"You will all fear us when the time comes, you will know our name when the time comes, and that time is now, we are, Akatsuki," her voice echoed out into everyone's ears.

Naruto's heart dropped at the name, his form slouched, and Sakura's heart clenched in pain. He stood there, tears freely flowing, not bothering to wipe them away. Kakashi placed a hand on his students back and his eye softened.

"Why?" Naruto's voice came out softly, Sakura sighed and placed a mask on her face. A long pause draped over them as the wind howled in their ears.

"Because they accept me for who I am." her voice no more than a whisper, yet still carried to their ears. Naruto looked up and shattered Sakura's mask with his next words.

"Haven't We ?" Naruto's voice, although quiet, was loud in the deafening silence. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut as tears made their way down her face.

"Nothing would have changed! We would still accept you no matter what!" his voice broke and he fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands as his tears fell.

"I know Naruto," he looked up and his eyes widened in shock, and for a split moment, he could see past Sakura's mask, and he saw Sakura, the old Sakura, her eyes a molten emerald green, her face tear stained as she let out a strained smile.

"I know." she whispered to herself. Her group shifted uneasily as they knew how she yearned to run back into her old teammates arms.

Naruto's face broke out into a grin, and he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, . . . . You look beautiful." Sakura let a small smile spill across her lips at the looks of Rookie 9's faces; jaws dropped and eyes wide.

"Awww, how cute, now if ya' don't mind, Pinky here, is comin' with us." Kisame declared as he shifted Samehada on his shoulder. Naruto smiled and whispered into Kakashi's ear. He nodded and stepped back.

"S'okay." Naruto said, the Rookie 9 broke out into an uproar, a voice from his earpiece spoke to him,

"What are you doing Naruto ?" Naruto smiled and ignored the voice in his head.

"As long as you're happy, I'm happy, Okay Sakura-chan." Naruto broke out into a full out grin as he gave her a thumbs up.

"What do you think you're doing? Have you forgotten why we came here ?" the voice hissed, Naruto turned his back to Sakura for a moment, then turned to face her once more.

" Ne, Sakura-chan, I think there's someone you'd like to meet." Naruto's face got serious, and the wind blew harshly causing Sakura's pink locks to cover her eyes. As the wind died down and her pink strands began to fall in place once more, her breath hitched her eyes watering as she saw someone she thought she'd never see again.

"Masaka . . . . . " And there he stood, in all his glory, black orbs penetrating her eyes and he stood with one hand placed on his waist as his dark locks framed his pale face. That cold emotionless face burned into her mind resurfaced from the past and hit her; she let out a slow breath and calmed herself. She nodded her head to him, and surprisingly he returned it.

"Tch, still being annoying even after all these years." He said quietly, she smiled and reminisced in those words,

"Still as arragont as ever, ne, Sasuke." The eyes pierced hers and she gazed back. His eyes shifted to the form beside her. Those obsidian eyes accusing her, bore into her eyes, bore into her skull and into her mind. Her fists clenched at her sides and she looked down.

"Don't, Don't look at me with those Eyes." Sakura said quietly, he kept his gaze yet it softened, but not much. Her head suddenly jerked up and she took a step forward, one hand over her heart while the other outstretched to block Sora from view.

"You know nothing! So don't look at me like that." Her sudden outburst made him narrow his eyes and shift to Itachi.

"Sakura, stay away from him," Sasuke's voice was a surprise and she glared at him, she relaxed her figure but shifted into a unnoticable form, her muscles tensed, ready to strike out if needed to. She blinked once and inhaled the fresh air,

"Don't tell me what to do, Sasuke. I am free, with no one to hold me back," her voice was soft, she raised a hand and looked through her fingers; her eyes trailed to her group.

"Yuuki, Zero, Hiro," she was answered by a 'Hai,'

"Dismissed." Her soft voice carried to their ears, and with that, they disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She looked over the Konoha Nin's and turned her back to them. Sora grabbed her hand and looked up at her with those beautiful eyes of his. She smiled and bent down to give him a kiss on the forehead. She straightened and looked over her shoulder, all those she had once loved, they couldn't believe that she was actually going with them, that they were actually looking at her back. She saw Naruto, his eyes were sad, yet he smiled despite all that had transpired.

"One day, You will all know, this was for your own good." Sakura said quietly, and she motioned for Riku and Fuyu to follow; The Akatsuki took off quietly, not making a sound as they left. Kakuzu dragged Hidan along as he protested loudly about Jashin wanting a sacrafice. Itachi took the lead, his quiet footsteps left the branch no sooner than it hit them. Sora kept up, his eyes always searching for enemies in the dark, yet he held a relaxed form, but one with a trained eye would know better. The Akatsuki flanked them, and Hidan struck up a conversation with Riku, ~ or at least tried to.

"Hey," Hidan tried to get her attention, she merely glanced at him, and quickened her pace, Yet he quickly caught up once more. She clenched her fist in annoyance and mentally counted to 10 and back. Hidan clenched his teeth as he realized that she wasn't gonna answer him if needed to. Then he smiled and tackled her to the ground, Riku surprised at his choice of move was caught off guard and sliced a kunai at his neck, he dodged and smiled, his eyes held an evil glint. Not knowing what would happen Riku summoned her staff and pointed it at Hidan, not long after he pulled out his scythe and touched blades with hers.

"You wanna know what happens when I get a taste of your blood?" he said quietly, his eyes held a crazed look, and with that he attacked, swung his blade to cut her torso. She backflipped and skidded to a stop, she let out a 'tch' and looked up to Sakura for permission. Sakura gave the thought a moment, and then nodded her head once, Itachi caught this and narrowed his eyes at Hidan. Riku smiled and shook her head, and then procceded to prod her staff at him in little movements, he dodged and then grabbed her staff. He let go abrubtly and looked at his hand, it was stained red and smoke rose up from it. He looked at the staff and saw electricity crawl up and down it's shaft. She smiled again and swung it across where his head would be, he ducked and carried his blade across the ground and she jumped, his blade missing her by mere inches. She changed direction and dug her staff into the ground, one foot on the staff while she closed her eyes.

"Raika Hōrai no Jutsu." the ground glowed once around Hidan, and then cracked with the force of lightning, it pierced Hidan's skin and left black marks on him. He clenched his teeth and fell to one knee.

"Kuso ~ . ." He ground out as he struggled against the lightning. Riku inhaled and felt a burning sensation build up in her chest, and when she felt it was ready she exhaled and let the fire burn as long as needed to. When she ran out, she grabbed her staff and flipped up into the air and landed on the branch across from Sakura.

"It is done Sakura-sama." Then Riku's eyes widened and she placed her staff parallel of her to avoid getting cut by the elongated blades. Hidan pressed harder, one sleeve ripped off, and revealed one half of his upper body. He shifted his blade to one hand, and then pulled out a black sharp staff with the other and aimed it at Riku. She frowned at the complication she was in, she could move forward and risk getting cut by one of the blades, or get hit by the other blade. Yet she was surprised again when he suddenly threw off her staff and kicked her across the forest and into a tree. She unsteadily stood on her feet and coughed as a hand closed around her throat and shoved her into the tree. Hidan smiled and shifted closer;

"You know, you're really irritating, but, I kinda like you," He took a step closer and burrowed his face into her neck and inhaled deeply.

"Mmm , and you smell good too," too busy in his craze, Riku landed a firm kick in his gut, and she immediately disappeared, and reappeared next to her staff, she took hold of it and was about to attack,

"Enough," two voices mixed together said at the same time, Itachi looked at Sakura in the corner of his eye, she made no move to acknowledge their moment, Hidan went off cursing; Riku stepped up and landed at Fuyu's side.

"Hurry, we must not waste time." Sakura said once Riku was recovered, she looked past her and saw that Hidan was looking at her subordinate with determination in his eyes. She sighed once and looked at Itachi, then jumped off into the trees.

"Ka-san, where are we going ?" Sora asked, his eyes trailed back to Itachi, and looked away immediately to avoid getting caught looking at the sharingan user.

".." Sakura gave him a reassuring smile and told him not to worry about it.


Meanwhile With Konoha

"WHAT ? DO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT SAKURA WILLINGLY WENT WITH THE AKATSUKI!" Tsunade exclaimed, her palms flat on her desk and a crack down the middle. She sat back down and bent her head, her eyes filled with pain. She knew it had to happen one day, but she didn't think that it'd be today. Not when one thing had actually gone right since she had left, Tsunade looked up again. Naruto had a sad look on his face, yet his eyes held a happiness, maybe, it wasn't a bad idea to let her go. She sighed and looked at Kakashi,

"I expect a full report on this mission, and NO details excluded, Dismissed." Everyone from the retrieval squad filled out silently. Tsunade let a lone tear slip from her eye, It hurt to play the part, but it had to be done.


Naruto clambered out of the Hokage's office and slipped off into the night, he roamed the streets in hopes of finding a peaceful place to think. Finally, he came to a meadow, he smiled as he remembered that this is where he would always find Sakura, staring up at the clouds as they passed by. He lay down and looked into the night sky, trying to count how many stars there were in the sky, it wasn't long until he heard quiet footsteps approaching him, the familiar chakra sat down. Naruto sighed and looked at Sasuke,

"What do you want?"

"Who's that kid?" Sasuke immediately answered, Naruto was caught off guard by the question, it wasn't one that Sasuke would seem to ask, nonetheless, he answered after some hesitation.

"Honestly, I have no clue. I wish I knew. . ." Naruto trailed off, and Sasuke left it at that, the two of them stayed there and watched as the night sky turned into morning. Naruto opened his eyes and rubbed them, the bright sunlight blinded him momentarily as he sat up to look at his surrondings. He looked to his left and saw that Sasuke was gone.

'Grrrr, that teme left me here! The least he could have done was wake me up.' With that final thought, Naruto stomped off to find Sasuke to give him a piece of his mind.

Sasuke was off training, 2 clones of him stood across from him, his form relaxed waiting for one of them to make a move. The first clone shifted forward and was about to attack,

"TEME! How could you leave me out there! Don't you know it was cold! and Dark! And I could've died!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs as he sprinted towards Sasuke, an evil look on his face, yet Sasuke was left unfazed.

"Yet you didn't die Dobe." Sasuke replied and looked back at his clone. His clone was watching the display Naruto was putting on and was caught off guard as he barely dodged a chidori. Sasuke sighed and then dismissed his clone.

"Naruto," Naruto stopped in his tracks and looked at Sasuke in confusion.

"Eh ?"

"Fight me," Naruto smiled and wound one shoulder and then the other,

"With Pleasure," The two got into fighting stance and Naruto took out a kunai while Sasuke unsheathed his katana, the wind blew around them for a moment, a leaf carried in the wind. The leaf, slowly descended to the ground, and as it touched it, the two came together, metal against metal.


Up ahead, Sakura could see a large, but very well disguised base. It's looming form would strike fear into anyone who had not known what it was. Sakura didn't know where they were, but she knew it was clsse to Ame. Her eyes lingered on the passing trees as they closed in on the base.

"Come," Itachi said not bothering to look back at her and proceeded into the base. Sora grabbed onto her hand tightly and clung close to her side. She patted his head to reassure him and trailed after Itachi. Yet when she walked in, he was no where to be seen,

"Oh Kami, I just had to lose track of him." she cursed and let out a sigh.

'I guess I better just start looking for him then' She tugged Sora along and looked at the many hallways occupying most of the interior; she decided on the left one and took a step towards it. A woman, about 5'4" came from the right, dark midnight black hair fell to the small of her back, ocean gray eyes looked at her with a cool gaze. Lips painted red, she was dressed in a black haori. Not very Ninja-like if she was in the Akatsuki.

"And you are?" Her voice was strong and demanded attention, yet Sakura was not fazed. She matched the woman's cool gaze with one of her own,

"Shouldn't you tell me yours before asking mine." Sakura stated more than asked, the woman's eyes narrowed for a moment and annoyance flashed in her eyes, but it was gone as soon as it was there. She smiled and then pulled a black fan out. With a flick of her wrist it opened and she covered the bottom half of her face.

"Why of course, forgive my manners, I am Takahashi Kimiko. Pleasure to meet you." Kimiko lowered her fan and flashed Sakura a smile.

"Haruno Sakura, Pleasure. If you don't mind, I must get going." Sakura said her eyes met with Kimiko's. Sakura didn't like the feeling of this woman, she didn't want that woman any where near her or Sora.

Kimiko scowled at the pink haired woman called Sakura, she did not like her, she was already taking her place in Akatsuki she had worked so hard for. Kimiko knew she wasn't much of the ninja type, yet she had many connections that help the Akatsuki, and so she was allowed to stay.

Sakura trailed around the base for a little while before she finally came to the entrance, she cursed and ran a hand through her hair,

"Come on, Baby, let's try and find Itachi-san again, ne?"

"Oi Pinky' ain't you suppose' to be following Itachi? You don't know where he went do you ?" Kisame asked from behind, his large form lingered in the entrance way. Sakura shrugged and noticed that she couldn't feel anyone's chakra except for Sora's. Her eyes narrowed at this, yet made a mental note to ask about this later, for now she had to go meet Leader. Kisame led the way and the two followed after him. They made many twists and turns, and went down a long hallway. Various doors were on either side, each had their own distinctive character and color to it. At the end of the hallway, a black door stood in front of her. God, was painted on in gold characters on it,

"Go On, Leader-sama's not one to be kept waiting." Kisame flashed her a toothy grin and knocked on the door twice, It opened on the second knock. Immediately her eyes landed on the elder Uchiha; She looked towards the front and saw a woman with blue hair with a origami flower laced in it. She stood on the right side of the leader's desk. And finally, the leader. He was covered in shadows unlike the woman, Yet the distince outline of him gave Sakura the impression that he was very agile and quick. Sakura stepped into the room, her eyes kept firmly on the shadowy figure, her mind trying to process the possibilities of his abilities, his strengths, weaknesses, etc. Sakura stopped about 10 feet away from him, she gave Sora's hand a reassuring squeeze as she felt his chakra spike in nervousness. She knew that if he didn't calm down soon things wouldn't be any prettier than they were now. The shadowy figure made a move into the light; A man with orange hair spiked into different directions, 6 piercings on the bridge of his nose, 7 piercings on each of his ears all along the outside and one long one vertical to the ear, 2 spiked piercins on the the bottom of his lip. And last, the Rinnegan, his piercing eyes, Sakura inwardly shivered as he assessed her and then Sora. He looked to his left and gave a nod at the woman next to him.

"This is Konan. The people know her as God's Angel, beyond these walls you are to never say her true name. Also, be watchful of your actions, She will always be watching. I am the Leader of Akatsuki, you may address me as Leader-sama, and none else." Konan stepped forward and gave Sakura a small smile, Inner Sakura soared, at least she had the chance of having someone to talk to when she needed to. Sakura nodded in her direction then trailed her eyes back to the man in the middle.

"You will be joining Deidara and Sasori's group. You have a mission in two days, debriefing will be here tomorrow. When you get back you'll be trained by everyone, your skills pushed to the limit until you drop from exhaustion. Itachi, show her to her room. Dismissed." Sakura nodded and followed Itachi out into the hallway. She kept track of all the doors.

'Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kakazu, Tobi, Zetsu, Kisame, Itachi, . . ' her gut clenched, her heart knowing that her room lay right next to his. Itachi stopped and waited for Sakura to enter. She looked at the door, a light shade of pink, probably to symbolize her hair. She grimaced at the thought and traced the golden letters that were carved into the door.

"Sora will be staying with me-"

"Of course." Itachi said smoothly, then walked off. Sakura scowled and stepped into her new room, she placed Sora on the bed, then allowed herself to fall face first onto the bed. Sora held a strand of her hair, his eyes dancing with mirth at the amusement the strand held. Sakura smiled and turned to face Sora,

"Come on Baby, let's get some sleep." he climbed up to the pillows and waited for Sakura; she placed the comforter over them and placed a kiss on Sora's head. Her mind was reeling through all the things what had transpired, and what would transpire tomorrow. Her lids fell sleep tugging at her mind, and before she knew it, she fell into a deep sleep.


Ohh gosh, I am sooooooo super duperrr sorrryy! But I hope this kind of makes up for it. I know where I'm going to go with this story now. :) Also, This will be and ItaSaku pairing. Ack, well, I'll try to update as much as I can. :D