It sprinkled rain as they moved further north, dusting the trees with dew and misting the air in a way that caused the ends of Sakura's hair to curl. This time, she'd remembered to pack umbrellas for the three of them, though Gaara still preferred to let his sand curl above him in a vague umbrella shape. It sometimes rained in Konoha during the fall, but it seemed as though northern Fire Country was far more humid.

They stuck to the roads at first before meandering off, at first following the time-honored logic of 'not wanting to get lost', before eventually coming to the conclusion that if people saw them on the roads, word might spread, and if Akatsuki heard they were heading north that might lead to them being followed. It was with a bit of reluctance that Sakura left the roads; traveling through the thick of the woods was rough on her legs, and there were bugs in the humid north that picked through her clothes and left welts on her skin. A price to pay for travel anonymity, one that she didn't mind paying, but definitely one she could gripe about.

Still, there was an odd peace that settled upon their days. They were on a time limit, sure, but that time limit was more in the span of months rather than days or weeks. She wanted to reach Oto before Orochimaru could possess Sasuke's body. She wanted to reach the larger shinobi nations before Akatsuki had a chance to try and attack their Jinchuuriki. But reaching places took time, and at the very least Sakura knew she had at least a year and a half, if not more, before Orochimaru could even try to take Sasuke. She didn't know Akatsuki's timeline, but considering it had been a year since Itachi had first approached Naruto, it could be assumed that they weren't rushed, simply biding their time for an opportunity. There were newer implications that Itachi might not be quite as loyal to Akatsuki as she'd originally thought, judging by the fact that Itachi had been ordered to kill his clan and hadn't simply snapped, but Sakura had yet to determine if Itachi had simply been loyal to Danzo or...well, it was an iffy situation no matter how you looked at it. Sakura couldn't justify slaughtering a clan to stop a civil war, she just couldn't, and maybe it was naive of her but all Sakura could think of regarding the Uchiha was that something could have been done better to stop it.

So no, she didn't know where Itachi stood. She didn't know enough. But she did know that the nations under her pact were sufficiently warned regarding Akatsuki, and while she didn't know the full spread of shinobi in the organization, she doubted even nine S-ranked deserters could take on the full might of a village...could they?

Itachi took out an entire clan, but Onoki had fought Madara and lived to tell of it, and he had been more than eager to spread his strategies now that both living Uchiha were considered missing-nin. (Tsunade had also healed the damage caused by Itachi's genjutsu, which seemed to suggest she could heal herself if the need arose.) Hidan seemed immortal, but he'd also seemed incapable of functioning with his head removed. Kakuzu was a wild card, seeing as he was old enough to be her great grandfather and still was spry enough to be part of Akatsuki, but Shibuki had theories and had promised to inform both her and the other Kage once his theories solidified. Kisame had a sword that ate chakra, but Jiraiya had scared him off easily enough when he'd come for Naruto. And that left the weird Zetsu demon and the masked Sharingan user from the Uchiha complex, whom Sakura was becoming more and more convinced might be her sensei's long lost teammate…

If the Zetsu was anything like the other demons, dealing with him would be a cakewalk. As for the masked Uchiha, teleportation was a bitch to deal with, but the more people around, the harder it was to use that ability to gain tactical advantage. Sakura had landed a good hit on him even with just Shikamaru and Emi at her side.

The current theory was that there were nine Akatsuki members, one for each tailed beast, and counting out who she knew, that left three mystery shinobi. However, Sakura wasn't going to be stupid enough to think they didn't have backup. Ten, maybe twelve shinobi at least, and so far she had potential methods for dealing with each of the known ones.

She was definitely being optimistic, but how could she not be? They'd taken down Danzo, they'd fixed Gaara's seal so he could sleep again, they'd successfully pulled seven shinobi nations into an alliance. It hadn't been easy, but it sure felt like things were sort of naturally going their way.

And maybe that was the true reason for the sense of peace that Sakura felt as they walked. Maybe it was the sense of accomplishment, the sense that she had gotten somewhere. It had only been a year since she'd left the village to research her enemies and help save her friends. A year, and things were already so different she could barely recognize herself. Would the Sakura of a year ago have laughed if she'd been told of the future? Of the Suna Jinchuuriki, of the snarky boy from Root, now her best friends, now her team? That she was looking at a future without Sasuke in it and was strangely...alright with it?

Where would she be another year from now? Alive still? Accomplished? Powerful?

"What are you thinking about?"

Sakura was dragged from her thoughts as Sai spoke up. "You've got quite the pensive look on your face." He clarified. "Or maybe it's not pensive...perhaps constipation?"

Sakura slapped his arm playfully. "I'm thinking about the future, you dummy. Where we'll be a year from now."

"Following our projected route, we'll hopefully be somewhere on the south end of Kiri." Sai answered. "Barring that we don't die or get otherwise delayed."

"Ha ha. I meant who we'd be as people. Who will have signed the pact. What we'll have learned. Maybe Gaara will have figured out the puzzle box by then!"

Gaara grunted at this, currently fiddling with said box as they walked. It was more difficult than a normal box, they'd figured out. It required chakra inputs at certain twists and turns, and the wrong input would reset the entire box. If anything, it was a rather decent exercise in chakra control, but as a Jinchuuriki Gaara had never needed much to begin with. The boy was beyond frustrated, forgoing his newfound ability to sleep in favor of getting more time to try and work at the box. Shukaku, of course, had been quiet on the subject. (But not quiet in general, in fact, Shukaku had taken his newfound freedom to provide commentary through Gaara whenever he deemed it appropriate.) Whenever Gaara asked about the box, Shukaku simply insisted that it was a test, over and over again.

"What do you think is in it?"

"Something silly. A gold leaf." Sai postulated. "Tanuki are mischievous, so they say. What better mischief than forcing someone to work for days for a mere trinket?"

"Hey, a solid gold leaf could still pay for a couple nice nights at an inn." Sakura countered. "I've heard there's a hundred onsen in Yugakure. We could have our pick!"

"There's fourteen." Sai corrected. "And an onsen would simply relax you into letting your guard down."

"Steam." Sakura countered. "Even the Sharingan is hindered in the mist."

"You're so certain?"

"I've lived it, that's how I know." Sakura thought back to the Land of Waves, of how Kakashi had needed hounds to track down Zabuza in the Mist, eyes rendered useless. "Team Seven's first mission involved fighting Momichi Zabuza. He used mist to shield himself."

"Ah." Sai nodded, pulling out his notebook to jot down notes. "The Byakugan has the advantage there, I suppose. Fog can't stop a Hyuuga, but it can stop an Uchiha. It's a wonder the smoke from their fire jutsu never caused a hindrance. It might be prudent to learn a jutsu that creates smoke or fog."

"I'd imagine someone we know has access to a few. If not, we can always…"

"What, petition Kiri? I'm sure they'll be more than eager to share village jutsu after decades of being at war with every shinobi nation on the continent. Themselves included."

"We'll figure it out." Sakura stuck out her tongue. "But I admit, there's a reason I've put Kiri last on my list. Nobody's sure if they even have a Kage anymore."

"Yugakure doesn't have a Kage anymore either. Perhaps they'll be good practice."

Sakura highly doubted that. Kiri was a nation devastated by war. Yu, in contrast, hadn't participated in any of the major wars. Her record of Yugakure indicated that they didn't have a Kage due to a recent democratic decision to disband the Yu shinobi in favor of pacifism. There were still citizens that used chakra, mostly defending from bandits and occasionally performing odd jobs for the villages, but Yu prided itself on being 'the village that had forgotten war'. Sakura would have figured that neighboring villages would have taken the change as an excuse to invade and take the lands for their own, but so far it appeared as though none had tried. She understood why Konoha didn't take advantage; recovering from the Kyuubi attack and now suffering through two minor wars had set them back. Shinobi would be lost trying to take Yu, and even more lost to trying to maintain new borders that they were unfamiliar with. Sakura would have figured that Oto was, perhaps, too new to try invading another country...but Orochimaru had invaded Konoha, so that was blatantly not true. Sakura theorized there that Orochimaru simply had no interest in Yu like he had with Konoha. Oto was a surprisingly wealthy nation, dominating the rice trade and, less surprisingly so now knowing its leader, also exporting a fair amount of unique civilian technology. Sakura was sure none of the exports were the pinnacle of what Orochimaru had developed, but why not take advantage of outdated technology by selling it to those who weren't quite as caught up as you were? Yes, Sakura supposed it made sense that Orochimaru didn't have much interest in conquering Yu immediately, who had nothing to offer but economic benefit. Kumo, on the other hand, was a mystery. Maybe they just liked having Yu as a barrier between them and other countries, maybe they were simply nicer than Konohan propaganda had given them credit for, or maybe it was something else entirely. Sakura just wasn't sure, but she was fairly certain that, with the possible exception of Akatsuki, Yu would be peaceful. A definite calm before some very intimidating storms.

She would still be approaching the Yu leaders to discuss her treaty. Perhaps Yu wasn't an official shinobi nation any longer, but Sakura figured it would be rude to leave them out of things. They had shinobi in their history, and they were an important part of the world economy. Sakura hoped speaking with them would go quickly and smoothly. A pacifist nation would surely find no trouble signing into a multi-nation alliance?

Sai was probably rubbing off on her, because a pessimist thought in her mind kept thinking that things looked a bit too easy, which meant something was going to go horribly wrong.

For now, at least, Sakura let herself bask in peace of the journey.

The forest gave way to fissures, worn into the earth by mighty rivers and majestic waterfalls. A large part of the Yu border met with the ocean, and many of the rivers that began in Iwa spiraled their way through the land until coming to a rest at Yu's shores. They made their way back to the road once they were sure they were within Yu proper, not wanting any of the country's patrols to think them suspicious, and in turn that set them on the path to pass many of Yu's various inns and resorts. Small towns had seemed to form around each resort, along with various fisheries and markets. It reminded Sakura that money was fairly scarce for her team, and if that ever changed in the future she wanted nothing more than to give every single one of the resorts here a try. She made compromise by deciding to allow herself a few nights at one of the resorts in the hidden village while she spoke with the Yu leaders.

Yugakure itself was centered around a massive lake. Its buildings were built into the fissure walls and around the lakeside, and one building overall dominated the scenery: a multi-floored building that looked as though it might be a temple. The village guards informed her that it was a place of government, where the leaders met to address the country's needs and where citizens would come to elect new leaders every year. Leaders could be elected multiple years in a row, but it was entirely possible that a leader could be elected once and then never lead again, a concept that was admittedly strange to Sakura. A leader was supposed to be a constant, guiding force. How could anything get done when the country went through political upheaval every year?

But things did get done, and Yu continued to prosper. Sakura supposed there was something to it that she simply missed, and maybe the more time she spent here, the more she'd be able to understand.

They made their way to the temple building first. They had arrived in the early afternoon, and there was no reason to delay meeting with the leaders. It didn't take long to track them down. Upon entering the building they were gestured into a waiting room by the guards, and hardly any time passed at all before three people entered to greet them.

The first two introduced themselves, and Sakura wished she had the clarity of mind to greet them properly, because upon seeing the third person, she was immediately overwhelmed with the sensation of memories. She had seen this man before, seen him in some strange sort of dream where he had been gathering herbs in a tall field. He had looked at her and told her that the village would be changing soon, that she wasn't yet ready for something…

But he was older now, with shocks of gray dotting his hair and new wrinkles where there hadn't been any before. Yet he still wore the white kimono of her memory, as did the other two people, and more interestingly, he wore a rather familiar necklace: a black circle, with an inverted triangle within it.

"I am Genkei, the Third Representative of Yu." The man announced himself, and Sakura was even more surprised because she'd known the man's name before he said it. He noticed the recognition in her eyes, and she saw him glance downwards towards the matching necklace around her own neck. "...and it seems as though a treaty won't be the only thing we'll be discussing today."

"S-Sakura Haruno." Sakura forced herself to say. "And I suppose you're probably right."

"I'll prioritize your treaty, if you don't mind. We cannot actually make any decision on it without putting our council to a vote, so it's best we get that process started as soon as possible."

The representatives were predictably amenable to the concept of the treaty, even more so considering the countries that had signed onto it already. Sakura allowed herself a breath of relief when the three promised they would bring up the treaty with the council immediately, and a further breath when they assured her that the country's stance would most likely be 'yes', as any step towards universal peace would be considered a worthy one. However, there would have to be some addendums made: Yu would likely want to keep its pacifist status, which meant that if war with an unallied nation did occur, Yu would be unwilling to send their own to help fight, regardless of any signed treaty. That of course led to some complications: if Yu was given special treatment and allowed to simply send supplies to allies during war, other countries might try to withhold military aid by just sending supplies of their own. Sakura drafted several potential compromises. They could send healers instead of fighters, people that would travel to villages and provide aid to wounded shinobi that were brought home away from the front lines. There could be a more general addendum made to the treaty: countries without a military force would be held to different standards of the treaty than those with a military force. (They would have to define guidelines for a military force, which would be a lot more work, but Sakura had expected to be continually drafting the treaty every time she reached a new country anyway.) Yu could simply refuse to sign the treaty until all other countries were on board, thus lowering the risk that they'd be drawn into conflict anyway. The representatives had a copy of the treaty; Sakura would leave it in the hands of the Yu council to come up with options that she could bring up with the rest of her allied nations.

Sakura assured them that they had time, and she would stay in Yu for as long as it took for them to reach a preliminary agreement. To her delight, Genkei even often to host them.

"It isn't rare that we receive shinobi as tourists, but never before have we received ambassadors. We should set a precedent for treating them well, should we not?" Genkei told her as they walked along the lakeshore. Genkei's house was built into the cliffside, but man had offered a scenic tour of Yugakure before closing them in for the night. "We have been preaching for years that the future of the world should not be written in war. Within the past hundred years, shinobi have weathered three world wars, and Yu considered that far too many. We will destroy ourselves without balance. That balance is now being considered…" Genkei smiled. "I believe it will give many of us hope to see it. If your purpose here is peace, you will always be welcome in my home."

"Our purpose is peace." Sakura promised. "But we've also come to warn. There is a mercenary group that opposes us, and they're hunting Jinchuuriki as well-"

"Akatsuki." Genkei replied with a nod. "They will not come here. Even if they have reason to."

"You're so certain?"

"We have a factor in our favor. I'm assuming you know of Hidan?"

"He's the one that gave this to me." Sakura reached up to touch her amulet. "I actually came here for some answers about him and his religion. But he's part of Akatsuki…"

"Exactly." Genkei agreed. "Hidan...he disagrees with our village politics, but he will not allow harm to come to his home, whether he outwardly admits it or not. I am quite certain he has worked to convince his leader that we are not worth their time. And for the most part, we are not. We have no Jinchuuriki. We have little military power. This country is a neutral haven, and even Akatsuki would be loathe to make themselves unwelcome here."

"I guess that's comforting." Sakura glanced towards Gaara. They hadn't been open about his status as a Jinchuuriki, but at this point she felt like it was becoming common knowledge anyway, and Genkei had insinuated as such. If Genkei was so certain they were safe, she was tempted to believe that there was some amount of truth to his words. And within the borders of a village was definitely safer than alone in the woods.

"You mentioned wanting to know of Hidan's religion?"

"Yes. Literally anything at all. Hidan mentioned that Jashin's worshippers lived here in Yu, and I could get more answers if I went to them."

"He was correct. Jashin's followers live north of here. The first step to reaching their temple is to find his worshippers here in Yugakure." Genkei gestured to his own necklace. "I studied with them for over a decade before I returned to serve as a shinobi for Yu. Believe it or not, there are many worshippers here. Most simply keep their prayers to themselves."

It painted a different picture in her mind of Genkei, knowing that he'd studied under Jashinism for a decade. Hidan had mentioned Jashin was a God of Pain, demanding total annihilation of one's foes...how could Yu be a pacifist nation if many of its worshippers followed this philosophy?

"You look confused."

"...I feel like I might not have the whole picture."

"Knowing Hidan, I believe that." Genkei laughed. "He was my student once, you see. A genin under my command, before Yu's military was dissolved. He reacted more passionately than most when this happened, and I became afraid, for a time, that he might fall down a dark path without proper guidance. Hidan thrived on the thrill of battle. He was a shinobi that would have flourished in any other nation than Yu. Thankfully, for him, there was another option. I sent him to the Temple of Jashin, and there he found a greater purpose. There, perhaps, you will find greater purpose."

Genkei refused to speak more on the subject, despite Sakura's prying. He drew a route for her to follow on their map, but more than that, he claimed, was for her to find out when she arrived there.

They ended up staying in Yugakure for three days. It only took two, technically, for the Yu council to decide on options for joining with the treaty, and from there they claimed it would have to be put to a country-wide vote. There would be two stages of voting, one to decide if they should join the treaty and potentially forgo straight pacifism in favor of keeping peace, the other to decide what amendments to request so that Yu could stay true to their ideals.

They spent the third day being treated to the amenities of an onsen, courtesy of the Yu council. As Genkei had told them, a precedent needed to be set for how ambassadors were treated, and Yu was united in the belief that they be treated well.

Sakura certainly didn't have any complaints about that.

On the morning of the fourth day, Genkei took them to the village gates to see them off. Sakura asked him one more time if he could tell them anything at all about the Jashin religion, to which Genkei said only one thing.

"Don't let your guard down."

They walked for another day, leaving the main road from the village and branching into a side ravine that was more craggy stone than actual path. Genkei had been exact in drawing the route, but despite this Sakura still found herself doubting the path until they came across a crudely drawn symbol on the cliff wall: the circle with the inverted triangle. A sign, hopefully, that they were on the right track.

There was a strange sense of foreboding that crept over them with every step, enough so that even Sai ran out of quips to say. Shukaku was oddly quiet, and Gaara put down his puzzle box in favor of keeping on high alert. On top of that, Sakura couldn't help but notice that she felt...pulsing. Like the pulsing of a heartbeat, echoing through the ravine walls and reverberating with her very body. At one point Sakura sent out a sensing pulse of her own, and the result was a feedback of chakra so intense that it stunned her for a good minute. Whatever was going on, there was a massive concentration of something here.

Even more disturbing was that neither Gaara or Sai felt this pulsing at all.

Sakura kept close to the boys with that realization. Whatever was going on with her, whatever power had been bestowed on her, it was both thrilling and terrifying that it applied to her and her alone. With everything that she knew, would she regret seeking answers? Or would this be the key to something 'greater', as Genkei had suggested?

They reached their destination as the sun began to set, casting long shadows over the craggy path. The ravine dipped downwards, and all at once a deep canyon was revealed to them, and within it the largest statue Sakura had ever seen.

It was a statue of a man, and at first Sakura was convinced it was the Sage of Six Paths. There were the trademark two horns protruding from the man's head, and he was wearing a long robe adorned with familiar magatama symbols. However, unlike the Sage, this man's hair was long and flowed down his back, and the staff that he carried was slightly different than the Sage's: instead of various rings on a hooped end, this staff had two protruding crosses. Finally, Sakura did not see the signature 'third eye' on the man's forehead.

This was not the Sage of Six Paths...but he was similar.

The statue itself had to be at least a couple hundred feet tall, only dwarfed by the massive canyon walls surrounding it. At the statue's feet looked to be a temple building, similar to the one she had seen in Yugakure. The temple, however, looked strangely dark. Sakura wished she could use her sensing jutsu, but another quick pulse confirmed that there was too much of something around for her to pick up on any signs of life.

"He's familiar…" Shukaku spoke through Gaara. "Like Hagoromo, but…"

"Hagoromo?"

Sakura made to ask further, but all at once, Gaara's sand rushed around them, and she heard a loud 'thunk' as something embedded itself in the shield.

"An arrow." Gaara announced, allowing the arrow to fall to the ground in front of them. It was larger than most arrows Sakura had seen, and the arrowhead was of an unusual shape, as though parts of it had fanned out upon hitting the sand.

"If that sort of arrow hits flesh, it would hurt to pull out." Sai bent over to pick up the arrow, not even flinching as another one was intercepted by Gaara's defense. "If it doesn't kill, it causes pain. Appropriate, from what we know of these people."

Seven more arrows flew their way before the volley stopped, each coming from slightly different angles and directions. As the final arrow flew, a figure landed on the road in front of them, wielding a massive bow and a satchel full of the strange arrows. Her attire was strange: she wore a thick black jacket with a furred hood, and a casual white shirt and pants that looked more like they belonged to a civilian than a shinobi.

"Nice shield." The figure, a tall, scarred woman, spoke in a tone that seemed both amused and frustrated. "Not many people can block my arrows so well. But is defense all you got, or do you actually know how to have a good time?"

The woman then held the bow in front of her, and with a strange click, the string retracted and the bow split into two parts. The woman wielded one part in each hand, and it was only then that Sakura realized that the bow was somehow bladed, and now the woman was essentially wielding two swords.

"W-wait!" Sakura called out, rushing forward and holding her amulet at the ready. "I was sent here by Hidan and Genkei! We're here to learn about Jashinism!"

"Oh?" The woman looked to the amulet, and a sadistic grin pulled across her face. "Excellent. It's been a long time since we've tested a potential."

She shifted into a fighting stance, and behind her four more warriors appeared, also wearing similarly strange attire and holding intimidating weaponry.

"First test, recruit." The woman announced. "Reach the temple alive and we might consider you worthy of our attention. The more of us you take down in the process, the higher your score will be. Got it, dipshits?"

Sakura swallowed and drew a kunai, falling into a fighting stance of her own. Gaara's sand swirled at the ready, and next to her she saw Sai ready his brush and ink.

"We got it…" Sai replied. "Pissbrain."

The woman grinned.

"Oh, I think we're going to like you."