Her Destiny

Revelations

"She's your soulmate?" Sakura asked, shocked.

Orochimaru snatched his arm back. "Yes," he snapped. "Not that it matters anymore."

"Of course it does! She's your soulmate!" Sakura yelled, exasperated.

"Oh yeah, Sakura-san? Want to share who yours is?"

Sakura blushed, before stepping back. "I don't look at mine, Orochimaru. It does not do well to dwell on the dead."

Orochimaru frowned. "Yet it still shows?"

Sakura nodded.

"That shouldn't be. When a soulmate dies, the marks fade from the skin. It's so that the other left alive can continue their life if they want to, without having to look at it and feel guilty for moving on."

She knew that.. Jiraiya's had faded from his skin years ago, from what she had heard. He hadn't been too affected by it because he had never really been interested in the whole thing. He liked to do his own thing.

That still didn't explain why she had a dead man's name on her shoulder, placed over the mark in which he would inevitably first touch her. She left the area wrapped, from shoulder all the way down to her hand. Most people assumed that she was hiding some skin deformity. Not many would think that a girl such as herself would cover their soul mark so extensively.

"Sakura," he called, bringing her attention back to him. He was frowning. "How long ago was this man supposed to have died? If it is a man, I mean. I'm not judging." He snorted. "Hell, Jiraiya had a man for a soulmate. He was in so much denial that we are convinced he forced himself to be straight. I personally think that the man swings both ways, he just doesn't want to admit it."

"No, no it's a man," Sakura said frowning. "He died a few months before the Uchiha Massacre."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed, before blowing wide. "You don't mean. . . Him? Really?"

Sakura understood what he was trying to say, without actually saying the name.

She chuckled. "Yeah. Seems like it."

Kabuto chuckled off to her side. "Well that just made things infinitely more interesting."

Orochimaru smiled as Sakura narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"All he is saying is that the man would have been another choice for Otokage, had he been around. This just convinced me all the more that you are the one that should take over, Sakura-san. Soulmates are not given at random. The fact that you were given him as a soulmate just tells me how great you are meant to be."

"May I have a day or so to think about it and pack my things?" Sakura asked.

Orochimaru grinned, knowing that he had her. "Take as much time as you need in the next week."

"If I take the position, I want everyone in one standard uniform when they go out on missions. They can wear what they wish within these walls, but outside the village we need to be in one uniform, to show a united front and a sense of uniformity."

"What did you have in mind, Sakura-san?" he asked, intrigued.

"The uniform that you wore to the exams, the one that looked similar to Konoha's? That should be distributed to every shinobi. They are all to have black uniform pants, a dark purple undershirt, and a black flak jacket, with the purple hitai-ate. They can wear the fish net armor underneath as they see fit. The only stipulation I have when wearing the hitai-ate is that it must be visible to everyone."

"You seem to have already made up your mind?"

"Hmm. I can see the point you have been trying to convey to me. And after hearing about the council I am starting to believe that Konoha is not the place that I once thought it to be anyway. This village needs help. I won't allow those people here to suffer. You may not like all of the ideas that I have for Oto, but if you are willing to help, I would be more than willing to get this village in working order."

Orochimaru gave a relieved smile. "It will be good to do business with you Otokage-sama," he said, giving a smirk at the new title.

"Oh, shut up. Have the uniforms distributed by the time I get back at the end of the week. Now tell me all that you can about ROOT."