Welcome to Chapter 8 of this Fanfiction! Just to get a few things out of the way first of all;

There will only be a few more chapters more of this story…Well I have only planned to have a few more anyways. You never know I might be struck by a new idea, but at the current moment, this fanfiction will be complete very soon.

I also will be changing the name to something more suitable for the story itself since the whole concept has changed over time.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto; I think we've got that covered already…

Read and Review please!

-:D-

Three weeks. Only three weeks.

Sakura didn't know if three weeks was enough for her to prepare herself for what was to come.

Deidara had sent off a little clay bird with a note attached to it a day after Pein had assigned the mission to Sakura. The bird wasn't an exploding one, although it was made by Deidara especially to self destruct once Naruto Uzumaki had read the note it came with.

Sakura herself had not seen what was written on the note, but she had been informed many a time that it disclosed a meeting place at which the kyuubi container would be 'exchanged' for with Sakura. The plan however was not entirely full proof.

Someone could stop Naruto from going; the pink haired kunoichi knew that they would at least try, unless Naruto kept it to himself.

Another problem was that the blonde haired boy wouldn't even turn up. There was a small chance if any, that he was not on good enough terms with her to turn up.

She had assured Leader that that was not the case.

Naruto would sacrifice himself for anyone whom couldn't 'look after' themselves. And even though the bond between him and her had been damaged, it was still there. She was almost certain she could feel him getting closer and closer as the days went by.

For the first few days after it had been announced officially that she would be the bait for the Kyuubi, she had fought with herself innerly and out, training harder, and not talking as much as she had before.

Sasori had kept her going, and made her smile every now and again, but her inner turmoil was beginning to cause a rift inside herself.

Pein had inevitably seen this, as had Itachi, and both had called upon her to talk.

FLASHBACK:

"Sakura, what is it exactly that causes such a rift inside yourself?" pein questions, his ringed orbs looking deep into her own. Almost as deep as Sasori himself could see into her eyes.

She pauses, and then replies to him, with an emotionless tone.

"I do not want to be responsible for the death of Konoha's next Hokage" She replies.

Pein waits a moment, as if he is thinking. But the pinkette knows that he had already foreseen her reply. He was just toying with her.

"You are worried that he shall perish as did the Kazekage of Suna yes?" He asks her, his eyes not leaving her own.

"Yes"

"Well you needn't worry dear child. We have since then perfected the jutsu. The boy himself will not be harmed." Pein says this, as he stands, and walks over to her.

She stares up at him, her green eyes widen as he comes closer still. "Let us take a walk together shall we?" He says. It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

END FLASHBACK.

She and Leader had taken a walk, to the cherry blossom orchard next to the base grounds. He had explained the jutsu to her, and also explained that the Kazekage was a one tailed beast, therefore weaker than that of Naruto.

The pinkette had already presumed as much. But what was really plaguing her mind, and soul too, was that she wouldn't just have to face Naruto himself. She would have to face her old sensei, Kakashi Hatake.

Sakura Haruno had not spoke or heard of her old sensei for a very long time indeed. And she was most nervous about coming face to face with him, not as a comrade, but as a traitor. He had been one of the only ones who had not turned against her and called her weak. This was something she had to face though. She had made the decision herself to become a traitor and would therefore deal with what she was faced with as she had done with the trials Pein had given her before.

As she had walked with the Akatsuki leader, two things became very clear to her.

Firstly, her path was set now. She could not change it even if she dared. She knew within herself that it would break her to see that look of disappointment in her sensei's eyes if he so happened to be there with Naruto. She didn't doubt that he wouldn't be there.

Secondly, she also knew that her heart was no longer like that of her former self. Her inner had reseeded to the point that she no longer heard the voice in her head. The figures whispers had gone almost as soon as Sakura had decided her fate.

She had become a mix of both her old self and her inner. This was Sakura Haruno now.

A traitor to her village, a traitor to her dearest friends. But most importantly, Sakura Haruno was no longer weak.

And she would show both Naruto and whoever decided to help him that she was no longer loyal to those who thought little of her.

-:D-

So only three weeks later, she found herself being lead by pein and Itachi to a clearing far away from the base.

It was finally time.

The young traitor prepared herself, by putting on that mask she knew would not break.

Her hair was made to look unclean and bedraggled. Her skin was slightly browned to seem as though she had received little to no luxury during her 'capture'.

Pein then stopped for a moment. To tie her legs and hands so she was bound. Then he picked her up bridal style, giving her a small look from his ringed orbs telling her to get into role.

She lets her body fall limp against him, and she narrows her eyes, to feign weakness.

Pein's steps are slow and careful, each singles stride taking the pinkette closer and closer to her destiny. Taking her closer and closer to her fate.

His slow pace was calming to her, as she was being held as if she weighed very little; like a feather.

And as the akatsuki Leader pushes on, at a slow, almost agonising pace, the uchiha next to him, the traitorous cherry blossom of konoha, lay carefully in his arms, it was all coming together smoothly.

With every pacing second, Sakura's darkness deepens. She remembers things that she had forgotten over such a long time…

Every comrade she had ever had when she remained loyal betrayed her. They left her behind, thinking she could not keep up, thinking she was too weak to handle herself.

Why should she be loyal to people who were never loyal to her?

Why should she be loyal to the place she had been made to feel so weak?

Why?

No answer was given to her. That was all she needed. There was no reason for her to be loyal anymore. They had pushed her aside, pushed away her hope, used her complete loyalty against her. No more.

She wouldn't stand for that any more.

The akatsuki never left her. They didn't push her aside. In fact they welcomed her with open arms. The leader knew of her strength; he would not be relying on her if he thought otherwise.

If he had known she was weak, and if he has foreseen that she still had care in her heart, if he did not believe that she had use in this world, then she would already be dead. Sakura wasn't a stupid girl. She knew of the reputation. But yet, she was alive, and this was her time to shine.

Sakura Haruno was ready.

-:D-

Naruto Uzumaki arrived at almost the same time as the akatsuki did.

His deep blue eyes were that of complete anger, and the hatred increases when he sees Sakura laid in Peins arms limp. She looked so vulnerable, so weak, so in need of help.

He growls, and tries with all his might to keep kyuubi under control.

"Let her go!" He cries loudly, even from across the large clearing.

Sakura was almost surprised that Naruto stood alone. But she sensed that yes; her sensei himself was waiting in the shadows. Perhaps Naruto himself were too angry and blinded by hate that he had not sensed the grey haired mans presence himself.

Pein chuckles. Cold and dead. His chest rumbles and vibrates as the pinkette is shifted in his arms slightly.

She then finds herself upright, but still pressed against the leader in a pitiful way. She opens her eyes, and finally comes face to face with Naruto after all this time.

"Sakura!" he cries, when he sees that she is awake.

She resists the urge to glare at him, and instead focuses on looking beaten and scarred. Pein tugs at one of the ropes that bind her, and she forces herself to whimper.

That simple action has Naruto's eyes ablaze with hate.

"Let her go!" he cries once more. Pein looks up at him and looks him dead in the eyes.

He undoes Sakura's binds on her legs, and deliberately grabs hold of her hip in a harsh manner, which Sakura had not been expecting. Itachi was stood by his leader's side as still as usual, but he was watching the exchange with careful eyes; he knew Kakashi was hiding. He also knew that Pein was just trying to get both men riled up.

"We'll let her go, when you agree to give up the kyuubi" Pein replies at last. He looks at sakura with a hungry look.

"It would be a shame to let the…sweet cherry blossom go…" He murmurs, slipping a kunai from a holder on his leg, and drawing it up to her neck.

He pulls her head back, to expose her neck. And chuckles deadly before creating a cut on her neck. She hisses in pain, but goes along with it.

Naruto by now had gotten very angry, and kyuubi wouldn't be held in much longer.

"Agree Uzumaki and we shall set her free!" he calls out to Naruto, his ringed orbs excited and blood lust filled.

Naruto takes his eyes from Sakura's face, and her neck which was now bleeding. He seemed to be struggling with himself and was shaking with massive convulsions.

Kakashi finally jumps down from his hiding place in the trees. Pein nods to Itachi, who disappears and appears next to Kakashi. They start a vicious duel of sharingan and kunais, leaving Naruto alone on the one side.

Pein whispers a soft "Do not worry sweet cherry blossom" and then leans his head down to taste her blood, licking the full length of the cut on her neck. She whimpers as the wounds stings and acts very much the maiden in danger by falling limp in his arms even more so. His body was almost twice her size, and he switches their position to one that would seem as though he had 'used' her.

In the back of Sakura's mind, she wondered if his grip on her was too possessive or whether it was just for the act of gaining the Kyuubi.

"Fine! Let her go! I offer myself in exchange for her release!" Naruto growls, the tails of kyuubi starting to form. His voice was pained, and it took every ounce of Sakura's will not to break

Kakashi looks at Naruto with alarm. Itachi takes his chance and slashes Kakashi along the arm, and then traps him inside the mangekeyo.

Now Naruto was very much alone and had already decided his fate.

Pein slowly walks with Sakura to the middle of the clearing, and Naruto Uzumaki does the same. They reach the middle, and pein draws Sakura up against his side, lifting her neck once more. This time however, just to torture the blonde boy he bites into Sakura's neck and causes her to cry out. Naruto reaches for her, at the same time that Itachi lets Kakashi go of the jutsu, and appears in time to knock Naruto out by touching a pressure point in the kyuubi containers neck.

Then it is all over. And Sakura sighs in relief. She had done her job.

Itachi looks at Sakura's neck as pein undoes the other ropes that bind her.

"Sasori will not be happy about that leader-Sama" The Uchiha states, as he frowns at the marks on the cherry blossoms neck.

Sakura puts her hands up to hide the bite mark and the cut, but Leader grabs her hand, and draws it away.

"Heal the cut, but leave the rest" He orders her.

Itachi looks at Leader; his eyes questioning as he notes that Leader-Sama still had not released the pink haired girl from his grasp.

Leader smirks and finally lets her go.

"Why leader?" Sakura asks, her emotionless state pretty much gone. Her hand was glowing green as she heeded her leader's words and only healed the cut.

"I want you to be reminded that I am the one with the power and you do as I say" he says simply, before turning his back on the two and heading off back to base.

Itachi picks up the now limp Naruto, and stalks off after him too, leaving Sakura to touch the mark on her neck in confusion, then she runs off after the two S-ranked criminals also, leaving her old sensei behind.

Sasori would not be happy about this.

-:D-

Before you ask, no, I had not planned for Pein to...be so possessive. I still do not know if i intend to make that a significance or not...

It was just a split second decision to add it in...Sakura and Sasori fans...IM SORRY!

If you dont like it, i could probably change it? :L i dont know why i even wrote it like that...but ahh well.