Sakura's mind was in a vicious psychological frenzy. This had all been a mere test? Pain had actually took her request and made a choice to let her prove herself. She felt a smile begin to curl at the sides of her mouth.

Sasori, his eyes still filled with hate and irritation, withdrew the blade that emitted itself from his arm. He turned away from Sakura in a single movement and began walking the opposite direction of her. He did not say a word as he walked by Zetsu, purposely bumping into his shoulder as he passed. Zetsu neither said nor did anything. His yellow eyes just focused intently on Sakura.

Sakura did not feel as weak now that the antidote had several minutes to pass throughout her system. The cut only stung slightly on her shoulder, but she had been through worse injuries, and in no time it would heal barely leaving evidence that it had been there. She stood to her feet, her back arched tall as she met the strange looking Akatsuki member's piercing gold eyes.

He was such a strange fellow. Half of his body was ivory and the other half was ebony, and his entire body was engulfed in what looked like a venus flytrap. It traveled all the way down to his feet, barely covered to the ankle by his Akatuski cloak.

What the hell is he? Sakura swallowed.

"You are the fifth Hokage's student," Zetsu said after a long silence. It wasn't a question.

Sakura simply nodded in response.

Zetsu nodded as he slowly turned away, his back facing her. He looked over his shoulder and said, "Come with us."

"Where are we going?" Sakura deadpanned.

Zetsu did not reply or acknowledge her question. He simply began walking forward; Sasori was already many feet ahead of them and had mysteriously withdrawn a straw hat that she had not seen him with earlier and placed it on his head.

Not having much other choice in the matter, Sakura willingly followed them. She figured if they had not killed her, then she was officially in the Akatsuki.

…Right?


Itachi sat motionless as his organization leader explained to him in great detail what had occurred between he, Konan and Sakura. It was just as Tobi told Itachi, but he wanted to hear it from Pain himself.

"Why did you only inform Tobi of the situation with Sakura?" Itachi's tone was clipped.

"I was originally going to send him to take care of her, but decided against it," Pain replied stiffly, "Sasori seemed to be the better match for this particular fight."

Itachi gazed at him unemotionally, "Why?" the question was asked simply.

Pain intertwined his fingers, a motion he often did when he was fully thrusting himself in a conversation. "Sasori is very tactful. He knows how to restrain himself and rarely gets overheated in battle. He does not lose his head like many in the group, and if she proved useful, I did not want her dead."

Itachi subtly raised a brow, "I am also tactful." If not more tactful than Sasori.

Pain gave him a simple nod in agreement, "You are, but I did not want you going up against a leaf ninja. There is no doubt that she knows of you, being as your younger brother was her former teammate, and I did not want to complicate the matter further."

"Will it not complicate things if she is a part of us, if she hates me as much as you believe she does?" It was an obvious question.

"It may," Pain admitted, "But if she is serious about joining this organization like you are, she won't press the matter."

Itachi thought that was a lot to bet on, but he did not push the matter. If she were to come at him, he would kill her. It was simple.

"I have no more questions," Itachi replied plainly.

Pain nodded, "You are dismissed, then. Sasori and Zetsu should be back within a few hours. Be prepared for the meeting that is to follow."

Itachi nodded as he turned to exit the room.


They had traveled three hours without rest before they finally stopped at a small creek to take a rest. Sakura eyed both of the Akatsuki members, wary of their intentions, but relaxed slightly when they both rested without giving her a second glance. Zetsu stood against a tree, staring at the running water in the creek intently. Sasori sat on a rather large boulder, his back completely turned towards her. She passed by him to get to a deeper part of the creek so she could wade her mud filled sandals in it, and when she did so, Sasori glared daggers at her before turning away from her again.

She made a mental note that she would have to particularly watch Sasori and stay far away from him for a while. He was undoubtedly angry with her for overcoming his poison and mocking him. She would have to be more conscious of her actions around him until the air between them was cleared a bit.

They rested for several minutes. Several long, awkwardly silenced, minutes. Once Sakura was done cleaning her sandals and they were back on her feet, she stood tall and faced Zetsu.

"You are Zetsu," She stated firmly.

He did not reply, he only stared at her.

"I have to admit, I don't know much about you," She awkwardly continued on in the conversation, "There isn't too much data on you in the libraries. You rarely show your face to anyone outside of the Akatuski, right?"

"And?" The ivory side replied blandly.

She shrugged in response, "I don't know, tell me something about you." she suggested, "If we're going to be working together from now on…we should know a little about each other."

Zetsu returned a dark smirk to her comment, "You want to know something about us?"

She was caught off guard that he referenced himself as us but she disregarded it and nodded.

"He has a split personality and he eats dead bodies," Sasori caught her off guard as he spoke without turning to face her. The comment undoubtedly caught her off guard, and she turned to meet Zetsu's hollow yellow eyes.

The black side made a snorting noise, "So don't die,"

The comment made her stomach churn. Split personalities? What kind of monster was this man? Of course, she realized that now that she would be meeting the other Akatsuki members, she would come in contact with many bizarre and unusual abilities. Reading data on these S rank criminals would only get her so far. She would not truly grasp what these people could do until she saw it for herself.

She decided that maybe small talk was not a good way to start her relationship with her new comrades.

"Why are you joining the Akatsuki?" The pale side of Zetsu brought her out of her own thoughts.

Sakura's eyes shifted to the ground, "It's…personal."

"A ninja usually doesn't just up and leave their village because they feel like it," Sasori deadpanned, still not looking at her. "One does wonder why a young kunoichi like yourself made the choice to leave her whole life behind her."

Sakura glared at him, although he did not see it, "You just up and left your village, didn't you?" she snapped.

"Hm," Sasori smirked to himself, "A girl like you shouldn't speak about things she knows nothing of,"

Sakura wanted to reply back with an edgy comment, but decided it was best not to push him further than he had already been pushed today.

"Resting times up," Zetsu lightened the air as he leaned away from the tree trunk, "Back on trail. We'll be approaching the compound in about two hours. No resting from this point on."

Sakura nodded eagerly as she gathered her few loose things into her backpack and set off with them a few moments later.

As they approached the compound closer, Sakura's stomach began to form into knots. She was going to meet the other Akatsuki members very soon and had to admit to herself that she was intimidated. There were bound to be some, if not all, that she would not get along with. One kept haunting her thoughts more than any other, however. One man, she hadn't even met yet, but already hated him with every nerve in her entire body.

Sakura had been so consumed in her thoughts and the pounding in her stomach that she had not even paid attention to what land they were in. She just followed absently behind the two Akatsuki members in front of her, Sasori leading the very front of their three man group. Zetsu would occasionally look back at her, almost as if he were reassuring himself that she was still back there, but would not say anything. He would just glance at her with those empty golden eyes and turn away.

Night began to fall when they finally reached the compound of where the Akatsuki were keeping themselves temporarily, and much to Sakura's surprise, it was rather normal looking. She quite honestly had expected a dungeon like hideout, with skeletons and chains on the walls, possibly prison cells that held prisoners along with screams of tortured victims. Thinking back on it now, it was quite silly of her to think like that. Rather than being greeted with what she imagined, she was instead greeted with a large traditional Japanese compound that looked very similar to the Hyuga's compound or the Uchiha's. The compound was in a strange location, however, it was hidden deep in a lush green forest, hidden by thousands upon thousands of trees. It was almost as if the compound had randomly been placed in the middle of a jungle, but then it occurred to Sakura, that it probably had. The compound was so deep in the forest, so far away from any roads or any other form of civilization, that other ninjas and civilians had no reason for going so deep into the woods. It was a very good place for an organization to gather, like the Akatsuki, because nobody would have ever expected something like it would be hidden so far in there.

As the approached the entrance to the compound, Zetsu and Sasori shifted to stand on either side of her. The three walked into the compound, Sakura immediately being greeted with a long hallway with a door at the end. They walked down the hallway and through the door at the end on the wall, and Sakura was then introduced to a rather large outside training area. The area was boxed in with steps that lead to the floor of the grounds. The small field held many straw dummies that had obviously been beat up and destroyed, along with other ninja tools like kunai and shuriken that lay idly on the dirt ground. They walked Sakura around the training area, Sakura noticing that on both sides of the training ground there were several doors that she assumed may have been rooms based on their size. Sakura's emerald eyes took in and examined everything. This truly was not what she expected…it was actually a very nice and comfortable place.

They continued on, going through a sliding door that led them out of the training area, to encounter another outside area that consisted of a small bathhouse. As much as Sakura was marveling at the very nice Akatsuki hideout, she was bothered that she had yet to see another member besides the two that were standing beside her.

Were they all awaiting her arrival?

They continued on walking through the compound that almost seemed like it would never end, until they came to a door that Sasori and Zetsu immediately stopped at. Sasori reached up and retrieved the straw hat from the top of his head, revealing a mess of red waves that fell over his ears and forehead. His brown eyes shifted down to Sakura, he was quite a bit taller than her; She had only come up to his shoulder.

"This is where Pain will meet you," Sasori's voice was stiff and his eyes still held a grudge within them as he glanced at her, "We will leave you here and await further orders."

Sakura nodded slowly as she looked to the other side of her and met Zetsu's gaze as well. He did not say anything, but agreed with Sasori's statement with a gentle nod.

"I just…go in?" Sakura shifted back to Sasori.

Sasori subtly nodded his head once.

Sakura swallowed, then sighed, as she placed her hand on the handle of the sliding door. She did not quite understand why she was so nervous. This was exactly what she wanted, she wanted to be a part of them, but something was making her stomach feel tight for an unknown reason. Was it because she was about to be admitted to an organization that she, not only six months ago, was determined to kill? Was it because she was going to be faced with a group of murderers and thieves that could easily kill her if they so desired?

Although, as much as that would scare a normal person, she internally knew that it wasn't the reason she was scared. The true reason she was nervous, was because she knew that once she opened that door and became a part of this group, she was forever gone from her previous life. Her friends, her village, every cherished memory would not matter anymore. She would become the thing that she hunted, except now, she would be the one being hunted. Up until this point, talking about truly leaving her life behind had been easy, but now that she was to the road of choice, her stomach was in knots.

But there was no turning back. She knew too much about them already, including where their compound was, and there was no way she would be leaving this place alive. She only had one choice, and that was to open the door and be greeted by her new leader.

She stepped forward and without thinking anymore about it, and slid the door open. It was almost pitch black inside, but was faintly lit with two candles on the walls opposite of each other, the flames dancing together to provide little light to the room. She was almost hesitant of stepping inside, her mind scaring itself of the unknown that laid inside of a dimply lit room. Overcoming her mind telling her to back away, she stepped forward, her sandal clad feet hitting the hardwood floor hard beneath her. She fully stepped inside the room and instinctively looked over her shoulder as she heard the sliding door closing behind her. Zetsu was closing the door and as the door was only cracked, she saw Sasori's brown eyes glaring into hers before it was suddenly cut off by the door slamming shut.

She turned her head back forward in the dark, not seeing a physical body, but feeling the presence of a large amount of chakra.

"You passed the test, I see," A familiar, but unseen, voice spoke from the dark.

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows as she stood tall and nodded, "I did."

"Very well," the voice replied as footsteps echoed through the room, coming closer to her. As they became louder, Sakura could faintly see the brightness of violet orbs coming closer in the darkness. It was clear she was speaking to Pain.

He approached until he slowly revealed himself from the unknown blackness and was standing almost a foot away from her, Pains eyes glanced over her body as his pierced face looked her appearance up and down. The small flames on the walls flickered across his face, glares catching on each piercing on his nose and around his mouth. His eyes shone brightly, as if they were accustomed to being in such a dimly lit space. He stood tall before her, continuing to examine her intently before he finally formed a faint smirk at the corner of his pierced lips.

"We hope to see some use out of you," He voice hung in the darkness.

Sakura nodded her head once, "I assure you, you are making the right choice by admitting me. I will undoubtedly prove my worth and hold my own."

Pain's expression turned serious and his eyebrows lowered in concentration as he bored his purple eyes into Sakura's emerald orbs, "You say that you will prove your worth...does this include doing whatever means it requires to accomplish our long term goal?"

"It does," Sakura firmly stated.

"That includes taming the nine tailed beast, the child who is your former teammate," Pain's voice was clipped as he mentioned this. "Will you be able to look him in the eye as you kill him, if you are given that opportunity?"

Sakura hesitated at first. She had known that they would ask her about Naruto, but she had not fully registered until she was now standing in front of Pain that if she came in contact with him in the future, she would have to fight him...and kill him. She would have to do unspeakable things, not only to Naruto, but to other innocent lives as well if it mean't accomplishing their goal. She was uncertain at the moment of what exactly their goal consisted of, but she quickly convinced herself that she didn't care. She was a part of this now. Her old life was left behind at Konoha when she left along with her old relationships...

And that included her relationship with Naruto.

"Yes," She finally spoke, no hint of emotion was hidden in her voice as she confidently spoke, "I have no ties with him anymore."

Pain, although he did not appear completely convinced by her statement, nodded in satisfaction. "Welcome to the Akatsuki, Sakura." Her name echoed slightly in the pitch black room.