Minato rubbed his forehead. Today had been a long day. It always was a long day when the elders came by his office. Today he had a total of 3 meetings with them and he was just tired. Not to mention that his kid had had the audacity to pull a prank on his paperwork, his kami-forsaken paperwork.
He really loved his son more than anything in this world, maybe not more than his wife, but he could be such a little shit sometimes. Especially when Naruto dared touch his paperwork- his finished paperwork. The finished paperwork was fucking holy and shouldn't be touch by anyone! This would set him back with at least 6 hours because of it, which he hasn't notice until the next fucking day. So now he had to redo all the work from yesterday and the paperwork from today.
Closing his eyes Minato massaged his forehead harder, his headache was getting worse from just looking at the starks of paper. Sighing deeply, he felt an enraged chakra coming to the tower. He knew this chakra well. Everyone important in the world could recognize her by her chakra or at least her name. Mebuki Haruno was going straight to his tower and she was angry.
"Damn it" Minato mumbled, no wonder the third Hokage had been so eager to hand over his position. He didn't know a single person that wanted to deal with an angry woman from Konoha much less this very angry woman.
Mebuki was the one person no one in the world would voluntarily anger, even the elders kept their mouths shut. He was almost certain that Orochimaru and the Akatsuki wouldn't go near her with a 10-foot pole. Rouge S-ranked ninjas be damned. Mebuki could turn anyone in the world into dust even the third mistkage.
When Mebuki and Rowan walked into the room the door closed softly behind her. It had the same effect as if she had slammed it. Momo put her head in his lap whining so softly that only Minato could hear it.
She placed a small patch of paper onto the table, and it took everything in him not to reach out to take and read it.
"I heard that you allowed my daughter to graduate?" Mebuki started out once she was seated. Looking at her nails giving off the feeling of not caring in the least about his answer.
"Your daughter graduated due to her own powers". Minato said in a friendly tone with a smile on his face. He could do this. Konoha didn't need an economic crisis right now.
"Damn right she did." The blond replied in a confident tone with a small bit of pride hidden away in it. Like it was expected, and he wanted so badly to point out that she hadn't been here to see how hard the girl had worked or been there to celebrate her success.
Or maybe she knew for the same reason Sakura flinched at being touched. Maybe there was a reason Sakura avoided people maybe it was because the only human touch she has ever had was through pain. It made Minato grind his teeth at the thought. If he found out that was what had been going on even her title as Haruno wouldn't be enough to keep her safe.
"So, if we agree that she is fully capable why you put her on a team with your son and the Uchiha boy?" Mebuki replied in the same way she did when they were disagreeing on trade and not as if this was her only child.
"Whatever do you mean?" He replied instead of the thoughts going through his head.
What do you even know woman? When was the last time you saw your daughter? Have you ever even held your own child? At least I spend time with my son. If only he could say it out loud instead.
"They are clearly not a good match," She said as if commenting on the weather instead of openly disrespecting his choice.
"Mibuki-san I-" Minato tried.
"Not to mention everyone in Konoha and even some outside knows that your son hates Sakura-chan's gut." Mebuki continued as if she hadn't heard him at all. The look she sends him made him shit his mouth at once.
"So, I can't help but wonder if you were hoping to gain favor with the next Haruno head." She said, while her eyes moving over him as she was clearly evaluating him and seemingly finding him lacking. He needed to remember to be polite. Politic had nothing to do with putting their team together and the fact that she would even suggest it made him furious.
"I would appreciate it if you could stop trying to manipulate my daughter" She finished in a cold voice. He wanted to protest, saying that Sakura wasn't something to own, but her own person, and talking about her like this left him feeling odd.
"Are you threatening me?" He said instead, not wanting to cause more ripples.
"No, I'm waning you. We both know what will happen if you anger the Haruno family" She said pushing the paper towards him.
Honestly, Minato had all but forgotten about it until now. He turned it over and read it before looking back at the mother with a grim face.
"… What would you have me do?" Minato asked through ground teeth a smile on his face while his fisted hands laid in his lap out of sight.
"Change it or the Haruno will change the village of our headquarter." Right, because moving so many people would be easy.
"Surely you are jesting?" He said voice going high pinched in his astoundment.
"I never jest when it comes to my only child's happiness or safety" She replied coolly and there was so much he could say to that, but the threat was nothing to laugh at, so he kept it to himself.
"What if does two points collide?" He asked instead. After all who was better at keeping her safe than his own students?
"Then you simply have to prevent a collision" Mebuki replied as if that was the most common thing in the whole world. Sometimes Minato really felt like people didn't understand or appreciate what he did for them as Hokage.
"I understand, but sometimes you need time to really see if a collision will happen or if this was the best thing that could have happened," Minato said as he led Mebuki to the door holding it open for her as she walked out.
Once gone he looked out the window watching her figure began to disappear.
"Bring me Fugaku to my office" Minato finally said. It was time to get to the bottom of the Haruno family.
When Sakura finally regained consciousness once more. Her head felt like it had exploded into small pieces and then forced back together. The last thing she could remember was the sword hitting her. Tears came to her eyes. Her worst fear had come true, she had ended up being a burden to the team. Tobi was in her lap at once offering silence comfort.
Running her fingers through his fur she stayed like that until Sakura felt ready to face the world once more. She could hear voices down the stairs. Once she got there, they stopped talking. Naruto still wouldn't look at her. Sasuke sat awkwardly while pointily not looking at her. Kakashi-sensei didn't react outright at her appearance. Obito-sensei tried to smile at her, at the very least there was someone that would look at her.
A hand was suddenly laid on her shoulder that made her give a small jump and it took everything in her not to stab her. With clenched fists, Sakura moved out from under the small hand. She tried to give the stranger a smile, but it might not have worked well.
Tobi looked down at her cute bunny with distaste looking disapprovingly at it when it had the audacity to move closer towards the feline. The woman merely smiled a bit more tightly now before letting her hand fall back.
"You must be Sakura-san, I want to thank you for looking after my father" The woman had a soft voice. It left her feeling embarrassed so she ducks her head and mumbled a reply. Quickly moving towards the table.
Once she sat down with Tobi in her lap, she sees a young boy. Sakura saw the boy just staring at her. She hid her head in Tobi's fur, not only seeking comfort but also to hide her silently red cheeks.
Sitting down like this made Tobi taller than her and it felt right. Tobi was larger than life, it only seemed reasonable for him to be taller than her.
Eating wasn't a problem either despite Tobi's big size. They had done this many times before. He didn't really need to eat, but there were moments when fresh fish on the table that he would eat since he liked it so much.
At one point Sakura realized that it had become totally quiet, and she looked up and around the table. Everyone looked away when she looked their way except the boy.
"Aren't you too old to be so attached to your daemon?" He snared at her. Sakura merely tilted her head to the side in thought. While her hands were running through white fur.
"It would be a sad day if I ever felt the need to push Tobi away. I'm a shinobi and in our world, there is no saying if we will live to see tomorrow or if we get killed by someone today. So why should I live a life that leaves regrets behind? Just because it might seem weird to others doesn't mean I'm going to change how I am to please the narrow view of the world." Sakura replied after quite some time nodding to herself pleased. Personally, she felt like it was done nicely without being hostile.
She went back to eating while Naruto and Sky began to talk about the honor of their line of work. The boy quickly became hostel towards Naruto yelling about death and how it all seemed meaningless. Sakura didn't listen as well as she properly should have, but she didn't want to be listening to a spoiled child having a temper torment.
She looked up once more when the boy left followed by an Australian sheepdog that was hot on his heel. She wouldn't have thought that he would have the potential to become a smart boy. A person that liked to keep his dear people close.
"Please don't take his words to heart, the boy is young. Only 8 and he already lost the man he saw as his father". His mother said in an apologist tone. Sakura understood that losing his father must have been hard. She just couldn't see what that had to do with his behavior.
"What has his age got to do with anything? I don't understand I'm 10 and my teammates are 12 and here we are ready to fight thugs- even give our life if the need arises." Not to mention that Sakura had been living without Rowan since she was 4. She can still remember the scary nights alone in the big house. Where hiding under her bed while wishing her parents would come running, was the only thing she could do.
Looking at the two civilian's horrified faces Sakura released a confused noise. Clearly, she was missing something. Tobi merely shook his head also unaware why they would react like that when she had looked to him for an answer.
Looking towards Obito-sensei she saw him almost pointing towards the stairs. Right, Sakura had fucked up again. Maybe next time she should just keep her mouth shut it seemed no matter what she did it was wrong.
Sakura got up and left the table feeling miserable. Nothing she did was ever the right thing to do.