• Rated M for language and later content •


• AN AIR OF POWER •


Chapter Three


The eldest Uchiha sat amongst two of his greatest friends, cup of black coffee in one hand, six packets of sugar in another. He daintily opened all six packets in one go and poured it into his 'blacker-than-his-soul" beverage. As he leaned back, he witnessed Sasori drop a look beneath brown lashes.

"Something tickling your throat?"

He was met with a mild look. "You wound me, Uchiha." A manly snort was his reply, at which he chuckled, and continued to rifle through the file he held in his fingers. "Too much sugar is bad for you. And this is the most recent report?"

For the most part, Sasori's sentence was ignored. "It is."

"One would think the ultimate Uchiha police force would be able to find one person," Sasori muttered into the papers, eyes scanning rapidly over small words. "But it looks like not even you guys can find the successor."

"You asked for basic information, and we got it," Itachi retorted. He set down his cup, tossing a fleeting look at Deidara asleep on the couch. "She's a woman in her middle twenties."

"She's young for a successor," Sasori praised, putting the file down. "Unfortunately, gender and obscure age don't entirely narrow down all the women in the world."

"Well I was informed of one more piece of evidence." Itachi pulled his tie from his collar loose, leaning backwards in his chair even further and setting a foot on Deidara sleeping buttcheek. "She has pink hair."

At this, the red-haired business man raised an eyebrow, completely ignoring Deidara's jiggling cheeks from being prodded. "Pink hair? That narrows it down quite a lot."

Itachi nodded. "Though I'm not aware of any pink-haired businesswomen in this country."

"Me as well."

"Isn't that her, un?"

Deidara's sleepy voice murmured through the room as his single crystal blue eye rolled out the window, oblivious to the Italian leather clad toe grazing his twin cheeks. Itachi casted a sideways glance at him before launching his stare out the window and into the office of the Uzumaki CEO.

True to his word, a woman with pastel pink hair was standing across the street in the Uzumaki's office. Her back was to the window, and Itachi could only make out a white top, a skirt, and some heels. Nice figure. Unfortunately, none of them could see her face.

Sasori pulled out his cellphone and took a picture just as Itachi paged for his head of security, retracting his foot from exploring the thoroughly aware and thoroughly creeped out blonde man on the sofa.

"Across the street. Bring me the woman with pink hair when she exits the building."

"Roger."


Sakura reveled in being with her childhood friend once again. He was still a complete and utter idiot, but in a great way. Still blonde and blue eyed, but much much prettier. Not that he was bad looking before, but my kami did the divine beings bless this child's adulthood.

Naruto closed the door to his office behind him, waving off the blonde woman who tried to nervously close it herself. He, with the widest damn grin on his face, approached Sakura and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura-chan, where do you wanna go?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the handsome man, smile tugging on the corners of her lips. "Where do I wanna go? Where are you taking me?"

The pair walked a few steps and stopped by Ayame, who halted in her typing to look at her boss with a questioning look.

"Lunch, of course!" Naruto enthusiastically claimed. It was followed by a fist to the noggin. "OW. AYAME-CHAAAAN."

"Don't 'Ayame-chan' me," the brunette spitfire secretary shot, standing behind the desk. "You can't just walk out of here like some celebrity. You have work to do, and I'm betting Haruno-sama does as well."

She gave him reprimanding stare down when he attempted to fire back, causing him to whimper in fear. The brunette then turned to Sakura with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry for the scene, Haruno-sama. Uzumaki-sama is much more presentable most days."

Sakura only curled her sweet pink lips in a smile, patting the desk. "No worries, Ayame. I've known this kid for years. He's gonna be like that well into his eighties."

Ayame giggled and gave a short bow as the pinkette walked in the direction of the exit, dropping her business card on Ayame's desk.

"Naruto, be a good CEO and get to work. Call me," she threw over her shoulder, Shizune by the elevator.

Naruto scrambled to his feet after his fit, Ayame in tow, and stood at the elevator, Sakura, Shizune, and her two guards already inside.

"It was great seeing you Sakura-chan!"

Though his words were cheerful, his eyes glimmered in part sadness, part confidence. Sakura knew precisely why.

She gave a warm smile, Shizune bowing shortly, just as the elevator doors drew close.

The Haruno businesswoman pulled out her smartphone just then, and began to scroll through her calendar and various documents. She scheduled a meeting with the Hatake corporation for today, and tomorrow was the party. It would be her big reveal.

She pulled out of her calendar and scrolled through documents upon documents on data of the shares. Stocks were skyrocketing and showed no signs of stopping. This meant that the share was probably going to be the greatest profit in business history.

"Shizune, what were the ideas on how to handle the share?"

Shizune opened the folder in her hands and located a purple sticky note. "Opening business, buildings, schools, etc. That's what's written here."

"Do I have anything specific?"

"No, not particularly."

Sakura switched gears and left her mother a text message. "Put down a hospital. I want to open two big hospitals here in Konoha with branches along the border. Look into healthcare and the insurance system and let's see what we can cut so people can have affordable treatment."

"But your grandfather-"

Sakura clicked her phone shut and placed it away.

"My grandfather will have no power on the share as soon as it's in my alliance's hands."

Silence crossed the tight space, followed by the low scribbling of a pen.

The elevator pulled open, and one of the guards stepped forward to shield her front, the other behind her and Shizune.

The quadruple walked through the Uzumaki lobby, basking in dignified air amongst the many people littering the businessworld. This would become a world in Sakura's grasp, and by kami she would carve an empire out of rubble. She was going to take down her grandfather's selfish company and rebuild it from the bottom up.

Senju would become known, not forgotten.

She exited the building, nodding at the train of people cycling through surprise, starstruck, and bowing.

Just as she was escorted into her limo, four people dressed in black suits and shades approached from all four sides.

Sakura, alerted, turned around to reach for Shizune, who was grabbed from behind by one of the suits. She struggled, trying to pull out of his grasp and reach for Sakura.

The other two bodyguards were also being occupied by suits. The fourth one grabbed for Sakura's arms, and she attempted to pull away. He was strong and his hands were wide, and she struggled as he began pulling her into the building across the street.

"Sakura!" Shizune shouted, pulling out of a suit's grasp and turning to throw one of her heels at his face. It did nothing to him, and he continued to lunge for her, locking her to the side of the limo. The driver inside sat, terrified and speaking rapidly into a phone.

Sakura desperately wriggled out of the man's grasp, wildly tossing her body around. She thought for a sparing moment, then quickly grabbed backwards onto the man's blazer. She felt him loosen slightly in surprise.

She yanked downwards and likewise launched herself upwards. Flipping her body in midair, her feet were on the man's back, and she pulled with all her might, straightening her knees from the bent position.

The man's blazer tore at the arms, shoulders most likely dislocated at the force of the pull. There was a crack, and he hit the pavement hard.

Sakura landed on her feet and wasted no time in lunging for the suit on Shizune. She picked up the woman's fallen heel and threw it. Shizune caught it in her open grasp and smashed the heel into the suit's shades.

The man cried out in pain, releasing Shizune. Sakura whizzed by, knocked Shizune into the open limo, and used the door to maneuver her body to kick. She took down the guard.

The suits pushed at the guards in a feeble attempt to catch the pinkette. She hopped up onto the top of the limo and yelled for her guards to retreat into the limo.

She smacked the windshield twice. "DRIVE!"

The chaffeur fumbled and put the car in drive as Shizune shut the door, window down. Sakura threw her heels at the remaining guards, and they went down just as she slipped into the car through the window, right before the limo picked up speed.

With anger, she pulled out her phone and made a call.


Sakura paced back and forth in her office, brutally releasing a string of colorful curse words. She knew who sent those blacksuits. The damn family insignia was all over the inside of their jackets.

"For CEOs, they're quite stupid," she muttered under her breath. She was still fuming and refused to sit down. Uchiha and their pride - she knew precisely what kind of people that family was. The Uchiha Corporation owned a multitude of business branches specializing in law-enforcement. If she remembered correctly, they were international ambassadors until Fugaku, the head of the company, shot a snarky remark at a corporation located in Cloud Country about everyone being "inhumanely paper pale, like straws." And if she remembered correctly, they lost total monetary support from the stereotype comment. Likewise, he refused to apologize, so his company lost the status as international ambassadors, and the title was given to the more calm Hyuuga family.

"Haruno-sama, Hatake-sama is here to see you." Shizune's voice on her telephone broke her silent anger, and Sakura attempted to visibly calm down. She left the window and walked over to her desk, pressing the round button.

"Send him in ten minutes."

"But Haruno-sama, your meeting has already been delayed an hour."

Ah yeah, Sakura remembered the second reason why she was angry. Kakashi-damn-Hatake was an hour late for their meeting - the meeting in which she fought a bunch of blacksuits for in order to make. If she had the extra hour, she would've called the police and had the Uchiha family ensue in internal suffering, but noooo. She beat up a bunch of guys and rode the top of a car for nothing.

"He was already late an hour, he can wait ten more minutes."

There was a short silence on the other side before Shizune obliged. Sakura took the opportunity to sit in her desk and allow the steam to fully disappear. She rubbed her temples slowly, then breathed through her nose, allowing steam to leave her system. Then, she picked up her clothes on the floor, the ones that were ripped and dirtied from the previous encounter, and tossed it into the trash can.

She currently wore a fitted pair of white high-waisted slacks and a champagne, sleeveless, high-necked top. Matching champagne-colored pumps adorned her feet. Sakura combed through her hair with her fingers, then pulled the long waterfall by the fistful, twisted it up rapidly and secured it with a pair of rose-gold ornamental chopsticks in a loose ponytail. She momentarily checked her appearance in the reflection of her desktop, then pressed the round button on her telephone.

"Shizune, please send Hatake-san in."

There was a tonal agreement, and then the connection cut. Sakura took a moment to gather her thoughts, pulling papers out from her desk and various stats and charts on her desktop.

By the time she found a pen to use, her office door had swung open. On cue, her demeanor straightened into formality, she stood up to greet her guest.

Shizune stood at the door, propping it open and lowering her head slightly. In came another figure - he was tall and muscled beneath the suit he wore (she could simply tell). His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, and his tie a little loose. The button up was folded up at the sleeves, still tucked into his trousers, but he lacked a blazer. Overall, he appeared extremely lax.

It was his face that Sakura had to momentarily pause at.

He was handsome, that she knew. But his expression was distinctly amused and mildly interested. The lower half of his face was covered by a black medical mask, the ones teenagers wear nowadays. Grazing the top of the mask were his eyes, fluttering ever so slightly to reveal what little emotion he expressed. One eye was as black as the midnight sky, the other one a deep red defined by a large, faint scar over his eyelid.

Yes, he was handsome. But he screamed something dangerous.

Sakura picked her scattered brain back up and nodded a thanks to Shizune, who bowed and closed the office door. Sakura stuck a hand out to the man, and he held it with a large palm and fingers. The handshake was light.

"You have quite a grip for a female, Miss Senju," Kakashi mused lightly. Sakura didn't take the moderately sexist comment to heart and only allowed a small smile.

"My last name is Haruno, I'd like you to address me as such. Otherwise, just call me Sakura," she commented lightly. She wanted him to steer away from her name. "I am merely another player in the game."

The slightest quirk in his eyes was what tipped off his interested expression. He sat himself in the seat across from Sakura, who simply opened the folder on her desk and placed it before him.

The silver-haired man took it delicately and laid it open. Scribbles of notes were all over the place, and he took in the information quickly.

"You want to ally for the share," he said after a few moments. He then placed the paper he was glancing over down. "What makes you think I want to add you into my alliance?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You've already gotten in contact with people." It was more of a statement than an inquiry.

"A few," he nonchalantly threw. He got up from his perch and adjusted his tie. "Thank you Miss Haruno, but I'm not interested in a little friendship over such a huge share." His smile was good-natured underneath his mask, but Sakura knew what this meant. This was a simple business game.

He didn't want to ally because she wouldn't be able to tip the game in their favor. She was under her grandfather's shadow, and wasn't considered a real player. She had no connections. She was practically a baby. Still.

Frustrated at the realization, her green eyes darkened in slight irritation. Kakashi Hatake was an excellent business man - she knew he played his cards well. But he was being nit-picky this time. And without a little favoritism from gramps, he wasn't willing to give up a prized spot in his alliance.

"Thank you for this meeting," he began again, walking for the door. Sakura followed slightly in tow, lost in her thoughts, and nodded very slightly at his near meaningless gratitude.

She waited a damn hour to be shut down in five minutes. Goddammit.

Suddenly, she was met with the hard frontside of Mister Hatake, and surprised, took a step back. Strong arms steadied her waist. It was then that she realized the older gentleman's face was staring down at her and she looked up, locked on his gaze.

His eyes were intense, almost playfully sly.

He slowly withdrew his hands, and grinned. It felt different this time - a little more coy.

"Not hard feelings," he drawled out. "But I'd love to go for coffee some time, Sakura."

The way her name was said made her rigid inside. It was her defensive front coming to attention, and the heated irritation from the failed meeting began crawling up her spine. She stepped backwards and sat on the edge of her desk, pressing the black button for Shizune.

Her eyes remained locked on Kakashi as the atmosphere sunk into a predatory state. What in the hell was going on?

"Shizune, can you see Mister Hatake finds his way out?" She was wary as he stared her down, never seeming to blink, never seeming to move.

This was dangerous.

And then he advanced.

Every single muscle in her body coiled tightly in half fear, half anxiety. Alarms rang throughout her head as he closed the distance between them one step at a time.

What seemed like an eternity was really a few seconds, and he was directly in front of her, leaning into her frame. She was trapped against the desk and was absolutely frozen - even her heart felt like it slowed to two beats a minute.

What in Kami's name was going on? She could take those blacksuits in broad daylight, but this man in her office, on her terrain, was fucking her over. Shit.

He gazed directly into her green eyes, which turned into a sharp color at the amount of wariness in her. Something... something scary glinted in his eyes.

"I've never heard of you before," he began in a low tenor that was extremely different from earlier. "You're so... curious."

The stare was so intense, she felt her throat constrict. It was definitely predatory - terrifyingly so.

"Where have you been all my life, little spitfire?"

Oh, fuck.

In that moment, her world suddenly spun in the sharpest one eighty degree. A few things happened at once: the door opened, Shizune was there, and Kakashi was by the door, grinning that little saint-like smile under his mask.

Shizune stared at her boss sitting on her desk, looking like a frozen monkey, and raised an eyebrow. "Miss... Haruno?" She didn't move. "Um... well... Mister Hatake, please follow me out..."

"Yes, of course," he murmured lowly, casting the deepest sideways glance towards Sakura when Shizune turned away. He grinned again, but it appeared a little more catlike, a little more playful. "It was wonderful meeting you, Miss Sakura."

And he was gone.

It took a few minutes of time for Sakura to regain her breathing. Her chest was heavy with pressure and the coil constricting her throat disappeared after a while.

What in the world was that?

Who was that?

Her entire plan took an immediate dive. Did she come off too cocky? Too confident? No, Kakashi liked that confidence. It was merely because she didn't have the connections to her grandfather like Kakashi thought she would. He thought that if he invited her into his alliance, it would tip the scale in his favor.

But she wasn't a favorite granddaughter. She was playing the game fair and square, and she realized this was her first business sociality. She had little experience in maintaining credibility because in truth, she had none (not yet at least). She merely let the fact that she had Naruto get to her head.

But wait a second.

Naruto Uzumaki - Uzumaki Corps was a huge company. And she knew he and Sasuke Uchiha would have been in an alliance (blondie told her about life after she left in their meeting). Kakashi Hatake was known to be in huge connection with the Uchiha Corps, kind of like a sister branch but stronger. If so, then they were indirectly connected.

Unfortunately, for the alliance to be set in stone, everyone needed to agree on the members, and Kakashi wasn't fully convinced of her ability. Likewise, she knew Uchiha knew who she was after the morning's incident, but she also knew that there were two brothers in power over the company. Only one of them had knowledge about her.

It likely wasn't Sasuke - his office window was on the other side of his building. It was most likely the Uchiha in the office across from Naruto's - the eldest. She clenched her jaw. The name "Senju" threw both Naruto and Kakashi off. She made a mental note to contact the blonde and Shizune.

At the party, she was going to be introduced as Haruno. Not Senju.

As she thought, she had managed to assume pacing, walking back and forth in contemplation. This changed the game.

Ultimately, it was down to this party. If she could show her personal appeal, she would do it. She had to exemplify her business ethic and lock her position in the alliance, otherwise her years of trying to run from her grandfather's shadow would have been in vain. She had to play this game knowing that they were after a prize, and not a friend, and she had the skill to win that prize too. She would prove her grandfather wrong and make "Haruno" memorable.

Sakura sat at her desk with new empowering resolve.

She had to look and feel like the best in order to play a game made for men.


• Okay, I really feel like I rushed that end, but try to bear with me lol. I'm going to start speeding up the story. I'm also still a little lost with how I had wanted this to go (transitions made things lost LOL). so if I find discrepancies in the story, I'll come back to fix them. I will try to retrieve the docs. Worst case scenario: I start a new story and put this on hold. BUT this will still find an end. THANK YOU for still remaining with me.

• But hello my beautiful readers! It's been years and I've been dug up from beyond the grave. •

• I am currently in college and for those of you living that life: I feel your pain. •

• LOL. Thank you for reading! I will try to get back into the spin of things since I find myself having more freetime (and more stress) than I did in high school. Look forward to that! Besides, you wouldn't want to miss Sakura getting the guy, amirite? There is a poll up on my profile which will determine her final man, but before that, the boys shall fight hehehe.

- burrblefish