Heyyoo everyone! For all of you newcomers just checking this out fr the first time, this is a sequel! Check my profile for the Prequel, New Sakura!

For everyone else... I'm back with the sequels! =D I'm so excited to see how everyone reacts to this, this is my first time doing a project like this, and my 2nd/3rd sequels to a long-term project. Like I may or may not have mentioned in New Sakura, the prologues and first few chapters will be very similar as far as plot goes, until it takes a major split further down the road. This took so much prior planning to make sure that the plots were unique and interesting, I'm not quite sure how I managed to create this in such a short amount of time, taking into consideration my other stories and social life. I hope that the feedback for this story/stories is as overwhelming as New Sakura was :3 Without further ado, I present to you guys the New Sakura Sequel, The New Otokage ^_^

Summary: Three years ago, Sakura was given a second chance at life, presumed dead. She took comfort in the arms of Akatsuki in sheer luck and found herself a new life. Two years ago, she made a deal with Akatsuki and fought to become the new Otokage. But becoming Kage was the easy part; now she has to deal with national distrust and the likes of her Akatsuki companions. What could possibly go wrong? Oh wait -everything.

Pairing: [Itachi Sakura] [Sasuke x ?] [Naruto x Hinata]

Genre: Drama / Romance / Action / Hurt / Comfort

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.

Chapter 1. Prologue

"You're growing blind, Itachi." It should have been a question, but Sakura boldly said it as a statement, confident in her assessment of Itachi even without the use of her chakra or without physically touching him.

"That's quite a bold statement for someone unfamiliar to the Sharingan." Itachi could have glared at Sakura's near disrespect -how dare she accuse him of such an act when she didn't even know him? As if she even knew anything about him anyway.

"I'm a medic-nin, Itachi. I can see the symptoms. You can't fool me under that pretext." Sakura stated matter of fact, a hand on her hip and her lips pursed in a typical irritated fashion. Who was Itachi even trying to fool? Did she look like a beginner medic to him?

Itachi seemed to pause -alas, it had been a futile attempt to keep it from her, any how, seeing as she was a highly capable and intuitive medic nin. "It is but a small price to pay, given the power I reach because of it." he dismissed her concern.

Sakura frowned. "But... because of me... your vision is deteriorating much quicker than it should be. Why are you eve-"

"It's my mission, Sakura," he cut her off, "to prepare you for your eventual role."

"If I knew it came at such a price, I would have never asked you to do this for me." Sakura glared. "I'm going back. My knowledge is not worth the loss of your eye-sight." Sakura had no right to ask Itachi to sacrifice such a thing, after all. Without his eye-sight... well, he wouldn't be able to continue operations in Akatsuki, or as a shinobi at all. And where did that put him, as far as his relations in Akatsuki? He'd be useless, and left abandoned, with no other home to call his own, and Sakura simply could not have that weighing on her conscious.

"You are not leaving, kunoichi." Itachi nearly demanded, his order leaving hardly any room to argue, but Sakura had never let people walk all over her before, and she wasn't about to start now, Itachi Uchiha, mass-murderer extraordinaire be damned.

Her anger seemed to spike by Itachi's no-tolerance statement. "Then don't use the Mangekyou Sharingan anymore." she demanded with near equal authority. "There is no need to any longer. My training against the Tsukiyomi is efficient enough."

"Efficient is not nearly enough. And who are you to demand this of me, Sakura?" Itachi raised an eyebrow. How dare this girl tell him what to do, when he was the one going out of his way to teach her? When he was her teacher, so to speak?

"Someone who cares." Her blunt statement nearly took Itachi aback. "Don't do this for my sake."

"Don't be foolish and think so highly of yourself, kunoichi. This is not for you -this is for the Akatsuki cause. This is but a small role I play."

Sakura didn't exactly know how to respond to this. Itachi sure had a way of making himself out to be the bad guy, that was for sure. But she had already seen this side of him and knew this to be but a mask he put on, and as such deflected his statement with ease. "Then at least let me help you." she suggested, more so in hope.

"The use of the Mangekyou causes irreparable damage to the cells, you know this well. There is nothing you can do." He dismissed her concern without so much as a blink of his eye.

Sakura acknowledged this statement begrudgingly. He was right; she knew this to be true. But how could she just let him do this to himself? He'd go blind within the year if he kept this up, using his Mangekyou at least twice a week just for her. "Let me at least try... please... perhaps if I...-"

He didn't know what had led him to even hear her out, or why he even allowed her anywhere near his eyes, even if he knew the attempt to be futile. But seeing that concern in her eyes, seeing her brows scrunch up in determination and inner turmoil in that same way they always did when faced with some sort of obstacle... well, he hadn't had the heart to stop her. He had been cooped up in this little shack with her for over a month now, and bit by bit, he had come to learn new sides of this kunoichi which he would have honestly preferred to not see.

He had seen her in her most weakened state, but a child on the floor with tears pouring down her cheeks and an open wound on her heart and mind. He had had to break her, an act which he never enjoyed doing, but he had had to do it either way, if she could ever hope to get strong. So he had broken her, nearly to the point where it had been irreversible. He had had to take care of her then, like a doting mother would their child, and as she fought with her inner demons and attempted to reconstruct her innermost psyche; to find herself, if you will, he had come to see something within the kunoichi that was worth admiring. Some driving force fueling her to great lengths that she was near venerable in his eyes, with a passion so deep and a heart so whole.

And with much regret, he had come to find out everything there was to know about this kunoichi, her memories and thoughts and feelings forever imprinted into his mind, and all of this he saw through her broken eyes which screamed of sorrow and loneliness, her mind still a fragment of what it used to be as she fought to find herself within the depths of her thoughts, her fears and inner demons. He had done to her what he had done to Sasuke many years ago, over and over again, and to a much greater degree, and he regretted it because there was no going back for either of them. She would forever be an imprint in his mind, a book he had read a hundred times and had memorized each and every single word there was, and he the monster that had nearly destroyed her and taken with him a part of her, gone forever, the pure and untainted her now under his possession.

"Fight it."

That was all he could ever tell her, all he could offer her and say as he threw her into the Tsukiyomi over and over and over again.

And how could he not be surprised when, bit by bit, she began to recover, and when everything had been said and done, she held not even an ounce of regret or resentment for what he had done to her? How could he not be completely baffled when the child-like Sakura looked up at him every morning with a smile, even if he had been the demon that had reduced her to this child-like state? How could he not grow admiration for someone so kind and innately whole-heartedly accepting and forgiving? Even in her healing phase her radiance was clear to him, and it stirred within him feelings of uncertainty and remorse for having done something so despicable to someone who had already suffered so much in recent times.

So he could not deny her of this futile attempt to save him from himself or of the curse of being an Uchiha, after everything that he had put her through, and everything she had been forced to endure for the sake of the Akatsuki cause, he the person that had dragged her into this.

And so the training for Sakura had halted momentarily, as she delved into his body and attempted to find a solution to his fleeting eye-sight, of which he knew there was none. Yet, through her determination and efforts, she managed to come up with a sort of... middle-ground, if you will.

"I can't return your eye-sight to the state in which it was before you started using your Mangekyou." Sakura admitted bitterly. "But I can heal the cells that are dying after you use your Sharingan techniques. It will only restore it back to what it was before you used it, but only if you receive treatment within a six hour window from its original use."

"It's impressive that you can come up with a solution."

"I would hardly call it a solution; more like prolonging the imminent effect of that forsaken technique." Sakura scowled.

"Impressive nonetheless." Itachi ignored her attempt to be humble. "Arigatou." And so he made to leave from the cabin, although Sakura intercepted him momentarily.

"Why are you thanking me?" She seemed puzzled. After all, her efforts here were hardly even worth a mention, considering everything that Itachi had done for her. He had fed her and taken care of her, and even attempted his best at keeping her clean without abusing his power while she was in her vegetative state, so this was truly the least she could do in return.

"You've done more than enough to receive it." Itachi paused by the door, before exiting all together. "We're low on firewood. I'll fetch some more."

Truth be told, no one, other than his mother and cousin had gone to such great lengths to try and protect him and care for him, and it struck a tender chord within him, and as such he needed to get away, lest he begin to get attached to the kunoichi.

Frankly, he didn't know it was already too late.

Sakura was up long before the sun had actually risen. She had things to do, after all. "How are preparations coming along?" She muttered to the hooded nin beside her, both of them travelling at top speed, although relatively calm, seeing as there was no imminent threat.

"It seems the promise of money managed to motivate the villagers. We have some promising workers working feverishly to finish off the main road."

"So when's the expected completion time for the construction?"

"About a year, if all runs smoothly."

Sakura's tongue clicked in irritation, but she said nothing more on the matter. 'If things ran smoothly' -which they never did, from her experience. Alas, this was obviously to take time. It's not like building a hospital and functional roads took anything but time, as it was. "Did we figure out who was in control of this region?" she changed the subject.

"Hai. We pin-pointed him as one Hiroto Zabuza. We have narrowed down his location to one of Orochimaru's now non-operational underground bases. Itachi is there now scouting the area and obtaining a count of the enemy shinobi." Konan explained.

"And after him?"

"The daimyo has tasked us with eliminating all of Orochimaru's negative influence on this land before he even considers our request. According to the intel Deidara has gathered, this'll be the third to last one, although he is still speaking to his contacts on the matter. He said he would get back to us in two days time with confirmation."

At least this had been good news, Sakura couldn't help but think. "Tell Itachi not to intervene. I'll handle this one. Notify him of the next suspected location, and assign him to that one. And once you're done, if you could possibly set aside more funds for guarding the workers, that would be great. Notify Kisame of the change in budget and I'll worry about finding same temporary shinobi willing to take the job on."

"Hai, Sakura."

"Arigatou, Konan." She flashed her blue-haired counter part a small smile for the briefest of seconds.

Said hooded figure allowed a small smile to appear on her features in response to Sakura's own smile. "You need not thank me." Truthfully speaking, it was she who should be thanking Sakura, for taking on this mission and giving it her all. It had been a rough year and a half, and finally, their preparations were starting to be concrete.

"This is it?" Sakura looked at the list of names -twenty, if she were lucky.

"That was all we could scavenge." Konan admitted regretfully, surveying the group of people from a distance. "We went to each city but that was all we could do as far as volunteers go." It was a shame too, for they had had such high hopes. Sakura's name was often spoken of in the streets, her fame increasing as the days passed. They had expected more volunteers to join her very first regime, a group of shinobi who would stand by her side as acting supporters for her cause, but luck had not been on their side.

Sakura frowned distastefully. "Well, it's better than nothing. I'll start the training myself."

"Shouldn't this fall on someone else's hands? You're busy as it is dealing with the Daimyo." Konan muttered. "I can get Kisame to do it, or I can-"

But Sakura raised her hand, a sign for Konan to halt her statement. "They signed up because they liked the peace that I'm trying to obtain for this nation. If they are to follow under me, I think it only appropriate for me to be the first to get my hands on them." Sakura stated. "Bring them to the training ground we have assembled. I'll be there shortly."

Konan paused momentarily, a small, knowing smile on her face. "Hai." And as she began leaving, she paused, and as an after thought, decided to chide in. "You truly are amazing, Sakura." She offered no explanation as she briskly disappeared, her clone dissipating, not seeing Sakura's blushing face at the compliment.

She sighed, stretching her arms. "Itachi." she muttered, waiting until said figure made his presence known. He appeared from the window without so much as a tap, standing before her. "You know, there's no reason to hide from Konan."

"I was not hiding." he rebutted without a blink.

"Uh-huh." she got up with a bemused expression on her features. "Weren't you supposed to be back in the Akatsuki base for further instructions from Pein and a quick day off?" She asked this question even though she knew the answer, a small chuckle escaping her mouth at his lack of a response. "Tsk, tsk, Itachi. Escaping your responsibilities? Isn't that kind of childish?" she teased.

"I found my presence more necessary here." he brushed her comment aside.

"To do what?" She raised her eyebrow, as she and Itachi began walking outside of the building of her quaint little home, and into the forest.

"To make sure none of the potential candidates are deceiving you." he brushed her comment aside, and as an after-thought, added a quick, "And I did speak to Leader," lest she think herself right -which she wasn't, Itachi thought adamantly.

"I'll be fine." Sakura stressed, ignoring Itachi's previous comment. The walk to the forest was relatively calm and quiet, neither having anything to say, nor particularly minding the silence. Upon reaching the depths of the forest, she turned towards Itachi. "I'll see you there. Or maybe I won't." she chuckled, knowing that if Itachi didn't want to be seen nor noticed, that he wouldn't be. And with a nod, she made the proper handsigns, and suddenly disappeared, Itachi following suit just seconds after she disappeared.

"Ahhh, Jiraiya. It's about time." Tsunade had felt her former teammate long before having actually seen him, so it was no surprise that she was already speaking before he fully walked through the door.

"Such a pleasure to see you as always, Tsunade-hime." he mused, mainly to himself, even as he earned a roll of her eyes from Tsunade. "And once again, it is nice to see you as well, Kakashi." the aforementioned shinobi had been so quiet, that if it weren't for his strong chakra and the flip of a page from one of his own books, Jiraiya would have never even sensed him.

"Likewise, Jiraiya." Kakashi greeted, closing his book shut before Tsunade pummeled him, and stuffing it into one of his miscellaneous pockets.

Yet, as much as Tsunade wanted to indulge herself with some company from her friend and comrade, she was busy, and he had something that she wanted. "Well?"

Jiraiya sighed, his expression growing uncharacteristically serious. "As expected, we haven't seen or heard from them."

Tsunade bit her thumb in a contemplative fashion, clearly irritated. "It's somewhat nerve-wracking," Tsunade began with a pause, "how unusually inactive and quiet they have been..."

Jiraiya had to admit it was. In recent times, Akatsuki had hardly been spotted. It had been what? A year since they made any large movements? They could offer him no clue of their whereabouts, or even of what they were up to, and why they were so dormant. They had made no attempt to capture any Jinchuuriki, and if anyone ever caught a glimpse of any of them, it was usually near Ame and Oto, not that any of them could figure out why without stepping foot in either of those countries, a feat that wasn't advised. After all, Ame was Akatsuki country, and they could not easily step foot into Oto without attracting unwanted attention.

"So long as our Jinchuuriki are safe, then we have nothing to worry about." Kakashi muttered.

"I would hardly say nothing, but from our current situation we can't do much." Tsunade admitted. "But we should still remain weary nevertheless. Clearly they are planning something, something big." Tsunade foreshadowed ominously. They were biding their time, building up their strengths until it was the perfect time to strike -it was all they could assume, and it was a scary thing to think. One Akatsuki member was hard enough to defeat on their own -what force were they gaining now? What ever it was that they were doing, it couldn't be any good for any of them. "Keep me posted if you find anything, Jiraiya. Kakashi, for now, I'm going to allow Team 7 to go out on missions with Naruto once more. For the time being, it seems that the risk is low."

"Hai." Kakashi and Jiraiya accepted the request in unison.

"That is all for now." Tsunade dismissed them, and as such both men exited the Hokage's tower, with talks about a new book and conducting some research this very second at the hotsprings.

"You're the supposed hero?" one of the eighteen nin before her spoke out, staring at her in near annoyance.

"I wouldn't call myself a hero, but yes, more or less." Sakura stated with a curt nod, her face expression blank and her body languid.

"You're a child." one man sneered. "I'm done with this; I knew it was too good to be true." And so he, along with two other shinobi stormed off before anything could even begin.

'Great, we haven't even started and we're down to fifteen.' Sakura could have rolled her eyes, but did not make her irritation known, keeping a relatively uninterested face expression. "Does anyone else want to leave? I'd rather you not waste my time, or yours." she bluntly stated as she looked at the rest of the men and women alike around her. Most were about her same age, with a small handful significantly younger or older, somewhere along Konohamaru's or Kakashi's age respectively, it seemed.

"How do we know this is the real deal?" A boy about the same age as Konohamaru asked, his hair an unruly blue heap of curls on his head. "I've heard the rumors -that you single-handedly eliminated all of the rogue-nin of Orochimaru's and have started to eliminate all dark influences remaining in our lands."

"You'll come to find that dealing with Orochimaru's rogues was one of the simplest things I've dealt with as of late, but there was a bit of a stretching of the truth in that rumor. I by no means act alone, as you can tell." she didn't even bat an eyelash, moving her hand to indicate to Konan, who stood beside her, and a henge'd form of Kisame and Deidara on the sidelines, acting as a security detail for Sakura, almost. "And if you don't believe of what you have heard about my strengths, then we'll have a test."

She knew this was so Kakashi-esque, but found this the quickest and easiest way to get them to trust her, and as such she pulled out a bell tied to a string from her pocket, letting it jingle as the breeze guided it. But suddenly she tossed it towards the miscellaneous blue-haired boy, who precariously caught it, wondering if this was some sort of trap. "We'll play a little game." she began, slowly but surely shrugging off her cloak, as Konan, who had been standing alongside her the entire time, caught it and folded it in her arms, bowed, and then stepped away to be standing alongside the other two Akatsuki members. "I have half an hour to get this string from all of you. I don't care who holds it, I don't care how you protect it. And you know what, I'll do it using only one technique of your choosing."

The shinobi stared at her. "You're not serious, right?" It was a girl this time, someone who could be no older than seventeen years old, her brown hair cut short.

Another seemed rather excited about the challenge. "Alright, how about Taijutsu?" Truth be told, he just wanted to fight her one on one.

"That's fine, if everyone is under the same consensus." Sakura shrugged.

The fifteen shinobi looked at each other, almost as if asking "Do you care?", until the blue haired boy spoke up. "Yeah, Taijutsu is fine."

"Alright. I'll give you all fifteen minutes to get acquainted to each other, and after that I'll leave. The trial will start ten minutes after my departure."

And so it had been.

"And that makes it eleven minutes and twenty one seconds." Konan stated, watching Sakura twirl the bell in her hand, half of the shinobi on the ground, panting, and the other half barely standing. She had not one scratch on her, and truthfully speaking hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Fine. You win." the man stated begrudgingly. "So what now? Do you just start training us or what?"

"Not entirely." Sakura stated. "I am giving you all the final say on whether or not you want to join my cause. But know that when you agree to this, you are not just your own person." Sakura's words seemed to echo across the clearing. "Once you join my ranks, you are becoming my family. I will work for you, I will sweat for you, and I will bleed for you if need be. All I ask in return is that you put that same dedication in reconstructing a nation and transforming it into a peaceful and thriving society. Once you join my ranks, you will be working not for me, but with me for Otogakure. For a better future, one in which you can look back on and feel proud of. If you choose to stay, I will expect you here bright and early tomorrow. If not, it was a pleasure meeting you."

She made to leave, but was stopped by the blue-haired boy. "What's your name?"

Sakura blinked. He wanted to know her name? "Miyuki." And just like that, Sakura and Konan gathered their belongings, and nearly in the blink of an eye they began walking away. And as confident and as cool as Sakura had seemed, she couldn't help but mutter a quick "Do you think any of them will show?" to Konan nervously.

Konan smiled. "I think you've made a very lasting impact, Miyuki." Konan muttered.

Sakura sighed in relief at Konan's words. "I sure hope so. Would you go inform Pein of this development, onegai? And you can excuse Kisame and Deidara for now. I'll be returning to Sera's."

"Hai. I will go at once." And with a quick bow of sorts, Konan went to notify Deidara and Kisame and then promptly disappeared, just moments before Itachi decided to conveniently make his appearance.

"So... any of them seem to be deceiving me, hmm?" she greeted him informally.

"...None that stood out as suspicious." Itachi paused, not liking Sakura's snide attitude. "You did well." he changed the subject instead.

"Well, only a handful of them could be considered anywhere up to par to Chunin status, if that." Sakura shrugged. "It was easy enough to deal with."

"I'm not referring to your victory, Sakura. As Konan stated, you have made a lasting impact on them." he explained briefly.

"I guess only time will truly determine that, nee?" Sakura laughed slightly, dismissing Itachi's words.

"Hn." Although he said this, he couldn't quite agree with Sakura. She truly had no idea of the influence she held over these people. "I believe we will have no problem with these recruits."

Sakura scoffed. "Let's just hope we can get through the first week without having any more of them drop out." The road from now on would not be an easy one, after all. Anyone weak of heart would not survive alongside her and her fellow Akatsuki companions, namely Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, and Konan, who had signed up to help her train the group of shinobi.

And, just as Itachi had guaranteed, she would come to find that all fifteen of the aforementioned shinobi showed up the very next day, and the day after, and the day after that.

There had been a ruckus at the center of the village, a women with remarkably green eyes and blonde hair speaking atop the Daimyo's balcony, and in the steps beneath her at least a hundred shinobi. "People of Otogakure." Her voice seemed to boom from all sorts of directions. "The time of suffering for this nation has gone on too long. It is time that we put an end to this, and start anew...-" and so her speech began, in which she stated all she had accomplished in these past three years, all of the shinobi she had helped train, and all of Orochimaru's ex-followers she had helped rid Sound of, and all of the hospitals she had opened and the roads she had constructed and the work she had created, although many of the people below already knew all of her accomplishments. "-Accordingly, as long as there are no objections, I would like to nominate myself for the position of a new Otokage, one who promises to put forth all of her strength and effort to reconstructing Sound, better than ever."

And as her speech came to a close and she was allowed a moment's breath, suddenly cheers erupted from all corners of the city, telling Sakura all she needed to know.

"This is a New Day for Otogakure. So tonight, we cheer to a brighter future."

The cheers continued, perhaps for five minutes, perhaps for an hour -Sakura was too elated to note the time, as she entered the Daimyo's building, where she found the aforementioned Daimyo, accompanied by Konan, Kisame and Itachi (of course henge'd), and two more shinobi officially garnering a Sound hitae-ate.

"You did it! You're officially the Otokage!" the blue haired boy stated in exuberant excitement.

"Calm down Akira. My work isn't done just because I've gained the title." she allowed herself to ruffle the boy's as-always unruly hair.

"Congratulations. You have earned the hearts of the people. Good luck keeping it." the Daimyo hardly seemed impressed -this Otokage would be no different from the previous one, he was sure.

But Sakura hardly cared about what the Daimyo thought as it was. "We shall celebrate this small victory tonight, and work out the details another day." she decided with a smile.

And so it had been.

"A new Otokage has been named." Tsunade's fists tightened at the news from her ANBU.

"And of the rumors?" she asked.

"We cannot confirm anything other than that sightings of Akatsuki have increased irregularly in that area over the year."

"Very well, you're dismissed." Tsunade stated, her mind on other matters. She had tasked Jiraiya on getting information from this so called new Kage, and she had yet to hear back from him -she swore if he was wasting her time and was at the strip club right now, she'd have his head on a silver platter.

Almost as if he could sense his impending doom by her hands, suddenly there was a puff of smoke in her office, as said gray-haired Sannin appeared using a Body Flicker technique. "Ahh, just the teammate I wanted to see." he stated with a goofy grin.

"You're in my office, don't act like this was a coincidence." she stated irritably. "But never mind that. I won't get into your tardiness. I assume you've obtained what I asked of you." She waited expectantly.

"Hai... well, sort of." Jiraiya confirmed. And as he stated this, he pulled out a file from within his robes, and tossed it on top of Tsunade's desk, allowing her to grab it and read over its contents.

"Miyuki..." she muttered as she scanned the file. "So I ask for information, and you get me her name. You couldn't even get me her picture Jiraiya, really?" clearly, Tsunade was annoyed.

"That was my problem. No matter where I went or who I turned to, absolutely nobody had any information on her. Who she was, where she came from, if she had any family, or even what her favorite color is. I couldn't even get a last name for you. It's like she wasn't alive until last year." Jiraiya stated, somewhat troubled by this. "But one thing I was able to confirm is that she does have clear connections to Akatsuki, although the circumstances aren't clear to us."

"Well if Akatsuki's involved it can't be anything good for us, so it doesn't quite matter what those circumstances are."

"I suppose, but..." Jiraiya seemed hesitant to continue his train of thought.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "But what?"

"But you should pry into what you have failed to ask of your ANBU." Jiraiya stated, although Tsunade didn't seem to understand what he was implying. "Have you heard of Sound's economic standing now?"

"I've heard tid-bits." Tsunade brushed it aside.

"She's built hospitals and schools all across the lands. She's constructed roads and has eliminated all of Orochimaru's influence in the land all within the span of a year. She's in the midst of creating a Ninja Academy and is setting up a police force as we speak. This Miyuki doesn't look like someone trying to obtain power and harness it for evil intentions, at least, as far as I can see."

Tsunade let this information sink in. She had done all of this when she had barely been officially named as Kage but a day ago? She had been busy, that's for sure. So what was her agenda? Her purpose for doing all of this? "She's trying to win her people over." Tsunade stated.

"Yeah... and it's worked; remarkably so, in fact." Jiraiya seemed to find some humor in it. After all, this kunoichi was succeeding in all of the areas his former teammate (the one not currently Hokage) had failed. Where Orochimaru had only cared about possible test subjects, she genuinely cared about cleaning up the mess he made.

"Why is this relevant, Jiraiya?" she asked with a sigh.

"Maybe we shouldn't accuse her of having malicious intentions so soon. She has yet to take any harmful action against anyone, so maybe we should see how things play out before making assumptions and acting against her." he reasoned.

"It's not like I was planning to anyhow." Tsunade sighed. After all, taking violent action against a previous nation, now fallen, would make it look like Konoha was trying to spread out and obtain new land, an action that would clearly not bode well with the other Kages. As things stood, her hands were tied."Keep me in the loop."

"As you wish, Lady Tsunade."

"To our new Otokage." Sera stated, opening up a bottle of apple cider (no alcohol for her little munchkins, after all).

"Cheers!" they all shouted in excitement, Kisame and Konan quick to swallow the bubbly drink. It had been four hours since Sakura was officially declared the new Otokage, and she could still not believe it. Her. Sakura Haruno, the one nobody paid attention to during her Genin years, had now surpassed her teammates and all of her Rookie 9 in title. The one without a kekkei genkai or without a notable clan or a tailed beast. The more average than average kunoichi with exotic hair color, Sakura Haruno.

"I would like to make a toast." Sakura stated with a smile on her face, "to all of you, for helping me realize my dream, and working so hard to make this happen for me." And it was true. She would have never been able to accomplish all of this had it not been for the help of Itachi or Konan or Kisame, or even Sera. And not to mention the financial backing of Akatsuki. Until just recently, she had been running her operations using the finances of Akatsuki, and had barely began taking donations from the village just a month or two before being officially branded as their Kage. "Tomorrow will be busy for all of us. So try and get a good night's sleep. We begin our operations of creating our Ninja Academy tomorrow."

Even if she said this, she had no intention of following her own advice, seeing as three hours later, and mind you it was already midnight by the time everyone else had clocked out, she was still at the desk in her own home, doing away with paperwork and reading up on a mind-numbing amount of things.

"You're working too hard again," the sudden voice brought her to a visible jolt, not having sensed anyone directly behind her.

"Kami Itachi, must you always do that?" she seemed irritated, even as she felt a sudden blanket wrap around her frame, and suddenly a hot cup of tea was placed before her.

"Do not blame me for your lack of awareness." he batted an eyelash at her. "Furthermore, if you could not even sense me, clearly you lack sleep."

"Yeah, and privacy." Sakura retorted, although both she and Itachi knew she didn't mean it. "I swear, I'll be done in a few minutes. Please don't wait up. At least one of us needs to be fully awake for tomorrow's proceedings." she quirked a smile. After all, more often than not Itachi was the one to pick up on her blunders when she had not gotten proper sleep for days at a time -perhaps tomorrow would be one of those times too.

"I request you worry more about yourself than me. Do I seem that inept?" he mocked a somewhat hurt tone.

"Do I?" she challenged him, leaning back on her chair (she had previously been hunched over, too tired to even attempt to have a remotely good posture), being able to feel Itachi's heat radiate off of him. It felt incredibly pleasant.

"I do this not because of your ineptitude to endure, but because of my own inability to see you unhealthy."

Sakura dismissed Itachi's statement quickly, lest he see her blush. "I'm almost done, I promise." she assured him once more. "Go get some rest in the guest bedroom."

Dutifully so, Itachi gave a nod and did just that, entering the new installment to Sakura's previous one-bedroom home. Yet, Sakura hardly paid attention to the time as it began ticking by yet again. But Sakura was exhausted, truth be told, and it wasn't much longer than an hour after Itachi retired to the room that Sakura ended up passing out on the desk with the blanket tightly wrapped around her, although Itachi had had no intention of going to sleep before seeing to it that Sakura did too.

As such, it had been his duty, for the nth time because he had lost count by now, to pick up Sakura's dainty figure and carry her to her room, and make sure she was tucked in well, for he knew her to get cold easily.

It was actually quite remarkable to see how far he had fallen from his former glory -his power was that which rivaled Kages, and here he was, his sole duty to care for this girl and tuck her in at night when she failed to do so for herself. It was rather pathetic, though highly amusing to any outside source, namely Konan and Kisame.

Sweat trickled down her brow, although her body in its entirety was coated with a thick sheen of sweat. But she wasn't the least bit conscious of it, instead cradled into a tight little ball on the corner of the bed, low mutterings spilling out of her mouth, although she knew not what they were. For as distressed as she seemed outwardly, the true battle waged inside her mind, within the demons that she called her past, demons that Itachi had procured for her, if only to strengthen her.

In an attempt to strengthen her mind and make it nearly impenetrable against genjutsu's and other mind-altering illusions, she would have to build her psyche from the ground up, a feat not at all easy. In fact, even though Itachi had stated he had never seen anyone recover from it, she had still stood firm in her position -if she could not do this, then she had no business attempting to help Otogakure.

But this -this? She could have never imagined this. It wasn't physical pain, but the effects coursed throughout her body like a poison. Whenever she knew Itachi was standing before her, it wasn't him who she saw, but images of a war-torn land, blood everywhere and bodies laying everywhere. Her body would not move as she wanted it to, to the point where she knew had it not been for Itachi, she would have withered away into nothing but skin and bones (a smelly one at that). And although at first she could not help herself from flinching away from his touch, knowing that he had been the monster who had done this to her, the small, still intact fragments of her mind could piece together Itachi's actions, and with that came his intentions.

At first it was just feeding her, and even going as far as producing food that she didn't need to chew, for Kami could attest that she couldn't even will her body to do that simple action. But as the days passed, Itachi knew this was not enough. And so at first it had been a wet cloth, one he dipped repeatedly and wiped her body with, the most he could do while still respecting her as a woman. And so it had been for a while, until he knew this too, was not enough, and so he had to draw baths for her, never able to fully leave her alone lest she drown -nevertheless, she too was incapable of properly washing herself. So it had been his duty, and his duty alone, and he knew deep down inside that eventually she would come to recognize his actions -whether she would hate and despise him for it, he did not know, but he certainly would not have blamed her for it.

He was so gentle -so compassionate in his actions, it seemed. His touch was caring, his tone gentle as he spoke to her akin to one speaking to a child. He bathed her and clothed her, and did what little he could to keep her body in a shape akin to healthy, walking her and helping her stretch from her usual ball-like state, for Kami knew being completely immobile for long periods of time built of deadly toxins within the body. And although Sakura couldn't be too sure if she had hallucinated the entire ordeal or not, during the first and subsequently worst days of her broken conscious, it seemed to her that he had held her in his arms and allowed her to break down and cry on him, although he offered no words of comfort. He was simply there to hold her down so she did not wreak havoc around her, although in his arms she was able to find some semblance of peace after tireless hours of crying her eyes out and pouring her soul into her agony-stricken mind.

Once her thoughts were more coherent, and she more capable of controlling her actions, he seemed to let her off of her leash, allowing her to walk alone and bathe in solitude, although he was always by the door in case something occurred. Her body had been frail for the better part of two months, her muscle mass having greatly deteriorated due to her poor eating habits, lack of movement, and constant up-heaving due to stress, pain, and a magnitude of other things.

But Itachi had been enough of a voice of reason for her to push through, someone she couldn't possibly not see as a friend after everything that he had done for her. And so, as she recuperated she couldn't help but get to know the Uchiha, and find in him some peace of mind. He was quiet, but that was not to mean that he had nothing to say. In fact, he seemed to be well-versed in many different topics, although it seemed that his favorite past time was to simply enjoy the natural occurrences before him. As such, she could recall the times in which he would carry her on his back (when she was too weak to walk), for a short walk through the forestry, or the simple nights in which they sat out under a fire and stared at the sky.

And through his actions, some more nondescript than others, she learned more about the complex man that was Itachi, such as his inability to see others in pain. Why else, after all, would he have gone through such great lengths to bring her back to her former self? Perhaps this in itself was an apology to her, even though she had been the one to ask for this, and as such part of her couldn't help but wonder how such a kind-hearted man had found himself in Akatsuki. Then again, if she could recall correctly, of which she was sure she was, her other Akatsuki friends were just as compassionate and caring, but this was a side of Itachi she hadn't quite expected to find throughout her journey.

So how could she stop herself through it all, from caring for the Uchiha man? Maybe more than she should, maybe even more than she even knew she did, but she could not stand to see the man suffer physically, an action she discovered to be her fault, due to his overuse of his Sharingan eyes. He had seemed annoyed with her constant pestering and insistence of letting her find a way to help him, but he had no one to blame but himself for this anyway, she reasoned. If he hadn't doted over her so carefully, then maybe she wouldn't have done the same.

Yeah, this was all his fault, and as he walked away from her after thanking her, she couldn't help the way her heart thudded strongly against her chest.

She had grown to care for him, and she could no longer stop herself from this.

Sakura came to bright and early, no thanks to Itachi pulling aside the blinds that were blocking the light from Sakura's sleeping form. She instantly woke up and groaned, one Itachi had heard often in the past years, due to Sakura's adamant protest of Itachi's disregard of the five more minutes rule.

"Good morning, Sakura. Breakfast at Sera's is almost done. You and Kisame are the only ones to yet wake." He greeted her informally, turning around to stare at her figure as he slowly approached her.

Yet, she either couldn't understand him yet, or chose not to listen to him, as she attempted to cover her face with a pillow -a useless action, as Itachi had already seen this coming and had removed said pillow from her hands before she could even move it further than an inch. She growled, a non-threatening puppy-like one, as she instead chose her duvet for said action of covering her face. "Itachi you're insufferable."

"And despite being a Kage, you still maintain terrible sleeping habits. It's not my job to let you sleep in, Sakura." he muttered. "As I recall, you are the one who did not want to go to sleep when I told you to. You cannot truly blame me for this."

"Blah blah blah." Sakura scowled, and promptly afterwards the blankets were suddenly hurled off of Sakura, ripped from her tight grasp as it was instead stolen by Itachi, although she couldn't tell if this was done because of her comment or because Itachi was simply doing Itachi-esque things.

"Up." he insisted sternly once more.

"But I'm so tired." she nearly cried out in agony -and for Kami's sake, why was it so damn cold?! "Did you turn off the fireplace?" she added as an afterthought.

"You have five minutes." he gave her a pointed look, said no more, and attempted to walk away, but Sakura had other plans for him.

"At least return to me my blanket." she frowned, her eyes still closed but her hand held upwards, hoping that Itachi would give in to her demand and hand her the duvet. "It's cold."

"A warm shower would do more for you than the blanket." he suggested, an indication that Itachi would do no such thing.

She let out a low, irritated growl, as she got up, eyes just barely squinted open, as she went to snatch the blanket from Itachi. "You hate me." she declared, attempting to snatch the fabric from his hand, but he pulled it upwards, a means of stopping her.

"Far from it, Sakura." his comment took her aback, enough time for him to instead wrap the fluffy blanket around her figure. When it was securely around her he allowed his hand to drop down to her cheek, an almost endearing action, it seemed, until he spoke once more. "You were drooling in your sleep again." there seemed to be some sort of twinkle of amusement in his eyes as he mentioned this, an act which snapped Sakura out of her thoughts.

"What the-" And true to his words, Sakura could feel the slightly moist spot on her cheek, an immediately blush appearing on her face.

Some sort of sound erupted from Itachi's throat, something she knew to be akin to a laugh for him, as he turned around and walked away. "Five minutes, Sakura. And don't forget to wake Kisame." he reminded her, and then proceeded to close the door to her bedroom behind him.

With a childish pout, Sakura dropped the blanket to the floor, no longer caring to have it because curse Itachi, and then once more lay back down on her bed, wiping away the drool staining her cheek all the while.

And so there Sakura lay, cold and groggy, her hair a disarray and her cheeks tinted pink. Because, the interaction with Itachi just now put aside, she knew she had fallen asleep at her desk, and that Kisame had long-since passed out on her couch in the living room, meaning that there was only one person who could have possibly carried her to her bed. Her inner swore she did this on purpose, secretly liking the feel of Itachi's warm skin against hers, but she never allowed herself to trail on those thoughts long. As such, she stood up abruptly, stretching all the while she walked outside of her room and into the living room, where she could see Kisame still snoring his life away.

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." she was not the least bit gentle with the shark nin, pulling the blankets off of him and, playfully, of course, tipping the entire couch over, causing the nin to fall off with an uncharacteristic yelp, of which she couldn't help but snicker at.

"Must you always do that." his statement was mumbled, due to his face's current position on the ground.

"If Itachi won't let me sleep peacefully what makes you think I will let you do the same?" Sakura snickered, clearly amused, a hand placed on her hip. "Anyhow, Sera's breakfast is nearly served. I'm going to go shower before heading over there, don't wait up." And so she fixed her furniture and briskly turned around, heading towards her bathroom.

Although Kisame grumbled in defiance, he couldn't deny the fact that breakfast sounded delightful right now -especially Sera's. As such, he got up slowly, rubbing his nose tenderly (for he had successfully landed face first just now), and once more sitting on the couch for a few minutes, trying to awaken fully, before he got up and went about his day.

When Sakura had emerged from her bathroom fully dressed, she found her home deserted, although she could clearly feel the presence of her comrades just a block away at Sera's house, the likes of which had doubled in size with a little bit of funding from Sakura and Akatsuki respectively, in order to accommodate the appearance of the likes of Sakura, Kisame, Konan, and every so often, a couple of her most trusted shinobi such as Akira.

Before heading out, Sakura allowed herself time to examine her appearance, for the very first time dressed in traditional Kage-like attire, a hat similar to that of her former shishou's placed on her head. But instead of the red color she was oh-so familiar with, a purple one took its place atop her head, one she adamantly disliked because of its eerie resemblance to the snake nin. Alas, she could not be picky about the color.

It was odd to see herself standing there, officially titled as the Nidaime Otokage; she would never have imagined herself to be in this position, leading a nation, let alone a nation not her own, but here she was, and there was no turning back. That being said, she turned around and without so much as a second glance to her appearance exited the bathroom, and left towards Sera's house.

She could hear the commotion of her comrades long before she had actually entered Sera's house, although she hadn't expected any less from the rambunctious group, although this was probably due primarily to Sera, Kisame, and Suki and Suzuki. Although, strangely enough, it seemed to have died down by the time she approached the door, not that she could understand why.

And so she opened it, needing no invitation, and to her surprise, the table lay set with an array of delicious food forming a buffet in front of her, all of her friends already sitting down, waiting for her arrival. "Good morning everyone." she greeted calmly.

"Congratulations, Sakura-oneesama~!" Suki and Suzuki shouted excitedly.

Although a smile framed her face, Sakura couldn't help but sigh. "We already celebrated last night. There truly was no need for such a feast, Sera." she reminded the two girls, putting a hand on each of their hands as she walked in and took a seat in between Itachi and Konan, a bow of gratitude sent to Sera all the while.

"Think of this as a feast fit for a Kage." Sera brushed her aside.

"I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't budge on the matter." Konan stated calmly, although she wasn't opposed to the quantity of the food (Kisame always ended up eating half of it anyway).

"She never does." Sakura mused. "But never mind that. What's on our agenda today?"

"We have a meeting with the Daimyo in the hidden village in two hours. We are to begin discussing the preparations for the Ninja Academy as well as delegate roles for head of staff for the programs we are establishing." Konan stated.

Sakura nodded. "The paperwork on the matter is already completed. I'll give it to Akira to file and sort out upon our arrival, and we'll sort out the rest later." For now, she would have a nice breakfast with her make-shift family, and worry about the less than accommodating Daimyo she would have to deal with from now on.

The Daimyo, with a characteristic frown on his face, looked over the paperwork that Miyuki had created for him to look at, including budget, prices, blue prints, and any other information she had deemed relevant enough to include. They had been discussing plans for well over an hour now, and still he could not say that he was entirely pleased with her plans, not that she hadn't been concise enough or anything like that -she had planned it nearly to the last detail, impeccable work on her behalf. "And how do you plan to fund this project of yours?" he asked condescendingly.

"If you refuse to participate, as you have with every other project I have started for your village, then I shall make due with my own resources, though I will not hesitate to ask for donations from the townspeople." Miyuki stated, not afraid to show some passive-aggressive malice. It was understandable that the Daimyo didn't want to lend out money, especially not to a stranger, when money was hard to come to in these lands. But after three years of building hospitals and schools and roads and becoming Kage for Kami's sake, her intentions were clear, but still he did not budge, if only to keep his funds.

"I am not opposed to the changes you are making, make no mistake of that, Miyuki." the Daimyo narrowed his eyes. "By returning us to a status of a Hidden Village, you will indeed increase income and gross value of Otogakure. But you are also bringing on politics only shinobi's bring to the table; a messy side of politics I would rather not be a part of, especially if the rumors of your so-called funding are true." the Daimyo stated warily.

"I am well aware of what I am doing." Miyuki clipped in. It was definitely dangerous business what Sakura was getting them involved in; shinobi life style only ever meant trouble and warfare in the long run, but it was a necessary sacrifice. "And as for your concern, if I didn't get my funding from them would you have helped?" she raised a delicate eyebrow, but the seconds ticked by and the Daimyo didn't respond. "I didn't think so. Are we done here?"

"...I'll be in touch." he finally grumbled, and with a nod Sakura turned around and walked away, two shinobi following behind her, both with blue hair, but only one an Akatsuki member.

They walked swiftly and purposely outside of the Daimyo's building, and it wasn't until they were finally out that Akira let out a sight of relief. "Do you think it's really okay to speak that way to the Daimyo, Lady Miyuki?"

"He wouldn't dare to say anything against me. He knows what I'm doing will eventually bring him loads more income; he's just a greedy old bag whose in it for the money." Miyuki stated. "You should learn the politics, lest you take my place in the future."

At the comment, no matter how absent-mindedly Sakura had said it, Akira couldn't help but blush profusely. "I-I-I could never Lady Miyuki! I would never be able to surpass the reputation you have carved."

His reaction was priceless, down to the nervous, Hinata-esque way he played with his fingers. As such, Sakura couldn't help herself from ruffling his unruly hair, a chuckle escaping her mouth. "Have more confidence in yourself Akira."

Before any more words could be spoken between them, a figure appeared with a puff of smoke, a person who Sakura knew to be Itachi, of course henge'd. Sakura raised an eyebrow, knowing that Itachi must have some urgent news to tell her if he appeared before her so informally. "Is something the matter?" she asked.

"Sayaka says you have received a letter in your office early this morning."

"A letter?" If it had been Akatsuki, it would have been delivered via Konan or Itachi respectively, and who else would be trying to speak to her other than Pein? "Who is it from?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You may see for yourself." Somehow, Sakura didn't like the answer that Itachi had given her, and as such she wasted no time, lest the message be time-sensitive. "Inform Sayaka to bring the letter to my office. Akira, give me the papers to sign; I'll get started on them while I wait."

"Hai, Lady Miyuki." Akira bowed, and at once handed Sakura her documents. Within a moment's notice, she had disappeared with a puff of smoke, and in the next second she was back in her office, wasting no time in signing off on the papers she had acquired from the Daimyo.

Within the next few minutes, Sayaka, a kunoichi that had stood alongside Akira during their first meeting, approached her with a bow. "I have the letter you have requested, Otokage-sama." she stated calmly.

"Who is it from?" She asked the question Itachi had refused to answer.

"It says here its from the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure, Lady Miyuki."

Her scribbling halted, a small ink blob forming at the corner of her signature. Truth be told, that had been the one thing she hadn't expected to hear. "Bring it here. You're free to go, Sayaka-chan." she ordered, and with a bow her secretary did just that, and then promptly dismissed herself to finish her other duties.

Sakura sighed, eyeing the scroll but eventually tossing it on her desk, without even opening it, procrastinating, even if just momentarily, on acting on this.

What could her former mentor possibly want?

End of Chapter

Just as a side note, Sakura's new name, Miyuki, translates to "snow", a reference to her rebirth during winter.

So I have to admit, I'm actually very happy with the way the prologue developed ^-^ To be honest, I'm happier with this one than the Sasuke version, but I'll leave that up to you reviewers to decide ^-^. Kind of just setting up the events for the next chapter, I know a lot of the content in this one was very similar to that of the Sasuke version, but I expected it and I do apologize for anyone actually reading both versions, they will be slightly repetitive. There will also be many similarities with the next chapter, although it'll be the one to split the two completely and lead them towards separate paths.

But onto other matters.

IT'S UP. The long awaited sequel(s) ! ^_^ A lot of you may be wondering what I'm going to do as for as updating, and I have to be honest, I don't know. I'm going to say the average time will be one chapter a month, but if I'm trying to update both sequels at the same time, then I might not be able to do this deadline. I'll let you guys know how well I'm able to balance the work load on top of school and life. Yet, despite this, the new chapters for these will probably not be posted for another 2 months. I want to give myself more time to work on Sakura's New Future and Somewhere We Belong before picking up on this again. I'm sorry about that!

Let me know what you all think? Above all else, as the first 3-4 chapters are up, I'd like to know if the stories are too repetitive, or too similar to each other. There's no point in me making two separate stories if the plots end up looking identical :/

Any and all feedback would be much appreciated! Until next time!

-MarzSpy

P.S. Check my profile for updates on my current workload /estimated update times.