The Daimyou of Ta no Kuni came to her with one small request for her to fulfill.
"Do you see this unoccupied landmass west of us and north of Fire? I would appreciate it if you could claim this as an extension of this country," he smiled. Sakura blinked up owlishly at him.
"... What?"
Day 6
Kakuzu had a reason to hate villages. His own sent him on an assassination mission many, many years ago with the object of interest being none other than the God of Shinobi himself, Senju Hashirama. The mission was fraught with danger and impossibility. Of course he had failed—what did they really expect of him? No one was a match for Hashirama.
When he returned to Takigakure he was met with disappointment and grand disgrace. They jailed him for his "incompetence" and shamed him for not getting the job done. After being given such an absurd task, failing, then being sentenced for that extremely unreasonable demand, Kakuzu began to grow angry. He had been nothing but a loyal shinobi to his Kage. For years, he risked his life for the sake of his village. He listened, never betrayed them, and certainly had offered his entire life to them. After this blatant betrayal, there was only one thing that came to mind. He had to leave.
But not before showing Takigakure the consequences for wronging him.
Kakuzu broke free of his imprisonment and killed the council members that sent him to confinement before taking their hearts as his own. He then stole one of Takigakure's most prized forbidden techniques before accepting his new status as a missing-nin. From then on, he developed a violent hatred for the place he once called home and vowed to never join such a system again.
His answer to coming to Otogakure should have been an immediate "no". There was There was absolutely no way he'd join another village despite everyone before him integrating into the village themselves. Why the others had done so was beyond his understanding, and he had yet to see any reason why they had done so.
Though he had to admit that this Otokage was something strange. The first time he stepped into her office, he walked right in the middle of an argument between her and her right hand man.
"Why can't you understand this simple concept?!"
"Simple?! You just showed me three cards with the exact same thing on each of them!"
"They aren't the same!"
"Bullshit."
"Not bullshit. That one's onyx, that one's jet—"
"Every single one of these cards are black, Kabuto! Only a dork like you would make me pick between shades of black. You're even dorkier for knowing that there's a freakin' difference!"
... Strange was a light word to use for the both of them. The one thing that really stood out to him was how young Haruno Sakura turned out to be. Kakuzu knew that she was the previous apprentice of the Godaime Hokage, as it was common knowledge, but he never really digested her true age. How old was she? Eighteen? How could Orochimaru trust such a young, inexperienced person to take over a crumbling village?
Though she had managed to make changes for the better, he decided to let her particularly young age slide. There was also the Kazekage who was about the same age as her, and Sunagakure was thriving.
Kakuzu glimpsed over to Sakura from his spot on the right window sill. She didn't look like much at first glance, but the more one saw of her the more one noticed how well built and muscular she was. When she pushed up the sleeves of her black turtleneck, her arms showed light scars and a truer extent of her muscle definition.
His thoughts were disrupted when something tapped on the window. A Great Horned Owl waited for entry, its bright yellow eyes staring straight at Kakuzu. Sakura rolled her seat back and slid the window open.
"Good afternoon, Bunko-san! How have you been?"
"Very well, thank you for asking," Bunko replied, sending a cursory stare Kakuzu's way. "I took your advice and tried your window instead of popping in unannounced like last time. I startled you out of your chair, if I remember correctly."
Kabuto snorted. Sakura jabbed him in the ribs. "Yes, well, do you have anything for me?"
"There are three confirmed sightings of spies around the village, and one within the walls. We have reason to believe that the one currently in the village has established a connection with the sage, Jiraiya," she informed. Sakura's face remained blank at the name as she opened her drawer and took out four miniature vials of a pinkish liquid. She placed them in a small canister before ting it onto Bunko's leg.
"My ANBU have confirmed it as well. This poison should keep them quiet. I trust that you and your associates can administer them quickly."
"Of course." The owl spread its wings and prepared for flight.
"Oh, and Bunko-san?"
She turned her head.
"Feel free to hunt any frogs you may see along the way."
Bunko nodded and took to the skies, Sakura shutting the window behind her. Kakuzu was curious. He had never heard of such an extensive network of summon lookouts. Sensing his confusion, Kabuto informed him of the situation.
"There's an abnormally dense population of owls in this country. I'm sure you've seen plenty on the way here," he said. "Though nearly all of them are just regular birds, they still are incredibly intelligent species. Maybe not by our standards, but they're reliable all the same. Bunko-san put word out to watch for suspicious persons. If there are any, then a summon will be informed and will report to Sakura-sama."
Kakuzu's brow furrowed. "That would mean..."
"Precisely," Sakura grinned. "Hundreds of human eyes inside and a thousand hunter eyes outside. Unless you're Zetsu-san you'll be spotted. Of course the system isn't perfect, but it hasn't let me down so far."
That was actually useful means of security. It wasn't an over-the-top or risky measure to take and she utilized what she was given to one of her greatest advantages. She was smart and cautious. Unlike that idiot partner of his, at least.
Speaking of Hidan, he couldn't recall seeing him about the village. He saw that Tobi had become an Academy sensei and had gone off with his mask, exposing a scarred face and one hazel eye. He looked more happy teaching than he had ever been as an Akatsuki member. Kisame was an ANBU operative that became Sakura's personal bodyguard. Even with his status he didn't wear the normal dark gray armor or mask. When Kakuzu inquired about it, Kisame laughed.
"I'm blue and have an intimidation factor of about 80%. I'm positive I'll get my point across without wearing all that."
Deidara somehow became a genin sensei. The idea never occurred to him and when he heard about it, he thought that the position was ridiculous, but when Kakuzu saw Deidara interacting with his students, he then understood why Sakura nudge him in that direction. He was tough and made his students learn their lessons the hard way, but he was shaping them into better shinobi.
But in the six days he'd been here, Hidan's whereabouts or what became of him was still a mystery.
"What does Hidan do in the village?"
She perked up. "Oh! He became a—"
Knock. Knock.
Sakura glanced over at the door. "Come in."
Her office door swung open and Hidan stepped through with some files tucked under his arm and a doctor's coat hanging off his broad shoulders. Kakuzu's jaw shifted slightly at the man's apparel.
"So I have these documents from the—Kaku-fucker! So you're here this month. How much did you miss me? C'mon, be honest."
Kakuzu quickly regained his bearings and gave his partner a blank stare. "I was enjoying the solitude, really."
"What? Asshole!"
Maybe he could reconsider his stance on vowing to never join a village again. If Sakura was able to change Hidan, maybe she wouldn't be so bad after all.
Day 18
Sakura stared down at a map of Ta no Kuni and the unoccupied country beside it. Hanzaki and ANBU Director, Takenaka Suzume, stood around the conference table looking down intently at the same map.
"Do you suppose we could just scour the entire country and convince all inhabitants into accepting the Daimyou's rule?" Suzume asked. No, they couldn't push through with that. Could they? If they went to each person one by one. Would that work? The couldn't really tell for sure. None of them had any experience in witnessing this portion of political power. Hanzaki was the oldest of all of them, but with his status as clan head and being part of a neutral country, he didn't enter any part of previous wars. Suzume was only eight years old in the Third Shinobi World War and didn't understand the workings around her at the time.
They needed help from someone who was wise enough to help in their decision making process. Perhaps they could consult someone older who had been in those wars and had seen the rise and fall of great nations. Sakura slowly turned to her assistant.
"Kabuto."
He looked up from his little black book. "Yes, Sakura-sama?"
"How old did Hidan-san say Kakuzu-san was?"
::
"... You want my opinion?"
"Sure. You were alive around the time of the Shodai Hokage, right? Then you must've lived long enough to learn the do's and don't's of politics. I know I'm young and don't know much about these things, so I was hoping you'd maybe have an input on this situation."
Him? He wasn't even a shinobi of her village!
But he gave her his honest opinion: to send a group of sociable, high-ranking shinobi into the uncharted territory to convince everyone who lived there to accept the Daimyou's rule, just like Suzume had suggested. It gave the people fair warning of what may take place and introduce them to the benefits being protected by a Daimyou, should they accept the terms of the changes.
Kabuto whispered something into Sakura's ear to which she responded with a few more words and an open smile.
"Alright. I'll take your word for it, Kakuzu-san," she said. "Kabuto, could you find Hanzaki-san and Suzume-san and bring them into my office? Thank you."
She pulled out a blank scroll from her drawer and began to write down a mission summary. "Hawk. Boar. Tiger. Cobra."
Four bodies appeared in the office clad in the dark ANBU gear and matching colored masks.
"Otokage-sama."
Sakura finished writing the mission description before handing it to Boar.
"This assignment has an indefinite time span, but shouldn't last longer than a few weeks. This is an S-ranked mission due to its political nature and everything you need to know is in your scroll. Memorize it, then burn it. Once you have completed your task, send a message to me and I'll come survey what you've done and wrap up your mission there, understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
And they were gone.
Sakura spun her chair around to face Kakuzu and offered up a sheepish smile. "This may be a lot to ask, but I do have some documents with my allies that need revisions. If it isn't too much trouble, could you help me review them?"
He eyed her reluctantly, a bit taken aback at her blatant openness. She knew who he was, and about the things he did. She knew all the crimes he stashed under his belt. Initially, he'd inquire if she was stupid for asking him for such a thing. But he carefully considered her words and gave her a blank stare.
"It isn't any trouble at all."
Kakuzu was curious about her work ethic, anyways.
Day 25
"How did you change Hidan?"
Sakura looked up from her bowl of miso ramen. "Hm?"
"Hidan," Kakuzu repeated. "What did you do to change him?"
The two of them were at a small ramen shop in the middle of the village. It wasn't too crowded at their spot outside in the shade of the lavender awning. It was one of those rare days where Kabuto allowed her a long break where she took Kakuzu along for noodles and sake.
Sakura took a sip of her drink. "I didn't change him or force him to do anything. It was by pure coincidence that he became so invested in the books I offered. Maybe he's really a nice person in disguise."
Kakuzu snorted. But there couldn't be any fault in her words since Hidan actually joined the pediatric department of the hospital.
"Are you implying that he had that kindness in him that entire time? Even when he was so devoted to Jashin?" he asked. Sakura shrugged her shoulders and gave that smile that Kakuzu was starting to grow weirdly accustomed to.
"People never change. They learn, they make mistakes... but they never become another person. If they seem like they're different, that just means you never knew them at all, ne?"
He poured himself a cup of sake. "I suppose."
Day 30
Sakura was out with the Daimyou across the border to finalize in claiming the uncharted territory as Ta no Kuni's extension. Kabuto opted to stay in Otogakure to watch over the village in her absence. They still had yet to find someone trustworthy and able to leave in charge whenever she had business out of Otogakure. Kakuzu stood by the window, gazing out at the sun setting on the horizon. Kabuto, who sat in Sakura's usual seat, noticed his contemplation and pushed up his glasses.
"We do have a position open. If you're interested."
Kakuzu turned half way. "Oh?"
"We don't have a council and we don't plan on creating one anytime soon. Our reasons are quite simple—corruption, unnecessary arguments, unneeded stress, and other things along that line. But what we do have are advisors. Those who get a say in major decisions. Fuuma-san, Suzume-san, and Rinha-san are the current few who have that opportunity. You could have this title if you choose to stay," he mentioned casually. Kakuzu turned to look back towards the window.
Advisor?
It didn't sound like such a bad idea.
::
Jiraiya pursed his lips as he stood in the Hokage's office. He just didn't understand. All his contacts still hadn't replied to his messages and none of his frogs had come back to report. He never believed that Ta no Kuni could grow so rapidly and to the point that even his spies couldn't gather any intel or live long enough to tell what they knew. Tsunade looked up at him.
"I'm guessing that sending some shinobi over wouldn't help matters."
"I don't want to take the chance," he admitted. "We still don't know anything about them or this so called 'Otogakure'. In my personal research, though, I have reason to believe the leader of this village is conspiring with the Akatsuki. The members are crawling all over that country—it would be safest if we left them alone for now."
Tsunade sighed.
She really wished she had a drink.
::
EDITED 2.19.18