Fourth Tenant of the Shinobi Neutrality Pact

All official ambassadors to the pact will be unaligned with any specific village in the pact. All actions and agreements performed by ambassadors will be done with bias. If an ambassador is suspected to have acted with bias, they will be investigated by both village delegates and fellow ambassadors. Upon proof of biased action, the ambassador will be subject to punishment, potentially including dismissal from their position and revokement of any agreements known to have been influenced by said bias.

"How many of those demons has your village seen so far?"

"Hundreds, over the years. It's like there's no end to them. We're just lucky that they trickle in, in small groups. If a hundred tried to breach all at once, there's no way we could contain them."

Sakura listened closely while she ran next to Fuu, grateful for the familiar style of tree-jumping that she had gotten used to during her time in Konoha. Iwa's pine trees had been ill-suited for travel; their prickly leaves were painful to push through, and their branches too close together. Taki trees were far more similar to the monsters that dotted the Konoha landscapes, which meant it was easy for Sakura to keep pace and hear what Fuu had to say.

Demons...that was the only term Fuu had to describe the beings that regularly tried to breach through Taki's borders. Borders, Sakura had come to realize, that stretched a bit further than her past sources agreed upon. Even if it wasn't recognized by other villages, Taki shinobi patrolled not only Taki land, but the entire strip around the Mountain's Graveyard. It was there, Fuu claimed, that the demons were 'born'. It was there they regularly approached from. But every time Taki had sent in shinobi to try and 'clear the nest', to figure out how they were being born and how to stop them...none ever returned.

Supposedly these demons had been around since before the founding of the Hidden Villages. It was this knowledge, and the dismissal of this knowledge, that had led to Taki denying alliance with any other village in the past.

Taki was fighting a century's long war, Fuu had told her. A war that nobody else acknowledged, let alone tried to assist in. And Sakura couldn't help but be baffled by the fact that this information had existed for so long, and not a single village had ever once thought to look into it further. It was so strange as to be suspicious, and that just meant another mystery on the long list of mysteries that Sakura had to keep track of, damn it all.

But there was a connection, at the very least, a connection that unfortunately led to even more questions. The being that Sakura had seen up on the Iwa mountains was technically a demon, but not one of the ones that Fuu was referring to. They referred to that demon as 'Zetsu', something similar in appearance to the other demons, but far more elusive and far less combative. This demon, Fuu claimed, was seen only rarely, and after all this time no one had been able to capture him, or even get close to landing a hit. All they had was a name...a name they weren't even sure how they managed to obtain. But what they did know with a fair amount of certainty was that, as of late, all sightings of the Zetsu demon had described him as wearing a black robe with red clouds…

Akatsuki was hunting 'demons', through their supposed pursuit of Jinchuuriki. Fitting, then, that they had recruited a demon to their team. Akatsuki supposedly had nine members, so that, along with previous information and the knowledge of the two Sakura had met in plains, meant that she had names for at least five of the nine.

The demons that Taki repelled were different than Zetsu in that they were actively antagonistic to anyone they encountered, and strong enough to be a problem to anyone they encountered. To start, they were resilient. Jutsu that were lethal to humans could be shrugged off by a demon. On top of that, if they managed to get their hands on their attacker, they could absorb their chakra, and even start to take on aspects of the person they absorbed the chakra from. Taki had learned early on that they were capable of mimicking someone they were allowed to fully absorb. A powerful blank slate that could infiltrate anywhere if given the chance. That could already be infiltrating anywhere, if there were some that Taki'd happened to miss. This was a problem. This had been a problem.

And Sakura made a vow right then and there that it wouldn't be a problem anymore. This was exactly the kind of problem that the Neutrality Project was made for. Konoha, Oto, and Taki all bordered the Mountain's Graveyard, if she could get all three to agree to the project, she could get them to all work in tandem to figure this problem out. Maybe if all three worked together, they could find the demon 'nest' and root it out.

Taki, of course, was already tackling this problem directly, and Sakura knew for a fact that Konoha would likely be more than willing to help out, especially if Kakashi was here to see the problem firsthand. Oto, however…

Sakura had already been dreading trying to convince Orochimaru to join a village alliance. She was already worried enough about Suna and Konoha even considering allowing a village founded by the man into the pact. Orochimaru had killed both their Kage, declared war on Konoha, manipulated Suna...it wasn't something a village could easily move past. And it was a problem Sakura, at some point, would have to address. And now, with this new problem stacking on top of it…

Sakura reached up, absentmindedly holding onto the amulet of Jashin around her neck. Maybe it was stupid, but she felt like she needed divine influence to sort this shitshow out.

"Are you sure Konoha has no record of anything like this?" Sakura looked back at Kakashi. "Not a single hint of any weird white-skinned person who's attacked in the past? Konoha borders the Graveyard, I find it a bit hard to believe we've never even seen anything."

"It's because we're just that good." Fuu answered before Kakashi could speak. "We've been keeping all you wimpy shinobi safe by manning the front lines."

"...no, there's nothing in any of our records about this." Kakashi retorted, his one eye narrowing in what Sakura had learned to be annoyance. "Quite frankly, if Sakura hadn't sensed that strange chakra a few days ago, I don't think I would have believed you."

"It seems very far-fetched." Sai commented. "Are you sure your whole village hasn't been attacking bears this entire time?"

Fuu didn't respond at first; she simply raised her middle finger at Sai while they ran. Sakura wondered if Sai even knew what the gesture meant. "Idiot. Just because you haven't seen it yet doesn't mean it isn't true. But if you really doubt me, you can go run into the Graveyard and see for yourself."

"We are not running into the Graveyard." Sakura groaned, rolling her eyes. "I am already on a tight schedule with this treaty, and we already have enough problems with Akatsuki looming over our heads. I don't want to risk death just to prove a point."

"But we are going to need proof if the other villages are going to believe us." Sai argued. "An alliance is one thing. An alliance with the stipulation of added protection for a demon patrol is far harder to justify."

And Sai was...right. But how was Sakura going to get proof? She'd barely managed a glimpse of Zetsu, and she'd only managed that because-

Fuu came to a screeching halt, causing Sakura to nearly fall off a branch to stop with her. Behind her, she heard her three male companions skid to a stop as well.

"Fuu, what's going on?"

"Shh." Fuu put a finger to her lips. Then, to Sakura's surprise, she made a series of familiar hand signs.

That...that was the sequence for her sensing jutsu.

There were a couple extra signs at the end of the sequence, but up until that point the sequence had been identical. A more advanced version? Sakura briefly wondered if the scroll she'd filched had even belonged to Konoha at all. Maybe it had been a Taki scroll, pillaged in the early years of war.

But that thought didn't matter now. Mimicking Fuu, Sakura went through her own sequence of hand signs, sending out a sensing pulse.

One, two, three...eight signatures, about two hundred feet away from their location. And each of those signatures had that strange, hollow energy to their chakra that she had sensed from Zetsu.

"You want your proof, Sai?" Sakura said in a low whisper. "I think timing's on our side, because we can get proof right now."

"Demons?" Gaara asked, moving closer to her side.

"Demons." Fuu answered with a nod. "But...I'll be dealing with them. You four are going to stay here and not move until I come back."

"What?" Sakura protested. "Fuu, we can help you! Do you really want to face eight of those on your own?"

"It's not about that." Fuu replied. All at once, Sakura noticed that the girl looked nervous. "Just...if you're really serious about making an alliance, you'll stay here and not follow me, alright?"

"She doesn't want you to see her village's techniques." Sai piped up. "An alliance is a good cover story for having an easy infiltration into Taki. For all she knows, we're really just here to steal village secrets."

"...oh." Another valid point, Sakura considered. But still, was it really alright to let this girl handle eight enemies on her own? "If...if you're sure you can handle it, Fuu, we'll wait here."

To her surprise, Fuu gave her a smile. "I'm not like you guys. I'm the strongest kunoichi there ever was! So don't you go around doubting me, alright? I'll kick their asses and bring you back one of them so you can see the proof for yourself." She held her hand in a thumbs up gesture, then made to turn around.

Then, suddenly, Gaara stepped forward, gently taking Fuu by the hand to hold her back.

"That's not the reason, is it?" He asked softly.

"Hey, let go! This is serious!" Fuu pulled away with a frown. "And whatever you think you know-"

"It's okay." Gaara insisted. "I...I'm like you."

Fuu's eyes widened, and all at once Sakura understood. She'd known Taki had a Jinchuuriki...and now she knew that they'd been lucky enough that the very first shinobi they'd come across was that Jinchuuriki. This had been about keeping village secrets, but not just mere techniques. Sakura knew that Jinchuuriki had been kidnapped in the past so that other villages could gain control of their Bijuu. Bijuu were a source of village power. Now that they knew, now that the secret was out, that information could be valuable in the wrong hands.

Sakura hoped beyond hope that the presence of a Jinchuuriki in their own group would be enough to convince Fuu that they weren't a danger.

"I...I didn't hear that." Sakura spoke up, grabbing Gaara by the back of his shirt and pulling him back several steps. "And you didn't say it. And you two didn't hear it either." Sakura turned to point at Kakashi and Sai. "Especially you." Sakura emphasized, jabbing her finger again in Sai's direction. "And if I find you writing anything about this to Root later, I will give Fuu your head on a platter myself. We are here to invite Taki into an alliance, not put their village in further jeopardy."

"Right, right." Kakashi held up his hands in defense. "Not a word."

Sai was quiet, which was...worrying. This was absolutely the sort of information Root would want to know, and Sakura wasn't quite sure she could prevent Sai from sending that information out. All that on top of what Gaara had mentioned to her earlier...Sakura didn't know what to do with Sai yet. But right now, the most important thing was taking care of demons.

Sakura turned around to face Gaara again before lightly rapping her fist against his forehead. "You need to be more careful!" She lectured. "I know you're excited to meet someone like you, but you have to think about the consequences of that information, okay?"

"...okay." Gaara nodded, looking uncharacteristically sheepish.

"Now, since we've all accidentally heard this information that we will definitely not be discussing further, I will ask again. Fuu...would you like our help?"

Fuu's eyes were still wide, but after a moment her expression steeled and she gave the group a nod.

"Alright Pinkie, I'll let you help." All at once, her expression changed to that of a mischievous grin, and the girl reached out to poke Sakura's forehead. "But only because you're cute, you got that?"

Sakura turned beet red at the comment, sputtering slightly, but before she could retort, Fuu had already begun to move.

When Sakura first caught sight of the demons, she realized all at once that this was going to be her first real fight since training under Onoki, and for a brief moment her nerves overtook her. The last real tussle she'd gotten herself into had ended with her getting stabbed twice, not to mention the brush with Akatsuki and the whole Plains civil war aspects.

But she wasn't that girl anymore. She wasn't just playing around with jutsu she'd scraped up and barely learned. She was Sakura Haruno, lead ambassador for the Shinobi Neutrality Project, and student of the Third Tsuchikage.

This fight wasn't going to be like any of the ones before.

The demons were exactly like Fuu had described: white-skinned, humanoid but somehow inhuman in how they moved, how they looked, how they snarled as they realized that they were being approached. Even that, for a second, was enough to make Sakura hesitate. But Fuu charged in regardless, no hesitation, and if a girl like Fuu could be so brave, so could she.

Fuu had already charged in first, and for good reason. With a couple of quick hand signs, Fuu breathed out a cloud of glittering dust, covering each of the demons. It appeared to blind them, causing each of them to come to a halt as they scratched at their eyes. A damn good distraction. Then, Sakura saw what she could only describe as chakra begin to form around Fuu's body, eventually coalescing into long strips on her back.

Wings?

Considering that Gaara had gone through radical transformations in the past with the energy of Shukaku, it wasn't completely surprising to see this. In fact, Sakura had to admit, it was kind of cool. Fuu's chakra wings were allowing her to hover, which would give her a tactical advantage in the fight and…

And damn it all, now Sakura didn't want to be shown up.

"Gaara, you've got defense!" She called out, letting herself fall back into the routine of her past sparring drills. "Sai, get up in the air and don't let any of them get past us! Kakashi, um…" She hesitated, looking to her old mentor guiltily. "Well, I...I mean, I guess I shouldn't be ordering you and Sai around..."

"You and I have offense." Kakashi finished for her, smiling through his mask. "Let's go, Sakura."

Sakura felt relief, and then determination. Quickly, she flew through a series of hand signs before slamming both of her fists to the ground. She felt earth chakra flow over her hands, pulling dirt and rock with it until both of her fists were encased in a solid layer. As she did this, she saw Kakashi fly over her, already engaging with one of them. Behind her, Sai had drawn out a large bird, ink bringing the creature to life in a splash beneath him. And, as always, Gaara was there by her side, sand already flowing out from his 'scroll', ready to protect her.

She wasn't alone. She was stronger. She could do this.

She pushed chakra to her feet and let herself leap forward, slamming her right fist into one of the demons' face. She felt the blow connect, and saw the face distort with the power of her blow, but even as the demon staggered, it didn't fall. Fuu hadn't been wrong. Sakura had broken rock with her punches before, and this thing was still standing. She would have to get a bit more creative.

The demon lashed out at her in response, and Sakura didn't even flinch. She knew she could count on Gaara, and sure enough she saw sand form a protective shell on her left side, blocking her from the demon's hand. At the same time, she saw a small ink bird fly into the demon's eyes, once again blinding it. Sai had already started with long range support, which gave them an opportunity.

"Gaara, hold it down!" She called out. One blow wasn't enough to kill it, but maybe…

Sakura waited, holding her breath for the brief second it took for Gaara's sand to snake up around the demon's legs. She pulled both of her arms straight back behind her, and once the demon was secured, she threw her arms forward in an arc. Simultaneously, her fists slammed against the sides of the demon's head, crushing it between them. She watched as the head caved with a sickening crunch...but there was no blood, no viscera, almost more like she'd just pounded on clay. However, after the blow had hit, the demon fell to the ground and moved no more.

One down. She'd need to hit them hard, but she'd already proven she could do it.

"Sakura, northeast!"

She heard Sai's voice call out, and as she glanced in the direction he mentioned, she saw one of the demons sprinting away. She let her rock gauntlets fall off for the moment, granting her the dexterity to use hand signs. Next to her, she saw Gaara slam his hands to the ground, creating a wall of solid sand that stopped the demon in its tracks. Another opening for her. Quickly, her hands flew, and as she put her own hand to the ground she focused on the demon's location, visualizing in her mind the density and thickness of the earth, how much chakra she would have to use, and picturing, not a pillar, but a spike. Earth shot up from the ground in front of the demon, and pierced its chest clean through. The demon twitched, and it moved no more.

Two down.

Sakura turned to scan the area. By the look of things, Kakashi had already taken down two of his own, and Fuu had wrapped up two more in what looked to be a web-like substance. (Not dead, but disabled.) That left two more to finish off. With another call out from Sai, Sakura saw one of them heading towards her from her right. It was time, she decided, to test out a new move that Onoki had taught her. She went through several more hand signs, this time letting her chakra flow through her body and into the ground. It was a connection, like Shukaku had told her, and with that connection she could shape the earth how she willed it. Quickly, smoothly, the earth at her feet formed sharp spikes, and with a push of her chakra she sent a dozen of them flying towards the demon in front of her. A few missed, but enough hit to stop the demon dead in its tracks.

Three down by her hand, and it wasn't long before Kakashi had neutralized the final one with a well placed Chidori. That had been…

Easy.

Sakura grinned, folding her arms as she surveilled the battlefield. Not a single one of her party had gotten hurt, the demons had been taken care of, and Fuu had two live ones caught in her web.

"With you guys here, we can wrap these freaks up and take them back to Taki to study!" Fuu told them, punching the air with a small whoop. "I don't think we've had live ones in years. And you guys can take one of these bodies to show the other villages proof that they exist!"

Sai, at least, had a storage scroll big enough to do just that. And even if he was planning on sending it straight to Root, that still meant Konoha would have proof enough. And if Konoha could be convinced...so could other villages.

This could...this could work out.

Now all she had to do was convince Taki that she was here to help.

"Come on, Pinkie." Fuu slapped her heartily on the shoulder, the strength of it almost causing Sakura to buckle. "Shibuki will definitely want to meet with you now that you've helped me out. Help me carry these fucks back home, will ya?"

Sakura glanced back at the two surviving demons, unable to even struggle under the strength of Fuu's jutsu.

This...this had to be a good sign of things to come.

Didn't it?