Otokage

August

The sound of the heart monitor was slow and deafening. Fresh flowers—sunflowers—sat in a white rectangular vase beside a barely breathing body. Kurenai was dedicated to being there for him as much as she could, cradling her daughter to her chest and whispering how happy her daddy would be if he woke up.

No, when. Because Asuma wasn't going to die.

He was found unconscious and bleeding out profusely near the outskirts of Fire Country. There was a large evidence of an intense battle with enormous craters in the ground and trees uprooted. It could have been one of two possible people who were capable of such damage: Deidara of the Akatsuki or Haruno Sakura.

No one was prepared when they found out that both scents were found amongst the wreckage before all trails of them disappeared. Naruto at to take to the side, stomach churning horribly. Sakura did this? And was with an Akatsuki member? No, she couldn't, wouldn't do this—whatever the hell she was out there doing!

But nearly two years had already gone by.

Sasuke wasn't here so he could look for Itachi.

Sakura wasn't here, but why?

How could she leave without a word?

How could she possibly fight and send Asuma to his death bed?!

Day 7

Observation was both his forte and his hobby.

There was something satisfying about learning about someone you've never met before but only heard great things about. When you first met that someone, you could truly decide if they were really as great as the world said they were. Next, you could carefully dissect the person they appeared to be.

Much of the time, people lied about who they were the first moment you met them. Far too many times that person would be nicer than normal and hold their tongue to keep from gaining a bad impression. It would take a long while before that person slowly melted into who they really were and had easy content to start showing their flaws.

Haruno Sakura was not part of the "most people" he described.

The first day he came to the village, he saw her single-handedly deal with an entire downtown criminal gang.

By gambling.

Zetsu carefully meandered through the large crowd, mixing into the people surrounding the scene. A makeshift table was set up in the middle of the road, cards splayed out on top of it. On one end was a lanky looking man with high cheekbones and brightly calculating eyes. Sakura was sat opposite him with crossed legs and a controlled calm expression. Kabuto, Zetsu saw, looked slightly exasperated at the whole ordeal and took a seat on one of the empty crates tossed onto the sides of the streets. His sharp eye spotted Zetsu's bi-colored body and intrigued expression before he stood and approached him.

"Yakushi-san, I presume."

"Yes, hello, Zetsu-san," Kabuto greeted. "I apologize for meeting you like this. I didn't anticipate your early arrival and well..." He glanced over at the intense card game with the click of his tongue. "... You caught Sakura-sama in the middle of dissolving about 35% of Otogakure's crime rate."

Zetsu's eyes narrowed a fraction. "I beg your pardon?"

Kabuto pointed at the young man at the table. "Twenty-two year old Aihara Arata: leader of one of the most prominent drug rings in the village. Sakura-sama bet that if she could beat him in a game of poker, he would have to break up his gang. If he could beat her, she'd leave him be and also give a small donation to continue his machinations," he sighed. "Though honestly, I don't know why she has to drive this bet out for so long. We're on a tight schedule and we don't have the time to lay two million ryo up for grabs."