Caught in an illegal jutsu, Uchiha Sasuke gets thrown to an alternate dimension where he meets the newly elected Hokage of Konohagakure – Haruno Sakura. This Sakura was different, however, from the original. For one thing, she hated his guts. For another, she possessed a Mangekyo Sharingan not dissimilar to his own.
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Prologue
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Spreading the base of her palms down to smoothen the hairline crumples on the fabric of her traditional white robes, a seemingly 20-something-year-old Sakura seemed content with simply staring at her reflection through the mirror.
The wide forehead she used to lament over as a child growing up now harnessed an incredible strength that would have been unknown to the rest of the village had it not been for the soft purple-coloured diamond plastered over it. Pastel pink bangs were pinned neatly to the side to give Sakura an air of sophistication, and as usual, the rest of her hair was styled into a type of chin-length bob that framed her heart-shaped face.
In general, Sakura did not appear to change much from when she was still a little girl. Save for a more feminine figure, slightly more voluptuous breasts and the traditional garbs she had donned for the day, Sakura still was, in essence, a kind, well-mannered individual with a penchant for the occasional flash of temper and emotional outburst.
Really, having had years to grow since the last time the shinobi nation required her expertise on the battle field, not much had changed.
Now if only she can get over-
"It is time."
Turning her gaze over from where she was about to better study her image in the reflection of the mirror, Sakura gave a terse nod to the source of the interruption.
A young man, back straight and posture courteous in honour of the occasion, stooped down to politely bow at her before shuffling neatly out of the room.
With a heavy sigh, Sakura reluctantly broke herself out of her reverie and tore her gaze away from her reflection in the mirror— today was an important day. A really, really big day. She couldn't afford to mess it up.
So, with a deep breath and quick mental pep-talk, Sakura steeled herself to exit the room.
Outside, she was met by a sea of faces: all curious and awestruck by how extravagantly dressed she was for the occasion. Pearly white robes against the soft-pink of her hair, no doubt she appeared almost ethereal as she walked down the aisle made especially for her and approached the small stone steps of a podium based proudly at the other end of the hall.
The walk seemed endless, and Sakura's smile felt terribly forced as she willed herself to gaze ahead and keep moving forward. Her headgear, too, was making it especially difficult for her today; as it felt heavy and awkward for her head. The music, traditionally enthusiastic though it was, did little to nothing to heighten her spirits regarding the occasion.
Nevertheless, Sakura marched onwards; down, down, down the aisle and through the crowd of whispering onlookers, and up, up, up the steps that led her up the podium.
"Haruno Sakura," an official whom Sakura recognised to be one of the members of the village council boomed in a very officious voice. "The sanctity of this moment is made known to you. Do you hereby declare complete devotion, loyalty and allegiance to this cause?"
There was a short pause after the question to which Sakura was expected to answer.
"Yes," she responded curtly, politely, despite the snarky voice in her head bringing to her attention the fact that the words 'devotion, loyalty and allegiance' all had the same meaning and were therefore redundant to put in a question.
"Then it is by the powers of the council that I declare you…
…Eighth Hokage of Konohagakure."
The crowd exploded into a frenzy of cheers. From the peripherals of her vision, Sakura was able to locate the wizened smile of her 43-year-old best friend, Ino, the equally proud smile of her old teammate Sai, and the polite grins and collective clapping of several members of Konoha 11.
Flashing her own smile to the ocean of villagers that had come to support her, Sakura doubled over to bow at her new people.
"Good luck, Sakura-sama," the Council member said as he replaced her plain white headgear with the official Hokage hat customary to all leaders of the fire country after the ceremony had later been closed to the public and the events of the celebration had died down for the day. "If you do not mind me asking, however, why are you still so adamant to retain the surname Haruno? The people here and across the borders are not blind, they are well aware of who you are."
"Thank you for the kind wishes," was Sakura's languid reply as she straightened up to face the Council man directly. "But I do not wish for my official name to represent my capability more than it already does. Just call me Haruno Sakura."
The Council man frowned and mumbled a hesitant acceptance as he graced Sakura with a bow to mark his leave.
Left alone to her own devices at last, Sakura returned to her spot in front of the mirror once again. Her hand rose to her face; gently brushing the small hairs of her brow as she carefully inspected her eyes in better detail:
Haruno Sakura, seemingly aged 20-something but officially just as much of a 43-year-old as her best friend Ino certainly was, had changed, though not by much.
A little bit more of a feminine figure, some better defined breasts, a Hokage hat to top her signature pink hair— all that she was able to deal with.
But the eyes?
That familiar jade-coloured eye to contrast with the blood-red and stark black of her Mangekyo Sharingan?
That was new.
A/N: It has been a long time since I wrote anything. I attempted to complete the next chapter of one of my other stories, but ended up trashing the piece and writing this one instead. I've got Chapter 1 in the works already, and I'm excited to see how this story progresses. I can promise you it'll be really different from your run-of-the-mill SasuSaku stories.
Please review. :)
