Welcome to Chapter Nineteen! For anyone still sticking with this story, thank you! Though I might update slow at times, I really do enjoy writing this, so I hope you're enjoying it, too.

Time will speed up in this chapter, just so the plot can really get going. It will continue to get more complex from here; I hope I can write everything adequately!

Some events from the manga will happen over the course of this chapter and will be briefly mentioned (while some will be focused on more heavily). However, due to Aoi giving the Akatsuki the information about their deaths (not to mention her presence in general), these events (if they involve Akatsuki) will be altered in some way. (Which will definitely be interesting to write, haha.)

This chapter can also be considered a transition chapter, since many things happen quickly, here.

Some more canon characters will be introduced in this chapter, yay! Hopefully I can write them adequately, haha. (I am especially worried about a certain character with hair styled like the back end of a duck…)

And this was probably obvious already, but I just wanted to clarify that I am using the mangaverse of Naruto for this plot. (I know the anime makes some changes to canon events, so I just wanted to let readers know that I am indeed following the manga for the storyline rather than the anime.) [The exception for this will be material like Karin's backstory. That was anime-only, but I thought it added to her character a lot, so it will be included in this story.]

This chapter might end up being shorter than its predecessor, but that's because I didn't want to cram too many plot points into this one, since time passes by so quickly.

*Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.*

-Chapter Nineteen: Whirlwind-

After a month of money-gathering missions, Sasori and Deidara were finally tasked with targeting the Ichibi. Though Deidara made a spectacle of blowing up multiple parts of Sunagakure, he had completed his part of the mission. And not only that; he was able to keep his arms, too. As he escaped with the unconscious Gaara, eager to get the sealing over with, his thoughts briefly turned to Aoi, but he shook his head, trying to rid himself of them before he dwelled too much on everything that had transpired over the past several months. He begrudgingly admitted to himself that he missed the short brunette (though he would bite his own tongue out before he'd say it to anyone else in the organization), even if she was just Akatsuki's information tool.

Exhaling audibly, he tried to squish down his anger at Pein for not punishing Tobi (well, Obito) for acting without orders, but he was starting to suspect that the pierced man knew the masked man's true identity, or at least his Uchiha Madara alias.

He pushed all thoughts and theories of the true leadership of Akatsuki as the Kyuubi host—the overly-enthusiastic Uzumaki Naruto—fought him. Recalling what Aoi said about the battle, the older of the blonds focused on getting out of the way, corpse of Gaara be damned.

True to his hypothesis, Naruto glared at him before catching the limp form of his friend. However, he no longer attacked, instead turning back towards Hatake Kakashi.

Seems like Gaara was more of his priority than this fight was. Interesting. Judging from his attitude before, I assumed he'd be more belligerent. Oh well, this match was fun while it lasted. Smirking, Deidara carefully started making his way back to the meeting place he and Sasori agreed on if they ended up being engaged in battle. Luckily, there was no sign of Maito Gai or his obnoxious team anywhere, so he was able to comfortably hide in a tree, masking his chakra. Now all he had to do was wait.

Sasori narrowed his eyes as he stared at Haruno Sakura and his grandmother, Chiyo.

"Did you really expect me to fall for that one?" He jerked his head to the side, gesturing to his old Mother and Father puppets, which had stabbed each other in an attempt to corner and kill him.

"No, I really didn't," Chiyo began, shaking her head. "But something told me it would work. I guess not. Age must be catching up to me…"

Sakura looked alarmingly towards her senior, tensing up into a fighting stance, despite her severe stab wound just having been healed. "What do we do now?" she whispered, though Sasori was able to hear every word, even without chakra-enhancing his ears.

"For a Konoha brat, you managed to put up a good fight, girl." Not only was she able to destroy Hiruko, but also the Sandaime Kazekage, and even his primary puppet body. The one he was forced to switch into was adequate, but it lacked the aesthetics and hidden mechanisms he preferred.

Oh well. I can switch this out for another body back at the hideout.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the pink-haired girl spoke. "How can you live this way? It's unnatural!"

"Sakura-san…" Chiyo's voice took on a warning tone.

"To you it might be unnatural, Haruno, since I am neither human nor puppet, but this body will never age, and if it gets too damaged, I can just switch to another. I am eternal, true art." Sasori tilted his head, blinking slowly. "Would you like to try out this form? You might understand more, if you did. If my grandmother was not here, you would have perished, and I would have considered you worthy enough to make you a part of my collection."

As Sakura's head snapped up, for a second, the redhead saw Aoi in her place. But the vision was shattered as soon as she spoke. "Of course not! Why would I want to be a freakish mish-mash like you? What sort of monster are you? People aren't just things that you can piece back together and use for your own gain!"

Sasori narrowed his eyes again before smirking, an expression he knew unnerved his opponent. "What sort of shinobi are you, Haruno? You have been trained to kill since you were a child, and have been taught techniques by Tsunade that can eliminate opponents in extremely agonizing ways. We both live in a world of pain, war, and suffering, and we have both embraced it. Yet you still act self-righteous, like you—"

He was interrupted mid-sentence when Sakura punched him square in the face, snapping his head back. Though he couldn't feel it, he knew that the area around his left cheekbone had cracked.

"What was the point of that? You know this body can feel no pain."

Sakura ground her teeth in anger. "Why are you just standing there? Aren't you going to kill us? Are you mocking me or something?"

"That was the original plan, yes. 'Kill all who stand in my way'." He smiled coldly. "I could do it, too, seeing as though you're both nearly out of chakra. But something has come up, and while you were an entertaining distraction, I believe it is time for us to part ways."

"So you, Akasuna no Sasori, are going to just walk away? What are you planning?" Sakura prepared to lunge, but Chiyo stopped her.

"He's not lying, Sakura-san. And I do believe we should listen to him."

"But Chiyo-baasama, he's Akatsuki, the organization that's after Naruto! We can't just let him walk away. He might be your grandson, but—"

Now, it was Sasori's turn to interrupt. "Look," he stated coldly, "you are very lucky, you stupid girl. As much as I do want to kill you, I have better things to do with my time. And if you would shut up for at least a second—because, Kami, you're worse than my brat of a partner—I might have some information that'll be worth your while. Think of it as a…reward...of sorts, for coming closer to killing me than any other."

He smirked again, stepping forward and leaning close to Sakura. "You wanted to know about Orochimaru, correct? In ten days' time, go to the Tenchi Bridge in Kusagakure. At noon, I have a meeting with one of my spies that I placed in Orochimaru's ranks."

He stepped back to let his words sink in.

"If I get what you're saying, and you want me or my team to impersonate you for this meeting, why? What would you get out of it? And I thought Orochimaru was an ally of yours?"

"Simple, Haruno. I have…other business…to attend to, and your assistance in this matter would make it easier for me. And as for Orochimaru? He's no ally of mine." Sasori's lips curled in disgust, and his fists reflexively clenched. "In fact, as much as I hate to say it, we share a common enemy."

"And how do I know you're not lying, and this is some elaborate trap to get Naruto? I know Akatsuki is after jinchuuriki." Sakura crossed her arms over her chest.

"I can tell you're academically smart, though you run your mouth too much. It's up to you whether you want to believe me or not. But like I said, Orochimaru has been a thorn in my side for awhile now, and anything that hurts him helps me."

Before Sakura could say anything else, the puppet master pulled a smoke bomb out of a compartment hidden in his arm and threw it at the ground, creating an opportunity for him to escape.

What a troublesome girl… Against his better judgement, he compared the pink-haired kunoichi to Aoi, and reluctantly admitted to himself that he preferred the latter's company. While Sakura was brash, idealistic, and preferred brute strength, Aoi was careful, realistic (though her realism was basically pessimism with logic), and, from what he had heard of her and Deidara's ill-fated mission to Akasakana, cunning. And while she had feared his artform, she also respected it.

Why am I even thinking about this? It's pointless; she might have been a decent apprentice while she lasted, but besides that, she was only good for information. Shaking his head, he cleared his thoughts of everything related to Aoi, and instead focused on his spur-of-the-moment (slight) alliance with Konoha against Orochimaru.

If his plan played out the way he assumed it would, then Hatake's team (since he doubted Sakura would be allowed to go alone, even though she was capable) would be the perfect distraction for him to slip into Orochimaru's Kusa hideout unnoticed. He knew the Sannin well enough to figure that it was highly likely that he would shadow Kabuto—the 'spy'.

Sasori had also realized previously that Kabuto wasn't loyal to him, but said nothing, since he knew he could use the information in the future. And now it was paying off. If everything went without a hitch, he would be able to sabotage Orochimaru's lab while Konoha would do all the work of battling the snakelike man himself. He doubted they would be strong enough to kill Orochimaru (and he wanted that honor for himself), but with the Kyuubi brat on their side, it was guaranteed to be a lengthy distraction.

As Sasori continued to carefully walk towards his and Deidara's rendezvous point, something that Sakura said to him earlier stuck with him. Truth be told, it would have been easy to lie and give her false information about a meeting that didn't exist in order to capture Uzumaki Naruto, but ever since Itachi told him Tobi's real identity, coupled with the fact that Pein did not punish the masked man for disobeying his orders, he was beginning to suspect that Pein was not the true leader of Akatsuki, and that he, along with the rest of the organization, was being manipulated by Uchiha Obito. (Though Sasori also suspected that Pein only knew him by his second alias, Uchiha Madara.) With this information in mind, he quickly realized that the bijuu were needed for something other than Pein's goal, which made him less likely to want to seal the rest of them. He wasn't too keen on the original idea in the first place, but at least it was a noble goal. He had no idea what Obito wanted with the beasts, but he already wanted no part in it. Akasuna no Sasori did not take kindly to being manipulated, especially not for so long.

"I still don't understand why Sasori gave me that information. It sounds so suspicious, like a trap," Sakura stated, drumming her fingers on the side of her skirt.

After Team Kakashi said their goodbyes to Gaara—who had been revived by Chiyo using the self-sacrificing Kishou Tensei—and Sakura had paid her respects at Chiyo's grave, the three returned home, along with Team Gai. Currently, Sakura and Naruto were in Tsunade's office, discussing what had transpired on their mission. Kakashi, who had overexerted himself attempting to use an advanced form of the Sharingan on the bomber Deidara, was stuck in the hospital.

"You are very right in thinking that it could be. However, there have been no reports that Orochimaru is currently affiliated with Akatsuki, and it seemed like he acted alone during his Operation Destroy Konoha attempt. So, for all we know, Orochimaru could have betrayed Akatsuki, and Sasori wants to use your team to take him out." Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "That doesn't explain why he retreated, though. That goes against his style. From what you told me, Sakura, it almost sounds like he is not as loyal to Akatsuki as we all thought. Or, his hatred for Orochimaru overrides his feelings for the organization."

"Man, you all are making this way more complicated than it needs to be!" Naruto pounded his fist on the desk. "If it's not a trap, we could get information on Sasuke. But if it is, we fight. Simple as that!"

After more deliberation, it was decided that Team Kakashi would indeed meet up with Sasori's spy at the Tenchi Bridge. However, there was a catch.

"Due to the nature of the mission, I will be assigning two more members to your team."

"Fine." Naruto waved his hand in a 'whatever' sort of gesture. "I'm sure Shikamaru or Kiba or whoever two you pick will work with us just fine."

Tsunade didn't have the heart to tell him that, once the Elders of Konoha got word of this mission, they would be the ones picking the remaining team members. And that's only if she'd be able to convince them to let the mission happen, to begin with.

A month had passed since Aoi was taken to a lab in a country called 'Kusagakure', and, true to Kabuto's word, he and Orochimaru attempted to integrate her with the rest of his test subjects in the facility. However, due to constantly being 'requested' by Orochimaru and Kabuto, the others thought that she was being favored, and didn't like her. In actuality, it was quite the opposite. The scientists continued to study her, painfully taking blood and tissue samples from various parts of her body. At best, her fellow test subjects were indifferent, but at worst, they were violent. She quickly learned to stop interacting with them, even though she had a feeling that the self-isolation would hurt her in the long run.

After eating a measly bowl of dry rice, Aoi reached for her crutches, ready to hobble back to her tiny living space. However, luck was not on her side today, and she found herself being kicked to the floor.

"You think you're better than us, sitting here all by yourself, Aoi-hime?" A burly man who went by the name of 'Hachirou' sneered, grabbing the front of her shirt and lifting her up. Though the material of her shirt was coarse, it was also worn, and soon, the pressure on it caused it to rip.

As she fell to the floor, she tried to cover her chest, but Hachirou grabbed her wrists with one hand and forced her arms over her head and pressing them harshly against the ground. He knelt over her, his legs on each side of her own, pinning her down.

"What do we have here?" Aoi said nothing as the man's hands roamed across her chest, only squeezing her eyes shut before tears could spill from them. She knew there was nothing she could do to fight him; she lost a lot of weight in the past month, not to mention her left leg was mostly gone. She bit her lip, hoping that he would get bored quickly, since she knew her body was not considered 'attractive'.

Aoi's eyes snapped open when Hachirou tugged on the strange device embedded in her sternum. She let out a piercing shriek as the man yanked on it more forcefully.

"Orochimaru-sama's trying to make you more powerful, isn't he?" he growled. "I heard he was working on a device to enhance chakra, but I can't believe he would waste it on someone as weak as you."

"Are you stupid?" Before Aoi had a chance to filter her words, they spilled out of her mouth, like vomit. "Orochimaru told me that he put this in me because I don't have a natural chakra network. He wanted to see what effect his chakra would have on me."

She realized too late that it was the wrong thing to say.

"Orochimaru-sama…gave you some of his chakra?" Hachirou's voice became scarily calm. Putting more of his weight onto her, he used his free hand to reach into his pocket, grabbing a scalpel. "Glad I was able to steal this." The man smirked, using the knife to trace around the device. "You are not worthy of his chakra, so I think it's time for me to cut that device out of you…"

But before Aoi could even struggle, Hachirou's weight was suddenly off of her. The other test subjects, who had been indifferent to her plight and continued their hushed murmuring, all went silent.

She forced her eyes open to look at her rescuer. Even with her now-poor vision, she noticed his eyes were dark, and his face held no emotion.

Hachirou leapt to his feet, backing away from the young man as fast as he could. "My apologies, Sasuke-sama. I got a little carried away."

"Shut up, Hachirou." Aoi swore that the room dropped at least twenty degrees.

"And you." As the raven-haired boy—Sasuke—turned his gaze onto her, she grabbed the ripped ends of her shirt and pulled them together, covering herself. "Orochimaru wants me to have a word with you."

Without saying anything else, Sasuke picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, though not harshly. He picked up speed as they left the dining area, and soon, they were in another, smaller room. She was dropped onto a chair, while Sasuke stood in front of her. Soon, his eyes went from black to a unique red, with three black tomoe circling the each pupil on a thin ring, and Aoi's stomach lurched, her head being struck with visions of a figure with black hair tied in a low ponytail, and the same striking red eyes.

"I know you," Aoi finally managed to say, her voice scratchy. "You have a different hairstyle now, but I swear I know you..."

And that is the end of this chapter. While this one is shorter than the two previous ones, I hope it was still enjoyable. This was not my best chapter, but I couldn't figure out how to make it better without having parts drag, so I guess I'm okay with the final product.

Honestly, the canon (with some twists, XD) scenes were tedious to write, which is why writing this chapter took awhile. It was definitely interesting to write Sasori's and Sakura's conversation, but altering the canon while still keeping the spirit of the original was very difficult. Hopefully, I succeeded.

The reason I didn't write out the fight scenes (Deidara vs. Gaara, Sasori vs. Sakura and Chiyo and Deidara vs. Naruto and Kakashi) was because I thought they would drag on for too long, and would be pretty boring, especially since they'd pretty much be the same as the ones in the manga/anime. (Except that Deidara keeps both his arms, and Sasori lives, haha.)

So far, Sakura is shown to be Aoi's foil, at least to Sasori. (But this isn't a bad thing, nor meant to bash Sakura—she's one of my favorite Naruto characters, actually—it's just meant to show how opposite their personalities are, especially when it comes to Sasori's creations.) [Funnily enough, I feel like, if they were on the same side, Sakura and Sasori could be friends. They both have that edge to their personalities [though it's shown in different ways], both are intelligent, both have knowledge of the human body and poisons, etc. I don't know why, but that would be interesting to explore.] …Ignore me, I am rambling.

Notice how Naruto doesn't use honorifics when he speaks. I wanted to show how casual (and sometimes inappropriately so) he talks, and I figured that not using honorifics was a good way to express that. (Also, besides Sakura, he doesn't seem to use honorifics for the rest of his peers in the anime.)

On the subject of honorifics, obviously, Sakura's not going to use them towards her enemy (and vice versa). And as for Sasuke, well, he comes across as arrogant, so I can't see him using honorifics unless he really respects someone.

Not all of Orochimaru's subjects at this hideout will be similar to Hachirou. In fact, he's one of the few that are obsessed with Orochimaru, rather than horrified by him. He's also Aoi's biggest bully because he's jealous that she spends a lot of time with Orochimaru, even if that time is painful for her.

And dun dun dun! Sasuke is finally introduced into the plot. I am so nervous to write him; he's just such a difficult character to pin down in terms of writing. At least, at this point, Itachi hasn't died, so he's not as unstable, but still. I don't want to make him 'nice', since he's not, but at the same time, I don't want to make him 'evil', since he was shown to not even kill the people Orochimaru pit him against during his training, and when he forms Hebi, he orders Suigetsu to leave opponents in battle alive. I don't know, Sasuke's just super complicated, and I want to write him well. (So I am not looking forward to the next chapter, which focuses on him and Aoi at the beginning.)

And if you didn't guess, Aoi is vaguely remembering Itachi, but she assumes Sasuke is the person in her thoughts, since he has the same eyes and a similar appearance. (Which will actually play a pretty large role in the next chapter.)

Thanks for sticking with this story!