Chapter 8: Follow the Leader, Leader.
Sakura walked into the greeting lounge where she saw a man with an orange mask with only one hole to see out of. "Hello, I presume that you are Tobi. You may call me Leader or ma'am." Tobi jumped towards Sakura and Deidara stepped in front of her, "you will treat Leader with all of the up most respect. Am I understood, yeah?" Sakura sighed, "Enough." Deidara, nodded and stepped aside. "Tobi, do you accept the offer of becoming a member of Akatsuki?" Her face stoic and unreadable. "Tobi accepts!" He saluted. Sakura knew the protocol and sighed inwardly "But before I give you your official ring and cloak I must look at your face." Tobi nodded and removed his mask revealing a man, no, teenager, with spiky brown hair and light green eyes, one of the most adorable faces she had ever seen. It took all of her might not to squeal. "Tobi, you are not to wear your mask unless you are on a mission. Am I understood?" Tobi nodded, "Tobi will listen because Tobi is a very good boy!" Sakura nodded and handed Tobi his official cloak and ring then presumed to look at Deidara, "Deidara, you will show Tobi around. Understood?" Deidara nodded, he knew she was only calling him by his full name because of protocol. "Understood Leader." He bowed slightly giving her a wink in the process.
Deidara looked at Tobi, "This way." He said nonchalantly. Tobi followed Deidara "I will call you Deidara-sama!" Deidara's face became annoyed, "whatever floats your boat kid." He gave Tobi the tour then took him to his room and held up his ring unlocking the door, "this is your room Tobi." Tobi nodded then bounded into his room, "thank you Deidara-sama!" Deidara rolled his eyes, "What ever, yeah." With that he closed Tobi's door and walked back to his own. He laid down onto his bed and began closing his eyes when he heard a knock at his door. 'Dammit' he thought. He stood up and opened his door to see Tobi. "What?!" Tobi jumped, "I forgot to ask you about the other members... sorry for bothering you Deidara-sama..." Deidara sighed, "There is Kisame, Zetsu, Konan, Pein, Itachi and Leader." Tobi nodded and smiled cheekily, "Thank you Deidara-sama!" He bounded away as Deidara closed his door and thought 'when was the last time I blew something up...?' He sighed before landing on his bed and falling asleep.
Sakura really didn't want to do this... She REALLY REALLY didn't want to. She made the hand signs to call forth everyone for a meeting. Everyone appeared except Tobi... "Deidara, did you not show Tobi the hand signs!?" Deidara thought for a second, "ooops" was all he said before he disappeared. Sakura shook her head as Kisame spoke up, "well, well Blossom I would have thought Leader was going to pick Itachi for the stand in leader." Sakura scowled, "Kisame, you thought wrong."
10 minutes later Deidara finally reappeared Tobi following him. "Good, now that everyone is accounted for, let's begin." Sakura had a stoic face that not even Itachi's sharingan could read. "First off, Itachi, Kisame, I want a report of how your mission is proceeding." Itachi answered, much to Deidara's dislike. "We have infiltrated the Land of Snow and have taken out everyone you have requested." Sakura nodded, "Then I presume your mission is a success?" Then Kisame spoke up "Yes Leader." Sakura again nodded, "very good. You may return to base now." Kisame and Itachi both nodded. She then turned to Konan, "Konan, how is your mission coming along?" Konan sighed, "I had to take out a few, but most simply forgot to pay. Mission is a success." Sakura smiled at her sister "Excellent job Konan. You may also return to base." Konan bowed, "Thank you Leader."
"Now comes the order of missions." Sakura said extremely monotone. "Deidara, you and will take Tobi and show him the ropes. You two are to go back to Konoha and look for any suspicions of attack towards the organization. Tobi will be your younger brother, I presume you will teach him the transformation jutsu." Deidara was about to argue when Sakura snapped at him, "Deidara, do not argue with me. You and Tobi are to leave tonight." Deidara and Tobi both said in union "understood." Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Good, everyone is dismissed." She vanished before everyone. She needed some time in her cherry blossom tree.
The month seemed to drag on and on. This was indeed the slowest month in her entire life. Between giving missions out, training her medical skills and her monstrous strength and doing nothing, she found that she had way too much time on her hands. She wondered how Leader did it.
-Back in Konoha, Hokage Tower-
Tsunade sighed, she had called in her best shinobi for a risky mission. "Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Neji, Hinata, and Naruto, I have an S-ranked mission for you to undertake." She sighed. "It has been 3 years this day since Haruno Sakura left the village. We now how intel that she has joined the Akatsuki organization." Everyone gasped except Naruto who had to start yelling, "Sakura-chan would never do that!" Tsunade scowled and handed Naruto a picture of an Akatsuki member with long pink hair. Naruto's face paled. "The reason I called all of you in here is for one reason... find Haruno Sakura...and capture her, if capture is out of the question, eliminate her..." Naruto began to shake angrily "I WILL NOT ELIMINATE MY BEST FRIEND! I WILL BRING HER BACK!" Tsunade smiled sadly. "Everyone except Naruto leave." Once they were gone Tsunade stood and looked out her window. "Naruto, when she woke up from her a coma she wasn't the same Sakura we knew. No matter how much you want to believe she still is in there somewhere, she isn't. It pains me as well, deeply in fact, she was like a daughter to me." Tears began brewing in Tsunade's eyes. "Get the mission completed or I will strip you from your ninja status." Naruto bolted out of the door crying. As soon as the door closed she fell to the ground and began to sob. "Mi'lady-" Shizune began before rushing over to Tsunade. Tsunade began speaking through sobs, "it...wasnt...supposed...to...happen...like...this!" She slammed her fist into the wall.
Deidara watched through his scope and jumped when Tobi began speaking "Oh no! Deidara-sama, Tobi knows this is bad for Leader!" Deidara's face got a 'no shit' look on it before he punched Tobi's head. "DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT TOBI!" Deidara's heart began to race as he watched the 6 leaf shinobi leave the village. "This isn't good Tobi..." he sat down and immediately made hand signs to contact the leader for a group meeting.
They all appeared in the 'mission arena'. Sakura spoke first "Deidara, Tobi, what is the status of your mission?" Deidara sighed heavily before speaking "Leader, as we speak 6 Konoha shinobi are coming for your retrieval. Their mission entails either your capture or your death." Sakura raised her eyebrows. "This is indeed troublesome for us. Everyone is to abandon their missions and return to base immediately to begin a strategy for our counter attack." Everyone nodded "That is all. Everyone is dismissed."
Deidara's heart pounded heavily in his chest. No one was going to get his fiancé, no one.
