For Love or Money?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 1

Hokage Tower

Tsunade gazed out over the village from her vantage point on the balcony of her office within the Tower. The evening was mild; a light breeze gently flowed through the ends of her blonde hair. A wistful sigh escaped her as she pondered the mission she was about to assign her very own protegé.

Her village was at a peak, she knew, but unless something drastic was done, the Village of the Hidden Leaf, would begin to fade away into the vaults of history, layers of dust to settle on its once illustrious name. The precious bloodline limits that made up much of the identity of each hidden village were beginning to fade within Konoha. The proud Uchiha clan had been all but decimated by the massacre at the hands of Uchiha Itachi. With only two remaining members, neither of whom with any interest in returning to the village, its future remained bleak. As for the Hyuugas, they were on the precipice of a rebellion due to the inane stubbornness of their council to do away with the Branch class. With both noble houses out of commission or otherwise occupied, Konoha was forced to rely upon the powerful hereditary techniques utilized by other shinobi families. However, the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, and Aburame clans all had only yielded one child apiece to contribute to the next generation. There were others, but it just was not enough. Without more shinobi children, life as they knew it would warp into something horribly unfamiliar. Konoha would become a civilian village.

With these thoughts at the forefront of her mind, Tsunade heard a knock at the doors of her office. She immediately yelled for a frazzled Shizune to admit one Haruno Sakura and one Yamanaka Ino. "Close the door," she growled.

The two jounin kunoichis obeyed and looked at their Hokage with puzzled expressions. Seldom did they see Tsunade with such a solemn expression on her face.

Sakura glanced around, startled to notice no half empty sake bottles strewn about the room. A Tsunade without sake would explain the harried state of her assistant. Unsurprisingly, Hatake Kakashi leaned against his usual wall.

"As you are well aware, we as a village have arrived at a window of relative peace,"Tsunade began."That being said, a window of peace is a window of opportunity. We are in need of power. Powerful offspring to continue the next generation, to be exact."

"Tsunade-shishou..." Sakura had a feeling she knew where this was going, and she couldn't slow the rapid beating of her heart.

"You are two of my most talented kunoichis. Strong, intelligent, and dedicated. These missions that I am about to burden you with will put all of those things to the ultimate test. These are S-ranked and I need to know now, before I give you any more details, if you are willing. If not, say so now because if you decide that later, I will be forced to label you as missing nins and you will be included in Leaf's Bingo Book." She stared hard at her former apprentice, her honey eyes boring a hole into Sakura's emerald.

Sakura swallowed hard. Never before had she even heard of such a mission, where the stakes were so high coupled with so little information. But she was a kunoichi of Konoha. She loved her village with every fiber of her being. Her gaze hardened with determination and she returned her mentor's stare. "I am willing."

Ino put her hand on her hip and held her posture with confidence. "Me, too. Let's see the scrolls Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade pulled two scrolls from a drawer in her desk and handed one to each woman. "Your mission is to infiltrate Akatsuki and seduce two of its members. Specifically, Uchiha Itachi and the man known as Deidara. Any knowledge of the organization you get is to be relayed here to me via Sakura's summons. However..." she paused, taking a deep breath, " your primary aim is to be impregnated with their children to build the foundation for the next generation of shinobis here in Konoha. I do not need to stress to you how valuable the Uchiha bloodline is, and the bomber's limit is powerful enough to warrant its integration into our village as well. Kakashi will be accompanying you as a guardian. He is to aid you in whatever endeavors you require assistance with. You leave tomorrow morning."

Sakura felt her knees weaken, and a glance at Ino told her that the blonde was faltering as well. "Shishou...,"Sakura managed when she finally found the coherence to speak,"why us? Why me?"

Tsunade looked them both in the eye. "Because I believe that you are the only two strong enough to complete this task. Who else would you have me send?"

With that, they bowed their heads, knowing she was right. The virginal Hinata did not have the countenance to hold up to this kind of mental, emotional, and physical strain. And Neji would hunt down Tenten before she got a day's journey from Konoha.

The two looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They took up their scrolls and turned to leave with Kakashi.

"And girls..."Tsunade's voice caught them as they turned towards the door,"good luck."

As they shut the door behind them, Tsunade held her head in her hands. "And I'm sorry."

Konoha

Kakashi, Ino, and Sakura walked out of the Hokage Tower and onto the busy village street.

Immediately, Kakashi put a hand on each girl's shoulder and looked at them squarely. "I'll meet you at the gate tomorrow morning at dawn." With that, he turned and walked away, vanishing into the day's crowd.

Ino and Sakura looked at everything but each other and shuffled their feet uncomfortably. Finally, Ino broke the silence. "Well that was...unexpected." Sakura nodded, her usually cheerful façade beginning to melt into one of distress. Ino understood her need to get away. She wanted some privacy herself. "I'm, um...gonna go pack."

"Okay."

Sakura turned and began walking towards her own home, still in shock. Pregnant. Her. By Itachi? Kami, she hoped Sasuke never came back. How could she possibly explain something like that to him?

Her thoughts jumbled at that. But she knew she probably wouldn't ever need to explain anything to him. He had been off the grid for over three years. That was why Tsunade was sending her after Itachi instead. At least she had a prayer of finding the Akatsuki member, whereas her former teammate was probably dead.

Look at the bright side, her inner self suddenly piped up, at least you won't be alone. Ino-Pig will be there to keep you company. And Itachi isn't at all bad-looking. Your kids could definitely do worse.

Shut up, she replied to herself. She didn't want to see the bright side of things right now. Right now, she wanted chocolates and fluffy blankets and bed. She shuffled into her apartment and closed the door behind her walking to her bathroom and gazing into the mirror at her reflection. Wide, green eyes stared back from a sharply angled face featuring high cheekbones and her trademark broad forehead, framed by bright ribbons of her annoyingly pink hair. Sasuke hadn't wanted this face, and no one else had taken interest in it since he left. How the hell was she supposed to catch Itachi?

Elsewhere in Konoha

Ino's gut reaction to the news of her mission was horror, but as she headed home, her steps be came lighter and her shoulders pulled her up tall. This would be her chance to start anew. All of her emotional aches could be set behind her, and she didn't need to look back. And a baby. One tiny bundle of normalcy to ground her, force her to be stable. It was perfect. She would never need to think about him again.