Chapter 8

"Sakura!" a voice called out.

Sakura spun on her heel at the call of her name. Her eyes scanned the crowd and saw a girl around her age with sandy brown hair, dark forest green eyes and freckles.

"Rin?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"You remember me!" Rin exclaimed. "And your back! Where have you been? How are your injuries? What are you doing back here? Kei and Itsuki will be so surprised."

"Calm down Rin." Sakura laughed. "One question at a time."

"Rin." a voice called out. "Don't go running to random people."

Sakura looked over Rin's shoulder and saw two males running towards them. One had dirty blonde hair, dark eyes and the other one had black hair and red eyes. Kei and Itsuki.

"Is that Sakura?" Kei asked.

"Yeah. That's why I ran off." Rin said enthusiastically.

"It's nice to see you again Sakura." Itsuki said.

"You too." Sakura said.

"Where are you heading?" Rin asked.

"Just to the Otokage's office." Sakura replied.

"We'll come with you." Kei said. "You'll get lost without anyone to guide you."

Sakura gave him a small smile and followed them to the Otokage's office.

"Where have you been for the past almost week?" Rin asked.

"Here, there, Amegakure." Sakura replied.

"Why Amegakure?" Itsuki asked.

"Long story short, I was brought to the Akatsuki base, stayed there for a couple of days until I got my chakra back, helped one of their members, they let me go, and here I am now." Sakura said.

"The Akatsuki let you live?" Rin shouted.

"SHHH!" everyone shouted.

Rin covered her mouth with her hand.

"Were they as hot as the pictures showed?" Rin asked.

"Rin! Don't ask that. They're S-class criminals." Sakura exclaimed.

"Hott S-class criminals. I'd let them kidnap me any day." Rin exclaimed.

Sakura rolled her eyes. Rin was just like another Inner Sakura. Except real.

"Hey, I'm real." Inner protested.

"Where have you been?" Sakura thought.

"Here, there, IN YOUR HEAD." Inner replied.

Sakura mentally rolled her eyes and focused back on the conversation.

"So your basically friends with them?" Kei asked.

"Let's see, Kisame: yes, Deidara: possibly, Sasori: kind of hard to be friends with someone you killed once, Konan: yes, Hidan: no way in hell, Kakuzu: I barely met him, Zetsu: same thing, Leader-sama: he is very intimidating, Tobi: I haven't seen him yet, and Itachi: hmm… he's probably just my baby sitter." Sakura listed.

"Is this Konan chick hott?" Kei asked.

"If she heard you, you would be dying right now. And Leader-sama would probably torture you forever." Sakura replied.

Kei visibly gulped nervously.

"Here we are." Itsuki said.

Sakura looked up at the building that was blocking the sun with her hand. It was HUGE. Even if it didn't have a big stone mountain with the Otokage's faces. But then again, who would want to see Orochimaru's pedo face every day.

"Let's go. You'll love the Otokage." Rin said. "He's the nicest old man ever. He doesn't even mind when we call him Ojii-san."

"Really? How long has he been ruling?" Sakura asked.

"Around three years." Rin replied.

That was around the time of the Chuunin exams.

"Aa." Sakura said.

Rin, Sakura, Kei, and Itsuki went up six flights of stairs, multiple turns, and multiple doors. Everyone seemed to know them.

"How does everyone know you guys?" Sakura asked.

"We're the Otokage's most trusted shinobi! We're ANBU team 1." Rin said with a large grin.

"That means we're the best there is." Itsuki said.

"Teams here are organized by how good you are. Of course, everyone is good. Some shinobi need a little more training. For example, if you're on team 1, like us, that means we're at the top. If you're on team 10, then you are not as good as the people in the higher teams." Kei explained.

Sakura nodded understanding the concept.

"Here's the Otokage's office." Rin said.

Sakura lifted her head and looked at the door. It was a nice oak color and smooth, like nothing harmful had ever touched it. Her eyes strayed to her right and saw little wood planks. They were labeled, 'Previous Otokage's' and 'Current Otokage.' Under the previous Otokage wooden planks, it said Orochimaru. Only under the current Otokage wooden plank it said, 'Daichi Haruno'.

Sakura did a double take. Daichi was the name of her grandpa.

"You ok Saku?" Rin asked.

"Th-the sign does say Daichi Haruno, right? Am I seeing things right?" Sakura said.

"Yeah, it says Daichi Haruno. That's our Otokage." Itsuki said. "Something wrong?"

"KAI." Sakura said.

Nothing happened. The wooden plank still said Daichi Haruno. Sakura leaned forward and carefully examined the piece of wood. She carefully poked the wood.

"Something wrong?" Kei asked.

"No." Sakura replied. "It's just that my name is Sakura Haruno, and your Otokage's name Daichi Haruno. Daichi Haruno is the name of my grandpa."

AT THE AKATSUKI BASE

"Did you successfully escort her to Otogakure?" Pein asked.

"Hai, Leader-sama." Itachi replied.

"Kitten gave Itachi a big kiss goodbye." Kisame snickered.

Itachi sent Kisame a death glare at Kisame.

"Hey! You're not allowed to kiss Sakura, yeah." Deidara shouted.

"Do not be foolish. I did not kiss her." Itachi said.

Deidara's face turned red with anger. Hidan was howling with laughter.

"Why are you so fucking overprotective of that pink haired bitch?" Hidan asked.

"She's my medic, yeah." Deidara said. "Dickhead."

"What'd you fucking call me you fucking spineless he-she?" Hidan yelled.

"Sadistic bastard?" Deidara yelled back.

"Thank fucking you." Hidan yelled.

"Enough." Pein said as his voice echoed around the meeting room. "Take this somewhere else. Dismissed."

One by one each Akatsuki member exited the dark room. Konan sighed.

"I wonder how they're even part of this organization." Konan muttered.

"They are here because of their fighting abilities." Pein said.

Silence.

"I miss having another girl around the base already." Konan sighed.