until they fought together in the Chuunin exams that their bond started to truly develop.
"Just like she keeps ramen at her house for me!" Naruto said as he mimicked Sasuke's stance. Itachi raised an eyebrow at the two.
"So you two only ate the ramen and tomatoes?" Itachi asked, not sounding convinced. It was highly unlikely a medic would only keep those two foods within their home. Nutrition was an important thing to medics; in his youth, Shisui had been on the receiving end of their lectures regarding nutrition more than a handful of times. After said lectures, Itachi had always had to listen to Shisui complain about healthy eating for the next week.
"…Well Sakura-Chan is a really good cook too!" Naruto's arms dropped as he frowned, and tried to defend his actions. "And she had some onigiri, shrimp tempura, sashimi, and dango that was just wasting away in her fridge…"
"It wasn't wasting away, Dobe," Sasuke said with his own frown. "She said she had just gotten groceries yesterday."
"That didn't stop you from eating all of her tomatoes and rice balls!" Naruto accused, desperately trying to place the blame upon another.
"Onigiri?" Itachi asked mildly curious. Sasuke usually refused to eat anyone other than their Okaasan's rice balls.
"… They are really good," Sasuke admitted, slightly defeated.
"Better than Okaasan's?" Itachi found himself asking. He had yet to meet a rice ball he did not like, but that did not mean his Okaasan's weren't his favorite.
"A-about even," Sasuke slightly stuttered.
Now this he did find truly surprising. Itachi knew that if Okaasan had heard Sasuke, she would have been decidedly crushed. The Uchiha Matriarch was always so proud of her recipes and dishes.
"I believe I will have to try one of Sakura-san's rice balls sometime then," Itachi decided, because if Sasuke actually enjoyed someone else's rice balls, Itachi knew they would have to be some of the best tasting rice balls he would ever taste.
"She'll have to make them again first," Naruto said with a pout as he pointed to a head of lettuce. He turned to Sasuke and raised the vegetable high enough for the younger Uchiha to see. "Do you think she'll want a salad when she's done with her shower?"
"No I don't want a damn salad," Sakura said in exasperation as she appeared before the group. Itachi watched as both Sasuke and Naruto flinched; he didn't understand why, though, because he had been able to sense Sakura's chakra for some time now. It seemed the two were expecting some type of retaliation for not getting her food to her on time. "I want some dango and tea."
"I'm sure Ichiraku has-"
"Don't be an idiot, Dobe," Sasuke cut him off easily. Itachi watched Sasuke approach their pink haired teammate with apprehensive steps. "Let's go to the dango stand down the block, Sakura."
"Hm," Sakura nodded her affirmation and turned back to Naruto. Itachi couldn't see the look on her face, as she was looking to Naruto instead of himself, but by Naruto's reaction, Sakura's look must have been something fierce. "I hope you brought Gama-Chan, Naruto, because I plan on having a lot of dango."
"Aw, Sakura-Chaaaan!"
"And I'm sure Itachi-san would like some as well," Sakura decided as she headed toward the stand. "You'll be a good Naruto-kun and pay for him as well, right?"
Itachi found his lips twitching up in amusement as he followed behind the three. Yes, if this girl could put the Kyuubi in his place without so much as lifting a finger, Itachi thought she would probably do well in Anbu.