Hokage By Necessity

-Chapter Eleven-

What Is No Longer Sure

in the garden pond

a butterfly struggling drowns

softly without sound

Hinata had taken her literally.

Her newest direct subordinate highly resembled Neji, though he shared the shade of his hair with Hinata. His ANBU mask depicted Tsuru, the crane, and she had thus far exchanged a grand total of perhaps a round dozen words with him per conversation. She could only hope time would ease the distance he imposed through politeness and reserve.

She'd also confirmed a second member of her squad, one far more familiar to her. Aburame Shino had been somewhat distant from those outside his team when they were genin and he was hardly more accessible as an adult in ANBU, but he was more of a known quantity. She appreciated that. Even if she wasn't much more at ease with the idea of being literally 'bugged' than she'd been with the idea of a human playing host to a colony of insects as a child. Though if she was to be brutally honest, the willingness to allow bugs to colonize one's own body was something she would never understand.

Sakura expected the greater part of her detail to end up male. It was in part a simple matter of statistics. The Academy genin teams were separated as they were because there were twice as many boys enrolled in the program as girls. In the higher ranks, the percentages fell even further in male favor, until only one in five ANBU was a woman. Women predominated in several specialized fields, such as among the medic-nin, where the numbers were reversed, and in the spy corps-in which the ratio of men to women was one to eight-and the code-breaking division, but it was a simple fact that Black-Ops kunoichi were a rarity.

Most kunoichi didn't advance past chunin by their own choice, putting the possibility of a family before their career. Puberty was often long-delayed among kunoichi. The extreme physical training they endured as children ensured that even girls had relatively little body fat, the critical mass necessary to trigger menstruation not reached until years after civilian girls had already experienced puberty. And the cycle itself was more than an irritation on combat missions graded above B-class. It was a liability.

A moment's muscle weakness in the midst of battle or an enemy's enhanced olfactory senses being able to follow a trail made clearer by the hormones and pheromones that were a natural result of menstruation could mean death not only for the kunoichi, but her entire team. So a jutsu had been developed to surpress the cycle, but prolonged use of it led to infertility. Kunoichi who were jounin were committed to their careers. Their families were typically formed only later in life and if they wanted children it was considered perfectly normal to adopt them. Kurenai had been a genjutsu specialist, part of the spy corps before she'd become a jounin-sensei, so her missions had been less of the combat intensive sort, hence her continued fertility. But she had been among the exceptions rather than the rule.

Kunoichi who opted for ANBU found being a shinobi more than a career. For most-not all, there were always exceptions-they intended to be in the field until someone had to bring them home in an urn. Even a position as honorable as protecting the Hokage wouldn't appeal to most of them even if offered.

So Sakura resigned herself to being surrounded almost entirely by men. Medically sound or not, she believed in the reality of testosterone poisoning, so she was determined that she would acquire at least one female bodyguard. Her choices were further limited because there were very subtle factions, even among the ANBU. One part respected her as an administrator, though whether that extended to her Kage-ship remained to be seen. One part resented her assumption of the position because they were devoted to Naruto, though they were too professional to be open about that resentment. And a further part resented her because Sasuke had an inexplicable ability to acquire followers despite being himself. Those ANBU were a little more vocal in their grumblings.

She had two invitations currently extended, though she wasn't certain either would accept. The first was to Hyuuga Hanabi, who'd lived up to every iota of expectation invested in her except for the glaring fact that she'd flatly crushed every hope of seeing her head of her clan. The second was to Hozuki Suigetsu, another inexplicable menace that Sasuke had brought to the village and Kirigakure had insisted that they keep. Sakura was almost positive that the only reason the nin had joined ANBU was because it was the only place in Konohagakure where no one complained about his methods, though he'd received reprimands when his distinctive dismembering became a trail that led back to Konoha. Sakura was certain that having him on her detail would be an experience akin to petting a piranha, but his bloodline would be very useful.

But that was a headache that could be postponed for a few hours, because she was in the sacred space of the OSS, where the burdens of being Hokage didn't reach. Not even Kakashi's continued disapproving presence after the military police had been officially invested with a mission and the authority to carry out that mission. She'd collaborated with Sai to choose a preliminary staff that included many members of the disbanded Root as well as familiar faces from her childhood.

Kiba and several members of his clan would be lending their tracking abilities to the institution and Tenten, who had an incredible talent with mathematics at the root her ease with so many different weapons, would be furthering her already not inconsiderable reputation as a shinobi who could follow the money trail to any bounty when conventional tracking techniques failed. It was really a pity the woman had turned down her opportunity to join ANBU, explaining that she had every intention of building for herself a reputation as formidable as Tsunade's, which wasn't something that could be done in the Black Ops.

She tried not to think of the way Kiba had looked at her when she'd welcomed him to the unit. It didn't help that he probably still remembered the way she'd used them all in her single-minded pursuit of Sasuke. If she had to be honest with herself, he had more reason than most to suspect her of lying with a smile.

"I've changed my mind," she announced to the room at large. Shuji, their chemist-cum-explosions aficionado, paused with pen poised above the scrap of paper in his hand.

"You always order-," he started, but Sakura cut him off.

"I'm not talking about what I want for lunch. I'm talking about my decision not to send a team into Iwa. Regardless of the present risk, it might be months yet before they bring their outbreak under control. Sasuke was in Iwa alone. He could have picked up the virus at any point during his missions, so it will be a matter of reconstructing the exact path he took through the country. Where he slept, what he ate, what animals he encountered. If we can pinpoint the mode of transmission, we can perhaps trace it to its point of origin. It's confirmed that this was an intentional attack."

"Karin's lab, with the help of Hyuuga Hinata, was able to discover what appears to be a malleable layer of chakra surrounding the virus particles. They still can't get it to grow on cell cultures either, but they had a sample of lung tissue with viable virus they allowed Hinata-chan to look at. It's why we lost so many medic-nin to it and perhaps explains why Naruto became ill as well. I theorized that this layer of chakra inhibits antibody effectiveness in the same way that rapid mutation within the body would. By the time the immune system has produced a suitable antibody, the chakra shell has shifted and renders it completely benign to the virus."

"That also explains why the antibodies of survivors was ineffective as a method of treatment," Heisuke said thoughtfully. "Though I'd like to know how they still have lung tissue with live virus."

"Something unpleasant from Sound, no doubt," Raizo commented. "But if the chakra does act as they say, how do they explain that we have survivors at all?"

"According to Karin's report, they're exploring theories, which means they can't explain it either."

"Karin is a sensor-type. Could she glean anything from the chakra?"

"No. She didn't even realize that there was chakra at work until Hinata-chan's Byakugan revealed traces of it. She reported being able to confirm the chakra's presence if she meditated with the sample in a sealed room, but nothing more than that."

"So I ought to plan for a vacation in Iwa, Saka-chi?" Chikara asked. "Nice weather. Terrible food, though. And everyone's so angry."

"That's because the last time you were in Iwa, some poor village grandmother caught you while you were burning the bodies of her dead grandchildren."

Chikara shrugged. "Wouldn't allow me access to the bodies, even though I had a writ. Necessity, Saka-chi. Who cleans out the viscera of the dead and washes the cavities by hand, anyhow? Especially when something is killing everyone who does it," he deadpanned.

"Circumspect is the keyword. You'll be in violation of at least three major treaties if you're discovered. Karin is going to be providing your assist. Sensor-type. I don't have any further information for you beyond that. You'll communicate with me using these." She ducked into her office and plucked a notebook from the shelf.

Chikara caught it handily and flipped it open, revealing pages of inked birds that she'd coerced Sai into preparing for her use in situations like these. "Each bird is good for roughly forty minutes of dictation. It shouldn't take more than two days for them to return here to Konohagakure, but I won't be able to communicate with you in return. The jutsu on the birds is designed to return them to a fixed point in Konohagakure. It's secure, so you shouldn't worry about sensitive information being intercepted. If someone manages to catch it and tries to tamper with the jutsu, they're designed to destruct."

Chikara nodded, flipping the notebook shut and tapping it against the side of his head. "Gotcha, Saka-chi."

_\-/_

Sakura had went to the training grounds after she'd finished the last of the daily paperwork, forcing her body through the demanding kata she'd assigned herself. She'd once trained under a woman who thought the best way to train a barely-competent genin to dodge was to fling boulders at her, so Sakura's standards for a good workout were somewhat less extreme than Might Guy's. Somewhat.

Once she'd focused on her strength almost exclusively, but after a certain point that had become dangerous for the continued survival of the training fields. Nowadays it was all speed and flexibility and a quiet, determined mastery of every genjutsu and elemental ninjutsu that she could lay hands on. Most were too chakra-intensive for her to make use of in battle without access to her seal, but making use of it in battle wasn't the point. She was trying to prove something to herself, deliberating ignoring the common wisdom that said it was a pointless and futile exercise to learn elemental ninjutsu at odds with one's base nature. Sakura had never been tested for elemental dominancy and she never intended to be limited by the decision of a chakra-sensitive sheet of paper. She kept her jutsu in a numbered list as she felt she'd mastered them.

When they reached one thousand, she was going to give the list to Kakashi.

Or not.

Probably not. Sakura had a long history of her courage failing her at the last moment and the list was something much more spiteful than the face she liked to show to people. And she would like to think that if she's the Hokage, master of a thousand jutsu, and unarguably the most talented medic-nin alive, she would be a person above needing to prove herself to a man who hadn't been her superior for years.

But when she was so tired that even blinking didn't ease the itching dryness of her eyes and she was, from a long history of drunkenness, beginning to recognize in herself the reduced cognitive functions associated with sleep deprivation, it sounded like an excellent idea.

As she approached her apartment building, she noticed two figures waiting outside the door. There was no particular reason except experience and paranoia to suppose they would be waiting for her. Her instincts bore out, however, as the woman stepped toward her as she drew closer. She bobbed a nervous, abbreviated sort of greeting. "Hokage-sama, there's something I-," she bit down hard on her bottom lip, then continued, "Something I need to tell you. Please. Will you hear me out?"

Sakura thought she might recognize her, but the light was uncertain and if she'd ever known this woman, it had only been in passing. Still, she could sense nothing alarming about her chakra and if she had weapons hidden on her person, she'd done it so well she at least deserved the chance to ambush her.

With what graciousness she could scrape up, Sakura invited her inside, the second figure trailing silently behind them. He was a well-built child of perhaps seven, eyes watching the floor even as she seated the pair at her tiny table. "Now, what can I do for you?"

The woman was worrying at her lip again, which was already so torn and red it was almost bleeding. "I realize you might not recognize me, Hokage-sama. I...I don't know where to start," she told Sakura helplessly.

"Why are you here?" Sakura asked, trying to temper her tone as best she could. "Start with that."

"My...son. Okurimo Nobuyuki."

Sakura glanced at the child again. Just as she'd found before, he was a well-formed, handsome child, with thick black hair that tumbled down his shoulders and into his face. Something about him tugged at her memory as well, but she was tired and not up to deducing much of anything. "Yes?" Sakura prompted.

"Just after the war..." The woman, who'd yet to mention her own name, paused again. "When Uchiha Sasuke was brought in, one of the conditions of his acceptance back into the village was that we were allowed to collect genetic samples. Just in case he decided to rebel against the Konoha again and was killed or executed before he could provide an heir to the Uchiha bloodline." She flushed now and Sakura had an uncomfortable sense of nausea settling in her stomach, because she wasn't so tired she couldn't make the obvious conclusion. But she stayed silent, waiting to hear it from this woman who she still couldn't place. "I wanted a child. An Uchiha child. And I was the medic-nin in charge of storing the samples, so it wasn't an issue to get what I wanted. Everything went smoothly. Too smoothly."

This time when she bit down on her lip, she did draw blood. "When he was born, everything was wonderful, but as he got older..." She tried several times after that to pick up the thread of her confession, but she broke off each attempt.

"That's enough," said a voice so smooth and well-modulated that it sounded nothing at all like a child's. "I will tell her the rest myself, Okurimo-san. Or, rather, I will show her." The boy tilted his head slowly upward to meet her gaze and it was eyes vermillion as blood that met with green. It wasn't so much the Sharingan that turned the blood in her veins to sludge. It was the pattern in them. She'd never dared meet those eyes in any of the bearers, but she'd studied it. Mangekyo Sharingan.

Before she could make any kind of decision, fire flared in the narrow space between them. The flame burned black and Sakura thought that this was the end of it all, that she would end her days at the hands of a not-child, but then a figure resolved itself from the flames. Kitsune, her mind bleated, the tails nearly brushing her cheek.

"Whatever you intend to do with those, I would say it unwise," a cultured voice said and Sakura's gaze darted across the increasingly claustrophobic space of her kitchen to find a second kitsune had claw-tipped hands poised so that he might dig the boy's eyes from his sockets.

"What-?!" The woman's voice was a shrill sound of alarm.

"Consider us the ujigami of a clan of one," the white kitsune suggested pleasantly. "It would be very unwise to attempt to menace Sakura-sama in her home."

The dark kitsune, the one with nine black tails, remained a silent sentinel between herself and the boy.

"I am not here to 'menace' anyone," the boy said impatiently. "I simply thought to avoid as much tedious explanation as possible. I am here to warn the Hokage. Nothing more."

"Warn me of what?"

"That something has gone wrong with the world. Something doubtless connected to the war. I was born on the first day of Obon, Haruno Sakura. And the name Okurimo-san gave me was Nobuyuki, but by the time I was five, I could recall the name I bore in my last life. Uchiha. Madara." That last was intoned with all the solemnity of someone pronouncing a death sentence.

"Madara's dead," was her instant protest. Because she needed to believe that was true.

"I was," the not-boy acknowledged, his eyes going dark, "and still should be. But I am not. And I am not the only Obon child in this village. There is one more Uchiha who was born in the same year, a day later than I. Itachi is aware of me. But he seems content to spend his time trying to discover if this is some new plan of mine. And I suspect there might be others. I have checked the records and observed all the other children born after the war. There is one member of the Hyuuga that seems to be displaying symptoms of recovering his memories, but he is in the early stages yet."

Sakura was entirely too tired for this. There was a deep part of her that wanted to tell everyone else in the room that she was exhausted and she was going to go to sleep and stay that way for eight glorious hours, upon which time they could return and complicate her life further. It wasn't bad enough she had a chakra-enhanced virus to track to its source, now there was Sharingan-wielding child claiming to be a reincarnation of Uchiha Madara. And he was being helpful.

Or at least was pretending to be helpful, but she couldn't think of any scheme in which he wouldn't have been better served keeping his existence a secret.

And there were two kitsune in her kitchen. Tall, foreboding, many-tailed foxes whose chakra was interacting strangely with her own in ways that she wasn't accustomed to except when she summoned. Her thoughts derailed at that, because in her experience summons creatures did not show up of their own volition. Ever. And yes, she summoned foxes, but this is somewhat ridiculous. But she could not display her own surprise at their appearance, nor could she ask any of the questions tumbling around in her head like a shaken box of rocks.

As the silence drew on, Sakura knew that there would be no easy resolution to any of this. Pinching the bridge of nose, she resigned herself to very little sleep. Sending spikes of chakra into her brain in a facsimile of the reaction she would have earned by imbibing two or three cups of strong coffee, she blinked as the hazy edges of the world sharpened again.

It was really a pity she didn't keep alcohol of any kind in her apartment.

"If it helps," the white kitsune volunteered, "there is something amiss with the border between this world and the next. I'm Jirou, by the way, and the surly one is Ichirou. It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Sakura-sama."

Sakura automatically returned the pleasantries. "So you mean to say he isn't lying?"

"I'm simply saying that it is both possible and plausible, not that it is necessarily true," Jirou corrected her.

"I see," Sakura said carefully. She turned to look at the woman who'd accompanied Madara here. Her lips compressed into a thin line of displeasure. "You'll tell me the name of the other woman who bore an Uchiha child."

When the woman had forced the name through her lips, Sakura's right hand twitched in a movement large enough to draw her gaze. As the genjutsu took hold, she pitched forward onto the floor, but it wasn't far to fall and Sakura wasn't much concerned with her at the moment. When she'd finished speaking with Madara and Itachi, she would turn her over to Sai. If she'd seduced Sasuke and borne him a child, that wasn't a crime, but what she'd done was in effect stealing from the village as well as violating the terms she'd doubtless agreed to if she was working in such a sensitive area of the hospital.

Madara was watching her with curiosity but no malice. "Genjutsu without handsigns. Impressive."

Sakura shrugged, making light of the endless, grinding repetitions that had earned her the skill. It wasn't necessary to use handsigns for familiar jutsu, no more than one needed to turn on the lights to walk through one's own house at night. Most ninja achieved it for basic techniques like replacement and clones, sometimes even henge, but it was typically considered the reserve of especially competent jounin to have more than their basic arsenal down to such a fine art. Theoretically it was possible to gain that kind of familiarity with any jutsu, though Sakura didn't have anywhere near the time that would require, even if her flawless control made it a much quicker process than it would have been otherwise. The ability to induce sleep without handsigns had served her well in many situations, especially recalcitrant jounin who might have tried to resist being put under if they'd seen the technique coming.

"May I ask why you came to me?"

"I think it would be wise if you made both Itachi and me your wards." Madara said without preamble. "It would secure the Uchiha bloodline quite safely under the control of the Hokage in the eyes of the council, which is where it is of benefit to you, but I have little intention of engaging any longer in the farce that I am not an Uchiha. Which Uchiha I am content to keep secret, but if I am your ward and I am entered into an apprenticeship with you or similar arrangements, I do not have to pretend to be a child except in public. That is the arrangement I would find most suitable."

Sakura tried to read his body language, but if he was Uchiha Madara, she wouldn't find anything there he didn't want to her to see. "Why not approach Naruto? And why, if Itachi is alive, hasn't he sought out Sasuke?"

Madara chuckled, the sound odd when produced with a child's vocal cords. "Uzumaki Naruto. Do you really think he would have been capable of negotiating so calmly with me? Your first instinct is to speak, his is to strike. And as for Itachi, that question answers itself. Our noble martyr could hardly cause his beloved little brother any further trouble. Not when there was any chance that Sasuke had stopped dwelling on the past."

"Why not escape Konohagakure entirely? Plot in relative safety about world peace," she quipped, hiding the fear she couldn't quite escape behind sardonic levity.

Madara regarded her soberly. "Do you think me a fool? And I cannot leave Konoha. Not when there is a chance, however faint, that Izuna might also return. For that reason, I must stay. Just as so long as Sasuke was alive, Itachi would never be free of this village."

Sakura considered that, her eyes drifting upwards to meet the unnervingly pale blue gaze of Jirou. Who smiled faintly at her. "Izumo couldn't be born elsewhere?" she asked softly.

"It seems to stay in the blood. If my brother will be reborn, it will be here, where all the hopes and dreams of the Uchiha rest."

"I see. Jirou-san-"

"Just Jirou," he interrupted.

"Jirou, would you mind fetching Itachi? I'd like to hear his perspective on this phenomenon. And if there are negotiations to be concluded, I'd prefer if we did things in a tidy fashion."

Madara smiled at her then as the nails of the kitsune withdrew from his face and the kitsune himself disappeared in a blaze of white fire. "You see? This is why I waited."

"Oh?"

"Wipe that thought from your head, girl. I had nothing to do with your virus. But you have exceeded my expectations. I just thought you too strong to be the dog of the Hokage forever. I didn't anticipate you'd turn out to be a fox."

It was foolish, because she well knew what this man was capable of, but because it was him, because it was the same man whose ambitions had come so close to crushing them all, she couldn't help the sharp-edged smile that creased her face. "Thank you, Madara-san."

They sat in silence, Madara's gaze drifting to the still silent Ichirou, until a wary young boy appeared in another blaze of foxfire, the white form of Jirou dwarfing him physically.

But there is a composure to him that suggests that, yes, this is indeed Uchiha Itachi, even if he wears a new body. "Madara," he said tightly, then his eyes settled on her. "Haruno Sakura."

"Itachi-san," Sakura greeted him politely. "Since we're all done with reintroductions, let me ask you directly. What do you know about the appearance of 'Obon children'?"

"I assume you're referring to our reincarnation. The truth is that I know relatively little, except that it potentially represents a dire threat to the village. I thought the most pressing threat was Madara. This meeting was...unexpected."

Madara glanced over at the other boy. "I have already explained myself to the Hokage. Though you might want to explain why you failed to report to the Rokudaime the fact of my resurrection."

Itachi turned perceptive dark eyes to Sakura. "What has he demanded of you?"

"Guardianship. He wants to become the ward of the Hokage."

"To succeed you?"

"So that I may avoid playing at being a child. I find it infuriating. Though I noted, Itachi, that not even your own mother is aware of your true nature. Are you enjoying pretending?"

By Itachi's frown, Sakura judged that he didn't. Sakura couldn't even imagine the Itachi she'd glimpsed and heard so much about as a child. He wore his body much like Madara did, like a henge they'd assumed, the behaviors and mannerisms at odds with their physical age. "No," Itachi said. "I am not. But, regardless, I find myself interested in the conclusions you've drawn. You called us 'Obon children'?"

With a condescending air, Madara repeated his observations to Itachi, who took it all in with air of reserved thoughtfulness. "I understand," he said when Madara had finished. "If you are not lying, then it seems that this is more widespread than I had thought. I expected it to be some last failsafe of yours."

"If it was a failsafe of mine, it would not have resurrected you," Madara said pointedly.

Itachi inclined his head, conceding the point.

"So, Hokage-sama," Madara said, "do we have an agreement? Will you make me your ward?"

Better to keep potential enemies close was the conclusion she'd reached as Madara had spoken with Itachi. "Agreed," Sakura said.

"Both of us," Itachi corrected. His own Mangekyo spun to life, though Sakura knew that those eyes had been passed on to Sasuke. "I do not trust that this is not some long game of yours, Madara."

Sakura tried unsuccessfully to rub away the ache building at her temples. "Yes. Your mother will have to be prosecuted regardless, Itachi."

"Furuwa Mamoru."

"Right," Sakura said with a sigh.

_\-/_

She was the Hokage. There was no one in the village that would have denied her guardianship of 'Yu-kun' and 'Ma-chan'-Itachi had winced as he confided his biological mother's pet name for him-but she'd expected to discuss what newly discovered Uchiha children would mean for the village with the council.

What she hadn't expected was the revelation awaiting her.

"Well, if you're taking in those two, you might as well do it properly and adopt all the rest as well," Natsuki had said cheerfully. "I brought the files." With that, she'd shoved an unnervingly thick stack of folders at a frozen Sakura.

She wasn't alone in her surprise. "What is the meaning of this?" Daichi demanded. Akamichi Kotone, Nara Shinobu, Kurama Setsuko, and Senju Katsume wore expressions of shock and betrayal, Sato Asuka looked only thoughtful, and Sarutobi Hiroto looked guilty.

"Why are you surprised?" Aburame Yori asked. "You must have foreseen that measures like this would be necessary. "No one woman should be forced to bear the expectations of reviving an entire clan. In this way, we have produced ten children capable of inheriting the legacy of the Sharingan."

With trembling fingers, Sakura opened the uppermost file. A girl, no more than four or five, stared back at her through red-rimmed glasses.

"Regardless of whether Uchiha Sasuke intended to eventually comply with the demands of this Council, what Yori-san says is right," Hiroto said, speaking up in defense of their plan. "Bloodlines don't necessarily breed to. We're estimating that only seven of those ten children will ever develop their kekkei genkei. But within two or three generations, the Uchiha will be large enough to be considered a clan once again. Forgive me if I sound disrespectful, but we could not afford to wait. Konohagakure was founded by the Senju and the Uchiha. Both those clans were almost lost to us and with their loss, we have lost some of the fear and respect their abilities commanded. No matter how prosperous the Hyuuga, we could not stand on the strength of your name alone."

Daichi wore a terribly controlled expression on his face. "How was this accomplished?"

"Much the same way your two ambitious mothers accomplished it, except with the approval and funding of the three of us," Natsuki said. "We found kunoichi who lacked strong bloodlines that might interfere with the manifestation of the Sharingan and then duly compensated them for their time and effort. They signed away all rights to their children and were sworn to secrecy. The children then became wards of the village and were placed with appropriate civilian families who were to provide them with nurturing, loving homes in an effort to mitigate the instability of the bloodline. It was understood that they would be placed in the Academy when the time came and that the village would shoulder the expenses. But it would be best, I think, if they all become your wards. Less room for the Uchiha to make a fuss, if you manage to wake him up."

Even though the argument continued around her, Sakura found she could only listen in silence.

A/N: Welcome to the revival of the Uchiha clan, HbN style. And welcome back Madara, who was probably the most mourned casualty of FKftD.

Obon is be the time at which spirits of deceased family members return to their homes to be reunited with their families. Often they are sent off by toro nagashi, lanterns with lit candles inside floated down a river towards the ocean. However, in HbN, this visitation has become a little more permanent for some souls.