OHOHOHO. Suddenly a serious plot emerges in the farthest corners of my brain! I apologise for grammatical and vocabulary errors... I don't have a beta-editor as of yet. Anyone willing to beta-edit can PM me. Thanks dears.

Disclaimer: If I do own Naruto, I'd make Kakashi come alive and be my husband. Yes, my husband, because he's too hot and full of flaming charisma to be otherwise. Wishful thinking.

0000000 THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN EDITED. Enjoy :)

It was a room coloured pitch black from the darkness, foreshadowing what was to come. A door creaked open.

Footsteps.

Then it stopped. The room was deathly silent, except for a person's ragged breathing.

"State your name and title." An eerily calm voice echoed through the room.

The ragged breathing stopped and gave way to bitter, hoarse laughter.

"Not a chance… Uchiha."

The man was silent for a moment before he continued. "I suppose it does not matter, as we already know of you."

The slumped figure chained to the wall stared unflinchingly into his red eyes, not bothering to dignify it with a response.

"It is imperative that you answer my questions or you will be subjected to another person's more... unpleasant questioning methods," he continued in a matter-of-fact manner, scrutinizing her with his piercing gaze. "Have you been in contact with Konoha?"

It took some time before the figure reacted to the question. "No."

"When was the last time you set foot in the village?"

"2 years ago."

He crouched down to meet the figure's emerald gaze. When he spoke, it was softer. "Why did you leave, Haruno?"

Her jade eyes stared back at him, impossible to read. When she responded, her voice was eerily devoid of emotion. "Because I have nothing left."

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"She does not seem to be lying." A man with piercings paced back and forth slowly, appearing to be in deep thought.

The corridor was painted a dull grey, which seemed to match the mood of the Akatsuki members huddled outside the room where a particular female was being chained in. A man clucked his tongue in disapproval.

"I think we should just kill the fucking bitch if she's lying! Jashin-sama's been asking for a nice, easy, little sacrifice," Akatsuki's Hidan sneered derisively.

Itachi chose not to respond to Hidan's comment but Pein's. "Aa." After a moment's pause, he continued in his smooth voice. "Uzumaki may really be hiding from the girl that he's alive."

The man stopped walking, focusing his piercing gaze on him. His gaze was intense, but Itachi had been on the receiving end of it numerous times to know it was not a warning gaze.

"How sure are you that he's alive?"

"I am not. However, the Kyuubi will not allow his host and his own self to die. As long as Uzumaki has access to the Kyuubi's enhancing abilities, he will be alive."

A pensive look crossed the man's features as he pondered on the likelihood of it for a moment. When he spoke, it sounded curious. "Unless, at the time of his death - during Danzou's attack on Konoha, the Kyuubi was transferred to a different body and hence the Kyuubi chakra we sensed a few months ago now belongs to someone else."

Itachi had already considered that possibility, giving an acknowledging nod. "That is possible as well. Such an attack on Konoha can cause people to be distracted. The sealing ritual would have commenced rather smoothly, if it was done at a distance from the village and done quickly. However, Uzumaki's body has not been found, so we need to consider the earlier option as well."

"Leader-sama, are you sure you sensed the demon's chakra recently?" Kisame Hoshigaki asked. He was a large blue-skinned man, leaning casually against the wall with his arms folded. To his right, a blonde, feminine-looking man as well as a masked man listened intently for the Leader's answer.

Pein directed his gaze onto the Mist nin, who shifted uncomfortably. Then he spoke in a tone warranting no further discussion on the topic. "I have never been wrong in sensing chakra. If I said it came from Iwagakure, the jinchuuriki is in Iwagakure."

Silence reigned across the corridor. The other members of Akatsuki smartly kept their mouth shut, waiting for the verdict of their Leader on the situation.

"The Kyuubi is most probably alive. We are going to need Haruno Sakura on our side to find it."

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She was no longer the same innocent girl she knew many years ago. She had seen war, fought in it and ran away from it when she couldn't take it.

Like what she did 4 years ago, when Danzou had infiltrated Konoha and ended up eliminating the Hokage in a fierce battle. She knew her shishou wouldn't last long, and it was all her fault.

Her fault and Naruto's. He was told to stay out of harm's way, but he didn't.

After the battle which caught Konoha unaware, Sakura's self slowly faded, leaving nothing behind but an empty shell of what she used to be. Her friends are dead. Her sensei is dead. Her shishou was gone right before her eyes. Her parents died in the battle as their house collapsed from a huge bomb that incapacitated many civilians. She had nothing left. And she knew the other survivors felt the same way, judging by Hinata's constantly glazed eyes, Neji's empty gaze once he entered Root, Sai's lifeless eyes as he too re-entered the organization… and the many others, who now spoke in hushed whispers for fear of being charged for treason against the new Hokage.

There was barely anything else to live for in Konoha, and everyone else knew it.

So on a cool, quiet night, she packed a few necessary items, and ran.

She wasn't foolish though. She knew she had to enhance her skills to survive in the wild. It was when Danzou had called her to his office, 23 days after the battle, that she formulated an idea to enhance her survival skills.

"Haruno, you are the Godaime's student, are you not?" The man's gaze was piercing as he scrutinized her intently.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura said, trying not to show any vestiges of anger. She was now at his bidding, and it wouldn't do to get herself simply executed for rude conduct as Kiba had.

He leaned forward and perched his elbows on the table, studying her.

Then he spoke.

"Haruno, how much do you know of kekkei genkai?"

It was then that she was tasked with the opportunity to study kekkei genkai, which was deemed to only be inherited. Danzou, with all his manipulative, cunning ideas, wanted all his shinobi to be able to use kekkei genkai.

And he wanted Sakura to study it and do it. She was free to study Neji's and Hinata's eyes, and since Hinata was "not much of a contribution to the village", she was also free to test and alter Hinata's eyes, much to her disgust. She did nothing of the sort, though. Fortunately for her, she was able to come up with significant findings despite not testing on a subject. Her findings were reported to the Hokage at regular intervals to keep him satiated in his ambitions. What he did not know was that she withheld a few important information so that only she knew understood kekkei genkai well.

Then she found it. On a late Saturday night, she was in the lab and found one of her dish tray specimens positive with kekkei genkai cells.

That same night, she altered her own eyes. The pain was stabbing and for a torturous hour, she felt as though she was being ripped to shreds. It was only 2 hours after that she came to and - after wiping her bloodied eyes - discovered in the mirror that her eyes shimmered an eerie powerful yellow when activated. It was surreal. She, Haruno Sakura, had done it.

The next day – her day off – she arrived at an isolated training ground at 6am, intent on training in secret. She suspected her Earth and Water element advantages would enable her to have Mokuton element as well, similar to the late Yamato-taichou. Procuring a scroll from her bag – provided conveniently by Danzou to aid in her studying – she proceeded to scan through the scroll of kekkei genkai jutsus.

It was from that day onwards that she started training ever Sunday in the morning, not informing Danzou of the recent breakthrough, but feeding him slips of information that made it seem as though he was close to his goal, when she had already achieved it.

One Sunday morning, a man was caught her red-handed with her kekkei genkai. She was attempting to harness her Wind element enough for Hyoton jutsu, which was a combination of Wind and Water.

She stared at him rebelliously, her chin jutting out in defiance as she stood her ground. "I will not lose this fight, Neji," she stated clearly and calmly, although her mind was anything but. Her fingers trembled in fear but she clung on tight to her faith, hoping… just hoping for something to happen.

Then he came closer, until his nose was barely inches from her.

"Your Wind element is weak. You need training," he remarked in his smooth baritone voice. His gaze never wavered from her, his breath tickling her face.

Sakura smiled for the first time in months, a genuine, grateful, dimpled smile reaching her eyes.

It was an intensive training, and when Neji felt the presence of Root around, he would signal to her to deactivate her kekkei genkai, as if they were simply training to harness each other's abilities. It was rather fortunate that Neji managed to keep his mental self intact and fool Root members into thinking he was one of them. Her abilities shot up considerably quickly under his supervision and they grew even closer. She started to feel strongly for him, and it was the same for the Byakugan user as well. Their affections for each other grew stronger every day. He was like light coming from a crevice in the four walls Sakura had built around herself, and she strangely welcomed it, since it was a feeling she had never felt in so long.

For a brief period of time, she was happier than she had felt in months.

Then it was abruptly gone as he was found guilty of treason. He had been plotting to destroy Danzou's mind control devices implanted into Root and was caught infiltrating Root's secret archives in search for an answer.

He was promptly executed the night he was discovered red-handed.

Sakura received the news in the morning. She was sitting in her apartment kitchen, sipping her tea when she heard a knock on the door. It was an Root member, who'd impassively informed her of the news and promptly disappeared.

For a moment, she was attacked by sudden anguish. She lost grip on her tea, coating the white tiles on the floor with the thick, brown liquid. She sobbed uncontrollably on the ground, wishing for the pain to stop. Her body curled on its own accord on the floor as she struggled to breathe. It was only when she noticed the wisps of cold air exiting her mouth with every breath that she realised she had been lying on the floor for a very, very long time.

It was when she proceeded to pick up the broken china pieces from the floor that numbness overtook her. In her daze, she faintly realised her fingers were bleeding from the jagged shards, dripping blood everywhere and that she felt absolutely nothing.

She felt numb, and she welcomed it like an old friend. It was her only defense against pain, and it lingered, reassuring her that she was safe. It helped, becaue at that moment, she needed to think of her next move, and she definitely could not stay in Konoha any longer.

Her thoughts raced through her mind like a puzzle she was itching to solve. She realised she'd be likely to be suspected as his accomplice, seeing as they had been together. She was likely to be interrogated.

Dimly, she realised she couldn't let that happen, not when she had secrets to hide as well. To be specific, her kekkei genkai secret, as well as a much deeper, darker secret which she had never uttered even to Neji or anyone else after the event that occurred in the battle.

So -with a swift change of clothes and a quick walk to her lab- she pretended to be absorbed in her work all day, while requesting for some privacy. At 7pm, she destroyed all her work after sealing her written work in a scroll that can only be activated by herself. She shakily packed her items in a small bag discreetly, and ran south.

She never stopped running until landed herself in a small village in Tanigakure, River country.

It was then that her life as a missing nin began.

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"Haruno Sakura." The man standing before Sakura was one she faintly recognised and had memorised his abilities as Tsunade's student.

Pein. The man was not to be messed with. She had heard stories about his powers being equal to a god from other missing nins she had to work with. She clenched her fingers slightly, feeling uncomfortable that she was chained.

She wasn't sure how they found her, but she had a strong feeling as to who was guilty for it.

The man continued, leveling his stare at her. "Do you know what Akatsuki's goal is?"

She did not bother to respond, only with a brief shaking of her head while staring resolutely at the ground.

"Our goal is to achieve world peace, by being in control of all bijuu and controlling countries with a firm hand. This way, no one will retaliate, and wars will cease. We are now in need of the last bijuu, the Kyuubi," at this, he paused, "And I have an inkling that the Kyuubi is still alive somewhere."

It was a slap to the face when he said it. Her blood ran cold but she could not, she would not show her surprise or fear. Because if she did, he would know that he was speaking the truth.

And she'd be damned if things ricocheted into hell.

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Hello guys. (dodges eggs and tomatoes) I'm SORRY! I HAD WRITER'S BLOCK FOR SO LONG! I know! If you'd like to spur my writing ability, please review :3 Teehee.

Oh! Maybe I should explain what roughly happens here. Danzou had overtaken Konoha and killed many. Sakura has grown smarter, hence my title refers to her as Athena. Sakura has become a (new and improved) missing nin. Akatsuki is still present and suspects the Kyuubi/Naruto is still alive as his body wasn't found. However, only Sakura knows the truth and is hiding a deadly secret - hence the title, Power of Athena. (ooooo, mysterious.)

More mysteries to be revealed next chapter.

Lovelove! -staraz-