Please leave a comment or PM if you have any questions, suggestions, concerns, or just compliments. For the sake of this work, the elemental balance will go earth}lightning}water}fire}wind. Thanks to SmallFountainPen for betaing chapters 57-73. Thanks to SoaringJe for betaing chapters 116-119.
The Hokage's procession was loud, bracketed as it was by drums, dancers, and other entertainment, and included ranks of shinobi and even foreign turncoat samurai as a sign of power. The ranks were in uniform, but the Hokage himself was resplendent as he sat in his carriage, his luxurious clothing in perfect harmony with the hat of the Hokage.
Sakura, standing as the Research Head in the customary uniform at her spot in line, thought the procession took too long.
It was all very ceremonial, and Sakura was sure it looked very dramatic from the outside, but the only time she ever marched was when she was still in the Academy and her class was being trained for this exact situation.
The music was nice – music would be near-constant in the coming days, as the wedding approached – but the awe-inspiring parade was far less awe-inspiring when you were among it and distinctly remembered spending hours training on how to march exactly in time while Sensei simultaneously grilled them on edible insects from around the world.
Shin and Juro were somewhere among the throng of special jonin that were marching together.
The former Hokage sat in a carriage behind the current one, alongside his wife – there had been some question about how to treat the first ever Hokage who had retired, and in the end they'd decided that he technically still held the title, if not the responsibility, so he was given the same honor.
Ibiki, as well as Asuma and the former Hokage's other children were… somewhere.
Asuma had been yanked sometime before dawn, to prepare for whatever they'd decided to do with the Hokage's kids, and he'd yanked Ibiki along with him, which hadn't been protested – large families were currently a sign of power in the Capital, and no one would be looking too closely, so making it seem as if the former Hokage had another son didn't exactly have many downsides.
Sakura had considered protesting herself, but Ibiki had been rather more enamored with the idea than Asuma, so she'd figured he could go have fun and at least be next to his best friend when he inevitably found out it was less interesting than he hoped.
The procession marched steadily forward.
Sakura began planning out how to reorganize her office – she really needed a better filing system – with how much paperwork Research now dealt with.
She tried to remember what the Hokage's system was, then decided she didn't have enough underlings to make it workable.
Her Co-Head's system had, if anything, even more paperwork than her own, but then he seemed to thrive on it and she… did not.
She'd figure something out.
At last, the procession reached the Daimyo.
The courtyard – though that really seemed to downplay the size of the clearing, especially placed as it was amid the urbanized expanse of the Capital – had already been prepared to receive them, to receive the Daimyo receiving them.
It was lavishly decorated, and Samurai lined every side to watch this auspicious occasion.
(Tomorrow they'd get to do it all over again when the next procession arrived. Sakura wondered if they switched out the guards, or if it was the exact same ones standing for hours every single day.)
There was a lot of really quick shuffling as the formal meeting of the Daimyo and the Hokage was readied, and Sakura was directed to the place where she was to stand and bow.
An entire day of nothing but ceremony.
She felt Ibiki's chakra, looked out of the corner of her eye.
Ibiki looked…
Well, he looked like he was feeling much the same as she, with far less practice hiding his expression.
A pretty good job, though. Decent, might fool half the bureaucrats and half the samurai.
Would definitely not fool any of the established nobility, but they'd just find it either an amusing sign of his youth or an impertinent sign of ninja as a whole – either way, not a worry.
Asuma's mask was better, but not by much.
Asuma's older siblings – he had three surviving ones, all at least chunin – two, genin at the time, had died during Iwa's attack on the Sarutobi during the second war, and another two, twins, had died from some sort of terminal stomach mutation when they were still very young – were the very picture of perfect guests of the Daimyo.
The grand ceremony began, first between the current Hokage and the Daimyo, and then with the former Hokage and the Daimyo.
Hours passed.
Everyone was shuffled indoors for various rooms for the meal, or dismissed entirely – Sakura was thankfully not considered senior enough to eat with the Daimyo, but she was still important enough to be in the same room – and Sakura forced herself to relax, savor the really quite excellent meal.
Thankfully, the Daimyo's need to welcome processions from several other major and minor nations, religions, and particularly major local samurai meant he couldn't drag this out across multiple days – Sakura was back in the quarters by two.
"Well, at least it's over," Shin said, pouring her some tea as she fell on the couch.
Sakura snorted. Shin knew very well that Konoha's Research Department had drawn enough interest that for the entire length of this Wedding Event she would be pulled into multiple meetings or teas or asides or debates or all-but-physical fights a day.
"…at least the most boring part is over?"
"Fair enough. Where's Juro?"
Shin smirked.
"What?"
"He—we were eating, at one of the local restaurants, and he got to talking up one of the waitresses…"
"Oh, good for him."
"You weren't there. He was enamored. I mean, it was bad, Sakura – she told him about a sake cake she liked to make, and he had actual heart eyes. She mentioned breaking a shoe, and he promised to buy her a new one."
Sakura's eyes furrowed. "And they met today?"
"No! He's the one that suggested the restaurant! Apparently found the place the day we arrived and has been having a meal there almost every day since."
"And he didn't tell us. For shame."
"He's embarrassed; I don't think he's fallen for anyone this hard since your cousin."
"Don't remind me. And that – that was when we were kids!"
"Yeah, I know." Shin sighed, sitting back as they both sank into their tea. "That's what makes it so surprising."
"Well, I hope Juro remembers that after the wedding is over we're going back to Konoha."
"I am absolutely positive he's doing everything he can not to remember that."
Sakrua laughed. "I don't get love."
Shin grinned and shrugged.
"And what about you?"
Another half-shrug. "I'm too busy with work, and too uninterested in anyone I'm working with."
Sakura hummed. She could feel Ibiki and Asuma – apparently deposited back with them – in their bedroom, fast asleep.
It was late.
"I have an early morning tea with some nobles I can't be bothered to remember the names of right now. You?"
"Day starts in two hours. I'm not even going to try to sleep – it'd be pointless."
"Well, I need more sleep than you to function, so I'll see you… tomorrow evening, probably?"
A negative hum. "Day after. Tomorrow's… really full."
.
Sakura sat cross-legged on a table, granting the floor in front of her to the constant stream of runners and flipping through a summary on the latest arrivals (the Land of Tea procession) as she paid half-attention to the droning of the Head of Finance, Shimura.
Minato – off to her left, reading at least three documents at once and signing forms one handed while he wrote out some sort of letter with the other, cleared his throat.
They were having a 'meeting on the economy' now, in preparation for Minato's 'meeting on the economy' with the Daimyo's cabinet later in the day, and there really wasn't room for all twelve of them in the room, but the room was also the best-sealed against possible eavesdropping so they didn't really have a choice.
"Sorry, which bank?"
"It's a newer one, Lord Hokage. One of the ones that cropped up following Research Head Yamanaka's… theories."
What a polite way of putting it.
Okay, yes, her ideas on banking were… novel, but it had been years now and they seemed to be working, so—
"And why are you telling me about them?"
"I believe the Laborer's Bank is growing overly quickly, Lord Hokage. It may disrupt the historical banking families."
"Ah. And what would the result of that be?"
If Sakura didn't know what she knew, that would have been a very reasonable question – even an expected one, given how much the Hokage had to oversee and how important it was to know the risks before making any decision.
The problem was, well.
"I would say, Lord Hokage, that the risks are the same as—"
"As the last time you warned me about an up-and-coming bank? Or the time before that?"
"That bank failed!"
"It did, and the guaranteed insurance provided by Konoha ensured that there was little effect on the rest of the economy. In fact, I believe one of your agents temporarily took over the bank, reassigning all cases to other banks and arresting those that had deliberately mishandled the money before the public even knew there was an issue. It was quite a good job, that."
The Finance Head hesitated, caught between their continued distrust of the new system and the instinct to accept praise from their superior.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage."
"I trust that you will manage to do the same, should it be necessary in the future."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
And the conversation was neatly brought to an end, appeasing the Finance Head and redirecting him from his true, constant concern – the old banking families' own dislike of the new competitors, and how the Finance Head was actually closely related enough to two of those families that the continued existence of those new banks meant very uncomfortable family meetings – neatly.
Sakura wondered how often the Hokage had managed to redirect her.
She rather doubted it was that often – they tended to agree quite a bit.
She wondered what would happen if and when they didn't.
She wondered if she would notice.
He was, after all, very good at using different tactics for different people, judging on a case-by-case basis what would work best.
Minato glanced at the clock, so everyone else did too.
Five in the morning exactly.
"I'm meeting with the Daimyo about the gold standard in twelve hours. Sakura, I want an updated version of your gold standard report from… five years ago, I believe… on my desk at least three hours before that. Finance can help you."
And that meant they were dismissed.
Sakura blinked, trying to jumpstart her brain as she hopped down and made her way out of the room. She hadn't thought about her critique about the gold standard since she'd written it, to be honest. Arden's memories had made it clear that her world had more or less entirely abandoned metal standards some decades before, and while Sakura hadn't – to this day, actually – uncovered Arden's understanding of the reasons why, she'd been able to figure quite a few possibilities out.
The previous Finance Head – also a Shimura – had almost had a conniption over it.
It was perhaps one of her most disruptive ideas.
He'd been somewhat – somewhat – mollified, at least, when Sakura had assured him that she would never even consider bringing the suggestion to the Daimyo, that really she never thought anything but the gold standard would ever be in place in either of their lifetimes, and her report was just to provide a fuller understanding of how she believed the economy and monetary system worked together.
And now—
Well, the previous Finance Head was dead.
Of course, the new one was his son, so that wasn't much comfort.
The man was smirking.
Sakura didn't give him the pleasure of asking.
"I'm far too busy, I'm afraid, to assist you today. I am more than happy, however, to send you Kurama Zencho."
Sakura did not wince.
She didn't.
She just closed her eyes for a second.
It wasn't that Kurama Zencho was bad, exactly, he just wasn't someone you wanted to be around.
Ever.
He'd been more or less forced into being a paperwork ninja – he didn't have his clan's signature jutsu, he didn't have the physical ability needed for frontline, and everything else required… well, charisma. Or, at the very least, the ability to pass beyond notice.
Kurama Zencho was indisputably not that.
He smiled, and you checked your pockets.
He shook your hand, and you wiped it.
He waved at you, and you ducked out of the way of a nonexistent arrow.
Kurama Zencho was a man whose very existence put you on edge, made you uneasy, made you wary.
It didn't matter if you'd lived with him your entire life – the effect never went away.
He worked alone, in his own room.
He slept alone, in his own room.
His groceries were delivered.
Sakura had met with him before, several times – he was more than happy to open conversations when waiting for documents to be pulled, or for a meeting to start.
He'd, as far as she could tell, never actually done anything.
But the way he smiled…
And he knew it, too.
Was proud of it.
Reveled in it.
"Thank you, for the offer," Sakura said. "I am pleased to accept." Because she could not say no. And she hated the Shimura all the more.