Her Destiny

Arrival

When the four arrived in the office of the Otokage, they were greeted by Orochimaru with a smile.

"Sasuke has just left. He is under the impression that he killed me," he explained.

"How did you pull that off?" Shikamaru asked.

"A very complex clone," Orochimaru stated. "Now, what brings the other three with you, Sakura-san?"

"They refused to let me leave alone," Sakura stated.

"We weren't going to let you leave on your own with the council trying to get you," Shikamaru snapped, rubbing at his shoulder.

Sakura frowned. "Did something happen?"

Shikamaru snorted. "Let's just say that the council is creative in getting their information."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, before she darted forward and pulled down the collar of Shikamaru's shirt.

What she saw had her paling rapidly. Orochimaru, Kabuto and the two Hyuuga's came to look at what had made their new leader drain of color so quickly, and reeled back in horror.

"What is the meaning of this?" Orochimaru hissed.

Because there, stretched across the man's chest and back, were layers of scars.

"They would peel the skin away in strips and then heal it," Shikamaru explained.

"Who?" Sakura asked.

"Danzo and the other two council members. They wanted to know where you had gone on your vacation."

"They tortured you to figure out where I went on vacation?" Sakura hissed.

"They didn't get anything from me since I didn't know anything, but they were trying to figure out what your movements were."

Shikamaru looked at her.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man. "How can I not? You were tortured for information on my activities!"

"Drop it Sakura."

"Hinata, get a letter started to the Hokage telling her that we are safe and about Danzo. And Shikamaru, you write down a plan to deal with the problem at hand, and have it attached to Hinata's letter. And you damn well better explain what was done to you or I will personally return to Konoha to return the favor."

The two nodded.

"Now, Orochimaru, how will turn over work?"

"We won't have a ceremony, if that's what you're asking. I will simply hand the duties over to you and have Kabuto help you to adjust."

"Has everyone had the opportunity to aquire the new uniforms?"

Orochimaru nodded. "You requested the dark wine color, correct?"

"Yes. It is harder to see in the shadows and at night. The eye had a harder time picking up red hues in the dark, as compared to blue hues," she explained. "Most people believe that it is harder to see dark blues and blacks in such conditions, but due to the way that the retina picks up color in the dark, a dark red/purple seems more practical. We don't want to be too similar to the color of the Stone uniforms, so going with a more purple color will help to differentiate."

"Ah, that explains it then. I was wondering why you had such a color chosen."

"We are ninja. We are not trained to be seen. We are trained to be unseen. It only makes sense that the uniforms would follow that line of thinking. The purple shirt beneath a black flak jacket will help in doing such."

"And is there a specific style that they need to keep to?" Kabuto asked.

"All that needs to be present is the colors specified. If the women would prefer to wear a battle kimono in that color then they can. Various styles should be available, in everything, from pants and skirts, to flak jackets and kimonos. Each person has a different fighting style and the flak jackets can be restricting, so give them a few options."

Orochimaru nodded.

"I have designs here, the color is a little too light, but I hope you can see in your mind what they are actually supposed to look like."

Sakura looked up from the renderings, amused.

"You drew up designs for all four of us?"

Orochimaru only raised an eyebrow in challenge. "you can't tell me that it is wholly unexpected that they came with you. I expected them to show up at some point."

"And these are the color swatches," Kabuto slipped several pieces of card stock in front of her, with swatches of fabric to match the colors. "As you can see, the color in the mock up is closer to the mulberry color than the wine color that you requested. We have put in for the various uniform items to be made. It is going to take a considerable amount of money to make it happen, but we had similar ideas to you. The color you chose will also hide blood a little bit better than some others that could have been chosen."

Sakura turned to the others, asking their opinions.

Shikamaru was the one to respond. "This has all been very well thought out. With the choice of color scheme, we will be easily differentiated among the other villages. The Stone is the only one anywhere near the color and even then, ours is dark enough to differentiate. And with the flak jackets being grey it will help to further tell us apart. I don't see a problem with anything at the moment, though at some point we will have to look in to a more cost efficient uniform system. Having so many different designs might prove to be a strain on our monetary availability."

Sakura nodded.

During the talk, Hinata had penned a letter to Tsunade. Shikamaru, who had just finished speaking, took out another sheet of paper and started to write. It took him roughly ten minutes to get everything written down, before handing it to Sakura to check.

Once she had read through the letter, she nodded before asking Neji to summon a hawk to take the letter, as he had the fastest summon.

From there, everyone started planning various things, everything from missions and the like, to everyday operations.

The color palette below is the scheme that I am using.  I imagine the uniforms being Wine colored.

Thank you for everyone that has decided to read this.  I hope you like it.  I realize that I have changed things around a little, but it is only so that it fits with the story as I imagine it.  I also realize that the characters are OOC, but again, this is to fit the story, and is my interpretation of how everyone would interact with their given back stories.  I hope that this is making sense.