Summary:

Sakura never expected that going on an S-ranked mission to a country ruled by women and with three of Konoha's hottest and most powerful shinobi as her harem would be her worst assignment yet. In which Sakura's understanding of the shinobi world is completely changed. Rewrite in process. [Sakura-centric] [Non-massacre] [Reverse harem]

A/N:

Hi everyone, I've decided to revamp this story as 1) after almost 10 years, my writing has matured and this will hopefully be much better than what I wrote almost 10 years ago and 2) I love these characters and just wanted to do each of them justice in a new setting and also explore some deeper themes as well.

Expect some super badass! Sakura because she is fierce and the protagonist and will absolutely dominate — in more ways than one ;) — our favourite icy men. Hope you enjoy!

Standard disclaimer applies.

0

The Mission

Sakura examined her reflection in the mirror.

She frowned slightly at the sight of her eye bags and the pimple that had just formed on her cheek. She lifted up her oversized orange shirt — a gift from Naruto — and found that, under the fluorescent lighting of her bathroom, the unsightly gash on her abdomen was starting to scar. She directed some chakra towards her hands to heal it, enjoying the warmth of her chakra against her toned middle and smiled in satisfaction when she saw the scar fade away slightly.

Sakura had just returned from an intense, five-day mission with her ANBU team. They were on an escort mission, ensuring the safety of a Fire Country daimyo as he crossed through a rather dubious part of Suna. While Tsunade did not initially think that such a simple mission warranted a whole team of elite ninjas, the daimyo had insisted that he have an ANBU squad assist him, and he even had the gall to prove his point by throwing a large wad of cash in front of Tsunade. After the uneventful first day of the mission, Sakura realised why the daimyo was willing to pay such a steep price for a seemingly simple mission— Sakura's ANBU team was ambushed by a group of ten hunter-nins, each of at least jounin rank. Apparently, the daimyo had made quite a few powerful enemies in his pursuit of power. After four days of non-stop escape, fighting and standing guard, Sakura's team and their client finally arrived at their destination in one piece.

"I've got to request that Tsunade give me a break," Sakura muttered to herself. After two months of non-stop intense missions where she constantly felt like her life was one kunai away from saying farewell to her life, Sakura just wanted some peace and quiet. "No more stressful missions in two months or else the village better give me a pay raise…"

Of course, as always, it seemed that the universe was conspiring against her. Just as she declared that thought out loud, Sakura heard someone knocking on her front door.

"Coming!" Sakura yelled as she hurried towards the door, smoothing her top and hair in the process. She knew she probably looked horrendous right now, but she didn't particularly care that anyone would see her in such a state.

That was, until she swung open the door, revealing Itachi on the other side. Sakura rarely talked to Itachi, widely known as the revered ANBU captain, village prodigy and the currently most eligible Konoha bachelor, which made seeing him standing there nonchalantly in front of her apartment all the more surprising. While Sakura had joined his ANBU team a few times on missions as a medic, those opportunities were few and far in between. Furthermore, given how Itachi was strict to a fault on his missions, executing each of them perfectly, they rarely seemed like bonding opportunities.

"I-Itachi-san?!" She stammered in confusion. Her next instinct was to pat down her hair to make sure that there were no strands astray. Unlike her, Itachi was wearing a casual long-sleeved grey shirt and black slacks, the combination which would've been plain on any other human being, but still looked effortlessly good on him.

"Sakura-san, good to see you as well." Itachi said calmly, but there was an amused glint in his eyes and the side of his mouth quirked upwards as he looked at her.

"I-is there something I could help you with, Itachi-san?" Damn it, she wished she could stop stuttering. But she had no clue what to say as he was one of the last people she expected to see at her door.

Despite Sakura's lack of personal familiarity with Itachi, Sakura couldn't help but admire him as a leader and fellow shinobi. Somehow the kill count on each mission that his team performed was always low. In fact, in the few missions that Sakura went on with his team, Itachi always strategised in a way that would reduce the collateral damage as he emphasised stealth above flashy attacks. She also remembered the one time she and Itachi's team stopped by a civilian village to grab some dango, of all things. Sakura was surprised that Itachi, of all people, would have such a craving for sweet things.

"Tsunade-sama is requesting our presence at her office now and has asked for me to escort you to the Hokage tower." There was still that entertained glint in Itachi's eyes. Weird.

"Sure, but give me a minute to change?"

"Of course, Sakura-san," Itachi nodded, "I'll wait for you here." He folded his arms and leaned against the doorway, and Sakura couldn't fail to notice how his biceps looked in his shirt or how handsome he was in the meantime. Sakura was sure that Ino and almost all the other girls in the village would kill to be in her position now.

However, those girls were probably not wearing a tattered, unflattering t-shirt and looking as if she had not slept in five days (which she indeed hadn't). Sakura turned around and walked towards the bathroom, and started cursing under her breath when she realised that there was a large and rather obvious sake stain on the front of her t-shirt.

Damn it.

She hated her life.

-x-

Sakura glanced curiously from the corners of her eyes at the three ANBU members — Itachi, Neji and Sasuke —standing next to her. Each of them had his or her own ANBU team, and while Sasuke and Sakura were on Team 7 together, she hadn't been on a mission with him in a while since they were placed on separate ANBU teams.

She'd occasionally been requested to join Itachi or Neji's ANBU team as a medic, but still, it was rare that Tsunade-sama would call for a complete ANBU regrouping unless she was seeking specific skillsets from each.

Hmmm, this is odd. Sakura thought to herself. The three men next to her were some of the most, if not the most, powerful ninjas in the village. Each was known as a prodigy in his own right. Beyond their similarities in skill, however, they were also known as being some of the stoic men in the village. Unlike Shisui and Genma, who were also incredibly strong and respectable ninjas, these three were known to be some of the most expressionless men in the village (at least based on village consensus). Despite all her years of knowing each of them, she could rarely recall even a single time that any of them had ever smiled — the genuine, cheek-to-cheek, radiating sunshine and rainbows type of smile for which Naruto was known.

Unsurprisingly, the three boys were currently wearing more or less the same blank expression on their faces. Each wearing a form-fitting ANBU uniform and with their masks in their hands, they would've made amazing poster boys for the ANBU (or models). While Sakura thought she had outgrown her fangirl phase, she was still an eighteen-year old girl with unfortunately a hormonal best friend. Ino was notoriously in tune with village gossip and kept track of the village heartthrobs to a T, and one of her favourite pastimes was talking to Sakura about these three as potential love interests.

"Tsunade-sama, what's the reason for gathering each of us here?" Sasuke asked the question that had been on Sakura's mind since she entered the room, which snapped Sakura out of her thoughts as well.

"Aa," Tsunade mused and Sakura couldn't help but notice that Tsunade was trying to hide a small smirk, "We've received an S-ranked mission from a client in the Land of Air."

Not another mission! And S-ranked again this time? Sakura felt her heart drop a bit. She wasn't ready to risk her life again after barely a few hours worth of rest.

"I understand that all of you have just returned from your respective missions only recently, but this request is extremely urgent and the client has offered us a very large sum of money for it. In fact, this may be the most a client has offered in the entire time I've been Hokage." Tsunade continued, "and I understand that as loyal shinobi and kunoichi of Konoha, each of you will be looking out for the best of the village, including for raising funds for the modernisation efforts that our village is undergoing. Since I don't trust anyone else enough for this mission, I've hand selected you to go on this mission."

Ah, of course. The village was suffering from a financial deficit as Tsunade was trying to make the entire village's infrastructure catch up to the "modern age," which including building telecommunications systems and high rises. This also explained why Tsunade was so constantly sending each of them on missions these days.

This is why the village really should consider appointing a Hokage who can do math as well, Sakura thought. The village really needed to hire more financial analysts and accountants who would develop Konoha's infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner. The last time Sakura mentioned this to Tsunade, Tsunade waved that suggestion off breezily, drunkenly declaring that Konoha was in great financial shape right before downing another bottle of sake.

"Tsunade-sama, each of us is fully committed to the village and its fundraising efforts, but this lineup is most unusual." Itachi said, his eyes falling on Sakura briefly.

"Yes! The next point I was getting to. Always getting ahead of me, Uchiha." Tsunade smirked again as she said this and Sakura had a really, really bad feeling, "You see, this mission is S-ranked, but it's the most atypical. Usually S-ranked missions are classified as such for the amount of danger involved, but this time…it will require a completely different kind of sacrifice that is no less great."

Sakura was willing to bet her entire savings that Tsunade was trying her best to not lose control over her demeanour by cackling. Sakura cast a quick glance at her soon-to-be teammates. None of them betrayed any overt emotions, but she could tell that each of them was apprehensive as to what this mission entailed.

"Our client, Hiro Itō, is a billionaire industrialist and up-and-coming politician in the Land of Air. As I'm sure each of you knows, he comes from a long line of money. His ancestor, Kana Itō, who founded the businesses that resulted in the Itōs' current wealth, came into possession of a scroll that was rumoured to contain extremely powerful ninjutsu. Hiro is just a civilian and had no intention of using the scroll, instead he chose to keep it in his family vaults with the rest of his treasures. Unfortunately, that scroll was recently stolen. Hiro didn't understand the importance of the scroll and was content with hiring an investigator to find it in due course, but he has been receiving certain threats from his grandmother, Rikku Itō, that if he were not to recover the scroll soon, then through some rather clever legal manoeuvring, she'll make sure that Hiro gets left out of the family will. Of course, Hiro is now panicking and will do anything to make sure that the scroll gets returned, especially since the investigators that he hired were found dead in their hotel rooms a few days ago."

"Your mission" Tsunade studied each one of them carefully, "is to find out who are the culprits behind the theft. While, like the elder Uchiha here mentioned, normally your usual ANBU teams would suffice for carrying out such missions, this assignment requires a completely new team."

Tsunade's barely concealed smirk widened into a grin, "You see, the investigators were discovered dead in their hotel rooms in Onna no Kuni, the Land of Women, which we did not know existed as a country and our researchers didn't find anything on them in any of the history books as well. This led to some sleuthing on my part, and I learned that the Land of Women has actually existed for as long as the Five Great Nations have and that Kana Itō was actually from the Land of Women as well. The reason for the Land of Women's obscurity is that their rulers did not want outsiders to disturb its way of life, and my findings from there on gave me a complete shock…

"You see, the Land of Women is the only matrilineal society in the world. Their way of life and cultural norms are completely different from ours. While the rest of the world operates on a patrilineal and patriarchal society, the Land of Women is run by women and with no men in positions of power. Instead, men are reduced to the roles of concubines and with each woman there free to take up as many men as she pleases. While the Land of Women has always been wary of outsiders, as a female ruler of a hidden village myself," Tsunade stated smugly, "I've managed to get ourselves in their rulers' good graces and they've agreed to open their doors to us for an once-in-a-century diplomatic mission to their country. They are just as displeased that murders have happened in their lands, as their country is usually extremely peaceful. You four and the Land of Women kunoichi will work in tandem to discover the location of the Itōs' scroll and the reason for the murders of the investigators.

"Oh, and did I mention? The Land of Women rulers have asked that we respect their culture when we investigate and so that you may carry out the mission without raising any suspicion. So, from today on, for the mission, you three —" Tsunade gestured towards Itachi, Sasuke and Neji, "— will be Sakura's harem. Also, did I mention that the Land of Women kunoichi are extremely comfortable with domination…of many different kinds?"

Wait, WHAT?! Sakura tried to comprehend what Tsunade was saying, and suddenly felt a bit light-headed. She gulped nervously.

Next to her, the three men each stiffened visibly.

Sakura felt their gazes turn towards her and her cheeks reddened to a deep shade of pink.

Oh, crap.

She really, really hated her life.