Chapter 9
"Grandpa!" Rin exclaimed.
"Are you sure OUR Otokage is your Ojii-san?" Kei asked.
"I won't be sure until I see him." Sakura said.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Placing her hand on the sudden slightly intimidating door, she pushed it open.
"Rin, Itsuki, and Kei? Do you need anything?" a man asked with graying red/pink hair.
"Well we were just wondering…" Rin started off by asking.
"… if you possibly…" Itsuki continued.
"… have a granddaughter?" Kei said as he finished.
"I do as a matter of fact. Her name is Sakura Haruno." Daichi replied. "She has bright pink hair, vivid green eyes, and a happy child face. Impossible to miss. Why do you ask?"
"I-I'm right here Ojii-san." Sakura said feeling slightly nervous peeking out from behind the door.
Her eyes were cast downwards avoiding her grandpa's hard stare. He rushed out of his seat scattering some paperwork and rushed over to her.
"Look up child. Let your old man see how much you've grown." He said.
Sakura's bright jade eyes met Daichi's wise dark green eyes. "She has grown into a fine young lady." Daichi thought.
"Are you here on a mission?" Daichi asked.
"Can't be on a mission if you don't have a village to return to." Sakura murmured.
Daichi gave her a confused stare. Sakura pointed to her neck where her scratched Konoha headband hung.
"We have things to catch up on." Daichi said. "Sit down. All of you."
ONE HOUR LATER
"So you were basically almost killed by a rabid fan girl, Rin, Itsuki, and Kei found you, healed and took care of you, you got kidnapped by the Akatsuki, became their medic, healed this Deidara person and you came back here?" Daichi summarized.
Sakura nodded. Of course she left out the part where she kissed Itachi on the cheek and that she drank underage.
"And now you want to join my village." Daichi finished.
Sakura nodded again. There was tense silence and Sakura was afraid that her grandpa wouldn't let her join his village.
"Ok." He said.
Sakura's head shot up.
"Ok?" she echoed.
"I, Daichi Haruno Otokage of Otogakure, allow my granddaughter Sakura Haruno to become a ninja of Otogakure." Daichi said.
A large smile threatened to consume Sakura's face.
"Kei will test your abilities." Daichi said. "Let's go outside."
Sakura followed Rin, Itsuki, Kei, and Daichi outside to a large training field behind the Otokage's building.
"This is a nice training ground." Sakura thought.
"Too bad we'll have to ruin it." Inner smirked.
Sakura smiled and pulled on her old worn leather gloves. She joined Kei on the training field.
"Ready, Set, Fight!" Rin shouted.
"Come on princess, I'll let you have the first hit." Kei teased.
"Gladly." Sakura smirked while running towards him.
"Predictable." Everyone thought.
Kei crouched down into a defensive position. Just as Kei was sure that Sakura was going to launch a punch at his arms, she aimed downwards.
"SHANNARO!" Sakura yelled shattering the ground to a million of spiky rocks. Sakura's smirk widened at the shocked faces of everyone. Kei quickly jumped back narrowly avoiding a kick from Sakura which knocked down a large tree.
"It would suck to get hit with that." Itsuki murmured.
Sakura chased after Kei, trying to punch him, leaving more craters in the ground. She formed quick hand signs.
"Water Style: Suiryuuden no Jutsu!" Sakura yelled.
A large water dragon erupted from the ground, harshly crashing into Kei. Sakura approached the tree that Kei had gotten slammed into. But she saw nothing but splinters. She only had a second to react before Kei attacked her from above with a katana. Sakura quickly pulled out a kunai and blocked the sharp object from cutting her into little neat pieces. She smirked. Now this was one of the best fights she had been in.
ONE HOUR LATER
Sakura panted heavily as she held a dagger above Kei's neck.
"Give up?" Sakura asked.
Kei gulped and nodded carefully so he wouldn't get cut by Sakura's dagger. She got off of him and unsealed his main chakra pathways. She was so glad that she had Neji and Hinata taught her that. She wiped the sweat off her forehead. Rin began applauding happily.
"You're so strong! You beat Kei!" she exclaimed.
"Kei is an ANBU member and you beat him." Itsuki said. "Aren't you a Jonin though?"
"Yeah, when I was still in Konoha, I was going to apply for ANBU before the whole Karin thing happened. I had some of my better friends help me sin Tsunade-shi, Tsunade-sama didn't." Sakura replied.
"You were trained by the slug princess?" Kei exclaimed. "You're punches could have killed me."
Everyone laughed.
"Sakura, I will give you your ranking tomorrow. Come to my office at noon." Daichi said.
"Hai Ojii-san." Sakura said.
"Until you can find an apartment you can live in, I'm sure Rin wouldn't mind sharing a room." Daichi said.
"YAY! Sakura-chan is going to stay with me!" Rin cheered. "Let's go! We can talk more about girl stuff at my place!"
Rin dragged Sakura to her place. It wasn't too big but it wasn't small either. A nice cozy coffee brown walled house. Everything was simple and plain until Rin's room. Sakura's jaw almost dropped. Rin had a queen sized bed with hot pink bed sheets and a whole bunch of clothing lying on top. Her walls were stripped purple and yellow. Sakura couldn't even tell what color the dresser was because of all the nail polish and makeup covering it. An electric blue carpet lay in the middle of the room. Sakura was absolutely speechless.
"Like it?" Rin asked.
"This place is CRAZY!" Sakura exclaimed.
"My bed is large enough for the both of us. You go take a shower first." Rin said.
"Wait! What about PJ's?" Sakura asked.
Rin opened her closet making a small pile of clothing tumble out. She entered the closet and dug around a little. She handed Sakura a loose tank top and basketball shorts.
"Thanks." Sakura said closing the bathroom door behind her.
20 MINUTES LATER
Sakura sat on Rin's bed with a towel around her neck. Rin just enter the bathroom to take a shower. Sakura grabbed her bag and began unpacking her medical supply and some clothing. It didn't take long. She quickly felt her bag to make sure that she wasn't forgetting anything in her dirty bag. Her hand brushed a small bump in her bag. Feeling curious, she opened the small pouch. Her hand closed around a small metal object. As soon as she pulled it out, a small projection shot out.
AT THE AKATSUKI BASE
"Looks like Kitten has the found the ring." Kisame grinned.
"Eh?" Sakura said. "You guys slipped the ring into my bag?"
"Yep!" Kisame replied.
"That way we contact you whenever." Konan added.
"As long as you're wearing the ring, yeah." Deidara asked.
"So since I have the ring…" Sakura started.
"You're an official Akatsuki member." Sasori finished.
"Leader-sama will give you your cloak and hat when you come here next time." Kisame said.
"Or Deidara will do it when he comes to Otogakure to get his arm checked." Konan said.
"Oh yeah. How is your arm doing?" Sakura asked Deidara.
"They don't hurt anymore, yeah." Deidara said. "They feel fine, un."
"Good, remember no strenuous activities for a month." Sakura said.
"What are you, his fucking mother?" Hidan snickered.
Sakura stuck her tongue out at Hidan.
"Sounds like your friend is done showering, so we'll talk to you later Kitten." Kisame said.
"Ok, Goodnight guys." Sakura said.
"By the way, next time you're going to kiss Itachi goodbye, do it on the lips." Kisame snickered.
The last thing he heard from Sakura was a stream of very colorful vocabulary.
