Chapter 7: retracing steps in time

Deidara and Sakura stood in a rather well covered tree as Deidara used his scope to look into the village. Sakura's face stoic, this place meant nothing to her. She had already retrieved 3 tailed beasts, one on her own.

Deidara clicked his scope off. "Well they are heavily guarded, but with both of our speeds we can easily get in." Sakura looked at Deidara lovingly. "I love you Dei." Deidara smiled, "love you too baby." Sakura pondered for a moment "if we dress in civilian clothing and do a transformation jutsu, I'm sure we could get in even easier. Besides, we have fake paperwork saying we are from a distant village so no one would question us." Deidara thought about it for a moment and grinned, "good thinking baby." They both stripped any clothing and jewelry that related to Akatsuki and Sakura pulled out a black tank top and black shorts that rose a bit high then watched Deidara change into a black V-neck t-shirt and left his bottoms. They both made hand signs "transformation jutsu!" Sakura had long black hair and Deidara had brown hair. Nodding, they jumped down and walked to the gates.

2 guards came to greet them and check their paperwork. "Names?" One of the guards asked. "Kira Hazona" Sakura replied sweetly in her altered voice. "Asuko Hazuno" Deidara replied nicely. They both did a slight bow. "All right, you're clear. Go ahead on in and enjoy your stay in Konoha." Deidara and Sakura both smiled and bowed properly before entering. "That was easy, yeah." Deidara said as he held Sakura's hand. "A little too easy..." Sakura replied. "This mission is going to be a piece of cake." Sakura grinned, "besides we do have a 100% success rate." They both laughed at this as they walked before something yellow and spiky caught both of their eyes. "Pffft, found the Jinchuuriki." Scoffed Sakura. Deidara's eyes widened "all ready? Well I'm not surprised in the least. You do have a nag for finding them in no time." Sakura smiled "let's grab a bite to eat, I'm starving." They stopped by Ichiraku's ramen, where of course their target at the moment was downing his 3rd bowl of ramen.

"Good evening! What can I get for you!" A cute girl behind the counter eyes Deidara like a child in a candy shop. "Well, I'll order as soon as you stop ogling my husband." Sakura scowled. "Feisty tonight aren't we?" Deidara whispered making Sakura grin. Sakura sat right next to the Jinchuuriki and smiled sweetly at him after they had ordered. Of course he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"Whoa your eyes are just like my best friend Sakura! Though...I haven't seen her in 2 years since she became a missing ninja..." Sakura smiled "how kind of you, I bet this best friend of yours is very pretty." Not knowing he was actually talking about her. "Oh yeah! She had the most breath taking pink hair!" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Pink hair huh? Sounds odd to me." Naruto looked down into his 4th bowl of ramen sadly. "I...I never got to tell her how I felt... She was in a coma for 5 years after a member of a dangerous organization attacked us with a clay bomb... She hit her head pretty badly and that's how she went into a coma..." Sakura smiled sadly at the Jinchuuriki "I'm sure she would have been one lucky girl to have someone who thought about her as much as you do..." the Jinchuuriki looked at her "I'm never caught both of your names." Sakura smiled sweetly "my name is Kira and this is my husband Asuko" he nodded making a mental note of their names. "And your name might be?" Sakura never lost her smile. "Naruto Uzumaki. You know, you even smile like she did..." he looked back into his now cold ramen. Sakura and Deidara finished their meals and stood up "it was a pleasure to meet you Naruto Uzumaki, I hope we meet again." Before he could reply both Sakura and Deidara were gone. "That was so strange... it felt like I was talking to Sakura the whole time..."

Sakura and Deidara walked hand in hand, chattering the entire time to their hotel. When they arrived, they proceeded to check in. A cute girl, maybe 22 years old appeared at the counter. "Hello, welcome to Konoha! 2 rooms?" She smiled seductively at Deidara. 'Okay this is just getting ridiculous, CHA!' inner Sakura fumed. Deidara, looking bored calmly stated, "No. My WIFE and I would like 1 room with a single bed." The cute girl looked at Sakura and gave her a hateful glare. "And what will the names be under sir?" She purred, still obviously hitting on Deidara. Sakura having enough of this bitch snarled out, "before we give you our names can we speak to your manager?" She grinned evily. 'Score one for you girl! Trying to hit on your man! Pathetic! CHA!' Inner Sakura beamed. The cute girl scoffed, "of COURSE. One moment." She disappeared behind a door before a more beautiful woman appeared. 'COME ON! CHA!' Inner Sakura ranted. "Good evening sir, madam, what seems to be the problem?" The beautiful manager smiled softly. Deidara then spoke up, "Hello, madam, your co-worker cannot seem to keep her hormones under control and seems to enjoy making my wife uncomfortable." Deidara gave the woman a serious look, 'free room here I come.' He grinned sexily. The woman blushed at Deidara, "Oh my, I'm terribly sorry for my co-workers actions. Your entire stay, no matter how long it is, is free." She bowed apologetically. "You two make a lovely couple. But I will still need your names." She smiled softly. "Of course, my name is Asuko and this is my beautiful wife Kira." Deidara fought hard not to say his signature 'yeah'. She nodded writing the names down, "for your inconvenience, you will both be upgraded to the pent house suit free of charge." before handing Deidara and Sakura both a room key to the same room.

When they both got into the room and locked the door and drew the shades before letting their disguises vanish. "Man, do you know how hard it is to not say 'yeah', yeah?" Sakura giggled at Deidara. "So you flirt to get awesome free rooms?" Deidara grinned, "you know me too well baby!" He laughed. A knock came to their door and they quickly made hand signs to make their disguises reappear before opening the door. "Good evening! Here is a complementary dinner, which you will be receiving for the next 2 weeks!" The young man smiled and pushed the cart in. Sakura gave the man a large tip, which made his eyes grow wide before he bowed, "thank you so much! Have a lovely evening, I will bring your complementary breakfast and lunches to you tomorrow!" He bowed again before closing the door softly. Only when they locked the door again did they let the disguise jutsu drop.

For the next two weeks Sakura and Deidara kept close tabs on the Jinchuuriki, 'Naruto Uzumaki', finally the two weeks came to an end and they both put back on their regular Akatsuki clothing. Their ring began to glow meaning it was time to go to, what Sakura called it, the mission arena. They made sure their curtains were closed and the door was locked before sitting on the bed holding up their pointer and middle fingers and transported to the 'mission arena'.

Once everyone was there Leader began to speak. "Good, everyone is here. Let's begin." First Leader looked at Sakura and Deidara, "Deidara, Sakura, I'm impressed with the intel you both gathered, consider your mission a success." Leader then looked at Zetsu "Zetsu, did you find Tobi yet? I will not approve of failure." Zetsu grinned, "yes, we found him. He is currently at base." Leader nodded, "consider your mission a success as well." He began to speak again after a short pause. "Kisame, Itachi, I have a mission for you. You will be going to the Land of Snow to scout out some disturbances that have been happening. Do not hesitate to kill anyone who is in your way." Kisame grinned and nodded "Samehada has been needing a good work out." Itachi only stared. "Good, you two are dismissed." With that they both vanished.

Leader cleared his throat before speaking again, "Konan I have a mission for you as well. I need you to retrieve taxes from the city. Some have been lacking in paying. If they refuse, kill them." Konan nodded "yes sir!" Leader nodded, "you are dismissed as well." She then vanished. "Sakura, I have a small mission for you. I'm aware that you just completed one, but this must be done." Sakura nodded before he went on, "Tobi awaits at base. I need you to take my place as Leader for a while." Her eyes grew wide. "Sakura, I trust you the most out of all of the Akatsuki members. You have remained the most loyal, have broken no rules, and have healed us when we are injured." She looked down. "Also your temper is what made me choose you. You can go from angry to stoic within a second. This is why I need you to fill in for me." She nodded hesitantly. "Everyone will refer to you as Leader until my return. I am going to be away for one month total. If I do not return by then, you will continue as Leader, am I understood?" Sakura nodded, "yes leader." Leader then looked at Deidara, "Deidara, you will work as co-leader. You two are my best team. I entrust that you will not fail me." Deidara nodded. "Very good, the rest of you are dismissed."

When Sakura and Deidara came to all Deidara could do was laugh. "Ready to go home, LEADER?" Sakura scowled. "Don't push me Dei-love." Deidara raised an eyebrow, "geez you are perfect for the job!" He chuckled. Sakura sighed "let's just go back to base. We do have to put Tobi through initiation. They both nodded making many hand signs before disappearing and reappearing at base.