Prologue:

You Reap What You Sow – The Server and the Protector

Hi no Kuni - Konohagakure no Sato - Kato's Bar and Grill - 8:32 P.M. (Civilian Time) - 2032 Hours (Shinobi Time)

It's strange – how my entire life was devoted to only two causes, and two causes only: to protect my family, and to become the Hokage of Konoha. Now, I had imagined my family to be perhaps one or two friends: Iruka-Sensei, the old man Hokage, old man Ichiraku, and his daughter – but I had never envisaged that my 'family' would expand to become Konohagakure no Sato as a whole. I had never imagined to have my two best friends supporting my back and defending me at all cost – never in my wildest dreams had I visualized something so bizarre, I had always thought it would be me protecting them.

So, life is strange. It has a way of turning on you and popping surprise after surprise in front of you, unprepared, and it's like it desires to see how you ultimately handle the situation. That's just the craziest thing though, I can't handle situations good. In battle, I'm supreme – I'm the commander – I'm the one people peer to for their orders and instant battle strategies against the enemy. But in an office, damn, with politics, I am a complete asshole and a dumbstruck fool. Certainly, I know diplomats – I used to spend hours after hours with Hiruzen in his office afterhours listening to him drone on and on about Kumo's ambassador, or Iwa threatening time and time again to breach the borders with Kusagakure no Sato.

I just – freeze, y'know? Like I believe that the next thing to fly through my mouth would be idiotic and I will completely humiliate myself. And I usually do, because I ramble when I get anxious. Actually, I do everything but be calm and rational when I get nervous. So politics aren't my thing, sitting down isn't my thing, even attending tea ceremonies with higher appointees isn't my thing.

Fuck, what I am trying to say is – how can I say this? I've been striving for this for years, since I was five – for well, damn it, thirteen years. How can I suddenly look Tsunade in the face and tell her that I don't want to become the official Nanadaime Hokage. I'm not sure how many times I've shook myself from being stupid, almost literally kicking myself by how officially fucked up that notion sounded in general – of course, after eight years of hardened battling and watching some of my friends die I would begin to doubt my reign on the Hokage mantle. Of course, how idiotic.

So now, here I am, bouncing my knee up and down on the lower rung of the barstool impatiently as I waited for Sasuke to finally get his ass in here. It was like he was making a statement to follow in Kakashi's footsteps or something. The bar I was in was dimly lit, fashioned inside a building instead of the usual grab-and-go vendors on the side of the street – like Ichiraku Ramen. The bar I tapped my fingers against was rosewood and polished, it was nice despite the prices of a bottle of sake being far too high. It was a civilian establishment, though, so I couldn't really complain.

I had strayed out of my Jōnin vest for now, opting for the accustomed clothes I had had made for me last year. It consisted of darker orange combat pants, a mesh shirt, and a black zip-up hoodie that hung loose on my slender frame. I was generally a forgetful person, so I didn't think twice about the fact that I was wearing my headband inside of a local village bar. Nowadays, people see my blue eyes and whisker marks and I'm a legendary icon. Thinking of that makes me release a breathy sigh, but it turns into a chuckle as I sensed the chakra signature entering the premises.

"About time," I muttered underneath my breath. A pale hand clasped my shoulder as the other man took the stool next to me, pulling it out gently with the heel of his foot. "You're creating a bad habit, Uchiha. I thought you were trying to uplift yourself in honor of your loyal lineage?" my words were crisp and sardonic, but otherwise friendly.

"Fuck off," Sasuke flagged down the bartender, ordering another bottle of expensive liquor. "If you must jump into my personal life, I was attending the Hyuuga celebration of Hinata's promotion to Clan Head – which you just so courteously didn't attend."

I froze in my seat. "Damn it to hell," I swore harshly. "Why didn't you remind me?"

"I'm not your babysitter," he scowled.

I had a third of my mind to shoot a quip at the tip of my tongue at him, but it died in my throat. I thought about Hinata. The sweet and beautiful Hinata, quiet possibly the most innocent and shy woman I had ever had the pleasure of being friends with. We were not on conversational or good terms at all, especially since I had yet to confront her since her . . . announcement at the Battle of Pein. At all. Sure, we'd shared food during the war, we'd conversed past memories with each other and I'd wish her well when she would be ordered away for a battle – but we hadn't reached any further than that.

And I actually didn't want to.

Scratching the side of my neck, the bitterly sweet taste of the sake became way more inviting with each passing thought. "Well, are you not going to ask me why I asked you to meet me here?" I already knew what his response would be, either a scoff of 'no' or 'I was actually enjoying the momentary silence'.

Just my luck, he gave me a mix of both. So unpredictable. "Of course not, I was just going to sit here in the silence you just-so graciously offered me."

"So cold, dark prince." I grinned meagerly, in his direction, my knee resuming bouncing after my musings were drawn together toward the point on why I actually asked him to meet me here. My easygoing smile depleted quickly, and Sasuke's perception caught it swiftly. An invisible tense fog suddenly drifted through the room, and I swallowed harshly, eyes narrowing in contemplation. "Y'know when you dream of doing something when you're little, and you strive and work to achieve it, through blood, sweat, and tears – and – um, just to reach that glorious point? But then, when you do, after so long, you feel like you've grown passed such a dream – a-and despite hating yourself for it, you . . . you don't really want it anymore."

Sasuke eyed me with a blank expression, one eye the glowing crimson of the sharingan, the other rippling black lines inside of dull wisteria. The bottle of rice wine remained untouched in front of him. After a few more rigid seconds, the corner of his mouth quirked upward. "Hn, ironic enough, I think I can relate."

Anything to take the edge off of the uncharacteristically tug at my chest, I countered the feelings with my sarcasm. My grin was as wide as a foxes, but it failed to reach my eyes as I had originally planned. "Oh, yes. I almost forgot your vengeful personal vendettas. The time of brooding and lightning."

"Shut up, asshole."

My grin did not cease as I glanced down at my reflection in the cup of sake, dull blue eyes practically glowing back at me. Blond hair sweeping across my forehead, ticking the sides of my temples – demanding a haircut at one point or another. "What if you're at that glorious point?"

Sasuke examined the cup of wine in front of him, suspiciously, before drowning back the glass in a few seconds flat. His eyes drifted close, savoring the texture of the aged drink, before he hummed thoughtfully, licking his lips. His eyes opened, cautiously sweeping the room, and eyed me with curiosity. "I'm pretty positive I know what you're going on about, Naruto. And I'll tell you what my mother used to tell me," his face grew fond, but in a flash it was absent. "There are two kinds of fates, to serve, and then to protect. You are either one or the other, and your life is based off of those two words." Nostalgia laced his tone.

"You're breaking my heart. Really." Albeit I took his words straight to the confliction raging in my head, I actually could not help but throw in that nifty comment. I saw the hit coming in the corner of my vision, but feigned surprise just to mock him as his fist smacked against my bicep. It did hurt, so my cry of infliction was not completely fake.

"How come I am the only serious one and you get to crack jokes constantly, huh?" his mouth was pulled down into a condemning frown.

"Because you fucking hit me! Ow!" I gingerly rubbed at the tender spot, glowering at my best friend. Sasuke's quite chuckle, though, drew me to a stopping point. It was still almost odd to hear him create such a carefree noise. The Sasuke before, I knew, probably did not even know what a laugh was, in all honesty. Our bond had reconnected stronger since the Bijuu War (or what people like to call it), and we were undoubtedly the strongest fighting duo amongst the Elemental Nations. A and Kirabi almost had us on the duo part, but now with the Raikage missing an arm, I would give us the benefit-of-the-doubt, but I wouldn't really push it with those two.

The thoughts leading back to the war had me clenching my right hand into a tight fist, still eternally grateful that I could feel that sensation and not feel the emptiness that it once was.

"So Kakashi has finally opened up the question, huh?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah," I snorted bitterly, "and there were no confetti or fireworks, if you get what I mean."

"Hn, well I can't sit here and say that it isn't your hat to take, and for the sake of my sanity I kind of hope you do." The Jōnin shrugged with apparent disinterest, he poured himself more to drink. "Probation is a bitch, but one more year and my three is done." Sasuke's mismatched eyes met my own cloudy blue. "I guess I have you to thank for that, right?"

I compressed a conflicted sigh at the mention of the chaotic council. Just another loathed and unfathomable reason for me to refuse the position of the Hokage. The Fire Council, if anything, had gotten worse since the Fourth Shinobi World War. Although Danzō had been knocked from his seat from his death, and Inoichi and Shikaku had fallen as well, new inexperienced members had arose for the tasking position.

Which substantially meant Tsunade got drunk more often, Kakashi sometimes refused and/or was dragged to the meetings, the Elders were a giant pain in the ass, and Sasuke's prior sentencing had been a ways-away from fair due to his nightmarish and traitorous past. If politics were realistically anything more than a piece of dry gum under my shoe, I could bashfully say they were also a hidden trick up my sleeve, theoretically.

My influence of council decisions, though, was very stretching the limits of my status in the village. A lot of the villagers already addressed me as Hokage-Sama (which was basically breaking almost five laws), and now I was suddenly – since challenging and placing my bets on the Fire Council's decision-making on Uchiha Sasuke – being requested to come to every major meeting that the Council commenced.

I didn't have a seat, at least not officially. I was more of a special guest that continuously irritated the Elders. I had managed, then, to release Sasuke from attending twenty years in a maximum Shinobi prison which was located on an island between Hi no Kuni and Uzu no Kuni. I had managed to place him under my care and I regarded full responsibility if the Uchiha did decide to rebel once more, and I also relinquished him of his civilian status and placed in ranks of Shinobi in Konoha. That last one had been a risk I had took, and the only reason Tsunade and the Council had consented it was because the Ninja forces in Konohagakure had dwindled greatly from the war.

"You don't need to thank me for the hundredth time, Sasuke, I feel like your attempting to boost my ego or something." I raised my eyebrows, winking. "Buttering me up for the oven, huh?" A grin stretched my mouth, and it was merely a constant reminder of the tightness that I didn't smile as often as I once did. A painful reminder that encouraged me to do it more often.

Sasuke chortled amusingly. "Yeah, right." He slapped some Ryo on the table, pushing himself back from the stool and standing to his stature of five-foot-eleven, two inches taller than myself. I noted he was still in his Jōnin gear, vest and weapons intact, his katana strap anchored tightly cross his chest. "Oh, and as a reminder, Sakura is expecting you to meet us at the usual place tomorrow." He was already halfway to the exit.

I grimaced at the mention of a social gathering, but called back sardonically, "I thought you weren't my babysitter!" His response, one to be expected when retreating from a building, was to slam the door close behind him, like departing with the last, undeterred word. I felt my throat vibrate with chuckles, my eyes scanning over the Ryo that Sasuke had placed down with a slam of his palm.

He had paid enough for an amount of a dozen people, give or take a few.

Hi no Kuni - Konohagakure no Sato - Hyuuga Compound - 8:30 P.M. (Civilian Time) - 2030 Hours (Shinobi Time)

Sakura forced herself to not reach up a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose in an effort to keep herself sane. She was excited for Hinata, very happy for her previous academy acquaintance because she knew the Hyuuga Heiress had strived and worked hard, hours among hours of dedication to obtain this position. Sakura was no idiot or bigoted fool, though, she also knew the woman's strong work was as well as for her teammate albeit the newly-proclaimed clan leader would never admit it aloud.

Hyuuga were uptight regularly, so anyone could imagine what a social event was like. This was the first one to be held in a very, very prolonged length of time, and you can just taste the unease and awkwardness wafting through the open garden flowery aroma. Despite that, and Sakura feeling the sudden urge to drown herself in the Koi pond directly behind her, the clan members had decorated the event nicely. Streamers with glowing silver lanterns, and beautifully refined refreshments lined upon an antique wooden table. It was elegant and modest, but it made no difference to Sakura – she was still contemplating suicide.

As a woman of nineteen since the spring of March, Sakura began pondering the years that had rushed by for her. After the war had ended after battle cries and dried and fresh blood caking to her hands, sinking into the crevices of her fingernails, she had almost vowed to never attend such a thing called 'war' ever again. It, unfortunately, was not her call to make.

Sakura was not an active Kunoichi. The war had strangled her breathless, and after staying up late at nights with a sobbing and weeping Ino against her shoulder, begging for her father back, she vowed that she would not allow her parents to go through that with her – or to even risk them being here after what happened with the Pein Invasion.

Albeit not most Medics were trained in the way of Kunoichi or Shinobi, Sakura had made a deal with Kakashi. She began a program to just do that, to train promising Medics that could become potential Ninja. She was surprisingly a good teacher, according to others, but her pride and joy in the art of medicine and assassination was Akiyama Moegi.

The fourteen year-old whose birthday was only a mere week ago, was truly inspiring. Not only were her medical skills above average, but she was an excellent Kunoichi, and although she was only Genin-level at the moment, her strengths were rising and blooming like a wild flower in the late autumn.

Snapping out of her musing thoughts, Sakura's teal green eyes flicked dangerously as she saw the person adjacent to her beginning to edge toward the exit of the gardens. "What do you think you are doing?" she demanded hotly. "You're going to leave me here by myself?"

Uchiha Sasuke had changed drastically. His facial expressions were still partially non-existent, but there was those occasions that he would laugh – and when he did it was enough to freeze everyone in a mile radius, in her opinion. With her dressed into a silk green kimono, he was still battle-ready and there was a smudge of dirt on his pale, unblemished cheek. "Sorry, Sakura – I told Naruto that I would meet him somewhere in the Village. He wants to talk about something, probably nothing." The side of his mouth twitched upward.

She frowned in bafflement, but her emerald orbs brightened at the mention of her other teammate. "When did Naruto get back from his mission? Shishou said that the hearing in Kirigakure no Sato would last at least a week."

Sasuke almost smiled. "It's been a week since The Last Swordsman, Chōjūrō, was named the Rokudaime Mizukage."

"Yeah, I know –"

"Sakura, you forget he's the fastest Shinobi in the Elemental Nations." Sasuke finally smiled, and it was surprisingly not strained like usual. "Well, second to me, of course."

She simply rolled her eyes at his resolved words. She didn't open her mouth to snap out the fact that he had told her that he would attend this celebration with her, because if she should suffer through this, then he should as well – probation downfalls, she normally reminded him to manipulate his free time – but she knew the Uchiha had already shunshined out of the current area.

Sasuke and Naruto almost had her spiraling into the nasty habit of biting at the inside of her cheek and bottom lip again, but she couldn't help it. Albeit those two were best friends, brothers, and comrades – she wondered sometimes what she was considered in their perspective. Was she the girl friend that they considered to hang around like a guy, like when Naruto would typically throw his arm around her shoulder and headlock her against his chest until she either punched him brutally into the shoulder, or she pleaded defeat from lack of oxygen. Was she like the older sister they tended to avoid because she fretted over them like a raging mother-hen to check for injuries and made sure their rations and equipment was fully stocked?

Sakura had changed since the war. She was five-foot-four, and although her curves were not exactly feminine like Ino's or Hinata's, her long amaranth pink hair and soft features overpowered that gaping hole in her features-a-woman-should-have handbook. Her attitude was still present, though, she still enjoys anko dumplings, umeboshi, and anmitsu and will stuff her face as she pleases. She still wrinkles her nose at Naruto when he devours ramen next to her at Ichiraku's. She still loved trivia games, and on free time she would demand for Naruto and Sasuke to use flashcards on her about new material she was researching for medical studies.

If anyone had changed, it would be Naruto. Something was off about the Shinobi lately, and despite her condoned sharp eyes, she could not detect the source of oddity. He was quiet, and even since the way he had seem to calm down slightly after way, this wordless tension was radiating off of a mile-radius from him at all times recently. She had only questioned Sasuke on it once, and he had just shrugged and told her, "Don't worry about it."

That's the thing – she does worry. Sakura constantly worries. About everything.

"Oh, Sakura, there you are!" Ino's melodic, soprano voice sung from the Jōnin's left, and she vaguely roamed her vision that way and raised an eyebrow at the woman, who had her arm looped through Sai's. She forced a smile on her face as the blond began to chatter. "It's so beautiful out here, the food is amazing, Hinata's gorgeous as always – and I don't have a shift at the Hospital tomorrow do I?" The question was fast-spoken and evasive, and Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Yes. You do." She passed her empty glass of wine to a passing waiter. "Nice try, Ino. I'll see you two later, have a nice night." Sakura left the festivities with a searching heart, the moon and stars keeping her company during her ponderings as she leisurely strolled to her apartment.

She wondered what her two boys were doing right now.

Hi no Kuni - Konohagakure no Sato - North Gate Entrance - 9:02 P.M. (Civilian Time) - 2102 Hours (Shinobi Time)

"Another mission, huh? Don't you get burnt out or somethin'? Is this like a defense mechanism, to deflect your sins and the crying lady you more than likely left unsatisfied in your bed?" The thing was, Sasuke actually liked Shiranui Genma, he was a confident and with the right tools and weaponry, a damn fine Shinobi – but he always dreaded to see the laidback Jōnin on gate duty, which was generally for Chūnin's but certain protocols had to be followed since the war. The thirty-four year old man still looked to be rather young (and possibly even cheekier), and the senbon in his mouth was gleaming and sharp as via usual.

The man's words were harmless, judging by the smirk on his face, but Sasuke steeled him with a narrowed glare as he bent forward to sign his name and other initials. Probation was his worst enemy right now. "Yes, but she came to me in that state from your roach-infested apartment." He prided himself that his past self would have never bothered to even respond to 'the likes of him' – which would probably have been what he would have thought.

Genma chuckled, entertainment glittering in his dark brown eyes. "Har-har, Uchiha – not my fault the landowner won't fucking call someone to fix it. Damn cheapskate. I'm moving out anyways." He shrugged, leaning back and propping up his feet on the desk in front of Sasuke's paperwork. "So what's the deal with two missions in a week, man? You got a lover somewhere? I'd say go for the lightning, but then again, Kiri has some dangerously . . . dripping-wet . . . women, you can overlook the paleness."

Sasuke sent him a weird expression, pausing from the swift strokes he had been executing against the professional, unwrinkled parchment. "No. And no. Despite the Council's reluctance with me getting missions by myself, I am their currently best stealth soloist. There's some strange activity along the border of Takigakure, near the Capitol City."

Genma hummed thoughtfully, rolling the senbon around on his tongue. "I would say that's their affairs. What do they need us for?"

"Naruto's certain they're just milking us dry of the treaty we signed with them the previous month." Sasuke put the pen down and held out his arm for Genma to scan the metal band locked around his wrist, renewing the tracking device until it beeped. "Most our, especially Iwa, I have my suspicions the new Tsuchikage has a problem with Konoha, because of the War."

"Yeah, well that bitch can join the club." Genma laughed bitterly. "Yeah, I get it – it was our fault, blah, blah, blah, you would think they would stop bitching and whining about it after seven years. While we prospered and grew and expanded, they sat around pointing fingers. Fucking amateurs." His hands laced behind his head, improvising his arms as a makeshift pillow as he placed down the technical device against the wooden desk. "Alright, my man, you have a full week before there are going to be some not-so-gentle Hunter-nin riding your ass, comprende?"

Sasuke shoved his hands into the pockets of his black cargo pants. "Yeah, don't give me the whole damn speech every time, asshole. I got it the first time." He craned his neck to the side, popping the joint once. "If you see any of my team, tell them I'll check in with them as soon as possible."

"My ASAP tone," Genma made an 'OK' symbol with his fingers. "I gotcha."

Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Don't tell them like – yeah, never mind," he glared at the obnoxious Shinobi, "have fun being a dick."

"Always a pleasure!" the man called back, snickering lazily as he waved a hand up mockingly.

Sasuke, generally, would have begun a fast trek through the thick woods of Hi no Kuni, the only connection between him and the earth a brief push off of sturdy tree branches that burst him forward with momentum. Instead, he opted to stay on the path that would eventually split off toward Otafuku City and the commonly route towards the Valley of the End.

Night owls, crickets, and croaking toads sprouted to life around him, grating his headache harshly against his eyes as he brought up a hand to rub the skin underneath his eyes. Albeit he was beyond exhausted from thorough entailed missions, he knew they were what kept him occupied and anchored him to the ground, to keep him from going insane. And truthfully, he could only take so much as attending missions with Naruto, although the man had slightly sobered from his loudness and overall too happy persona, a person such as he really can't change everything about himself – which made it unbearable to be around him sometimes.

Sasuke, as unnatural and odd as it sounds, liked going on missions with Sakura – well, when she had been an active Kunoichi. Unlike from when they were kids, she did not poke her nose anywhere where it should not be. She was quiet, and only spoke necessarily or if she thought he would respond into conversation if she did speak. She was different since the war, they all were, and sometimes he wondered what happened to that little girl that had been left behind.

Dismissing his thoughts, the Jōnin jumped with a flurry of chakra boosting his movements far faster and stronger that even a high-level Chūnin could not even follow the blurring figure. His ponderings inevitably turned to the mission he had been assigned, and the dangers that could lurk throughout Takigakure no Sato and its country that had never gained an official title due to its small stature.

He had departed from Genma with little information to compare with his real S-Rank mission. Sasuke didn't mention that there had previously been a team sent out scouting for this particular assignment, and they had yet to report in for the past week and a half without so much as a message or a flare of chakra that even Naruto's range could not detect, and his distance was nearly unlimited.

Dammit, he hated, loathed, missions like these. Because he knew why the Council has requested this from him. If there was a hostage situation then Sasuke would have to eliminate the remaining Konoha ninja, and the Fire Council recognized that he could accomplish the task without letting his heart or sympathy get in the way.

Thus was the life of a Shinobi.

Protecting Konoha was his job, his newfound profession, the only thing keeping them from tossing him deep into prison without a single glance.

Assassinating a team from their own was considered looked down upon, but only if they were at risk of delivering the enemy critical information that would send the Leaf Village at a disadvantage. He thought sometimes that he was being punished, to get operations like these, because he knew that Konoha could just as easily dispatch an ANBU member to complete them.

He was being punished, but could never blame Kakashi for that. Sasuke knew how powerless a Kage could be when the council overruled his vote with their total.

Looks like Naruto was right, and Sasuke remembers it as clearly as the present. They had stood upon the wreckage of the battle field, arms supporting each other as the blond Jinchuriki had sent him the most wide, but strange grin that sent a plummet through his stomach and it was abruptly like a heavy weight had slammed into his shoulders. Naruto had grown in strength, but the two best friends were equals.

'You reap what you sow.' he had chirped, regarding to the enemies that had fallen to his hand and the Shinobi Forces as well. But Sasuke couldn't help but think that the blonde had meant an underlying meaning somewhere within that eerie sentence.

You reap what you sow.

Hell, it couldn't be truer.