Otokage

May

She stared at him pointedly. "Irrelevant. And it shouldn't matter if I'm able to drink you under the table," she warned. Kisame let out a booming laugh.

"Wanna try?"

Sakura didn't say a word, merely smirking and calling for six glasses of Awamori sake to be delivered to them.

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Kabuto would kill both of them if he knew how wasted they got.

Nine bottles of sake and six pints of beer later, it was midnight and they were walking down the street to look for something to do. The two of them had ridiculously high alcohol tolerances and, unfortunately, couldn't decide a winner because they both had room for more. Kisame and Sakura settled on a truce and left the bar with that, stumbling and tripping over their own feet. Not too long after that, Sakura used her medical ninjutsu to detoxify the alcohol in their systems and return them to their sober states.

"That's a handy little trick. You use it often?"

"Of course. I can't be drunk when I do my paperwork, can I?"

Kisame chuckled. "I guess not."

The night life in this port city was stunning. Neon signs crammed in the spaces just above their heads and beautiful women hung around at every building entrance, beckoning men to spend their money and keep them company for a few hours. Kisame glanced over to the side, seeing the curious look on Sakura's face as she looked around the district. She was young and had managed to save an entire village from crumbling, but what about her made Tobi leave the Akatsuki and take orders from Otogakure?

"I said get out!"

Kisame and Sakura looked behind them to see a few men get pushed out of the front doors of a club some ways down the road. An angry woman stomped out.

"I won't stand for those actions to me or all the other hostesses!"

One of the men, presumably the leader of his group, grabbed the woman by the front of her dress and tossed her to the ground. "We paid you our money and this is the service we get for it? Ungrateful bitch!"

Kisame sighed at the typical nature of that situation and looked back to the front. "So do—"

Sakura wasn't next to him. He looked all around him until he saw her stalking angrily towards the scene. The man raised his fist to strike the hostess, but Sakura caught it inches from the woman's face.

"That's not any way to treat a lady," she chastised. Sakura snapped his wrist before turning around to help the woman to her feet. She gave the hostess her best smile.

"Are you alright, ma'am? Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked. The hostess, mesmerized by this stranger's kindness, quickly nodded.

"Y-Yes I am! Thank you very much!"

Sakura nodded and turned back to the men, a deep scowl set in on her lips. One of the groupies stepped forward and launched a punched her way. She sidestepped and elbowed him in the nose, sending him flying backwards a few yards. The last man took out a kunai and shot it at her with nothing more than genin level power. Sakura caught it between two fingers and kneed him in the stomach. She then crouched down in front of the first man she dealt with.

"I don't care how much money you spent or how much you think you deserve, but you will respect other people, especially the ones who spend their time serving you," she smiled. "People are not to be treated as things. Do I make myself clear?"

Kisame watched wide-eyed as the men scurried away and the hostesses of the club gather around Sakura.

'Wow.'

Day 21

"Was there anything in particular that made you want to stay?"

Tobi looked up from his desk. "What do you mean, senpai?"

The Academy had let out for the day, leaving Tobi to grade his student's test papers. Kisame sat on one of the desks as he cleaned Samehada.

"I meant here. In Otogakure. You've wanted to join Akatsuki for the longest time, but you chose to stay. Why?"

Tobi set down his pen and rubbed at the orange eye patch that covered his sharingan eye.

"Haruno-sama's one of the kindest people I've ever met. And you've seen her! She doesn't treat us any differently 'cause we're Akatsuki. Plus, she's strong. Didn't you see what she did to the training grounds?! It was amazing! She's just like the sannin!!"

Kisame furrowed his brow. "Like the sannin?"

"Didn't you know, senpai? Haruno-sama used to train under Tsunade when she was still a Konoha shinobi!"

It was rare for someone to defect from Konoha. That village in particular was renowned for having the most loyal of shinobi. Something had to go dangerously wrong for someone to even think of leaving those walls. His partner was one. And his partner's younger brother was another. Both were equally frightening in their own right and had understandable reasons for abandoning their home. So the question stood—

"Why did she leave?"

"No one really knows," Tobi frowned, "I did ask a lot of people, but they said she and Yakushi-san showed up one day and took control of the village. Also, I did some research outside..." He leaned forward and pitched his voice low like he was whispering a rumor. "... Konoha's still looking for her. She's been gone for 'bout one and half years and they still haven't found any leads. They say she went poof! Like the never existed! Isn't that weird?"

It was more than weird. Everyone has a reason for doing what they do.

What was hers?

"But I don't think that really matters," Tobi continued as he went back to grading papers. "I didn't know what to do at first, so I started thinking. We're not really good people... but we were given a choice. We could stay in the Akatsuki and be on the run forever, or we could be here. We could join another village. All of us messed up the first time but, I mean, this could be our second chance!" He smiled sadly. "It's a second chance for me, at least."

'A second chance... huh?'

Day 31

"Oi, Haruno-sama. I've got another question for you."

"Oh? What is it?"

"When I wear that Otogakure hitai-ate, does it have to be purple? I'm more of a navy type of guy. Compliments my skin tone."

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83 kg ~ 183 lbs

18 kg ~ 40 lbs

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EDITED 2.18.18