Otokage

Allies: Part One

Three weeks had passed and Sakura would be lying if she said she was having such great progress with Otogakure. The first thing she did was send all presumably high-ranking shinobi out of the village to gather bounties and raise as much funds as they could so that they could repair the buildings throughout the village, fix the outer wall, and replace the gates. She was surprised when nearly all the shinobi she ordered around had complied easily and without question.

When she asked one of the very few ANBU members about why they were so quick to follow her, he smiled at her. "It's about damn time someone made some changes around here. All we want is our home to be in good hands, and if someone is willing to step up to the challenge, we'll gladly follow."

Sakura's heart warmed at that. So for three whole weeks, she barely slept and threw herself into her work. She personally went through the files of every single shinobi in the village, organized them in different piles based on skill set and chakra nature, and checked to make sure they were of correct ranking.

That took at least a week. At least. She really didn't know how much time had passed anymore with her days blurring together. It had gotten so bad at one point that even Kabuto had shown concern and had inquired about her health. She told him it was fine and even took a two hour nap to help her case.

But at the end of those three weeks, she could see that the funds were still low and the only thing she really could do with the money on hand was donate the money to schools, orphanages, the hospital, clinics, and others of the like. Sakura knew that she couldn't keep up this pace. She still had to fix the curriculum within both shinobi and civilian schools, decimate crime rates, train the medics, fix the hospital system, find someone to provide weapons, be able to bring in more money...

Sakura sunk in her chair, bringing a hand to massage her forehead. She knew being in the highest position of power required a lot of attention and responsibility, but she never believed that she had to practically rebuild an entire village full of people who blindly depended on her, despite not knowing her for as long as they should have.

'Is that regret I'm hearing from you?'

'It isn't.'

Inner laughed mockingly. 'I think we both know the real answer to that.'

She was about to really lose her mind with her Inner voice before Kabuto tapped her shoulder to gain her attention. Sakura slowly sat up straighter and looked at him. A few strands of hair were loose from his tie and she could see the dark, pronounced circles underneath his eyes. If he looked that bad, god knows how much worse she must look in comparison.

"Someone's here to see you. Should I tell them to come back at a later date?"

"No, it's fine. Let them in."

Kabuto nodded and opened the door. A small boy walked in, glancing around nervously and holding something tightly against his chest. He went up to her desk before thrusting both his hands out and bowing deeply.

"H-Here, ma'am! I didn't take any of the money, I swear!"

It was her wallet. Sakura took it, inspecting the outside with keen interest before setting it down on the small space on the desk that wasn't cluttered with folders and papers. She gave the boy a curious stare.

"Why did you give it back? I didn't ask for it," she said. The boy fidgeted a bit.

"I... You were nice to me, ma'am. After seeing you that nice, I couldn't repay you by taking your things like that. Besides, I'm gonna be a shinobi one day..." He begrudgingly looked away. "... Shinobi aren't supposed to be like that. We're suppos'd to protect the people, not take from them."