CHAPTER 1- Sakura's new boss

Haruno Sakura was exhausted.

Team 7 had returned from a mission in Kirigakure mere hours ago and as soon as she had passed the gates did she receive the order to help Tsunade out at the hospital since there was an emergency.

Of course she had instantly rushed to the Hospital and helped her rather moody Shishou out and whereas Shizune had tried her best to be of help wherever she could as well, it had still been gruesome four hours at the Hospital.

The pinkette was currently in the ER together with Tsunade and together, they were healing a Jonin's almost entirely broken Spine. Whereas that was something that was fairly easy and didn't require as much chakra as one would think after years of practice, it still took quite some time.

"How did the mission go?"

Sakura kept her emerald eyes firmly set on her patients back, the green hue that surrounded her petite hands not faltering the slightest even as the familiar voice rather suddenly broke the comfortable silence of the ER.

"It went well. We managed to find the culprit and Naruto even managed not to destroy the entire village during the fight, so that was a double success." Sakura shrugged, smiling fondly at the memory of her blonde-haired teammate shooting her and Kakashi a victorious grin while Sasuke took care of the unconscious body.

Tsunade merely chuckled in return and applied some pressure on the Jonins back until there was a cracking sound. "I expected no less from you. That brat is getting closer and closer to his goal with every mission he takes."

Her Shishou's words caused Sakura's smile to turn into a fond grin. It wasn't the first time that she had heard these words and not only from Tsunade but also from many others and rather High-ranked Shinobi from other Countries. She was beyond happy that Naruto was finally getting the recognition he deserved and she was certain that after some more time, he would be named the Nandaime Hokage.

"He'll be a great Hokage." Sakura confidently spoke, having faith in Naruto even though she knew that the blonde still needed to learn a lot before he would be able to take the title of the Hokage.

Tsunade hummed in agreement, lifting her honey orbs to look at her pink-haired apprentice. "Speaking of Hokage, don't you have an appointment in an hour?" She nonchalantly reminded Sakura and whereas it may seem like her mentor was merely reminding her of an appointment to others, Sakura didn't miss the ghost of a smirk that graced Tsunade's lips as she did so.

"I do." Sakura mumbled under her breath as she furrowed her pink brows as her emerald eyes caught Tsunade's amused gaze. "I still didn't quite forgive you for assigning me to be his advisor, Tsunade-Shishou."

Tsunade rolled her eyes at her apprentice's words, her smirk still firmly set in place as she moved her glowing hands from her patients upper back to the lower part of his back. She knew exactly that Sakura hadn't been too thrilled as she had announced that she would be the Rokudaime Hokage's advisor but the Princess had her reasons that Sakura would come to find out herself sooner or later.

"You know, others would have killed to receive the honor of being the Hokage's right-hand-man." Tsunade curtly reminded Sakura, who merely sighed in return.

She knew that Tsunade was right and that she should consider herself honored and be beyond grateful for have received the opportunity to be the advisor to a Hokage. Yet, ever since the announcement four weeks ago Sakura had been beyond busy and received many tasks that were usually passed down onto Genins, but the oh so mighty Hokage insisted that she should do them herself.

"I know, but couldn't you have chosen someone else, like Kakashi for example?" Sakura once more tried, but the curt look that she received from Tsunade was enough for her to realize that Tsunade would not change her mind.

"Kakashi and the Hokage know each other too well and have a similar way of thinking. The Hokage needs someone who is objective and can put up with his thick-headiness and we all know that you are the best for the job, especially since you were able to put up with me all these years and somehow managed to survive my training." Tsunade reasoned with a tone of finality and without as much as another word retrieved her hand from her patients back.

She shot her apprentice a smile and gave her a rather forceful pat on her shoulder that earned her a wince from Sakura. "I'll leave the rest to you since I still need to take care of some things regarding the Hospital bills."

"You're going to be the cause of my death Tsunade-Shishou." Sakura muttered as she watched her mentor who had a satisfied smirk on her lips leave. She knew that Tsunade has heard her but then again, that was her every intention.

The blonde knew that Sakura was unable to get more than a four-hour sleep each day and still summoned her to the hospital whenever she could. Then again, Sakura couldn't really blame her for doing so. Tsunade needed as much help as possible and since Sakura was the best medic in Konoha with the exception of Tsunade herself, she was left with very little alternative options.

"I wouldn't be too sure Sakura-chan. As far as I have heard, Itachi is doing a great job at that as well."

With that being said, the Sanin left the Emergency Room and a groaning Sakura to take care of her patient on her own. Fortunately, Shizune was around to take over after an hour has passed so that Sakura was able to make it to the Hokage Tower just in time for her appointment.

The pinkette's chakra was nearly completely drained and as she passed a shop-window on her way to the Tower, she refrained from cringing at her reflection.

Her mid-back long rosy-colored locks were tied up in a messy bun and the clearly visible dark circles under her eyes made her look like a zombie, much to her dismay.

She was dressed in her usual attire that consisted of a dark-pink Qipao, black thighs and her usual plain black-colored Sandals while she was holding a bundle of paper in her right hand. A few people that she barely knew greeted her with a low bow as she entered the Hokage tower and Sakura automatically greeted them with a bright smile in return.

She had earned herself quite a high reputation for both being the Godaime's apprentice, who was rumored to surpass Tsunade very soon as well as for being a member of the infamous Team 7 that consisted of Naruto, herself, Sasuke and of course their leader, Kakashi.

"Sakura-chan!"

She smiled, recognizing the voice in an instant as she turned around to be greeted by the sight of Naruto jogging towards her with Sasuke following close behind.

Sakura waved at her teammates as they caught up with her. "Hey guys." She beamed at the two and whereas Naruto returned her smile with a grin, Sasuke merely offered her s curt nod of acknowledgement in return.

Then again, Sasuke never was a man of many words.

Sakura sighed, a smile on her lips as she fondly remembered the time when she had been crushing on her teammate. She did for quite some time until she started her training under Tsunade, what caused her realize that her silly crush was only just that, a crush that disappeared within the first week of her training just as fast as it had appeared.

Now, she was nineteen and didn't even find the time to do as much as talk to a boy who wasn't in her team. She didn't mind at all, but the fact that Ino constantly kept on reminding her that she was not getting any younger was not helping the matter at hand at all.

Team 7 shared a bond that could be compared to that of a family and she dearly loved her boys but sometimes, there were also moments when she wanted nothing more than to simply knock some sense into them.

Naruto threw an arm over the pinkette's shoulders and pulled her closer to him, something that had become one more of Naruto's habits. "Sasuke and I went to check on you an hour ago but you weren't at home. Have you been at the hospital until now?" The blonde inquired, looking at her with concerned blue eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm fine." Sakura waved a nonchalant hand. "Tsunade-Shishou helped me with the rather big emergencies so it was bearable." She quickly assured him, knowing that Naruto would most likely give Tsunade an ear-full the next time they would see her and that was something that Sakura would like to prevent.

"You look as if you've treated the entire village last night." Sasuke commented as his onyx eyes bored into her emerald ones, Sakura stubbornly holding his gaze to get her point across. Whereas Sakura knew that it was a way of him expressing his concern, she couldn't help but feel like they still didn't fully consider her capable of doing her job.

"I am fine, really." She insisted as they reached the familiar door of Hokage's office moments later. Two guards were posted outside of the door and upon seeing the approaching Team 7 they offered them a curt nod.

"Hokage-sama is already expecting you."

Of course he was. Sakura mentally prepared herself as the guards knocked on the door before one of them gently opened it and went inside, leaving the team to only see his back. She watched in mild amusement how his straight posture was somewhat stiff before he offered their Hokage a perfect bow.

"Hokage-sama, Team 7 has arrived." The guard curtly informed the Hokage as he straightened his posture once again, what caused Naruto to roll his eyes at the formality and Sasuke to lightly smirk out of pride.

"Send them in."

Sakura inhaled a deep breath as the guard stepped out of the office and allowed Team 7 to enter the office without any further delays, closing the doors behind them.

The office didn't change much even after Tsunade had retired from being the Hokage. It was just as it had always been with the only change being that not Tsunade was seated on the chair behind the familiar desk, but another familiar face.

Uchiha Itachi.

He was sitting on the chair with his elbows resting on the top of the wooden table where papers were neatly stapled on at the side, his fingers interlaced as his onyx eyes were boring into theirs.

His entire presence formally screamed authority and since Sakura was the last one to enter, his unwavering gaze fell on her last. Sakura couldn't deny the way a shiver run down her spine at the intensity of his stare and she couldn't help but feel somewhat intimidated and yet, she bravely held his gaze.

"Nii-san." Sasuke greeted his older brother with a curt nod whereas Naruto and Sakura gave him a small bow, both mumbling a small greeting under their breath for different reasons.

Sakura because she couldn't shake off the feeling of his calculating gaze on her and Naruto because he was not accustomed to greeting others with such formality.

As soon as they were back in their usual position, Sakura stepped forwards and placed the mission-report on his desk, not missing the way his onyx eyes followed her every move.

Most would be beyond creeped out upon getting their every moved watched and yet Sakura could proudly say that she had somewhat gotten used to it over the past month.

Sakura moved to stand next to Sasuke as the three of them watched how Itachi took the mission report and quickly skimmed over it.

"Hm." The Uchiha heir placed the report back onto his desk after some moments of silence before he looked at Naruto, his face not giving away any of his thoughts. "You managed to take him out on your own by using the Rasengan I presume."

His velvet voice cut through the silence and Sakura narrowed her eyes as she glanced at Itachi before she returned her attention to Naruto, who gave him a proud grin that was accompanied by a nod.

"Yep, he didn't see it coming."

Itachi returned his nod, clearly satisfied with the blonde's answer before his eyes slid over to Sasuke next, the intensity of his gaze enough to unnerve Sakura. "Did you use your Sharingan on the remaining Shinobi?"

Even though his face didn't show, Sakura could easily tell that Sasuke was somewhat caught off guard by Itachi's question, judging by the way his posture had suddenly stiffened.

Years of being in a team with the boys have given her more than enough time to pick off every little habit of theirs.

After some moments of silence, Sasuke eventually nodded. "Yes." He curtly replied, watching how Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly in return.

"Genjutsu?"

"Aa."

Itachi leaned back in his seat and even though there was a flicker of something in his eyes that Sakura eventually recognized as disapproval, she found herself gazing straight into his eyes that have now lastly shifted onto her.

He silently held her gaze for a moment, as if he was trying to get into her mind and read her every thought but Sakura had none of it. Her eyes narrowed the slightest of bits what, of course, went unnoticed by both Naruto and Sasuke, who were watching the two of them in silence.

Itachi however didn't fail to miss the way her eyes narrowed ever so slightly and as a spark of impatience flickered to life in her emerald eyes, he decided to cut the chase.

"You fought eight Shinobi on your own." It wasn't a question and rather a statement that was also referring to her report and Sakura merely nodded in return, wordlessly answering his question.

Itachi's calculating eyes never left hers. "And how many did you take out with the aid of your chakra?"

Sakura blinked once, having somewhat already expected this question from him as the realization of what he was getting on dawned on her. Her gaze sharpened and judging by the way the ghost of a smirk passed his lips for the split of a second, the Uchiha knew that she had finally understood.

"Eight."

A sigh passed his lips as he leaned back forwards into his seat, eyeing the Team in front of him with a serious expression, much to the boy's confusion. Sakura however knew exactly what he was going to say.

"You did well on your mission." Itachi praised them, clearly content with the outcome of the mission, even though he had expected no less from his brother's team. "However, you should learn not to rely on your special traits only like the Kyuubis chakra, the Sharingan or your additional Chakra. That's why I am especially content with Naruto on this mission."

Said male's clearly surprised blue eyes were open wide and fixed on his teammates older brother, having clearly not expected the Hokage's words.

Itachi turned to look at Sasuke and Sakura. "Not only did Naruto manage to take out the target, but he also managed to do so without the help of the Kyuubis chakra." He clarified, causing the blonde to shoot Itachi a wide grin whereas his blue orbs were shining with pride.

Sakura turned to look at Naruto, instantly catching his gaze as she shot her teammate a small yet genuinely proud smile. She was happy that he was able to prove himself more and more these days and that Itachi, the current Hokage, was acknowledging his improvement as well.

"I wouldn't have managed without Sakura-chan and teme having my back though." Naruto quickly objected, shooting the elder Uchiha a sheepish smile as he threw an arm around Sasuke, who was ever so tempted to punch his blonde teammate straight in the face.

Itachi gave a curt nod of agreement. "Of course." His eyes then slid back to his little brother who was currently glowering at the blonde.

"Dobe, let go of me." Sasuke menacingly growled whereas the blonde frowned in return, purposefully tightened his arm around his best friends neck.

Sakura merely sighed in return, the upcoming headache already making itself noticeable as she cautiously watched her two teammates. They carried on as if Sakura and Itachi –their Hokage- weren't there and even though Itachi merely watched their exchanged in mild amusement, Sakura was starting to feel her Chakra spark.

"What's your problem teme?" Naruto exclaimed rather loudly . "Jealous because your big brother praised me and not you, eh?"

Sasuke's face held a clearly visible frown as his eyes turned blood-red and the all too familiar Sharingan replaced his onyx eyes. Sakura knew that he only used it in order to intimidate Naruto but after all these years, it was useless.

Sasuke merely huffed. "Shut up dobe, don't get too full of yourself just because he pities you."

Sakura's brow twitched at their antics, what didn't go unnoticed by the Uchiha heir who was watching the pinkette closely. Uchiha Itachi knew that these arguments between his brother and his teammate were normal, just like he also knew that they, like usual, seemed to forget their female companion who Itachi had noticed seemed rather annoyed by them.

His eyes fell on his newly named advisor, his dark eyes carefully taking in the way her fists clenched and even though her expression remained blank, the fire in her emerald eyes was burning brighter than ever.

Interesting.

Haruno Sakura was definitely one of a kind. He knew that she was not too comfortable in his presence yet and he couldn't blame her. She was accustomed to being Tsunade's apprentice and the fact that she now had to be the right-hand-man of a stranger was not easy, even for her.

She was holding back in his presence and yet, he couldn't help but look forward to the day when she would finally unleash that fire that was burning brightly in her eyes.

Naruto and Sasuke continued to throw threats at one another up to the point where they were at each other's throats, holding one another by the front of their shirts and that was when Sakura decided that it was enough.

Sakura stalked towards the two and swiftly grabbed them by the neck, channeling her chakra into her palms so that they would be immobilized.

She felt the two of them tense under her grip and growled lowly in her throat. "You two idiots don't know when to cut it, do you?" Sakura muttered under her breath, lifting her gaze to meet Itachi's dark one.

She fought the urge to gawk as she noticed the way a smirk was tugging at the corner of his lips, amusement clearly visible in his dark eyes as he watched her. She felt herself tense under his gaze, suddenly feeling bare.

Was he actually enjoying to see her mad?

Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, her anger fueled. Why in Hokage's name were all Uchiha's so conceited?

"I apologize for their behavior, Hokage-sama." Sakura reluctantly started, bowing curtly with Naruto and Sasuke's necks still in her hand, forcing them to do the same before he straightened her position again.

"If you would excuse us-" She continued, intending to excuse them so that they would be able to leave this place as fast as possible but surprisingly, she was being cut off in mid-sentence.

"Sasuke, Naruto, you are hereby dismissed." Itachi started, his blank expression back in place and any sign of the smirk that Sakura had just witnessed having faded into nothingness, whereas his eyes once more turned unreadable to the pinkette.

Sakura stiffened as she realized that he hadn't dismissed her yet, much to her confusion. She knew that he was very well aware of the fact that Sakura hadn't had any chance to sleep during the past 36 hours and had also been summoned to the Hospital because of a series of Emergencies, so what could he possibly want her to do now?

Itachi's unwavering gaze fell on her. "Haruno-san, I would like to have a word with you." He clarified, interlacing his fingers once more as he watched how Sakura slowly released the necks of her two teammates, her slightly narrowed eyes still fixed on him.

She was confused, having expected him to send her away with her teammates but he had other plans for the medic.

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged a small surprised glance, the former looking at his brother with a frown. He knew best that behind every order of his brother was a reason and if there was something that he wanted to discuss with her alone and without him and Naruto, it had to be something that Itachi didn't want many to know.

Eventually, Naruto and Sasuke reluctantly left the room with Naruto shooting her an encouraging smile before the door fell shut, leaving Sakura and Itachi on their own.

He pursed his lips into a thin line as he looked up at Sakura who was now standing directly in front of his desk with her eyes fixed on the scenery that the window behind him provided her with.

"Have you gathered the reports?" He asked the pinkette, his voice causing her gaze to shift from the window back to him.

For a moment it seemed as if she was processing his words, trying to remember what he was referring to before she gave him a curt nod. The pinkette then performed a series of seals that Itachi was all too familiar with before a staple of files appeared on his desk.

Sakura watched how he carefully eyed the files, his onyx eyes scanning the names that were written on its covers before he hummed lightly. "Did anyone question what you needed them for?"

Sakura shook her head. "No." She told him, shrugging lightly as her eyes fell back onto the files. "A lot of Jonin are nowadays allowed to look into these files so it didn't pose any problems to get them."

If Itachi had heard her he didn't do anything to acknowledge her words as he looked at the first file, his eyes quickly scanning over the content. A few more minutes of silence passed with Itachi merely scanning the files while Sakura had already sunk deep into her own thoughts.

The sound of the last file closing ripped Sakura out of her musings and her attention snapped back to the Hokage, who had once more folded his hands together, his dull stare falling back on Sakura who was expectantly eyeing him.

"I want you to look at the files, memorize every detail of each one of them and give me a report by dawn, sharp."

His order was loud and clear, his tone indicating that there was no room for any objections and yet, Sakura couldn't help but furrow her brows. The files contained the basic information of Konoha's founding and the Blood-traits that existed, nothing that she hadn't learnt at the academy and yet at the time, no one had bothered to pay much attention.

Of course she knew the basics just as well as the rest of the village did and yet, he wanted her to memorize everything that was writing in there?

He was testing her basic knowledge of the village and once again she felt like her small genin self back when she was still attending the academy.

Itachi sensed her calculating gaze and already assumed what kind of thoughts were running through her head.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, causing Sakura's gaze to turn back into focus once more as she forced herself to shake her head in return as she absently noticed the way his eyes flashed in something that she was unable to identify. It seemed to be a mixture of curiosity as well as amusement but the spark disappeared as fast as it had appeared, causing Sakura to frown as she grabbed the files from his desk.

"Of course not Hokage-sama." She tightly returned, giving him a small bow as she tightly held the files against her chest and her knuckles turned white.

He curtly hummed in return and Sakura could feel his eyes boring a hole through her forehead as she straightened again and bravely met his eyes with her own green ones.

"You have a meeting with the council at three and Tsunade-Shishou wanted to speak with you after the meeting." She curtly reminded him, watching how he eyed her for one more moment before he spoke up.

"I know, you are dismissed."

Sakura could have sworn that she had felt her brow twitch at his response. What did he need her for if he knew of his appointments and could just as well assign a chuunin or someone else to take care of the report of his files?

With one last glare at the Uchiha Sakura turned on her heel and left the Hokage's office without as much as a word, leaving him once more alone.

The pinkette was not the least bit surprised to see that Sasuke and Naruto were leaning against the opposite wall, having seemingly waited for her.

As soon as they heard the door open, Naruto pushed himself off of the wall and shot his friend a bright smile. "There you are, took you long enough!"

Sakura offered them a tight-lipped smile in return and tried her best to not explode right then and there in front of his office.

Sasuke instantly noted the pink-haired girl's dark mood and narrowed his eyes, mildly wondered what his brother was plotting now. "What did Itachi want from you?" He asked as the three of them made their way down the corridor, heading outside onto the busy streets of Konoha.

Sakura considered telling them what had happened but then again, she wasn't even sure if she could. Itachi had wanted to address the matter without them around and probably had his reasons and even though his brother was one of her teammates, she guessed that he most likely wouldn't be too thrilled to hear that she had let out her anger at her two teammates and told them what kind of tasks he was giving her.

In the end, she decided against telling them.

"Not much, just some assistance regarding some files." Sakura eventually replied, mentally patting herself on the shoulder since it was partly the truth.

It was obvious that Sasuke and Naruto both didn't fully believe her but fortunately for her, they didn't dwell on the matter for any longer and remained silent. Naruto then broke the silence by starting with his usual chatter and Sakura was more than relieved that they decided to let the matter go.

Together, the boys accompanied Sakura until they have reached her apartment. She had rented it two years ago when the boys and she became Jonin and her mother was not so subtly hinting that Sakura needed to learn how to become an independent woman by moving out.

It was located near to both the Hospital and the Hokage tower what was both convenient and a curse. In case of an emergency it would take her roughly twenty seconds to each the hospital and two minutes to reach the Hokage tower.

Naruto and Sasuke dropped by quite often, occasionally joined by Kakashi no matter if she was asleep, eating or studying. It had become one of their habits to pick her up whenever they had to report to the Hokage, would meet for training or they went on a mission.

"So, see you at the training fields at noon?" Naruto asked Sakura who instantly noted the way his blue eyes were filled with both excitement and hope of her joining them.

She would have wanted nothing more than to do so especially since it's been quite some time since she was able to join her boys at training because most of the time Tsunade requested her assistance at the Hospital when she was free of running errands for the Hokage.

"I would love to, but I have a lot of paper-stuff to take care of thanks to the Hokage." Sakura apologized, throwing Sasuke a pointed and rather angered look as she mentioned the Hokage.

Upon seeing the way Naruto's expression fell upon hearing her words, Sakura instantly felt guilty and offered him a smile. She knew that he had looked forwards to spending some time with the team as a whole without being on a mission and even though she felt the same, she doubted that she would manage to finish the report, get some sleep and help Tsunade out at the Hospital.

"How about tomorrow afternoon? I'll try to convince Tsunade to give me a breather." She tried to cheer up the blonde and after some moments of him seemingly thinking about her words, he gave her an eager nod.

"Alright Sakura-chan." Naruto relented, giving her a smile as him and Sasuke once more started to walk towards the Training Grounds. "Try to get some sleep alright? You look horrible."

Sakura rolled her eyes albeit smiling and shushed them away before she exhaled a deep breath and made her way into her apartment.

Sakura walked up the small flight of stairs until she reached the all too familiar door and kicked it open, the exhaustion now taking the best out of her as she tiredly pushed the door close behind her. She forced herself to pass the living-room without giving into the temptation of simply throwing herself onto the couch and falling asleep right there.

The last time that she had done that, she woke up to a nasty pain in her neck that kept on bothering her even two days later.

Yup, definitely not doing it again.

Placing the files onto the long dinner table in the kitchen, Sakura swiftly passed it before she finally reached her bedroom.

She threw open the wooden door and without any hesitation allowed her body to fall on her bed, a sigh of content escaping her as she was feeling the familiar material of her cashmere sheets beneath her body.

Sakura doubted that she would have the power to change into her sleeping attire and thus, didn't even bother to force her body to move any further.

Instead, the pinkette smiled as she snuggled deeper into her bed and closed her eyes as a sigh of content escaped her.

A lot of things were on her mind and whereas Sakura knew that the moment she would wake up she would be forced to take care of many things at once again, she was willing to do it all just to get a nice few hours of sleep.

Hokage's knew that she needed it.

Without any more delay, Sakura allowed the darkness to entirely take over her vision and without any more difficulty drifted into a deep slumber.