Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters contained within the story.
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Warning: This is a dark fic and contains character death. It might be a good idea to find a happy story and keep that to the side just in case for later reading.
Naruto: Red Strings
"We did it," panted Sakura triumphantly. The cave which had been buzzing with fighting puppets just a moment before went quiet as the puppets were all cut off from of their puppeteer. Sakura's companion, the elderly Suna puppeteer Chiyo stood a slight ways away. On the wall, pinned by a powerful sealing technique was the famous rogue puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand. They had barely managed to defeat him, and both women were completely depleted of chakra.
"There's no way you can move…" panted Chiyo. "It's over…Sasori…That sealing jutsu is one that suppresses chakra completely…You can no longer use your chakra strings…" Chiyo collapsed to the ground, coughing as the poison Sasori had hit her with earlier started to course through her body.
"Chiyo!" yelled Sakura, running towards the old woman. "Quickly, use the antidote!"
Suddenly, one of Sasori's defunct black cloaked puppets stood up, a sword in its hand. Sakura was horrified to realize that the puppet looked exactly like Sasori, which should have been impossible since he was currently pinned to the wall. Sasori charged towards Chiyo, stabbing with the sword. Without thinking about what she was doing, Sakura put the last of her chakra into her feet. She cleared the gap between her and Sasori in an instant. Now in front of Chiyo, Sakura stopped the blade by taking the attack through her side, grapping onto it with her hands to keep it in place. The pain was blinding but Sakura was too exhausted to really react to it.
"Sakura!" yelled Chiyo. Looking up Sakura saw that Sasori was equally surprised by her sacrifice.
"Quickly…use the antidote…Chiyo…" groaned Sakura, fighting the intense pain. If Chiyo used the antidote on herself now she might still be able to defeat Sasori and their effort wouldn't have gone to waste.
"Oh," said Sasori, studying her intensely. "A wound like that, and you're worrying about others? Impressive girl."
Sasori twisted the blade, making Sakura grunt in pain. "Guh…" Sakura put her hands to the wound and started to heal it, trying to staunch the blood flow as much as possible with the blade still through her.
"Looks like the poison has started to take effect," grinned Sasori. "This katana, of course, was also poisoned."
My body's going numb from the poison, thought Sakura. I can't control my chakra well anymore…
Sakura heard a shuffling noise behind her followed by cracking glass. She turned her head and saw Chiyo collapsed on the ground, panting as the poison stopped all of her movements. The last vial of poison antidote that Sakura had made earlier and given to the elderly woman was shattered, the liquid splattered on the cave floor.
"Oh, that's too bad for you," said Sasori. "Guess it's my win then. You put up quite an impressive fight but this is where it all ends.
"No!" yelled Sakura. Pushing the very last drops of chakra into her feet and fist, Sakura leapt forward, the sword in her side going in up to the hilt Sasori's eyes widened in surprise as her fist impacted with his chest, cracking it. Sasori let go of the sword and Sakura managed to collapse onto her side.
Please let that have worked…thought Sakura, blacking out from fatigue and poison.
"How are you feeling?" asked a voice full of concern. Sakura tried so open her eyes, but found that something felt wrong. It took her a second to realize what it was, she couldn't FEEL anything. Panic started to envelope her but she couldn't even thrash around in panic, at least she didn't think she could. The voice seemed to realize something was wrong. "There's no reason to be afraid, here, let's see if this helps."
Sakura could feel sensation returning to her limbs, and the control she usually took for granted returned with it. She could feel the warm softness of the blanket covering her. She was lying on a hard wooden surface, maybe the floor of a building? Sakura opened her eyes and saw concerned brown eyes staring at her. It took a second for her fogged mind to interpret the face in front of her, but when it did she felt despair.
"Sasori," said Sakura staring into the face of her enemy. The red haired puppet master was standing over her wearing only a pair of brown pants. His chest was uncovered, revealing his puppet features and the mark on his chest with the symbol for 'scorpion'. He looked more like a normal person and less like the monstrous puppet he had been during their fight. There were no visible signs of weapons on him, including the blades that had been on his arms and the scrolls that had been attached to his back. Although in his thirties, his features were forever frozen as the handsome, youthful ones from his early twenties.
"Do you feel?" asked the puppet master, looking at her. Sakura tried to get up and attack him but her body wasn't obeying. "Any sensations?"
"What are you doing with me!" demanded Sakura. "Where's Chiyo!"
"Unfortunately my grandmother was too weak to withstand the poison and died shortly after the battle," said Sasori, not actually seeming depressed about Chiyo's death. "I considered turning her into a puppet, but since she was so old it would have taken a lot of effort to get her into fighting shape. Plus I felt a puppeteer controlling another puppeteer who was controlling puppets was a bit redundant. Now, does your body feel?"
"Why do you keep asking that?" asked a confused Sakura.
"Because I've never made something quite like you before," replied Sasori calmly. "There'll probably be a lot of tweaks needed to get you just perfect."
"What are you talking about?" asked Sakura. She continued to try to move her body, but even though she could feel the blanket and whatever she was laying on, she couldn't move any other part of her body besides her head. Looking past Sasori it looked like she was in some type of workshop. There were tools lining the walls and unfinished puppets crammed onto all free surfaces. A large bookcase held stacks of summoning scrolls, probably storing all of his completed puppets.
Sasori gave a large sigh, drawing Sakura's attention back to him.
"I'm talking about this," he said, pulling the blanket off of Sakura. He grabbed her arm and lifted it up. Sakura's heart practically stopped beating as she saw the familiar joints of a puppet, similar to the ones Sasori had exhibited in their battle. She realized that what she was laying on was another one of the many slightly above waist height work benches scattered about. "Does that answer your questions?"
"I'm…a puppet…" said Sakura in horror.
"Yes," said Sasori. He smiled happily at her. "I was actually quite impressed by how well you did in our battle. Even if a lot of the work was done by my very powerful and experienced grandmother, you still did very well. And creating an antidote to my poison from the brat I had used it on earlier. That was just pure genius. I'm even more impressed after studying you for the last week. Your chakra is well developed but completely normal. Everything about you screams average ninja. Sure you'd get to Jonin with what I saw developing in you, but it would seem absurd that you could manage to make a name for yourself as something special. After fighting you though, I came to wonder, if maybe you really did have seeds of greatness in you. How far would you ascend? And what, exactly would allow it? What, my dear, makes you tick?"
As Sasori spoke Sakura could hear the madness in his voice. There was obsession in his eyes, and he seemed even crazier than any time during when they had been fighting. Sakura realized that while she could still feel with her sense of touch, she couldn't feel her pulse or chakra. She felt hollow on the inside. She knew that with just how her arm looked the rest of her was probably transformed as well. Was she even a person anymore?
"I started the basic process about four days ago. I was injured and had a lot to do so I actually cured you with an antidote and then kept your under with a powerful sedative. An IV kept you in good enough shape until I was ready to start," said Sasori, continuing on with his rant. "Once I was done cleaning house then I got to work. Honestly I wanted to start as soon as possible, but your last attack had done quite a number on me."
"You shouldn't have taken me with you," threatened Sakura. "My team will use me to find you, Kakashi is a very good tracker. And then you'll be sorry."
"They would only track you down if they thought you were captured," replied Sasori, flashing her another insane smile. "I worked with Orochimaru, I know how to deal with bodies. There is a suitable fake Sakura corpse that will fool them unless they're looking for something wrong. They'll think you were just brutally murdered and left there. In classic Ninja style, since they're in enemy territory, they'll probably just make the identification and dispose of the body. They might take a blood sample, in an attempt to figure out my poisons, but I made sure there was plenty for them to find."
Sasori reached out and gently caressed a lock of Sakura's hair.
"Sakura, such a fitting name for you really. Beautiful but only for such a short, brief period of time. Your beauty is not in your regular everyday experience but in your brief moments of glory where you truly open up to the world," mused Sasori. He started to pace around the room while Sakura watched helplessly, unable to move. "Just watching you I felt that it would be an appropriate gesture to allow you to become my next artistic master piece. You will be an achievement that is second only to making myself into a living puppet."
"How were you still able to move?" asked Sakura. "I thought Chiyo had sealed your chakra."
"It's true I wasn't able to move out of the way in time, but I was able to do something else." Sasori pointed to the mark on his chest. "This is my core, what allows this puppet body to move. I ejected it and guided it to one of the many spare bodies I had interspersed into my puppet army. You both made valiant efforts, but you also made grave assumptions about how my body functioned."
"You bastard," growled Sakura.
"It's amazing how coarse words like that seem beautiful when spoken from your lips," he said with a gentle smile. "I haven't gotten past making your body into that of a puppets. Next I'll work on strengthening you. All your physical attributes with be increased until you are naturally stronger, faster and tougher than you were before."
"Nothing about this is natural," said Sakura angrily.
"Everything about this is natural," contended Sasori. "This ability, to make puppets is like breathing to me. And soon, being in that body will be natural to you. After the strengthening I can start on arming you with weapons and tricks. Oh it'll be a challenge to see what tricks I can think up that won't impede your natural ability or beauty, but I'm sure they'll be grand."
"Why are you doing this?" asked Sakura.
"You destroyed quite a few of my puppets, including the third Kazekage. He'll be impossible to replace, you wrecked him beyond repair. He was my favorite, I went through quite a bit of work to get him. Oh well, you'll just have to take his place I guess. You destroyed him, so you are definitely a fitting replacement. Also, with so much potential, I feel you're already becoming my new favorite."
Sakura felt fear and panic gripping at her heart. As a ninja she was trained to keep such emotions in check, but her complete powerlessness in the situation overwhelmed her. Even if by a miracle a team came busting through the wall to save her she was already a motionless puppet. The best she could hope for would be to end up in Kankuro's arsenal of puppets or destroyed. If only she could somehow regain even momentary control of her body, then she might be able to catch Sasori by surprise and kill him. Thoughts of destroying the puppet master kept her sustained while he continued to rant.
"Now that you're awake we're ready for the next stage in your development. I'll need you to speak up and give me lots of feedback on how things feel. Usually I have only my skills and instincts to rely on, but this process will be different from what I'm used to."
Sasori lifted his hands over her and closed his eyes. She saw chakra gathering at the tips of his fingers. The chakra shot out and hit her. They formed into strings that connected the two. Sakura felt her familiar chakra being activated again followed by a rush of unfamiliar chakra mixed in. With new energy coursing through her she instinctively moved, gathering energy into her fist and smashing Sasori's crest.
At least, that's what she wanted to do. She felt the energy but she still couldn't move. Sakura attempted to gather up her chakra to help override the foreign chakra controlling her.
Come on god damnit! She thought to herself. I just need to move!
Instead of movement something else strange happened. She felt her chakra surge inside of her, and then instead of repelling Sasori's it did something else. They mixed together, fusing into something new. Sakura watched in horror as the familiar feeling in her body was over ridden by a new, different one, but one not altogether unpleasant. This fact scared her even more than the fusion itself. The visible effects of the fusion were demonstrated when the chakra strings turned from their usual blue color to a blood red.
Sasori opened up his eyes and looked at the red strings, a smile spreading on his face.
"Amazing," he said. "I've never experienced anything like this before with any of my other puppets. I knew you were a perfect choice. Your will is strong. I'm glad I kept it intact."
Sasori's smile yet again morphed into one of pure insanity.
"It's just like the stories granny used to read to me as a child. Two people bound together by the red strings of fate. Is there anything more artistically beautiful? Now, let's see if we can get you moving."
Sasori twitched his fingers slightly and Saukra found herself now sitting up on the work bench, her legs dangling off of it. It had been the weirdest feeling, moving without conscious or even unconscious control. She had felt something similar while letting Chiyo use her like a puppet while fighting Sasori. The urge to resist her commands had been powerful, but she had to let go and trusted the old woman completely. This was like that except for the fact that she wasn't able to even resist if she wanted to.
"I'm able to move you at least," mused Sasori. "Let's test your range of motion now."
Another finger twitch and Sakura was leaping off of the table and landing in a crouch. Then her body started to act out the movements of a training form. The katas she ran through were completely unknown to her, but seemed to be doing a good job of testing out her new puppet body. She was amazed at how fluidly her body could move while being inanimate. Her body finished up the forms and then stood at attention in front of Sasori, her right fist pressed up against the open palm of her left hand.
"Impressive," he said absently, probably already thinking about the next step. "Now let's see what happens when I do this."
The red chakra strings turned into a more light-pink color from their previous blood-red and Sakura felt something return to her she had never expected to feel again, control. She gathered her new mixed chakra into her fist and quickly charged at Sasori with a yell.
"Die!" she yelled. Her body was suddenly stopped mid movement though. She could still feel her control, but she couldn't move anymore.
"It seems when I return control to you I can only exert enough power to nullify your movements, but not control them. That's some impressive willpower you have there."
"How am I still able to move?" asked Sakura, still trying to fight against the red chakra strings' power.
"I made you different from the other puppets in this workshop. You're closer to me than you are to them. I transplanted your essences, the core that makes you who you are and what your chakra is, into your new puppet body. The only difference between us is that your movements can be controlled by my chakra strings while I am completely autonomous."
"So you made a talking puppet that dislikes you, smart," said Sakura sarcastically. Sasori just smiled at her.
"Oh, you will be able to do much more than that. In time, hopefully you'll be more than a puppet, you'll be a partner I can leave to her own control and judgment. A living, thinking work of art."
"You're crazy."
"Not an original accusation," replied Sasori calmly. "Now, why don't we try this again?"
More chakra surged through the strings and Sakura felt warmth and comfort overwhelm her as Sasori's chakra mixed once more with her own. Before she could stop, she found herself moving to the forms she had done before. This time they were imperfect due to being from her own memory and not Sasori's control but she managed to finish them, standing at attention just like before. It was only with her one hand pressed against the other that she realized what she had just done. A sinking sensation occurred in her chest and she felt her blood run cold.
Sasori just smiled warmly at her.
"Impressive for your first time. You'll definitely improve as we spend more time working together. We should probably also get you some clothes, I doubt you'd appreciate going any further while still wearing nothing."
Sakura was lying on her back, a pillow underneath her head. Her eyes were closed as she rested.
When did I get used to this? wondered Sakura. She could feel her arms being tugged and touched all over as Sasori worked on them. She didn't really need to sleep per say, although since she still needed to regenerate chakra rest was still a useful activity. Plus resting allowed her to feel a measure of normality about her body.
My new body, she self-corrected. It's only been a few weeks, this is not my body, and it won't ever be. But she was worried that eventually she actually would get used to it. The fact that she had already stopped fighting Sasori's every move and snipping at everything he said attested to that. The puppet master was a very…interesting person. He was more than twice her age, but he had such a…young personality about him. When it came to working on puppets, and her especially, he exhibited a youthful energy and enthusiasm that she couldn't help but admire.
"Ok, you may look now," said Sasori, his voice betraying his excitement. Sakura opened up her eyes and sat up on the bench. Looking at her arms she saw that she now had a foot long blade coming out of each of her forearms. Since he had only been working on her arms Sasori had allowed her to keep her clothes on during the process.
Her new outfit was pretty similar to her old one. She had been allowed to keep her old red Konoha Ninja headband, worn just like always wrapped like a ribbon around her short pink hair. She wore a sleeveless red shirt, the only change being the addition of Sasori's scorpion mark added near her heart. She wore black shorts, a tan hip cloth and a tan belt to hold it up around her hips. Finally she just had a plain pair of boots. None of her Ninja equipment had been returned to her yet, and when she had asked about it Sasori had just waved her off, saying she didn't need any of it.
"Well," asked Sasori, pride in his voice. "Do you like them?"
"I guess they're pretty cool," admitted Sakura, causing the puppet master to smile. "But they're kind of cumbersome, aren't they?
"That's the brilliant part," said Sasori theatrically. Sakura had been finding that the puppet master loved his theatrics, and that he was quite good at them. He flicked his finger, and the ever present red chakra strings connecting them sent a command to her body. The blades disappeared in puffs of smoke, the symbol for blade written on her arms where they had been. "Now think about making them reappear."
Sakura did as told, and with a very small exertion of chakra, the blades were back, sticking out of her arms. She couldn't resist smiling at the niftiness of the trick. She thought again this time about making them disappear and they did so.
"Wow, that's brilliant," admired Sakura. Sasori flashed her another smile.
"I want to make sure that whatever I add to you won't hinder any of your normal abilities. The tricks should just supplement your usual abilities. Are there any skills you have that you didn't use in the battle against me?"
"Not really," replied Sakura absent mindedly, only realizing what she had said after it was out of her mouth. She realized she should have bluffed or something instead and she just hoped that Sasori thought she was holding back information instead of admitting weakness.
"We'll just have to work on that then, won't we?" said Sasori. He flicked his finger and she suddenly found herself jumping off of the work bench.
In mid-jump she felt control being returned to her. Before she landed she saw movement and reacted by landing in a crouch, ducking under Sasori's kick. She brought her left arm up and blocked the second kick aimed right at her head. Putting some chakra into her fist she struck out with her free hand in an uppercut. Her opponent leapt backwards, opening up a space between them.
"Well at least your reflexes seem to be good," observed Sasori. "Bring out the blades and let's see how they affect your movements."
Sakura didn't need to be told twice as with a thought the blades popped into existence. Sasori liked to do random sparing sessions, probably to test her abilities. Or maybe he just had a fetish for sparing, Sakura hadn't exactly decided which was more likely yet. What she did know was that these sessions were her best chances to try to kill the puppet master once and for all. She hoped that this time she would get to do so with the blades he had just given her, just for the irony of it all.
Sakura rushed forward, hoping to strike before Sasori could react. Sadly, even though he was a puppet master by training, he had trained himself intensely in taijutsu to make up for the usual weakness of his art. And now in his immortal puppet body, his taijutsu skills were top notch. Sasori parried her punch, knowing that to be hit directly by her fists was to face death. Sakura had expected this though and lashed out with a kick, which Sasori jumped over.
The puppet master lashed out with a kick of his own which Sakura blocked with her arm. She tried to move her arm along his leg and cut it in half, but the weight behind it made that impossible. She instead just dodged out from underneath him. After making room between them, she tried to strike as he was getting up from his crouch after landing. She was surprised when instead of moving into her strike he stayed down and just lashed out with a kick, hitting her in the stomach and sending her into the wall. She collapsed onto the work bench as the various tools on the walls shock from the impact. Sakura tried to get back into the fight, but found that the red strings were once again holding her down. Sasori was looking right at her, studying her.
"The blades didn't seem to hinder your movements at all," he observed. "Although I guess they're not very useful if they can't hit. You didn't seem to be used to them at the beginning, fighting the same as before, but your usage increased as we fought. Your strong punches and kicks are probably more useful currently unless I figure out a way to increase the length…"
He wasn't talking to her anymore, just muttering to himself. Sakura glared at him with hatred in her eyes. She had been so close, but had failed! The taste of imagined victory and freedom still lingered. She hoped that her gaze would magically gain the ability to light the puppet master on fire. Sasori seemed to realize that she was still sitting restrained and returned his attention briefly to her.
"You may rest or read a scroll or book," he said, lifting the restraint on her movements. She knew that if she tried to attack him, even in his distracted state he would respond immediately to restrain her if he didn't feel like fighting. Instead she followed his advice and grabbed up a book on the concept of chakra strings that was lying next to her on the work bench. The bench itself had become a kind of bed for her, a space for her and her things. She had found that among all of his puppet storage scrolls there were normal books and scrolls. When he wasn't working on her or sparing with her he allowed her to read any she wanted. Her thirst for knowledge and boredom at sitting around had led her to taking his advice. She also knew that she had to catch him by surprise, the ninja way was to watch and wait, and she could do that easily while increasing her own knowledge.
"Pour some chakra into this," demanded Sasori, walking into the workroom. Sakura looked up from her book, this one now on the basic theory of puppet construction, and saw he was holding a small piece of paper in his hand.
The puppet master had left abruptly on business, like he was want to do, and left her alone in the locked workshop. She hadn't tried to break out yet, convinced that the place must be rigged with traps if he was leaving her by herself. And she had decided that it would be a waste of energy to wreck all of his equipment because he would just decide she wasn't worth the effort and terminate her. She needed to stay alive, or at least with a semblance of free will, if she wanted to do some real good by killing him.
"What is it?" asked Sakura, memorizing her place and closing the book.
"Chakra paper," he said simply, not really enlightening her about anything.
"What's it do?"
"Just take it and hit it with a small surge of chakra," he said again.
"Fine," said Sakura, giving in to another one of his strange demands. She grabbed the piece of paper and poured some chakra into it. The paper was suddenly cut neatly in half down the center. Sasori gave a slight smile as she stared baffled at the strange occurrence.
"So you have an affinity for wind," he muttered. "That'll work very nicely for the next part of your designing."
Sasori ignored her once again and dug through a book shelf. He pulled out a scroll, opened it up, scanned the contents and then threw it to the side with a grunt. He rooted around the book shelf again, pulling out another scroll. He didn't give any signs of approval, but instead of throwing it to the side like the last, he threw it at Sakura. She deftly caught it and looked at it. The scroll was labelled 'Basic Wind Techniques of the Desert'.
"Read that," commanded Sasori.
"Why?" asked Sakura, unsure of what was going on.
"I didn't see you using any elemental techniques so I'm guessing you weren't taught any yet. We're going to fix that," replied Sasori. "Read, I have a meeting now."
He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Sakura just stared at the spot he had been standing for a moment and with a sigh settled back down into her spot on the work bench. She opened up the new scroll and started to digest all of the information contained in it.
"Are you done with the scroll yet?" asked Sasori, walking into the workroom. Sakura idly wondered if it would kill the puppet master to say hello before getting right into business. The scroll lay finished next to her and she had started to resume the book on puppet construction, wanting to finish it before she got to anything else.
"Yes. Not having to sleep gives me lots of time to read," replied Sakura dryly, glaring at Sasori. He ignored her hostility though and just flicked a finger, causing her to get off of the bench and stand facing him. He didn't immediately return control to her this time though.
"Do you remember and understand everything you read?"
"Yes, I do," replied Sakura. It was pretty simple stuff to comprehend, there were five basic elements, people had affinities to the elements, and the elements could be used to enhance or create new jutsu and techniques. She had tried a little earlier but she wasn't exactly sure what she was trying to accomplish with such a technique.
"We're going to go out then," he said, turning around and walking out of the room. Sakura's body moved on its own, walking after Sasori and falling into place to his right.
"Where are we going?" asked Saura, confused. Sasori hadn't let her out of the room the whole time she'd been his captive.
Sasori didn't answer her question, he instead threw her a familiar black cloak with red clouds on it. Her body moved on its own to catch the cloak and donned it quickly. Sasori also did the same. Sakura briefly wondered how they had managed to do so with the chakra strings connecting them but figured Sasori just knew something she didn't. The pair exited through another door and after going through a series of corridors emerged outside in a forest. They ran at a brisk pace for about an hour, jumping from tree to tree with ease. Sakura remembered many cases of having done this very same action while on missions, before her capture. It almost brought on a wave of nostalgia that she quickly crushed. This was not a normal mission and the puppet master wasn't one of her comrades. He was her captor and would always be just that.
Sakura barely noticed as they hopped off of a branch and landed in a clearing. There were four surprised men sitting around a camp fire. None of them were wearing ninja headbands or anything else to identify where they came from but they were heavily armed.
"Who are you?" asked one of the men, standing up. The others also rose, pulling out various weapons. One man pulled out a katana while another drew some kunai knives from a holster.
"Hand over the scroll," replied Sasori. The men registered shock at the phrase. Sakura guessed that it meant something to them. They were looking even more wary now and Sakura could feel their killing intent. They were definitely not planning on letting the pair leave alive now.
"How do you know about that?" asked the man again.
"Unimportant. This is your last chance."
"We spent four months planning this heist and lost one man pulling it off and you think I'm just going to hand it over?"
"Nope. Just being courteous," said Sasori casually. In the blink of an eye a kunai knife had left his hand and embedded itself in the man's throat. He gurgled and choked on his own blood, collapsing onto his knees on the ground as his comrades charged at Sakura and Sasori.
Sakura's body moved forward on its own, throwing off her cloak and placing itself between the puppet master and the thieves. She ducked under the slash of the man with the katana and punched him straight in the chest with a chakra enhanced punch. She could feel ribs cracking and the man flew backwards, his momentum only halted when he smashed into a large tree. He slid onto the ground, his body unmoving.
The two remaining thieves halted for a moment in horror and that was all the time Sasori needed. Sakura felt the puppet master molding her chakra in unfamiliar ways. The blades appeared on her arms and the chakra strings cast a sanguine glow throughout the clearing. Her chakra molded itself along her arm blades and she felt herself spinning on one leg, the chakra extending outward. One thief reacted by throwing himself onto the ground. The other didn't react fast enough though. He was cut into several pieces that landed in a mess onto the forest floor.
The remaining thief pulled a katana from the sheath on his back. He was trembling in fear at the quick massacre he had just witnessed but instead of trying to retreat he made a final stand. He seemed to have realized that he was fighting a puppet master and puppet and went for their weak point, the strings binding them. He charged, swinging his katana down at the red string, Sakura looked on in horror, unable to stop him in time.
"No!" she yelled.
The katana struck the red strings and was sliced clean in half by the chakra strings. Sakura and the thief both stared, dumbstruck by his failure. Sasori moved forward, a triumphant smirk on his face. The red strings cut through the soft body of the thief, various chunks of him collapsing to the ground.
Sakura was stunned by the massacre of the thieves which had taken less than five minutes, talking included. She could feel that her chakra for the blade attack had been different. Sasori had just shown her a live example of what happened when you augmented an attack with wind chakra. Just as shocking had been discovering how hard of a bond between puppet and master the red strings were to break. The most shocking event of the past few minutes though had been the flash of relief she had felt when the thief had failed to cut the strings.
"I hope that was a good enough example to you of what elemental chakra can do," said Sasori, kneeling down next to the first thief and ruffling through his pockets. He removed a scroll from the man's bag; opening it and checking its contents. The puppet master closed the scroll, smiling in satisfaction. He nonchalantly pulled out a kunai and stabbed it right in the thief's heart, causing the body to spasm in death throes.
"What are you doing!?" yelled Sakura in surprise.
"He was still alive," replied Sasori calmly. "The first kunai didn't kill him but the poison had incapacitated him. He was a loose end who knew we were here. Plus, would you I rather have left him here dying a slow death in agony?"
His points were all good ones. Sakura, and Sasori were ninjas. It was their job to accomplish missions, often by killing targets or threats. Covering up a trail that could lead back to you or your village was standard operating procedure. Plus, since they hadn't been going to heal him he would probably have died a painful death just like Sasori had mentioned.
As the pair leapt out of the clearing and away from the thieves, it never occurred to Sakura just how easily she was starting to accept Sasori's way of thinking.
Sakura spun around once more, chopping through all of the nearby rocks in the quarry, turning them into small chunks of rubble. She had started to get a hang of using wind chakra in her attacks and techniques. Sasori had taught her how to use it as a supplement to her regular abilities. By far her strongest technique was her vortex slash. It extended the range of her blades, hit all around her, and with a newer twist, drew all her enemies to her while keeping a protective cushion of air between her and whatever she drew in. Another ability she had acquired was increasing the strength of her jumps and allowing herself to float or hang in midair for a short amount of time.
As Sakura halted her spin she marveled at the progress she had made in the last few months of joining up with Sasori. He was a talented ninja in his own right, but also a surprisingly good teacher. The Puppet Master had a way with people that allowed him to mold them into the shape he desired. Her respect for him in that regard had definitely grown dramatically. Despite this she was still biding her time every day for the perfect opportunity. Now that she knew how skilled he was for real, she knew she'd need to learn everything she could from him before she could defeat him.
In addition to teaching her how to mold and use wind chakra, Sasori had also done so much more for her. Her body was now riddled with tricks and traps, all designed to complement her natural abilities instead of replacing them. In their down time he allowed her to read any of the scrolls he had in the workshop. She didn't really plan to use much of the knowledge to form new techniques, and she wasn't sure she could, but she did think it would come in useful if she needed to counter another ninja. Books on basic techniques, elemental techniques, bloodline techniques, bingo books on famous threats, sealing techniques, healing techniques, genjutsu illusions and taijutsu combat.
It was often that if they weren't doing any missions, training or adjustments to her body that Sakura and Sasori would spar together. She never had a chance to kill him, but she did notice a large improvement in her fighting skills, even if she couldn't gain any muscle to get any stronger. Sasori had also continued taking her on missions for the Akatsuki organization after their defeat of the thieves. They ranged in difficulty from fights with small time thugs like the thieves to fights against teams of trained ninjas from the many hidden villages. Sakura had yet to encounter any from her own Hidden Leaf Village, but she wondered what she would do when she did.
Looking up from the bottom of the quarry she saw Sasori sitting on a ledge, assessing her progress. He just gave her his usual smirk, but Sakura knew him well enough now that she could glimpse the genuine affection underneath it. She smiled back at him, grateful for his praise and training. The red strings that bound them were currently ephemeral and practically invisible to the naked eye. The successful training session had been all her with no help from the Puppet Master. She knew the strings were there though, they always were. Through them she could feel Sasori, and he could feel her. Sakura had to admit that the sense of connection was strangely comforting in its own way.
Sasori noticed the threats before she did, but the bond between them relayed his awareness to her. Several cloaked figures landed around the edge of the quarry, surrounding the pair. Sakura prepared to engage on Sasori's order or to defend if the newcomers attacked first. What surprised her though was how familiar the enemies seemed even though she knew they weren't any of the other members of Akatsuki or any of Sasori's many sleeper agents.
She took stock and saw that there were eight enemies in a rough circle around them. One of the enemies was some type of ninja animal, standing next to the person who was probably its partner. Sasori just stared calmly at their foes, seemingly unconcerned by their presence. One of the cloaked figures broke off from the rest of the group, throwing off its cloak and landing on the floor if the quarry in front of her.
"Sakura?" asked the familiar orange clad figure.
"Naruto…," muttered Sakura, staring in surprise at her blond haired former teammate. "What are you doing here?"
"We're here to rescue you!" said Naruto. "I'm so glad I ignored Kakashi and brought yours, Gaara's and Chiyo's bodies back for burial. Tsunade insisted on an autopsy on you to try to find out all she could from your body and she discovered that the body was a decoy. It took a while to put together a team and find your trail, but we did it!"
Naruto looked about to cry tears of joy at their reunion. She felt both glad and annoyed at Sasori for having worked to make her puppet parts less obvious. She could blend in better like this, but she also knew that the truth was going to break her friend's heart.
"Naruto," she said, taking a step back from him. "You need to leave, right now. Return to the village, forget about me."
"What?" asked Naruto, surprised. "Why would I ever do that?"
"Because, it's too late for me."
"What do you mean by that!" shouted Naruto angrily.
"She means this," said Sasori calmly, finally speaking up. With no visible motion the red strings binding them glowed blood red, the bond between them visible for all to see. "She's not the Sakura you knew anymore. She's now mine."
"You asshole!" cried Naruto. He leapt off the quarry floor at Sasori, a ball of chakra and pressure, a rasengan, forming in his hand. He was interrupted mid leap though as Sakura intercepted him, knocking him back to the ground with a kick. He looked up from where he had crashed, a look of surprise and betrayal on his face. "Sakura?"
A figure landed next to Naruto. Sakura realized that it was their teacher and team leader, Kakashi. He helped Naruto up, studying Sakura the whole time with his one uncovered eye.
"She's being controlled by that man," said Kakashi. "Those are chakra strings. My guess is he somehow turned her into a puppet. I've only heard of this ability and skill in one person though, Sasori of the Red Sand."
"That would be me," responded Sasori. "You seem to be pretty well informed, Kakashi the Copy Ninja. Dediera told me that you did quite a number on him, taking off his arm. He's quite pissed about that and it's been more difficult than usual to get him to shut up."
"Release Sakura and turn yourself in now for the crimes you have committed," said Kakashi, staring at Sasori.
"How about you just hand over the nine-tailed demon fox inside of that boy and I let you get out of here alive?" asked Sasori, pointing at Naruto.
"So the hard way it is then," said Kakashi. He brought his hand up to the headband covering his eye and lifted it up, revealing the Sharingan Mirror wheel eye that allowed him to copy other's techniques and to use powerful illusions and techniques.
The rest of the figures jumped into action, throwing off their cloaks. Sakura recognized the three members of team ten, Hinata, Shino and Kiba, all her friends and comrades. There were also two other men, one a brown haired guy with a weird helmet on his head and the other a black haired young man around her age who was wearing a tight shirt that exposed his stomach and short pants. They all started to use techniques to close the distance to attack directly.
Sasori was ready for the incoming ninja though. He threw off his own cloak, revealing his bare chest. With a slight exertion of chakra blades appeared on his arms and scrolls on his back, turning him into a dangerous weapon. Another exertion of chakra and he had summoned his army of one hundred puppets to crush Sakura's former friends. Sakura felt her body rushing to Sasori's side to defend him as the puppets engaged their enemies.
Hinata kept the puppets away from her using a combination of the 360 degree sight given to her by her Byakugan all-seeing eye and the taijutsu techniques passed down in her family. Kiba and his giant ninja dog partner Akamaru melded their instincts together and became more beast and man than they were usually. Striking viciously in tandem they crushed puppet after puppet, dodging all attacks. The mysterious Shino unleashed the chakra eating bugs that usually inhabited his body, sending them to sever the chakra strings binding the puppets. The brown haired man placed his hands to the ground and living blocks of wood shot out from the hard quarry floor to smash through several puppets. The black haired young man pulled out a scroll and ink brush. With several quick hand motions animals made of ink leapt from the scroll to assault Sasori's puppet force.
Naurto still seemed to be stunned by Sakura's new form, but with a feral growl he joined the fight against the puppets. With a familiar set of hand seals he used his shadow clone technique to create an army of copies of himself with substance and form that punched, kicked and rasenganed their way towards Sasori. The only one Sakura didn't see attacking was Kakashi. The copy ninja seemed to have disappeared in the chaos. A chill of fear ran down her spine and with it came realization.
"Sasori!" she yelled, summoning wind chakra to her feet and propelling herself the last of the way to the Puppet Master's side. He leapt into the air as she gathered chakra into her fist and punched the ground where he had been standing. A surprised Kakashi looked up at her from his hiding place below the ground. Sakura lashed out with a kick that Kakashi managed to dodge.
"You're not just a regular puppet, are you?" asked Kakashi, studying her. "You still have Sakura's mind and abilities."
"Yes, I do," admitted Sakura.
She engaged her former teacher in close combat, her puppet body allowing her to keep up with his skills that had been honed on the battlefield and training with the taijustsu master Might Gai. They traded kicks and punches, neither letting up. Kakashi was obviously trying to create distance so that he could use several of the powerful techniques he had copied or created over the years but Sakura wouldn't let him. She instead attempted to cut him with her blades, which had been crafted to secrete a powerful poison Sasori had created with her assistance. Kakashi managed to knock her away, forming the seals to use a powerful technique. But Sakura managed to recover quicker than he had expected. She held out her right hand and the palm opened up to shoot several poisoned senbon needles out at Kakashi. He dodged to the side, his ninjutsu attack forgotten in his haste. None of the needles hit him, but Sakura was once again up close to him and ready to attack.
She took stock of her surroundings and with the awareness granted to her by the red strings, knew that neither Sasori nor his puppets were in her range. Instead they had retreated, floating in the air and forcing their enemies to the quarry floor. It seemed that Sasori had lost at least half of his puppets in the battle, but Sakura hoped that this would even the score.
"Vortex Slash!" yelled Sakura, drawing everyone's attention to her. Wind Chakra formed along her blades and extended outward and she started to spin on her right foot. The wind drew things towards her chakra blades as the slashed through even the toughest of materials. Hundreds of Shino's chakra bugs spread throughout the field were sucked into the vortex and their lives extinguished. It was only once she was done with the attack that Sakura realized how much damage it had truly done.
Kakashi, always the survivor, had managed to escape what should had been a sure death, but was grievously injured, blood dripping from cuts all over his body. The brown haired man had also somehow managed to escape with very few injuries, but the large amount of chopped wood laying on the ground and his panting at a large expenditure of chakra hinted at the effort it had taken. The black haired young man had lost his left hand, but he had replaced it with an ink one that seemed to be keeping the bleeding at bay for the moment. Shino's clothes had been shredded and underneath cuts in his skin instead of leaking blood dropped dead chakra bugs, the price to pay for his survival. Kiba and Akamaru had leapt upwards to avoid her attack, right into Sasori's waiting puppets. They had both been struck by several poisoned weapons and were laying collapsed on the ground, fighting against the poison's effects. Hinata had also leapt upwards, but her Byakugan had allowed her to dodge the puppets more effectively. A poisoned senbon needle had still found its way to her leg though, and she was standing on the quarry ground, fighting the effects to stay up.
Naruto was also lying on the ground, a stunned look on his face. All of his clones had been destroyed and his body riddled with cuts. Blood dripped from them as the blond ninja just stared at Sakura. Some part of him seemed to have been destroyed by the very act of a former teammate and dear friend trying to kill him and those he cared for.
Sakura also hated Sasori for forcing her to do that to her friend. At least until she realized that he hadn't. As she resumed her position by the Puppet Master's side she realized that everything during the fight had been under her own violation. He hadn't once exerted control over her during the fight, she knew intimately what that felt like and she hadn't felt it all day. All he had done was make the strings visible, nothing else. The choice to combat Kakashi and to use her Vortex Slash had all been hers. Sakura also realized that this all should have disturbed her, but it didn't. Naruto, Kakashi and her comrades from her village weren't the most important people to her anymore. Sasori was, he had made her what she was, trained her and perfected her. She lived only to protect and serve him. And she felt extreme satisfaction and comfort in that knowledge.
As she took her place by his side he gave her a proud smile, one in which she felt all the love he felt for her. With a twitch of his finger his puppets moved in for the kill, striking to finish off the enemy ninja. They were all stopped though as Naruto transformed into a blood red fox with four tails. He smashed through the puppets, destroying everything in his way regardless of how many times they stabbed him with poisoned weapons. Sakura watched in horror as a fifth tail started to sprout. The brown haired man moved forward as if to intercept Naruto, but Kakashi stopped him. Instead along with the black haired young man they recovered Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru and retreated out of the quarry to a distance.
"The Demon Fox inside of him is running out of control," said Sasori, calmly, directing his puppets in battle against the monster. A fifth tail formed and the stub of a sixth started to appear. "We need to stop him now before anymore tails form. Are you able to fight him?"
"I have enough chakra and tricks left to take him on," replied Sakura, Sasori's real question never occurring to her.
Sakura used some wind chakra to boost her jump and then to shoot her back down, her enhanced punch smashing straight into the Demon Fox. She vacated the crater quickly as Sasori's Puppets unleashed every long ranged weapon left to them. Sasori himself summoned up the power of one of the scrolls on his back and shot a jet of fire from a hole in his hand. The Demon Fox was covered completely in the raging inferno. Sakura picked up large chunks of rock and threw them at the monster. From the conflagration came a large burst of black chakra. Sasori's puppet army was ripped to shreds by the blast. The fire halted from the Puppet Master's hand as the scroll ran out. Sakura could see the Demon Fox, seven tails on it now, moving, overcoming its injuries and getting ready to strike. Sasori popped the second scroll on his back and shot a powerful jet of water at the fox to keep it down.
"This thing is just as powerful as I had hoped and feared," said Sasori, grimacing.
"I'll get behind it, maybe if I get close enough I can take it out!" yelled Sakura, rushing towards the Demon Fox.
"Be careful!" yelled Sasori, sounding the most concerned she had ever heard him be. She took heart and energy from his concern, and rushed to put the Demon Fox down before it could hurt her Master. She drew on the last dregs of her chakra, molding it towards her Vortex Slash. She was surprised when she felt a large influx of new energy, foreign but familiar. She realized Sasori was providing her with his own energy through the red strings. Now next to the monster, Sakura unleashed her attack.
"Vortex Slash!" she yelled. She spun and the attack tore the whole quarry to shreds, and still she kept spinning until she was completely out of energy. When she was finally drained she collapsed to the ground, exhausted. It was with hopeful eyes that she looked up but with horror that she witnessed the Demon Fox staring right at her, nine sanguine tails right behind it.
"No, I failed," cried Sakura. If she had still had the ability to cry, tears would have been pouring from her eyes. She had failed to defeat the Demon Fox, even after Sasori had given her so much of his energy and assistance. She had failed him. She closed her eyes and prepared to die to the Demon Fox, but the death never came.
"Here, let me help you up," said a familiar voice. A strong hand reached down and picked her up. Standing, she opened her green eyes and looked directly into Sasori's brown ones. She looked and saw that the Demon Fox was held in place by the Red strings connecting her and Sasori. He had wrapped them around the monster and their unbreakable bond was keeping it in its place. Sasori smiled at her. "You did so well, just as well as I could have ever predicted you would. You were truly my master piece."
Then Sasori did something Sakura never expected him to do, he hugged her. Despite the fact that they were both puppets, she felt warmth, softness and comfort radiating through the gesture. She returned it, burying her head in his shoulder. In that moment, she felt the happiest she had ever been.
Sakura barely even registered as a giant explosion ended Sasori and her lives.
Dediera, the obsessive explosives master of Akatsuki and self-proclaimed master artist looked down at the crater that used to be a quarry. A naked blond haired boy lay bleeding, the only living thing remaining there. Two puppet corpses also laid there, their cores destroyed but the remains of their bodies huddled together forever in an embrace. Dediera didn't usually agree with his partner Sasori's definition of art, but he couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the Puppet Master's final moments.
Itachi Uchiha, another member of Akatsuki jumped down into the Quarry to fetch the body of the Demon Fox's host. Dediera wasn't really a fan of anyone with a Sharingan eye, and Itachi drove him crazy but orders were orders. They had arrived too late to assist Sasori, but his explosive art had made sure that the sacrifice hadn't been in vain. Not usually one for sentiment Dediera sent a giant clay bird down to the ground to scoop up the two entwined puppets. He kept watch from atop another giant bird but he didn't really think that any of the Demon Fox's comrades would return. They were too injured to take on two S-rank missing ninja's, they weren't stupid enough to risk their lives for nothing.
There was no doubt that this moment would escalate tensions between Akatsuki and the rest of the ninja world. The Demon Fox's host was actually well liked, unlike the other demon hosts the Akatsuki had been collecting to harvest. Only two other exceptions existed, one of which they had already killed and the other which was their final target. Sasori and his puppet girl had changed the face of the world, and Dediera planned to find a more fitting place to place their remains for one final glorious explosion together.