Yamato had done a rather good job of rebuilding the Hokage Residence.
The wooden structure still needed a touch of decoration and a fresh coat of paint, but apart from that, it was perfectly serviceable. It was rather draughty without windows and lacked plumbing or electricity for the time being— those would have to wait until the public water supply, sanitation, and power stations were restored— but at least the roof kept the rain out.
"Ugh…" Sakura groaned, slumping back into her chair in her new office and rubbing her arm. "I don't think I've ever waved so much or kissed so many babies in my life... Being Hokage is exhausting."
Though Sakura's investiture as Sixth Hokage had been cut short, it had still felt to her as though the ceremony and speeches had dragged on for hours. Ordinarily, the villagers would have enjoyed a full day's holiday and celebrations lasting until nightfall, but with the village ravaged by Deidara's bombing run and the urgent need to prepare for war, the ceremonial aspect had been drastically curtailed.
"Such is the burden of the Hokage," Nara Shikaku said wryly. "Now, there are a few urgent matters that require your attention, Milady…"
He slid a sheet of paper across her new desk. A list of names, by the look of it.
"Shimura… Shimura again, Sarutobi, Sarutobi, Sarutobi… Utatane, Mitokado, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka," Sakura read out loud. "Shikaku… what's this list about?"
"A list of the village's most senior civil servants, milady," explained Shikaku. "I've arranged meetings for you to become acquainted with them. Without their assistance, the administration of the village would be quite impossible."
Sakura frowned.
The same surnames kept appearing again and again, each attached to a string of meaningless‑sounding titles— cabinet secretary, permanent secretaries, deputy secretaries, deputy permanent secretaries, under-secretaries, private secretaries, assistant secretaries, administrative vice‑ministers, permanent liaison to the Daimyō of the Land of Fire...
"Just how many secretaries do I need?" Sakura said, baffled. "Don't I get to pick who serves under me?"
"I'm afraid not, Milady. And here is a list of the ANBU Black Ops members that serve at the Hokage's discretion, and their true identities," Shikaku added, sliding yet another sheet of paper across the desk. "I've already taken the liberty to schedule you a meeting with the ANBU Commander…"
No wonder no one wanted to be Hokage these days, Sakura thought glumly.
On one hand, if she allowed the village's civil service to walk all over her, nothing would ever get done, as had been the case with the Third Hokage. On the other, if she tried to do everything herself in an effort to maintain her executive power, she would soon find herself buried beneath piles of paperwork, unable to tell what truly mattered from what did not.
It had happened to the headstrong Fifth Hokage; more often than not, Tsunade had gone against the council's wishes, and Sarutobi Hiruzen's old guard had ended up obstructing her at every turn each time she actually wanted to do something for the village… more often than not with piles of paperwork.
"There's also the matter of the vacant seats on the Konoha Council," Shikaku went on. "But there's no need to fret— Mitokado Homura will see to filling those for you."
"I want Jiraiya and Kakashi in those posts," said Sakura sharply. "See to it that it's done— and I don't want to hear a single excuse!"
Shikaku bowed. "Yes, Milady, naming your advisors, should the seats be empty, is the Hokage's prerogative, though I must advise you that this will not sit well with the candidates awaiting those council posts. They, and their friends, might make things… difficult for you, should you choose to appoint close friends and mentors over those… more qualified."
Sakura waved her hand. "I don't care."
"Very well, Milady, it shall be done," Shikaku said. "Now, there is the matter of your personal Hokage Guard Platoon…"
"Naruto and Sasuke," Sakura said promptly. "And, er…"
She had already asked for Kakashi as a councillor, so the third member couldn't be him…
"If I may, Milady," Shikaku interjected, "Naruto and Sasuke are powerhouses who'll be needed on the front lines. It would be rather wasteful to have them permanently assigned to your protection detail, would you not agree…?"
That reminded Sakura, she needed to perform the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan surgery on Sasuke as soon as possible to get him ready for war. Thankfully, Obito hadn't taken away Itachi's body, so the village still had his eyes.
"Then I'll take the Lord Fourth's Flying Thunder Formation trio," Sakura said dismissively. "Namiashi Raidō, Shiranui Genma, and the goatee bloke, What's-his-face."
Shikaku's eyes widened slightly.
"If I may, Lady Sixth," he said. "The Flying Thunder Formation is top secret information. Leaks are no laughing matter, how in the world did you…"
Sakura grinned. Now that she was Hokage, she could pull information straight out her arse, intelligence she couldn't possibly possess without having watched the anime… and her subordinates would just have to swallow it without question! "That's for me, the Hokage, to know… and for you, Mister Jōnin Commander, to find out."
Shikaku sighed. He'd known Sakura wouldn't be a pushover, not with Lady Tsunade as her mentor, but her wilfulness was proving rather much, even for him. Perhaps it was time to turn up the heat…
"Moving things along," Shikaku went on, flipping a few pages further down his agenda, "the next item of business is the village's budget. The Treasury estimates that at the current rate of…"
"Enough, already!" Sakura yelled, slamming her fist down on her desk. "Sooner or later, the four great villages are going to resolve their problems at home, and the first thing they're going to do is march their armies into the Land of Fire! I have far greater concerns than civil servant appointments, over which I apparently have no say, and doling out meaningless medals and honours!"
Shikaku bowed his head, awaiting further instructions. The Treasury held the village's purse strings, so if the Lady Sixth wanted nothing to do with the single most influential department in the village, bar none, then that was her loss…
"First things first, I want the Fire Daimyō and his family moved to safety, immediately," Sakura began. "We need extra funding from the country to rebuild the village, and we need it now, so I want your squad to handle this personally. Understood? The Daimyō must be made to understand that the Land of Fire will not survive without our protection, so I suppose… you may send a delegation of Manyū clan kunoichi to… entertain him."
Shikaku scribbled a note in his agenda.
"Secondly, I want envoys sent to all friendly small villages!" Sakura went on. "Have the appropriate people chosen for the task!"
With Orochimaru now on their side, they already had the full might of the Land of Rice Paddies' Hidden Sound, so that was a start. As for their neighbours to the east, Yugakure of the Land of Hot Water, they could safely be ignored for now; they had completed their disarmament, so they would be of little help in battle, which was a shame, given their friendship with the Land of Fire's wealthy nobles and capitalists… the tourists who essentially drove their country's entire economy.
"The Third Hokage personally forged an alliance with Tsuchigumo Village, so we can have him sent there," Shikaku said thoughtfully. "The First Hokage personally subjugated the Hidden Waterfall Village after they foolishly attempted to assassinate him, his overwhelming strength might be sufficient to convince their village leader Shibuki to join us in exchange for protection from the Hidden Stone and the Hidden Cloud… but that might make it difficult for us to withdraw him from that defensive line, should we choose to place him there…"
Sakura nodded. This was good stuff!
"I can send Kakashi-sensei to the Land of Waves, we'll need skilled craftsmen if we're to rebuild the village properly!" Sakura exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "And Sasuke's apparently made some friends in the north, in Howling Wolf Village, so he can go there once his eyesight has been restored to see whether they can provide us with spare medical supplies. And I can send a Wood or Crystal Clone to the Hidden Star Village to persuade them to send us a few elites… I'm the only one who can treat their abnormal condition, after all."
Sakura hadn't forgotten the friendships Team 7 had forged over the years on their adventures. Though the strength of their potential allies paled beside that of Naruto, Sasuke, and herself, together they amounted to quite a force!
"The Hidden Valley of the Land of Rivers has long pledged unwavering support to the Hidden Leaf, so we can rely on them to help us hold the Land of Wind front," said Shikaku. "The Hidden Grass will be trickier, though. In previous wars, they have often promised to help us slow down the enemy, only to let Stone and Sand troops pass through unopposed."
During the Third Shinobi World War, Kusagakure had been ordered by Konoha to destroy their own Kannabi Bridge, to hinder the Hidden Stone's advance by severing their supply lines through Land of Grass territory… but they had not, citing various pretexts, which forced Konoha's shinobi to push far behind enemy lines to complete the task themselves.
Leading to Rin's death, Obito's mental break, and Kakashi's lifelong trauma.
"I noticed," Sakura grumbled. "The Stone and the Sand didn't seem to have any trouble passing through the Land of Grass and the Land of Rivers on their way to Mount Shumisen during the Hiruko Affair."
Kusagakure was like weeds that bent in the wind… flexible, and quite fickle. They didn't mind bowing and scraping to the powerful, but nor would they flinch from stabbing them in the back when the winds of change blew. And unlike Tanigakure of the Land of Rivers, Kusagakure actually had a few decent shinobi, so it wasn't impossible for them to help.
"If Milady's priorities lie with national defence, then there is a certain proposition dating from the Lord Third's era that has been gathering dust for over twenty years," Shikaku said, unfurling a map of the world across Sakura's desk. "As your chief strategist, I would personally suggest initiating a pre-emptive strike against our fickle neighbours to the west. Decapitate Kusagakure's leadership and take control of their territory, so that we might establish a proper defensive line against the Sand and the Stone beyond our borders. The Lord Second would be well suited to such a task."
Pain's words echoed in Sakura's mind.
In the end, it is always the small villages who suffer the most in the conflicts between the great villages…
"Out of the question," Sakura said firmly. "I want the Fourth Shinobi World War to be the war that ends all wars. Spreading hatred to our neighbours is not the path to true peace. I want to leave the mistakes of the previous Hokage in the past and make a clean break towards the future."
Shikaku laughed drily.
"Funny, that's exactly what the Third Hokage said about the Third Shinobi World War, at the time," he said. "And then, when the Lord Third rejected this very proposal, Shimura Danzō called him a spineless coward, as I recall."
Sakura's face fell. She did not want to be a weak, ineffectual, wishy-washy ruler like Sarutobi Hiruzen… but neither did she want to enact something that bastard Danzō had proposed, either!
"Say we go through with this plan," she groaned. "What happens to the conquered territory in the Land of Grass?"
"Why, we give it back, it's only natural," Shikaku said. "Of course…"
His voice trailed off.
"Of course, what?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
"Of course, it would be a highly unpopular move to simply give back all that territory free of charge after our shinobi had bled and died for it," Shikaku said innocently. "It just so happens that our beloved Daimyō has been agonising over the question of succession… should the Land of Grass become a province of the Land of Fire, ruled by one of his squabbling sons, that would go a long way towards ensuring the continued stability of our realm…"
"…and a happy Daimyō means more funding for the village's coffers," Sakura said grimly, completing his sentence. "For the war effort."
"And naturally, I imagine the capitalists would be very pleased with such a move as well," Shikaku added. "The western reaches of the continent, beyond Amegakure and Kusagakure, are a market we have yet to tap. Should the tolls exacted by Kusagakure be abolished, trade caravans could travel further down the valley that lies between the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind, towards the Land of Demons…"
"…and we are absolutely certain that Kusagakure will backstab us again?" Sakura said lifelessly. "…but our potential allies, the other small villages and countries, won't they be concerned that if we attack Kusagakure, they might be next in line?"
"Kusagakure, stabbing us in the back? Almost absolutely, it is a near certainty," Shikaku said solemnly. "As for your concerns regarding our allies, Milady… I doubt Takigakure and Tanigakure will complain if we divide up the Land of Grass and offer them a share of the spoils."
Sakura rubbed her temples tiredly.
There was no doubt in her mind that Shikaku, and the men whose interests he represented, were trying to lead her, an inexperienced Hokage, by the nose…
…the proof being that Shikaku had not even bothered to suggest they might establish in the north a similar defensive line to the one he had planned for Kusagakure; along the Valley of Hell, on the Land of Lightning front.
If Konohagakure pre-emptively invaded Yugakure territory to secure that natural barrier which divided the Land of Hot Water horizontally, they would have a far easier time holding off Kumogakure… but since the nobles of the Land of Fire were so fond of their holidays there, it was not even worth debating!
Even so, Shikaku made a compelling point; a swift, decisive strike against Kusagakure as the opening move of the war was technically the best move available to her, but it ran counter to everything she believed in. If she followed his advice, she would be nothing more than a hypocrite, no better than the Lord Second or the Lord Third… but if she didn't, people would die.
Her people.
In the end, regardless of all these little political games, the final decision lay with Sakura. Did she want to be a realist, or an idealist? Oh, how she envied Kakashi and Naruto in the original timeline… they had inherited a perfect, peaceful and united world from Obito, Madara, and Kaguya. Not a difficult decision in sight, no sir!
Sakura sighed. When had things become so cocked up in her timeline?
"I… I need some time," Sakura said wearily. "To think."
"The clock is ticking, Milady," Shikaku said nonchalantly. "The optimal window is fast fleeting."