A/N: I had way too much fun writing this chapter. Something about designing all of the organization and stuff that goes on in the village is just really, really fun for me. These couple few first chapters are relatively light (in terms of the story), but fret not, after a few more lighthearted ones, the plot'll really be getting into full swing. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and don't forget to leave a review! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
~Chapter 2~
Sunlight filters through the massive window of the Hokage's office, illuminating the room. Wincing at the light, Sasuke pushes himself off his desk. He'd fallen asleep in his office the night before after he had finished all of his paperwork.
In the short time he's been Hokage, he's had more work than he's ever had to do in his life. His predecessor had all but thrown him into the middle of an utterly complicated mess of inter-village politics, danger, and absolute chaos. Knowing Tsunade, she probably did it on purpose.
He can't really complain though. All of this work, handling the village's affairs and preserving its peace, renews him with a sense of purpose. He's dreamed of this job, and—all small grievances aside—he absolutely adores it.
It also helps distract him from the sting of his father's slight.
"Hokage-sama."
He looks up to find Shikamaru standing in his doorway. After the Godaime retired, Nara Shikaku did so as well, leaving his son to serve as the Hokage's advisor. Sasuke has mixed feelings about the change. Shikamaru's intelligent, witty, and an experienced leader—but his lackadaisical attitude could make working with him difficult sometimes.
From the serious look on Shikamaru's face, however, this doesn't seem to be one of those times.
"Yes?"
He drops a stack of papers onto the desk and Sasuke grabs them immediately, eyes scanning over the pages to see if any changes were made. His advisor stares at him incredulously, gaze slipping to the empty table.
"How do you keep up with all of that?" he asks quietly, shaking his head. The Rokudaime shrugs.
"I like it," he responds. Paperwork is calming, a sort of meditation. He remembers eagerly filling out forms for his parents and family even as a child, taking enjoyment in the mundane repetition. Placing the stack back on his desk, he leans back in his chair.
"You reviewed the plans?" Sasuke asks, gesturing to the papers with a slight tilt of his head. Shikamaru nods, and he can tell his advisor wants to say more. Raising an eyebrow, he offers him a silent invitation to speak.
"We shouldn't host the chunin exams," Shikamaru says. The Uchiha blinks at him, the storm inside him roiling. This is something that has been running through his mind for weeks now.
Itachi would agree with his advisor; hosting the exams now is inviting trouble, especially with the intelligence he has about Orochimaru. He should deflect, give the opportunity to one of the other villages and keep Konoha safe.
But another part of him disagrees. He knows Orochimaru's planning to attack during the chunin exams, and Sasuke is well aware that a known threat is much better than an unknown one. If he plays his cards right, then he could lead the Sannin straight into a trap.
Yet that comes with heavy risks, and Itachi would say it wouldn't be worth it.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighs.
"I need time to think about it."
Shikamaru stares at him.
"It better not be a lot of time," he says. "We've only got three weeks."
And with that reminder, he leaves Sasuke to bury his head in his arms. He doesn't know what to do. Glancing back down at the plans Shikamaru had given him, he rubs his temples. Maybe he should think of something else for the time being.
'Sakura. Haruno Sakura.'
He remembers that soft pink hair and those dazzling jade eyes staring at him during the Hokage ceremony—remembers feeling that strange connection tethering him to her once more, leaving him helpless to just take her in. She looked beautiful, even from a distance, and the need to reach out to her had only heightened.
Even now—weeks later—he still finds himself thinking about her in the rare moments he has the time. He stares at the intercom, knowing that Naruto should be in the Tower already. Being in ANBU, he has access to the records room—and it'd be much less conspicuous than the Hokage himself searching through it.
But he shouldn't ask his best friend to do that, shouldn't even try to get involved with her. He's the Hokage, she's a genin. His family wouldn't like that at all, and he'd be subjecting her to their prejudice and the dirty world of politics—not to mention the dangers of involving oneself with somebody in such a high position. She's better off not involving herself with him, despite how much he wants her to.
'It's nice to meet you, Sasuke-kun.'
Sasuke presses the button on the intercom and calls Naruto to his office.
"It didn't work, Pig! She's not going to take the exams," Sakura complains, dropping onto the bright orange couch in the middle of their living room. She hadn't gotten the chance to tell Ino about the interaction at the Hokage ceremony, and now that she finally has time off that coincides with Ino's, she can let her frustration spill out.
Her roommate looks over at her from the kitchen, aghast.
"That bitch," she hisses. Sakura just sighs and deflates.
"She is right, though. I can't force either of them to do anything," she mumbles. The blonde takes a seat next to her and hands her a steaming mug of tea. Muttering a thank you, Sakura takes a small sip.
"So, what are you gonna do?" Ino asks, clutching her mug with manicured fingers. Sakura leans her head back and sighs. What can she do?
"Maybe I'll go looking and see if anybody else needs a third person on their team," she says halfheartedly. She's tried that before, but to no avail. Most teams with clan members have enough people, and there are hardly any civilian born shinobi willing to take the chunin exams.
"It's pointless though, anyway," she grumbles.
Suddenly, the mug is ripped from her hands and placed on the coffee table. Sakura looks up to see Ino standing up and staring at her with a strange sort of fire in her eyes.
"Pig, what—"
"You know what this calls for?" her best friend interrupts.
"No?" she says haltingly, though she can start to form an idea of what the blonde is planning. Giggling maniacally, Ino disappears and returns with a bottle.
"Sake!" she exclaims. Sakura sighs. Alcohol is the Yamanaka heiress's cure for everything.
But there isn't much else to do, so she accepts the cup Ino gives her.
Sliding down onto the floor, the pair sit on the rug. Sakura brings the cup to her lips, tasting the sake; it's warm, slightly sweet, and most importantly, takes away some of the stress she's been feeling. When she reaches over for the bottle to pour herself another cup, a hand on her arm stops her.
"Not so fast, missy," Ino commands. Other than the light flush to her cheeks, she seems perfectly sober. "You know you're a lightweight and I'd rather you not throw up all over the place."
Sakura grumbles at her description.
"I am not a lightweight," she says, all too aware of the way her words are slightly slurred. Her best friend laughs at her and takes the bottle away from her hands.
"How 'bout this? Let's stop moping about it and talk about other stuff," she suggests. Sakura agrees wholeheartedly. The prospect of thinking about anything other than her failed dreams is so appealing she finds herself sitting straighter in excitement.
"Soo," Ino drawls, and immediately she regrets her decision. "You haven't told me anything about that mission of yours."
"What mission?" Sakura asks, trying her best to paint a picture of nonchalance. The memory of onyx eyes comes back to her and butterflies flap wildly in her stomach just at the thought.
Ino rolls her eyes.
"Oh come on, you know what I'm talking about. The mission to the Land of the Waves? Ring any bells?" she asks, crossing her arms.
"Nope," she says lightly, trying her best to keep all thoughts of Sasuke out of her mind. Ever since the Hokage ceremony, her thoughts seem to always return to him. She tries to remind herself that he's the Hokage and an Uchiha. They live in different worlds, and there was no way she could get romantically involved with the Hokage—even though part of her desperately wants to.
There was just something there, something that pulled her towards him like she had never felt before. He had looked her in the eye, trusted her, and let her heal him. In that moment—when they were nothing but two people, without the added weight of ranks and titles—they were together, and it felt like coming home.
"How's it going with Sai?" she asks, hoping to draw Ino's attention away from the topic. It works and soon, Sakura is listening to the blonde's chattering about her boyfriend, though her mind still lingers in a little cabin in the Land of the Waves.
Haruno Sakura, he reads at the top of the folder. Naruto had gotten her record for him—though not without giving him a suspicious look. The blond hadn't pressed him for details, but Sasuke knows he'll interrogate him about it later. Frankly, The Uchiha himself doesn't quite know why he wanted to see her record, other than the absurdly strong desire to find out more about the woman who has refused to leave his mind.
Her file is a small one, just a few thin sheets of paper. Opening it, he scans the first one, her ID. Every shinobi that passes the Academy has to fill out one and register with the Hokage. For genin, it is typically the only time (save for emergencies) when they come into contact with the Hokage professionally. And every year, it has to be renewed—though, thankfully, the renewal process is managed by the Council; paperwork-lover or not, the amount of work that would take would probably kill him.
A photo of her sits in the top right corner of the page. She's smiling, bright and happy, and the sight of it brings a small smile of his own to his face. Her basic information lies just underneath it: name, address, date of birth, etc. She's twenty years old, he notices, and lives in one of the civilian districts. The rest of her ID is other personal information, so he flips over to the page detailing her career as a shinobi.
These reports are updated almost constantly (thankfully, again, not by the Hokage), so they serve as the most accurate representation of a shinobi's skills, abilities, and history. Sakura's is rather light. Her rank is listed, along with her current job: a secretary at Konoha Hospital, as well as a record of all the missions she's been on.
His eyes linger at the last one on the list, an herb collecting mission in the Land of the Waves.
But what really catches his attention is her team. Made up of her and two other civilian born kunoichi—both genin—the team has only been on three missions together, all of them D-ranks. The fact that Tsunade sent her on a solo mission (and a C-rank at that, the minimum rank for any mission that requires travel outside the village) testifies to her prowess; genin almost never get sent on solo missions unless they're truly capable.
Her sensei died five years ago of a heart attack, he notes, still examining the information regarding her team. That explains why they seemed to have disbanded in all but name. There are no team missions nor any records of any sort training with the group after that.
Closing her file, Sasuke sighs and drums his fingers on his desk. She's perfectly qualified to be a chunin, and—were it not for her unfortunate team placement—he's sure she'd be one already. In his deliberations over the chunin exams, he hadn't considered the fact that his decision affects the futures of hundreds of shinobi. If he chooses not to host them, then many of Konoha's genin who can't travel the distance to the other villages lose the opportunity to rise up in the ranks and advance their careers. And the village would benefit from more chunin, he thinks to himself.
But there are dangerous risks involved, Itachi's voice reminds him. Risks that are safer not to take. His eyebrows furrow as he tries to think, staring intently at the plans he had set aside on his desk.
The memory of ashamed eyes and the whisper of her rank cements his decision.
Grabbing the plans Shikamaru had given him, he flips to the very last page, where a blank line awaits his signature. He takes his pen and signs his name with careful precision.
In three weeks, Konoha will be hosting chunin exams.
"Haruno Sakura? You mean that girl whose records you wanted?" Naruto asks, looking at Sasuke in confusion.
"Hn," he answers. His best friend stares at him for a moment in disbelief.
"What are you, a stalker?" he asks incredulously, making Sasuke bristle.
"I'm not stalking her," he defends himself, spitting out the words vehemently. The blond looks taken aback, and Sasuke chooses this moment to finish the conversation before he can ask any further questions.
"Just find her and tell her to come to my office," he orders. When Naruto doesn't move, he speaks again. "Now."
Grumbling about how Sasuke shouldn't be making him do all this work, the blond finally makes his way out of his office.
Sakura stands in front of the Hokage's desk, hands clasped together.
She had been in the middle of her shift when a blond man informed her that the Hokage wanted to see her. After racing to Hokage Tower, which was luckily quite close to the hospital, she had knocked on his door and heard his smooth, baritone voice tell her to come in.
It had taken everything in her power not to faint right there on the spot.
Now, inside his office, she waits for him to explain why he called for her. Her heart is racing, her hands are sweating, and she absentmindedly wonders if he wants to speak with her about the Land of the Waves. She looks up at him—at the sharp, angular planes of his body—and feels heat rushing up to her face as their eyes meet. It's dizzying, the draw she feels towards him, and it makes her lean slightly forward in a desperate attempt to be closer to him.
"I'm granting you an exception," he states, and the air is knocked out of Sakura's lungs. Everything freezes for a millisecond before hope fills her heart and she's smiling at him like he just handed her the world.
Though, she thinks, he really just did.
"What?" she asks, barely able to contain her excitement. Sasuke smirks at her and her insides turn into goo at the sight.
"I said, I'm granting you an exception. For the chunin exams," he drawls. "I've looked at your records. You've been sent on solo missions before and your healing skills are beyond that of ordinary chunin," he says pointedly, reminding her of the time she had healed him.
His wound that day could've been fatal, and serious injuries such as those fell under the purview only of advanced medical ninja—typically jounin.
Sakura's smile turns sheepish at that, but she can see the real meaning behind his words. The exception is based on her skills, and not…whatever strange connection that was forming between them.
Her heart skips a beat at the idea that Sasuke feels something for her, but she pushes the thought away.
"Thank you," she tells him earnestly. He nods at her, and she takes it as her cue to leave. But before she can exit his office, she hears his voice again.
"Wait."
His voice is shaky—so unlike the confident drawl of before—and almost…conflicted? When she looks at him, he looks surprised that he's even said it. Meeting her gaze, he stands up and walks towards her until he's only a few feet away.
"Think of me as Sasuke when I ask this. Not the Hokage, not anything else, just Sasuke," he demands almost breathlessly. Sakura swears she can see a trace of nervousness in his eyes, and she can feel butterflies flapping in her stomach.
"Okay," she says. It's only now that she realizes just how much taller than her he is, towering over her so much that she has to look up to meet his eyes. Her heart is beating at ten times its normal pace as hope rises rapidly within her. She desperately prays to any god that's listening that he's going to ask her what she so wants him to ask.
"Could I take you out sometime?"
Her prayers have been answered.
Sasuke doesn't know why the question slipped out of his mouth, but he can't bring himself to regret it—not when she's looking at him like that, smiling so brightly it makes the sun look dull in comparison.
"Yes!" she says quickly, and Sasuke quietly breathes out a sigh of relief. The confidence returns to him now, and his face loses all sign of worry.
"Are you free at eight on Friday?"
She nods excitedly, biting her lip in what seems like an attempt to suppress a giddy smile. He feels a million times lighter as he leads her out of his office and switches off the lights.
"I'll pick you up then," he says as he leaves, turning around and making his way towards the exit.
"Wait!" he hears her call out. He looks at her, face the same color as her hair and eyebrows drawn in confusion. "You don't know where I live," she says.
Sasuke smirks at her, a playful twinkle in his usually serious eyes.
"It's nothing I can't find out."
After all, he still has her records sitting on his desk.