39. Hello again you all!, I hope this will go up in time but I got distracted starting a new series for a Korean drama, Sketch, I just finished oops…

Firstly, many thank yous to Suzululu4moe for our long chat on a scene later on the chapter.

Next, update schedule/replies and lag time excuses/explanations below for those who were concerned, but for now, on with the chapter. I'm grateful for all the support and the feedback you all have been giving, I'm finally able to move on with our plotline here.

(Also quick question, do you all want to see Meifu-sama again, ever, or is that just too OP for you all?)


"Konan-san, how did Akatsuki come to be?"

They're eating dango on top of Hokage mountain, just the two of them, a pink and purple speck in the grand scheme of things – both people thrown together by circumstance and not necessarily power players of plans.

Sakura knows that is a lie.

She has lived this life striving for power to control things so that the future created is one where the dreams of the people around her can come to fulfilment.

Know thy enemy.

"We began as a rebellion movement in Ame. During the war, there were so many orphans, so much bloodshed. That's where Nagato, Yahiko and I first met."

Sakura can't help but notice things here happen in threes.

Groups of threes that rise to power – taught by Jiraiya of all people, having read 'Tale of a Gutsy Ninja', she's not surprised they became a rebellion movement.

She can't help wonder if that was the intention from the beginning, to incite a homegrown rebellion to instate a pro-Konoha Ame leadership, taught by a Konoha master.

If they just had Jiraiya as Hokage, then it would be a little bad looking, no?

Sakura can't help but overthink.

"After Jiraiya-sensei left, we were lost for a while. He taught us enough to survive, but we didn't know what to do."

Oh?

He never said anything about how you all would become-

"Then Yahiko said that because we were trained, it was our duty to protect the rest of the people who couldn't."

saviours.

"That's a noble dream," she says it softly and Konan rocks back on her heels.

"Yahiko died for that dream. But I know that even then, he would have done it all over anyway. That was the kind of person Yahiko was, selfless and believing in all the principles that sensei imparted to us."

He sounds like Naruto. Minus the blindly trusting Jiraiya-sama, but then again he doesn't even need Jiraiya to tell him to principles for him to believe in them because…

"Yeah… some people are just born like that. With that infinite capacity to trust."

"His love got him killed. He wanted to us to go to meet Hanzo. Nagato and I were convinced it was a trap, but Yahiko wanted us to give Hanzo a chance."

Konan sounds wistful, not bitter.

"It was a trap?"

"Complicated story, but, sort of. Maybe it was Hanzo's fault, it was partially ours, but Konoha had a hand in it as well. The elder you all executed about a month ago… The problem with blame and being understanding of the other party is that in the end, no one can be blamed."

They've run out of dango and so they talk more to fill the pauses.

"Danzo played you all against each other."

"Mm."

It's not a topic open for much more discussion, Danzo is dead and Konan-san has put her demons to rest.

Sakura understands and tries another approach.

"What about now? Are you all predominantly Ame members still? How did Itachi-san get recruited in?"

Konan-san sighs.

"It is a pity. We collected the strongest we could find and tied them to us, or rather they choose to stay for their own reasons. Madara brought us Itachi, and of all the members, he's probably the only one with us because he pursues world peace as well."

Sakura is vaguely tickled by the idea of Madara, and voices her thought, "Madara must be the one who placed Mizukage Yagura under Sharingan control then?"

"That's correct. He claims to be the Uchiha Madara, but to be honest with you, neither Nagato nor I know if it's true. He wears an orange swirly mask most of the time, and acts like a child around all the other members – I cannot figure him out. Of all the members, he is the most dangerous, his ability to teleport and phase out of existence makes him nearly impossible to defeat."

Having thought such thoughts, Sakura wonders, if maybe Konan-san has already been making preparations.

"If he comes to Konoha, can we defeat him?"

Konan looks around the area.

"I will make preparations, but I need a big enough space."

"Will I have to leave that area untouched after you prepare?"

She waves my concerns off.

"Inert unless I trigger it. Do you have a location, Sakura-sama? I can show you at least part of the process."


"This is Haruno property. We were paid with it by the state for our services. It's barren, of course, thanks to Nagato-san's work. But what will you do?"

"I need a cover for this area first, Sakura-sama. But I will recreate this place with my paper. It will become a chasm filled with paper and explosives that will last more than five minutes. To do that I need to create the chasm and I can't do that here, discreetly."

Sakura trusts Konan-san knows what she's doing.

"We can turn this into a place into a park, with ponds and lakes and water features. We can bring in explosive squads to cover for you as well. Can you construct Konoha trees out of your paper? What about the chakra signature though?"

"The papers will be inert, Sakura-sama, until I trigger them. The park will be complete with lifelike insects as well, I will be careful. If I make the preparations each time too similar, then if the first round fails, Madara or, Tobi as most members know him, will know to be on guard."

She trusts Konan-san.

Trusts her enough to create a basin of explosives in her land.

"Please make provisions to contain the explosives to the immediate vicinity, Konan-san, there are neighbouring territories. If we wish to keep this a secret we must ensure that the bordering lands are not harmed."

It should be simple enough, considering the barren wasteland stretches as far as the eye can see – forests are not exactly the priority of the Hokage, and most clans too busy rebuilding compounds to be worried about land titles they hold for prestige.

"As you wish."

From the outskirts, they travel by flight towards the village centre where most merchants have set up their stores temporarily.

From Wave, Tazuna-san and Wave Corp are there, taking on numerous projects.

The fact of the matter is that Wave Corp is among one of the few building companies present in Konoha that are able to reconstruct – Sakura is perhaps a little amused that Tazuna takes on all projects rather than filtering by the most profitable.

Many companies lost their machinery and materials during the attack. Wave Corp would have market power.

The crowd parts for her, and in parts ostentatious (a word as full pomp as her request,) and even thoughtless to the needs of most people, "Tazuna-san, I will need a bombing squad, a team of architects and a couple of builders to rebuild clan property."

And Tazuna-san, honour bound, agrees even as the crowd mutters.

Rather than building something of importance to the village – even she, prioritises herself.

But, Sakura has never claimed otherwise.

She's not selfless.

But, this is for the good of the village.

Sakura arranges for the crew to start the next day.

"During these preparations, is there anything I should do for you, Konan-san? Will Madara-san or any Akatsuki members come to find you? What will their reaction be to finding out that you and Nagato-san are now playing the role of Ame's leaders?"


They establish that eventually, both Konan and Nagato will have to contact the Akatsuki members. First to check for rebellion or desertion and the second to receive updates and give out new orders.

"None of them is an immediate threat, they don't move without our instructions. Except for Madara, the rest will make minimal trouble beyond what they would if they were normal missing-nin."

It's a pity that those would include attacks on villages and the like, but, regrettable.

"The main pair roaming about in the Land of Fire will be our Zombie Combi. Kakuzu of Takigakure, Hidan of Yugakure. They're both in the bingo books for many reasons, among which are mass-murder.

Kakuzu can use all five elemental manipulations and knows many justu. He claims to have been alive since the era of the Shodaime. Your Shodaime. His techniques though, are his own, he claims to have been prolonging his life through Kinjutsu.

Hidan is devoutly religious to a god that pursues destruction and kills people as sacrifices. He's also immortal."

Nagato says it with a straight face and Sakura can only nod, before further asking, "What do you mean by immortal?"

"He cannot be killed."

He's serious.

"What about by beheading?"

Nagato shakes his head.

Konan replies, "We've tried. He has a foul mouth, even Kisame has tried to kill him by sucking out all his chakra, but he's almost protected by his deity, cursed to live forever to serve."

"How does he move around now, then? A headless body carrying around his head?"

Nagato snorts.

"Kakuzu sews him back together. That's why they're the Zombie Combi. There is no concrete way to kill them except through patience. They are like cockroaches."

This entire covering the fact that they're members of Akatsuki is turning out to be a lot more complicated than expected.

She did expect 'S' ranked ninja, but not like this. Despite being faced by a ninja who can level a village, she wasn't expecting immortals.

"Make sure Itachi-san gets this information through to Jiraiya-sama, preferably with information on all the other members. Until these people die, Konan-san, Nagato-san, both of you are in danger of being found out. If the higher-ups here find out, I will no longer be able to protect you."


Itachi makes his report to Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sama.

He explains the various abilities of the crew Akatsuki has assembled.

"The leader of Akatsuki is a man who calls himself Madara. He helped me to assassinate my clan. Danzo played a role in stealing corpses and robbing my clansmen of their eyes, but so did Madara. The actual killing was done by Madara. I left… I left some of the children alive. But I guess, beyond Sasuke and those that Sakura managed to get to, Danzo got to."

He takes to the news that most children were allowed to be adopted with minimal fuss – the Sandaime decided it would be for the best that those children be able to grow up normally, as normally as children hyper-sensitive to chakra, traumatised and too scared of blood to be effective shinobi, could be.

Jiraiya-sama is cross-checking all of Itachi's information to his notes.

"But what about the six people who attacked Konoha with you? Why aren't they described by you at all?"

This is where things get iffy.

Sakura leans forward in interest, as Itachi shifts.

"To be honest, Jiraiya-sama, I do not know."

The qualifier in front is a big giveaway, but the spymaster only trusts him.

"I have a guess, that they were being puppeted by Akasuna no Sasori. He's dabbled in human puppets. It's rumoured that he killed the Third Kazekage and turned him into a puppet, but I have not seen him in action. Akatsuki, in general, operates in individual cells. Beyond rare meetings to extract Tailed Beasts, we do not have contact with the others."

Tsunade leans back, closing her eyes in contemplation.

"Jiraya, what do you think?"

Sakura's heart begins to beat a little faster.

Then the toad sage nods, "That would make sense. If not… there would be simply no way that Yahiko survived the tragedy Konan and Nagato told me about. One of the six attackers, when I was looking at them in the autopsy room, they all had orange hair, and some were fitted with mechanical parts. It makes sense that they were turned into puppets. But to think that Suna's puppetry has evolved to such an advanced level, where puppets can use jutsu and speak… it's amazing."

They begin making plans, for in case a meeting is called, what to ask during the meeting, or how to explain his absence, or what sort of information is safe for Itachi to tell the organisation so their suspicions are not aroused.

But the thing is, Itachi is in a precarious situation. He's dismissed first.

When Jiraiya-sama tells her to stay for a moment after, and tells her, "Keep an eye on him," and follows it with a, "For Sasuke. You know how much that kid adores his older brother," and honestly Sakura shares those thoughts.

If they are really on their side, or if they are just lying, wolves lying in wait to kidnap Naruto and continue with their plan for world domination.

"In the meantime, Tsunade-hime, we had better send a team out to Suna. We need to find out as much as possible about this art of human puppetry, additionally, we better alert them in advance about Akatsuki… Suna's new Kazekage, the Jinchuuriki of the Ichibi will eventually become a target."

Sakura speaks up, "Send our team out to Suna. Let me take Itachi-san with us. If we encounter Akatsuki there, then, that will be a good way to test Itachi-san."

Tsunade-sama frowns, she disapproves.

"You are a medic, Sakura. Without enough strength I cannot send you out to the frontlines, let alone entrust you with a former missing-nin."

"There will be the whole of Team 7 with me and Tenzo-san, if I can bring him along," rather than convince the obstinate lady, that took a Naruto to convince, that she is strong – she's not very, honestly, but she's vaguely affronted that the lady thinks so lowly of her, she goes the other direction.

"Gaara also likes Naruto, having been his Chunin Exam partner. It's a perfect opportunity, Hokage-sama. Do you trust Sasuke to report to you if Itachi still has Akatsuki leanings? Or Naruto to look beyond the veneer of friendship to see any relevant actions as betrayal?"

Jiraiya-sama pipes up to voice his support for this plan, "It will be an ultimate test to see if Itachi will help Akatsuki secure two Jinchuuriki or if he has truly renounced his membership."


Sakura briefs Team 7 in their training ground, with honesty and frankness.

She's glad to see that Sasuke understands though, his purpose on the mission is to, "Prove that Itachi-nii is a good person."

"We have the primary objective of learning about Suna's puppetry in this diplomatic visit, but we are also on the lookout for a terrorist organisation called Akatsuki. The same organisation that Itachi-san has defected from. This is a test to see if he is loyal to Konoha."

She doesn't hate Itachi. But she is a little bit upset at him.

It's a little bit of a revenge more than it is caution or paranoia – she knows that fundamentally Itachi is loyal to Konoha.

She's just a little spiteful that a man like this who has murdered can bend her teammate around his fingers.

She ought to know that it's Itachi wrapped around Sasuke's fingers, not the other way around but, nonetheless, she is cautious.

"While Itachi-san has shared with us information on Akatsuki, there are things that he does not know. Our job is to ascertain if he is purposely withholding any information. I'll give you all the brief on what Itachi-san told Jiraiya-sama."

Sakura knows that she is successful, because the next day, Sasuke comes to their team meet with his brows furrowed.

"Last night, Itachi-nii sent off one of his crows. I didn't see to who, but it's probably a letter that he did not want read."

It's reassuring to see Sasuke thinking.

Of course, Itachi-san doesn't like that his otouto doesn't trust him unconditionally at all and he raises it, "Sakura-sama. Does Sasuke know my entire past as part of Akatsuki?"

The Haruno clan head nods, "Kisame-san did speak to Sasuke about you. Everyone on the Suna team has also been briefed on all the things you told Tsunade-sama about Akatsuki. Why do you ask? Is something wrong?"

Itachi replies a negative and stalks off, a distinctive edge of unease and tension to his shoulders.

Tenzo-san melts out of a nearby tree.

"I will follow him this evening, Sakura-sama." Sakura shakes her head.

"No, leave Sasuke to it. Itachi won't hurt Sasuke. But you, on the other hand, Tenzo, if it comes down to a question of who the village trusts more, will be a big problem."

It's eating Sasuke up to suspect his brother but to Sakura, the act of suspecting already shows that Sasuke does not trust Itachi without reserve.

And, as cold a comfort it may be to have inflicted that pain, she should be the one doing most of the suspicion, but Sasuke has already been hurt by Itachi – and Itachi is being hurt far more.

When his brother left, Sasuke was betrayed and abandoned and Sakura knows that that hurts.


Itachi gets more and more worried, Sasuke gets more and more edgy.

It gets to the point where Sasuke tells them, "I don't think it'll be a good idea to bring Itachi-nii to Suna with us."

At the same time, Itachi insists to her, "I must go to Suna with you all."

And she's mildly confused if this is their paranoia or the limit of their sibling bond, if Sasuke wants to protect his brother from being outed as a traitor and being taken away from him or wants to protect Naruto and Gaara; if Itachi wants to prove his innocence or he is still pursuing the dreams of Akatsuki.

The latter should make no sense, but Sakura respects that what attracted Itachi to the organisation was their ideals in the first place. Even if his leaders have already appeared to turn their backs on the thought of collecting Bijuu, Sakura knows that there is the chance Itachi might still believe in them.

She feigns as if she does not understand and tells Sasuke, "Itachi-san knows Akatsuki the best, Sasuke-chan. That's why we're bringing him."

Her teammate looks conflicted when he tells her, lowly, "Sakura-nee, Itachi-nii protects me and us but I don't… I don't think…"

he's loyal to Konoha, he doesn't say it.

She shrugs.

"I've never said I was either, Sasuke-chan. As long as he protects us, I don't think it matters."

Truth be told, she doesn't care. But her concern, as with Sasuke's real concern is that Itachi would endanger Naruto.

If he thought that would keep Sasuke safe, of course, he would.

And, pretending she knows nothing of the swirling suspicion she tells Itachi, "Of course you're coming with us to Suna. We can't combat Akatsuki members if they turn up without you, Itachi-san."

Then, she frowns, as if she's thinking from his approach and deducing his concerns, "Has someone indicated to you otherwise?"

He frowns to match her face, in turn reading the truth behind her lies or reading in too deep and his eyes flash red – voice very quiet, "Sasuke doesn't want me to go. He suspects me."

She flinches and he has a tight, uncomfortable hold on her.

Sakura knows he will not kill her but when Sasuke bursts in on a scene like this his first words are, "Don't touch Sakura-nee!"

Itachi drops her as if Sasuke's words have slapped him.

Did she plan for this? Perhaps.

The end result is the same – she holds her hands out to Sasuke, assuring him, "Itachi-san wasn't going to hurt me, Sasuke-chan, it's not what it looks like."

And Sasuke is glaring at his precious older brother – Sakura can imagine how Itachi must feel, a little like how she felt when Shikamaru looked so happy with Tenkawa-san.

"I was just telling him that Tsunade-sama was reconsidering sending him out to the field so soon, he was worried that there wasn't anyone able to protect Naruto from Akatsuki."

She pats him on the knee from her seated position, repeating herself, "He was just worried."

Itachi hangs his head, reaching tentatively out to pat Sasuke on the head, Sasuke allows him and Sakura understands.

Sasuke is Itachi's moral compass and guiding light.


"I saw the address of the raven when it came back. It was just for Kisame-san."


They set off to Suna like that.

Konan-san tells her in advance that they will be sending the puppetmaster Sasori, "Itachi has instructions to eliminate him if possible," and Deidara, "The one who loves explosions."

They cannot allow Sasori to be captured alive – he would blow their cover of him being the one who controlled the corpses.

Thankfully, the traits of Nagato's chakra disappeared the moment they were no longer being supplied chakra, the Rinnegan would have been recognised by Jiraiya.

As cruel as it sounds, Sasori is, in the long run just another criminal killed by the team of heroes.

For the sake of her sanity, of Naruto's sanity, he must die.

There is no difference between him and Shiore-san or Choku-san or Sekiei-san.

But he is not guilty of the crime he is being accused of.

The plan is for them to be inside Suna before Akatsuki attacks, that way they can erase the chance that a quick extraction can be completed.

"It took about three days for us to extract the Nanabi out of its host. For the Ichibi… I'd say about a day."

Sakura wonders – if Sasori and Deidara kill them, would Nagato-san and Konan-san decide to continue on their plans, or would they pursue peace in a new way, balancing between hiding and controlling their members.

"I cannot instruct them to hold back, but I can tell you as much as possible about their fighting style. Additionally, the traps that we will be setting around the perimeter, I will tell you about them and how to counter them. Of course, the most ideal scenario would be if Deidara and Sasori failed to capture the Ichibi Jinchuuriki in the first place."


All is well when they reach Suna.

Naruto and Sensei go to find Gaara, the new Kazekage. Sasuke and Itachi go off to scout out possible locations where Akatsuki might have bases for planned kidnappings – Itachi would know best, Sasuke is to keep an eye on him.

She and Tenzo are off in search of Puppetmaster Elder Chiyo.

Though Tenzo believes that they're going to search for arts on puppeting human corpses, all Sakura needs from the elder is that Sasori is a deviant puppet maker, dangerous, who experimented on corpses to turn them into human puppets, immoral, in pursuit of the perfect puppet, outcast because that's all she needs for Itachi's argument to be convincing.

But in plain black and white, Sasori and Orochimaru are very similar.

Sakura can't help but feel like they could take him back, if not for the fact that he's suspected to have instigated the attack on Konoha, and that they're spun themselves into a web of lies that relies on his death to remain standing.


Hello again, thank you for taking the time to read:

Next month will be the highly requested Shikaku/Sakura AU that I need ideas for, it'll be on Links, whose link ;) is on my profile page!

Nope, AUs won't come every other month, as seen from this chapter.

I'm not sure if updates from here on can still be as timely, I did pretty badly on my last set of assessments... but

Finally I can get on with the plot, since I screwed with the timeline right now, Akatsuki hasn't made it's more noticeable moves until now.

Some questions I have: Do you all want to see Sasori/Deidara (or both?) live? I'm a little conflicted by the double standard that Sakura applies when killing, but at the same time she's trying to protect Nagato and Konan – how do you all see this conflict being settled?

Do you all want a happy ending for them? How do you all imagine our dream team dealing with the Akatsuki members in general?

Or do you all think that talking things out will release them, plain and simple?

How do you think Tobito will react?

[Also the question from the top Meifu-sama aye or nay? But most importantly: Sasori & Deidara live or die?]

Happy to be on time,

Kayo