A/N: I'm not sure whether to keep this story T or bump it up to M. I normally keep the rating T so if at any point anyone thinks it should go up please tell me because otherwise it'll probably stay the same.

Also, sorry it took so long to update.


6 days left

She hadn't eaten in three days. The smell of food wafted under her nose, and her stomach made a loud rumble, but she refused to move. Sakura stayed as motionless as a statue, staring impassively at the face of her tormentor.

"Are you sure you don't want some dango?" Baiu asked, waving the stick in front of her face. "It's probably the sweetest thing you'll ever taste, and this is the only time I'll let you have it."

Her stomach growled. Sakura reached down and took another sip from her water canteen. Baiu grinned.

"No? Such a shame. I'll be back in six hours with some more food. Get some training done, but don't overexert yourself. We wouldn't want you to faint now, would we?"

He got up and walked out, locking the door behind him. Sakura kept herself straight and tense, unwilling to allow herself to slump when she was probably being secretly observed.

Her stomach let out a whining noise. She breathed in through her nose and slowly let it out. Sakura had no idea what starving her for days was supposed to teach her, especially since her desire for food now eclipsed every other thought that entered her brain. Worse still, she had no idea how long Baiu would make this last. All he'd told her was that no matter what he did to tempt her, she wasn't allowed to eat until he ordered her to. She'd been locked in this windowless room for days, with some kunai and a target board to help her pass the time. The only other object in the room was the tiny pot that was supposed to act as a toilet. She hadn't felt the urge to use it since yesterday, which was worrying.

She stood up and felt a wave of dizziness sweep through her head. She thought she felt herself sway to the side but when the white light vanished she was still standing as straight as a pole. Hesitantly, she walked step by step over to the target board, and yanked her kunai out of it. It took her three tugs to pull them out, which worried her. She had lost almost all her strength, and if Baiu organized a spar or another test, she would definitely lose.

She walked away from the target board, and then took aim. Her arm felt too light, and when she threw the kunai it bounced off the target without sticking. The same thing happened to the second one, and the third one barely stuck. She picked one up and left the other two.

She walked back to the chair she had been sitting and sleeping on. It was the only furniture in the room, and it was slightly more comfortable then sleeping on the cold stone floor. Right now, she felt incredibly sleepy. Everything felt fuzzy, so she ran the point of the kunai up and down her arms. The pain kept her eyes open, but she didn't put enough pressure to break the skin.

Five hours and forty five minutes to go. You can do this.

She felt her eyes droop shut and pressed the tip of the kunai harder into her skin.

You have to.


Ino was not looking forward to this.

She wasn't exactly worried, but Naruto had seemed really determined to find this girl, and Ino never liked making people sad. Well, not unless they were really, really mean or annoying. Naruto was a little annoying, but not so much that it bothered Ino. Plus, he could be kind of funny sometimes.

She scuffed her feet against the ground, waiting for him at their designated meeting spot. After two minutes she felt herself growing impatient. She had better things to be doing than waiting all night just to let Naruto down. If he didn't show up soon-

The sound of hurried footsteps startled her, and she turned around to find a red-faced Naruto running towards her. When he reached the lamppost she was standing next to, he bent over and tried to catch his breath. He looked like he'd just done ten laps of the village while being chased by the entire ANBU force.

"Sorry I'm late." he said. His voice was barely above a whisper as he struggled to breathe.

"You look awful." Ino said, with all the bluntness of a five year old. "What happened?"

"My alarm clock went missing yesterday." he muttered. "Probably one of those asshole kids from the apartment below me. Their parents pretend I don't exist so they think that they can get away with doing anything to me. I wanted to get them back, but I was already running late and there were shinobi in front of their apartment when I ran past it."

He looked up and clearly noticed Ino's surprise, although she tried to pretend everything was fine.

"It's ok though." he said confidently. "I have this great idea for a prank that I'll try on them tomorrow. You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Ino wasn't quite sure how to react to this, but Naruto was looking at her in a way that begged for her to respond. So she decided to start with the smallest shock his speech had given her.

"You said 'asshole'." she said, a tinge of awe in her voice. "My daddy said that once and mom was furious and told him it was a bad word."

"Well you just said it too, so I won't tell if you won't."

She narrowed her eyes.

"Fine."

He grinned back.

"Fine."

There was a few seconds of tense silence before Naruto spoke again.

"So, do you have any new information? Because I think I'm onto something! I saw a man with weird purple coloured hair walking with a blonde woman, and I realized that if you mixed the two hair colours together you get pink hair! Also, they both looked really sad, which would make sense if the girl was their kid. I think I'm gonna try and find out more about them. What about you?"

Naruto's blue eyes were shining after he finished his report, and the knot in Ino's stomach grew tighter.

"Naruto… I'm sorry. I can't help you anymore."

The light in his eyes slowly dimmed and his feet stopped bouncing. He stared at her with a mixture of confusion and hurt.

"What? Why not?"

"The Hokage came to my house and told me that he knew what we were doing. I tried to explain to him that we hardly know what we're doing because neither of us actually know who we're looking for, but he insisted that we stop. He said it was dangerous, and he said it right in front of my parents. They seemed really scared, and they barely agreed to let me come and meet you."

"But… why? Why does the Hokage want us to stop? Why is it a problem?"

Ino gave a helpless shrug. "I don't know. All he said was that it was dangerous. I wouldn't normally care, but Naruto; the Hokage said it was dangerous. You know the Hokage wouldn't talk to us if it wasn't something serious. I don't want to do this, but I can't help you anymore. Besides, we still don't know if she actually exists."

"This again?" he spat angrily. "C'mon, we both know she exists. If you don't want to help then fine, I'll do it alone! It's not like that's something new."

He turned to storm off, and on instinct Ino reached out and grabbed him. He spun around, and although he tried to look as angry as possible, she could clearly see the hurt in his eyes. Before she could understand why, she was talking again.

"Slow down there dummy, I wasn't finished." she said, rolling her eyes. "All I said was that can't help you anymore with finding the missing girl. But it's clearly bugging you, so come with me to the park and we can play on the swings until you feel better."

Naruto stared at her until she started feeling uncomfortable. She hadn't exactly planned this part, so she had no idea what to do.

"Well?" she snapped. "Are you coming or not?"

"Sorry." Naruto said quickly. "I just… why? You never hung out with me before I asked you about the girl."

She shrugged. "I guess I never really bothered to spend time with you because I thought you were annoying and I already had my own group of friends. But you're always alone when I see you and now I don't get why. I mean, you're alright. You can be kind of weird sometimes, but you're fun. So c'mon, let's go."

"What about your parents?"

"I have an hour until curfew and if they ask I can pretend I was with one of my other friends." she sighed. "Look, if you don't want to go to the park with me just say it."

"No! No that's not it at all." Naruto said quickly. "It's just… I've never had a friend before, or anyone, really."

Ino rolled her eyes again. "God, don't make a big thing out of it, ok? I'm not doing this because I feel sorry for you. You make me laugh, and I want to get to know you better. So let's go before it gets too dark."

For a second, Naruto looked so scared that she thought he was going to run away, but then he seemed to realise that she was genuine and a huge grin spread across his face.

"Ok! But I'm getting first go on the swing that doesn't squeak!"

"Only if you get there first!" Ino yelled, breaking into a sprint

Behind her, she could hear Naruto yell something as he started chasing after her. She let out a laugh, feeling so much better now that she was still on good terms with him. She'd expected him to leave feeling betrayed, but instead they were kind of becoming friends. A month ago Ino would have laughed at the thought of them being friends, but now she found the idea sort of nice. Naruto was alright. Sometimes he did cool stuff like climbing the swing set and balancing on the horizontal bar. Maybe he could teach her how to do that today.

By the time they reached the park and made a mad dash for the swings, all thoughts of the pink haired girl had been pushed to the back of their minds.


She wasn't sure how much time had passed. Surely at least three hours had passed. Surely she wouldn't be forced to endure this for much longer. Pein needed her alive to become a weapon, didn't he?

She thought about the strange pallor of his skin and the creepy aura around most of the Akatsuki members. She knew they were all powerful and maybe the path to that power had warped them a bit. It wouldn't really surprise her if the price of that power was death. She could definitely see Orochimaru or Sasori sacrificing their living breathing human body for some messed-up jutsu. Was that what Pein intended to use her for?

She needed to stop thinking like that; otherwise she wouldn't make it out of this room. All the possibilities held in her unknown future terrified her, but thinking about it only made her panic. She needed a distraction of some sort.

If she had any confidence left in the strength of her body, she would get out of the chair and try some more target practise. As it was, she was fairly sure she didn't have the strength to even try pushing herself upwards. She alternated between sitting completely still until it felt like she was going to float straight out of her body and gripping the handles of the chair over and over again until her arms hurt. At the rate she was going, her willpower would only let her stay conscious for another hour at best. Then she would finally lose the fight with her body and faint.

Right now, she was keeping herself upright through a mixture of determination and fear. She was determined not to give Baiu the satisfaction of seeing her fail, and she was scared of what would happen to her if she did fail. If she lost consciousness, would she ever wake up?

Best not to think about that. Instead, Sakura focused on counting the bricks on the wall in front of her. She'd made it to fifty three last time before a wave of dizziness hit her and she lost her place.

42, 43, 43, 44, 45, 55… This isn't going to work.

Apparently her brain couldn't even count properly anymore. Or maybe Sakura was just tired of trying. If she closed her eyes, it would be easier. Maybe Baiu would think that she had fallen asleep and come rushing in with food.

Her stomach growled, and she deliberately forced her mind away from the thought of food. At least she still had some water left in her canteen. Dehydration would have left her unconscious hours ago. Starvation would take longer.

In the back of her head, the same part of her that knew all her instinctive jutsu and worldly knowledge started listing off symptoms of starvation. Fatigue was a common physiological one, and she was definitely experiencing that. Vitamin and mineral deficiency was another symptom and could lead to anemia, rashes, edema and heart failure, none of which she had yet. She had the food obsession but she was doing her best to ignore it.

She wondered why she had so many facts in her brain. The facts told her that she was so young, her intelligence was supposed to still be in the early development stages. Were these facts planted in her head by an outside source, or was she some kind of child genius?

Once again, she didn't know. Sakura let out a huff of frustration. It was hard to find something good to think about when you kept running into dead-ends. She felt like closing her eyes again. She was too tired.

She wanted her mommy.

Her drooping eyes shot open at that. Where had that thought come from? She knew all about mothers in a biological sense, and logically she knew that she must have parents, alive or dead. But she had never felt a connection to her parents before, not like she had with the boys in the photograph. Even now she had no mental picture or feelings associated with her parents. The space in her head where she sometimes caught a flash of memory was blank and silent.

Another fucking dead-end. Another question with no way to find an answer. She wanted to punch something, but her body was so damn weak right now, which just made her angrier.

She slumped back into the chair and closed her eyes. Enough was enough. She was tired of fighting for a point that seemed impossible to reach. If Baiu wanted her to pass this exercise then he needed to come in soon, because she was about to fall asleep.

She let herself relax completely. Ever since she woke up all her decisions and thoughts had been ruled by fear. If these were to be the last few moments of her life she wasn't going to spend them terrified.

The door in front of her opened with a click, and her eyes shot open in surprise. Baiu stood there, staring at her. She couldn't find it in her to care about how she looked to him. Did she look like she was on the brink of death? Good, because that was how she felt.

"Are you still alive?" he said.

She moved her head down to nod, but couldn't find the energy to pull it back up.

"Would you like some food now?"

She stayed perfectly still, ignoring him.

He nodded.

"Good. I'll be back in another six hours. Try to stay awake."

He walked out and shut the door. Sakura sighed and let her eyes close again.

It looks like this is the end. Goodbye to all those unanswered questions.

The door opened again, and Baiu stuck his head in.

"Just joking!" he said, with a huge grin on his face. "It's over now. You can eat."

For a few seconds, Sakura didn't understand what was happening. Then she felt something land in her lap and looked down. The smell of fresh onigiri wafted up into her face and she felt something inside her crack. Her hands were tearing into the rice balls and stuffing pieces of them into her mouth before she had time realise what she was doing. She couldn't remember if scoffing food down after being starved was good for you and she didn't care. All she cared about was how good the rice tasted on her tongue, going down her throat, and oh, it hurt when it reached her stomach but she didn't care she needed more, more, more.

Once she had devoured the rice balls she wiped her mouth and stared up at Baiu, who hadn't moved from the doorway of the room.

"Would you like some more?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, please."

He tossed some more over to her and she hastily stuffed them into her mouth. She could feel tears starting to well up in the corners of her eyes and blinked them away. When her eyes cleared she noticed Baiu was still staring at her.

"You did great, holding out as long as you did. I'm impressed."

She nodded, not quite sure what to say. He said those words like he meant them to be important, and she was happy that he was pleased, but aside from her hunger all she could think about was whether or not Pein would be impressed. Baiu had plenty of power over her, but Sakura was well aware that the only person who truly had the power to determine whether she lived or died was a man who had barely spoken to her since she arrived. She hadn't seen Pein since he'd supervised the test on whether she was making satisfying progress. She knew that they would have to meet again at some point, but up until now she had been trying not to think about it. She didn't know how to bring it up without making Baiu angry.

"Rest up for a few hours and eat some more." Wow, he had a lot of onigiri with him. "Then we'll spar, see how quick you recover."

She hastily gobbled up the rest of the food he gave her. Then, satisfied that she wouldn't be dying of starvation, she let her eyes close and fell asleep.

3 days left.

There were ten people standing when she entered the room, ten living people with lives that she knew nothing about. Maybe they had hopes, maybe they had families, or maybe one of them knew who she was.

She killed them all anyway. It was them or her.

Besides, they were bad people. Why would anyone want her to kill innocents? There had to have been a purpose to her killing them all. She knew that Baiu was not a nice person, and neither were Orochimaru or Sasori but she couldn't imagine Konan or Pein slaughtering people for no reason. They seemed to have a purpose, to believe in the Akatuski's cause.

If she was going to live with the things she did, she needed to believe in the cause too. Survival was fine- kill or be killed, Sakura understood that. But she couldn't walk out of there with ten lives on her conscience and use her own survival to justify it. The screams of the little boy whose throat she had slashed rang through her head, and she knew that she couldn't push this aside. She thought of the Daimyo she had killed and how she had gone numb afterwards, but that wasn't working now. Not caring wasn't an option this time, so in order not to break she needed some way to justify what she had done.

Baiu was waiting for her when she walked out, the blood of her last kill still dripping from her kunai. Her weapons were soaked in blood, but not a speck of it had touched her skin, hair or clothes. He smiled proudly at her, and for a second she thought about keeping her mouth shut, but she could almost feel the cracks spreading through her body. She needed something to stop herself from splintering.

"Why did they have to die?" she asked.

For a second, she thought he was going to hit her, but something in her eyes made him change his reaction.

"Because I told you to kill them." he replied.

She nodded. That made sense, didn't it? She was a weapon. She didn't need a conscience; she just needed to follow orders. So simple in concept, so why was it so hard to do? She was only a child, she shouldn't have to care so much about her own morality. The Akatsuki was where she belonged, so they must be the good guys. That meant that the people she killed were bad guys.

She ignored the memory of Sasori and Orochimaru torturing her with sadistic grins and cruel comments. They were just training her; they had to make her strong. The world was cruel, so she needed to be tough to survive. The Akatsuki were just trying to help her.

If she thought about it harder, she would have realized how ridiculous her thoughts were, but she had the blood of ten people on her weapons and she was tired. Why was she always so tired after killing someone? Why did she have to kill them in the first place?

It was hopeless. She would just have to trust Baiu. He was terrified of Pein, she could see that clearly. He needed her to pass as much as she did, which meant that all of this was for a reason. So what if she couldn't really see the reason? She was just a kid, she'd probably understand it when she was older.

If she survived that long.

She looked up and found Baiu scrutinizing her reaction. She kept her face blank. After weeks of training it was hardly even a mask anymore. Keeping what little emotions she had left hidden was practically instinct at this point.

"Clean your weapons and then get some sleep." Baiu ordered her.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The stench of death was slowly filling up the room and she feared that if she opened her mouth she would throw up.

"But before you do that you need to dispose of the bodies. You know where to bury them, but burning them would be quicker. The choice is yours."

She nodded again, and listened as his footsteps grew fainter. She closed her eyes and waited until he had gone before doubling over and vomiting all over the ground.

2 days left.

"One last exercise and we're done for the day. Lose the weapons and follow me."

She obeyed, following him away from the bodies and the aura of death that surrounded the room. He led her through the corridors and down sets of stairs, until they were underground. The air felt damp and cold against Sakura's skin, and she wished that she could shiver.

"Stop." Baiu commanded, and she did.

He walked behind her and she heard him fiddling with something. She kept her head facing forwards and her eyes on a point in the darkness.

Then something wrapped around her eyes and she almost flinched.

"This is quite a simple exercise. We've already tested your combat ability and your willingness to kill today, so now we're going to focus on your chakra control and manipulation. As with nearly everything, you were quite skilled at it before you even started training, but it does need some practice. All I need you to do today is walk in a straight line, using the chakra to sense obstacles in your way. Begin."

The blindfold was itchy, but she ignored the urge to scratch it and put her right foot forward. Channelling all her chakra into her foot, she was able to send out a small pulse of chakra. She'd never done this before, and it didn't seem to be one of the mysterious instincts that were ingrained in her mind, but the pulse seemed to work. By using it she could sense a small pebble to her left, and as she took another step she shifted her left foot to avoid it. She continued to use it to walk forward, and after a minute she relaxed a little. Baiu hadn't been lying when he called this a simple exercise. She was getting the hang of this pretty quickly.

She took another step forward and sent out a pulse of chakra. She sensed a small dip in the path to her right, but what caught her attention was what she sensed a few meters in front of her. The pulse just vanished, like there was nothing there. She frowned and sent out another pulse. It gave her the same feedback. The path in front of her vanished after a few metres. Was there some kind of jutsu hidden there that blocked chakra?

She took a few smaller steps until she was standing right next to where the path ended. Still, her chakra pulses wouldn't show her why that was. Hesitantly, she put her left foot forward and tried to find the path.

Her foot found nothing, and she stumbled backwards once she realised why. She was standing at the edge of a steep rock face. If she had taken another step she would have gone plummeting to her death.

She heard footsteps approaching and steadied herself. Baiu's breath could be heard directly behind her.

"Why did you stop?"

"There's nothing there." she replied, trying not to let her voice shake. "It's just a huge drop."

"Can't you walk along walls?"

She could. But could she sense where she was placing her feet while using chakra to keep them stuck to the rock? She didn't think so, and the thought of stepping over the edge blindfolded made her heart pound unnaturally fast.

"I can't do it." she said, the words rushing out of her before she could stop them. "If I try to walk any further I'll die."

"You won't die." Baiu said, his voice almost gentle. Sakura was expecting him to yell at her or perhaps shove her over the edge. "Trust me."

The funny thing was that she did trust him. She hated him, but he was all she had. Pein needed her alive, and Sakura had no doubt that he would make Baiu suffer if she died on his watch. For that reason alone, she trusted him to keep her alive.

She took a deep breath, and stepped over the edge.

1 day left.

She was immediately on her guard when she woke up, due to the fact that she woke up naturally. Baiu wasn't yelling in her face, or shoving her onto the ground, or kicking her in the ribs. Sakura never woke up without any prompting, which meant that something was probably wrong. She sat up and tensed when she saw Baiu sitting in the corner of her room.

"Relax." he said. "You're not in trouble. I just thought you could use some more sleep to recover from yesterday."

Baiu made no move to get up. Sakura wanted to get out of bed but she didn't want to get dressed with him in the room. The silence stretched on as neither of them moved, and Sakura realised that she would have to be the one to break it.

"I fell down a cliff." she said, because the incident from yesterday was still on her mind.

"Don't be dramatic. You were almost at the bottom when you fell."

"I broke my wrist and my shoulder."

"You've felt worse pain than that. Besides, you healed it within an hour. The important thing is that you lived, and you didn't break anything that couldn't be fixed. Now get up and meet me in the gym in half an hour."

"Yes sir." she muttered, hoping that the way she stumbled out of bed looked more dignified that it felt.

She thought she saw him smirk, which worried her. A Baiu that screamed at her for displaying any personality was a Baiu she could deal with. She wasn't sure what to make of a vaguely friendly Baiu that let her complain that she hurt herself.

Half an hour later, she walked into the gym where she'd met Kisame. She'd been careful to avoid this place for fear of running into Sasori again, but she felt slightly safer with Baiu there. Hopefully Sasori wouldn't try to steal her away with Baiu right next to her, although she knew that if it came to a fight Baiu didn't stand a chance against Sasori. But if he distracted Sasori long enough Sakura could run to find Konan or Pein, or maybe try to kill Sasori herself. Either way, her chances were better with Baiu there.

"After what happened yesterday, we'll avoid intense training today." Baiu said as he slowly paced around her and inspected the equipment. "Today you'll be the judge of what your body can take, but don't tire yourself out. I need you in top shape for tomorrow."

He didn't tell her why, but something in his voice gave him away and it all clicked together for her. Tomorrow would be the final test, where Pein would either deem her worthy or kill them both.

"Use whatever you need to train, but make sure to get a good night's sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

And with that, he left, leaving Sakura with a brand new pit in her stomach and hours to spend trying to ignore her nerves and focus on her training.

Despite the dread she felt getting into bed; it only took a few minutes for her to fall into a dreamless sleep.

0 days left.

Sakura stood calmly next to the metal door, wearing a clean dress and poncho. The last time she had entered the room, Pein had tried to kill her and Konan had ripped her thumbnails off. Then they told her that they had gone easy on her. She should probably be worried, but at this point she had become accustomed to her life being threated if she failed. So far, she hadn't failed, and that was really all she could do.

She could feel the nervous energy radiating off Baiu as he stood stiffly beside her. She had a faint desire to roll her eyes, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Pein was watching them, somehow.

If she allowed herself, she felt like she could pity Baiu, but after all the lives she had taken she no longer felt the right to pity anyone. It didn't seem right for a weapon to feel that emotion, and that was what she was now. She definitely no longer felt like a human. The girl that had woken up confused in a dark room months ago was gone, and all the emotions she remembered feeling at the time were so strange to her that the memory felt more like a dream.

The door swung open, and Baiu's breathing hitched audibly from beside her. She winced internally at that, knowing that Pein and Konan would not be impressed by Baiu's fear. He had met them before though, so hopefully they were used to it.

They walked inside and the door closed behind them. Konan and Pein surveyed them impassively from the darkest corner of the room. Sakura stared back equally blank-faced. After months of intense training, torture, murder and abuse she was honestly too tired to be scared by Pein's theatrics. He was a melodramatic god and she was the unlucky weapon he chose to serve him. So be it.

"Baiu, you have been training her for a long time now. Do you think she is ready to be my weapon?"

Sakura tuned out as Baiu started rattling off statistics. Her speed and strength, how long she lasted on average during a fight and all of her other capabilities were laid out in front of Pein. Neither Pein nor Konan gave any indication of their thoughts as Baiu continued to tell them about her lack of compassion towards those he ordered her to kill. He seemed to exaggerate her abilities slightly which worried her, but Pein didn't seem to think he was lying.

Eventually, Pein held up his hand, and Baiu's mouth snapped shut immediately.

"That's enough Baiu. From what you tell me Sakura is certainly ready. There is just one thing left to do before I will accept her as my weapon.

He turned to stare directly at her, and she met his gaze without flinching.

"Kill Baiu."

Oh. Well, she really should have seen this coming. From Pein's point of view, it made perfect sense. He hired Baiu to mold her into his weapon, but as long as Baiu lived he would always have some influence over Sakura that would stop Pein from controlling her completely. Out of the three people in the room with her, Baiu was the one who had the closest relationship with her. Logically, he was a burden to Pein as long as he lived. Getting Sakura to kill him just ensured that there would be no lingering feelings of attachment.

Baiu obviously realised that he wasn't leaving this room alive, but he still made an effort to run out the door. Sakura slammed the door shut before he could get out. He lunged at her, but she blocked his punches and grabs with ease. She could see him gearing up to try some jutsu, and she really had no desire to draw this fight out. Maybe during the first few weeks of training she would have enjoyed toying with him, but now she just wanted to get it over with.

Baiu had instructed her to come fully armed, which she found ironic now. She reached into one of the pouches concealed under her poncho and drew out a poisoned senbon. Baiu noticed and ducked when she threw it, but his distraction gave her time to use her jutsu on him.

"Kanashibari no Jutsu."

The paralysis would only hold him until his will won out over hers, but she was confident that she was more skilled at this jutsu than he was. This way, she wouldn't have to hear him beg for his life.

She reached into her pocket and drew out a shuriken. One quick flick of her wrist and the shuriken embedded itself in Baiu's forehead. She released the jutsu and he crumpled to the ground, dead.

"Well then," Pein said, once it became clear that Baiu was truly dead. "It seems you're ready."

Sakura nodded, but her eyes were still on Baiu's body. She had just killed the person who she was closest to, yet all she could focus on was the tiny pool of blood spreading across his forehead. Really, it had been an incredibly clean kill. She hoped Pein was satisfied.

She idly wondered if Baiu would be proud. All the torture he had put her through worked in the end. She had killed him and felt nothing, just like a weapon should.

He probably wouldn't have felt proud, she decided. He had valued his life too much to be anything but angry at her for taking it. But Baiu's feelings didn't matter to her. As long as Pein deemed her useful, she would do whatever he ordered her to do.

She noticed sheets of paper wrapping around the body. Konan would probably dispose of it; maybe dump it with his family. Did Baiu have any family? Well, if he did it didn't concern her, not anymore.

"Sakura, go back to your room. I'll send for you when I'm ready."

Pein was staring at her expectantly, and she wondered if he was waiting for her to say something or maybe to show some emotion, something to prove that she felt remorse or grief over Baiu's death. Maybe he expected her to crack, to stab herself with her own poisoned senbon.

It would never happen. Sakura had killed better people than Baiu to ensure her own survival. She reached her breaking point long before this kill. Really, she just felt relieved that she still had her thumbnails intact.

She met Pein's eyes, nodded and left the room, careful to avoid the small puddle of blood that was forming on the floor.