Hey Hey Readers!
I've now finally got to rewriting/reediting Princess of Akatsuki. I've wanted to do this for so long now! This story is my oldest one and practically my baby of all my stories. I think I started writing it when I was like 13 or something, but when I read it myself I feel like it was written by a 7 year old. Or also, I have a sense of humor when I think about my stories in my head- and I still do- but I'd now like to re-do mixing in humor with seriousness. I just feel like some elements were too cliche or silly and that was mostly due to my immature mind.

When I started writing this, Naruto Shippuden was nowhere near its completion so I am also now able to go into the story with more information that what I had at the time. Though I'm still going to keep some of my own pieces of my story line than what is in the original series.
The rewriting won't change too drastically, don't worry about that, it's mostly changing some of the tone, grammar correction, etc.

Mind you all, I'm in college now so I don't have the same time I did back then but I assure you I'm working on my stories and hope you all enjoy what I've come up with!

~Blackwolf0603

REWRITTEN: 5/21/2020

You would never think that there would be a child amongst a criminal organization like the Akatsuki. It wouldn't be one of your immediate thoughts anyways. And yet, the wails of a recently newborn infant rang throughout their hideout in Amegakure. And no, this child is not a ward or a prisonor.

The baby was a little girl with little fluffs of pink strands on the top of her head and in-between her crying you could see that she had sea-foam green eyes.

This child was born to Pain, the leader of the Akatsuki, and Konan. Don't ask them how their genetics gave them this mash-up of a child, they are just as clueless. But when they saw her they instantly fell in love, and knew she was going to be their organization's princess.

Because of her features, they immediatly thought of and named her 'Sakura' since she resembled a blossomed sakura tree.
Pain and Konan were orphans and so they did not have a given last name. So instead, they used the name 'Nagato' in rememberance of their friend and comrade who had passed.

Sakura is the precious treasure of her parents, and soon to be for the rest of the Akatsuki as she grows up.

"You called for us Leader?"

One of the members asked as they filled the room. There weren't too many members as these were the slightly earlier days of the Akatsuki, but there was enough people to put into a bare room for a meeting.

"Yes. There is something I must inform you all of," Pain addressed his underlings.

Konan walked out of the shadows with a bundle in her arms and stopped next to Pain. She shifted the newborn in her arms to a more comfortable position.

"A couple days ago, while you all where on assignments, Konan went into labor. This is my daughter Sakura." Pain said while glancing down at his child in his partner's arms.

"A daughter? Hehe, I thought you would have prefered a son." Orochimaru, who was a member at the time, spoke.

Pain glared at the snake sanin and his comment. I don't even want to touch on Konan's expression. This new mom was still running on hormones and was, although silently, in the mood to mount heads on the base's walls if anyone so much as made her baby annoyed. Maybe she could ask Sasori if it was possible for him to 'pretty up' any dismembered heads before displaying them? She'd have to inquire him on it later.

"A son wouldn't make a difference. I know that my daughter will grow up to be strong, and even inherit the organization. I wouldn't let anymore foolish comments slip again, Orochimaru." Pain turned his attention back to the rest of the members, stepping forward.

"My child is not to be harmed. By any of you." He stated eyeing particular faces.

"Of course Leader."

"Then you are all dismissed." The members swiftly and quietly exited the room to leave Konan and Pain alone.

Pain turned his attention back to his daughter and took her from her mother's arms. Sakura was calm but with being moved she was more alert and stared up at her father. Pain used a finger to move some little tuffs of hair around her face, and to his surprise Sakura had grabbed onto his finger with one of her little hands while cooing. He looked down at her tenderly and with loving eyes. He only softened around Konan, and now his daughter had him wrapped around her finger too.

Konan gave a gentle laugh from beside him, "she's going to be a daddy's girl isn't she?" it had only been a couple days and to her it was very endearing to see Pain act all 'fatherly.'

From the second she was born, Pain promised to protect his daughter from the horrors of the world. Well, strengthen her of course but also protect her at times when a father should, that was a given. But all be damned if he were to let any harm come to her due to the fault of any knuckleheads in his organization.

"I wouldn't have it any other way Konan."

It was a few weeks into little Sakura's life and things at the base had gone into an... interesting turn.

Pain had to follow up on an important assignment out of his village, leaving Konan to take care of the base and her new baby by herself for the meantime. Of course, she had some help. You can't really say no to the second-in-command of the Akatsuki.

After the night after night of soothing her crying child, she was coming to her limit of how long she could stay sleep deprivated. And that's even longer than normal since she was an S-ranked shinobi. But now, all this poor hormone-driven new mom wanted to do was sleep. Just a few hours of silence would keep her going until Pain would be back. The problem was who out of the members would be entrusted with taking care of Sakura while she rested?

Orochimaru was out of the question.

Zetsu? His black half would probably get eventually annoyed and eat her.

Kakuzu? ... Yeah, no.

Tobi? Hah. As if.

Kisame? It wasn't that she didn't trust him, she just didn't trust that sword of his around her baby. Samehada practically had a mind of it's own.

She thought of everyone but at the end, she couldn't really trust most of members to take care of her infant. Then she thought of one person in particular.

Sasori.

Sure, he's irritable and lacks patience, but since he's a human puppet he was essentially the perfect babysitter. He didn't need to eat, sleep, or use the restroom. Konan was on relatively good terms with him, but if needed she would bribe him with a reward. And as said, you can't really say no to Konan anyways. She's also defeated him in combat before - that's how he joined the Akatsuki.

Sasori would just have to control his temper and honor the mother's wishes.

Using whatever energy she had left, Konan instructed Sasori to come to her through the connection granted through the rings and her status in the Akatsuki. Sasori's workshop was the furthest away in the base, presumably to keep others away from his creations, and Konan was not about to walk that far and back.

Not long after, Sasori walked came up to Konan. He didn't have Hiruko with him. "You requested my presence, Konan?"

"Yes. I need to ask a favor of you. If needed, you'll be rewarded afterwards." Konan addressed him.

"I'm listening."

Konan drifted her eyes down to her pink haired infant.

"With Pain away for the last few days I've had to maintain the organization in his absence, and Sakura has been keeping me up. I need to rest to regain my strength, so I need you to watch her for the next few hours."

Internally, Sasori froze. He's been sent regularly on the equivalent of S-ranked missons. He was a major force to be reckoned with, participating in a Great Ninja War and earned himself the name 'Sasori of the Red Sand.'
And yet, the wife and partner of the Akatsuki's leader was asking him, a killer, to babysit. Never would he thought he would be requested of such a thing.

"I'm not exactly experienced with the kind of task you are asking of me. I think someone else would make a better choice," Sasori replied.

"I've thought through all my options, and you are the only one I can trust Sasori." Konan countered, looking him directly in his eyes.

Sasori paused and stared at the child. It would be pointless to go against her. As logically speaking too, he understood why he would be asked out of all of the members. In the end, Sasori sighed while stating his final decision.

"Fine, I'll watch her. But don't expect this to be a regular arrangement."

Konan now relieved from the puppet master's answer, she gently passed Sakura off to him. She noticed how easily Sasori was able to adapt in how to hold a baby. Although he only used one arm versus Konan's two. She also passed off a bag with anything he would need to keep Sakura comfortable, he carried that on his other shoulder. Konan silently prayed she wouldn't test Sasori's patience.

"You should have everything you need. If you have any problems you can call for me. I won't be too long, I'll come get her soon."

"Alright." He stated before leaving to return back to his workshop. As he placed a hand on the door knob Konan spoke one last time.

"Sasori, make sure she's safe. That's the most important thing. When she grows up she with be the Akatsuki's and Amegakure's princess. Our future."

He paused before finally leaving and made his way down the hall. He looked down again at Sakura.

'Princess huh.' He thought to himself.

For one reason or another, Sakura was rather cooperative with Sasori. She only got sightly fusy but it was rather easy to sooth. She was rather easy, so he assumed she was more upset around her mother since Konan was more stressed. Sasori, on the other hand, generally kept a calm demeanor. His only irritation was that he couldn't really work too much on his puppets since he needed both hands. It was tolerable for the meantime.

He knew the basics of taking care of an infant, at least what was more common knowledge. Although, last time he actually interacted closely with one was when he was very young back in his former village. One of his classmates had an infant sibling and would go over to their house once in a while, so he saw what childcare was like.
Thinking back on it, and although he would never admit it aloud, he was a bit jealous to not have any other family besides his grandmother. He secretly wished he had at least a sibling. That desire disappeared when the war peaked and he became heavily involved as a puppet master.

Some of those feelings started to resurface when he would look down at the baby in his arms. She had been sleeping but was now looking up at him with her vibrant green eyes. Something about this child drew him in. He tried to brush off the feeling quickly, but gave in when she started to giggle. He softly smiled. They were alone, and no other members dared to enter his workshop unless absolutely necessary. Sakura was too young to remember his expression either.

He placed his hand on one side of her face. He couldn't really feel her skin as a human puppet but he was relaxed seeing Sakura settle against it, and slowly lull herself back to sleep. "You aren't so bad, little one."

"Mother! Father! Sasori-nii!" Sakura, who was now 6 years old, ran around the base in search for her parents and the puppet-user.

She had shoulder-length pink hair and big green eyes. growing up until now, Sakura naturally kept a smile on her face and rarely was she the type to sulk. Just recently, she started learning the basics of being a ninja. She mostly learned from the same people she was now looking for. Pain and Konan wanted to keep a closer circle of who would interact with her alone, at least until she was older. There were particular members they needed to be cautious about. Sasori was the only member she was really attached to at this point. He was like an older brother of sorts- I mean he did help watch her since she was in diapers. So much for "not making this a regular arrangement." He also recognized her talent for chakra control and stepped in her training by teaching her the basics of puppetry. Ironically, she was around the same age as him when he started as a child.

"Sakura, what is it?" Konan came over to where she heard her child yelling from in the halls. Everyone except Pain, Konan and Sasori were out of the base. So it was okay at times like these that Sakura to be allowed more freedom of the base.

Sakura rushed up to her mother. Her eyes shined as she excitedly replied, "I did it! Sasori-nii has been teaching me to make chakra strings and I was able to do it now!" She grinned while showing of a small practice puppet up to Konan.

Konan was proud of how much Sakura had been progressing. The years went by so quickly, and although she didn't really miss the sleepless nights, she would think to herself how she wished Sakura wouldn't grow up so fast.

"Great job Sakura, I'm sure you'll be able to become even better in no time," She looked down at her daughter with a gentle smile. She then petted her pink hair.

"Your father is working, but I'll tell him what happened. Maybe you can show us a bit later?"

Sakura gave a firm nod before running off again. She yelled that she was going to find Sasori.

A couple days later and a new member was joining the Akatsuki. Itachi Uchiha. The members were gathered around as Itachi came and introduced himself, and was given an 'orientation' as to the organization's goals and who his partner was to be.

Sakura was still rather shy around some of the members like Zetsu, Kakuzu, or Kisame. She had seen some of their abilities before. Orochimaru just gave her goosebumps to hear him talk. She didn't really know what to think of Tobi other than that he acted weird. She was at the meeting of Itachi being appointed as a member, but she hid behind her father while clutching his cloak with her hands. Ocassionally she would peak her head out of the corner. She didn't really care for what they talked about.
At some point, Itachi had caught sight of her. He would glance here and there in his conversation with the members. Toward the end he then started to stare more at her. Each time Sakura saw his eyes looking into hers she would hide again, only to come out again.

Itachi in his own mind was perplexed at what he was looking at. There was a child in this criminal organization, hiding behind the leg of the leader. Was she possibly a hostage? Even if she was, he couldn't really do anything. He knew about the Akatsuki from his time being apart of the Anbu Black Ops but never heard anything of a child involved. He was just trying to figure it out. He had a bit of a soft spot since she looked to be around his younger brother's age.

Pain quickly noticed Itachi's observation and stepped to the side so that the sight of Sakura would be blocked from the Uchiha. Itachi then realized that he had been noticed and immediatly reacted.

"I apologize. I was just suprised to see a child amongst the Akatsuki." He bowed in his apology.

Pain closed his eyes and silently nodded. Upon opening them, he reached a hand to a daughter and pulled her out of her hiding spot.

"This is Sakura. She is mine and Konan's child." Pain introduced Sakura as Itachi was a stranger to her. Pain had placed the hand that held her hand on her head. She still stayed clutched to the side of his cloak. Itachi nodded with his eyes still fixed on the young girl.

"We're finished here. You're free to leave unless you have any further business to address." Most of the members aside from Sasori and Itachi had left.

Itachi looked at Pain and Konan as he took a step forward. He wanted to introduce himself to the child. It bothered him that she seemed to be afraid. Pain and Konan seemed to understand his intentions even without words, and they both nodded as Itachi continued forward. He knelt down to Sakura's level but stayed a couple feet away.

"Sakura, my name is Itachi. It's nice to meet you." He calmly spoke to her. Sakura only nodded as she was still cautious.

"I had a younger brother back in my former village. You look to be around his age. How old are you?"

It took Sakura a few seconds, Konan had to encourage her a little, but she answered, "six."

Itachi's eyes softened slightly but still barely detectable. She and Sasuke were the same age. Had she been born in Konoha she probably would be in the academy with him.

The Akatsuki's leader and his partner knew of Itachi's skills but his younger brother, who has the last the Uchiha clan in Konoha. Itachi would probably be the only other member than Sasori they could trust around Sakura. They also had thought it would be a good time to have her interact with more members as they've kept her guarded for years.

"We'll speak again another time, Sakura" Itachi ended and poked her forehead before getting up to leave. Sakura was a bit startled but could only touch her head in confusion as she blushed. She felt a bit more comfortable.

It was Sasori's turn to speak. He was in Hiruko. "It's time to train again, little one."

Sakura smiled and unlatched herself from the side of her parents to run over to Sasori. Hiruko was kind of creepy to her at first, but she was amazed at how well Sasori could control puppets and especially from inside one.
Sasori stuck around to get Sakura for training but he also wanted to observe what the Uchiha would do around her. The entire time he was ready to add Itachi to his collection had he made a false move.