I hope you all enjoyed the first rewritten chapter! I put a lot of work into it, I actually don't think I've ever done a chapter that long but it was fun and worth it! I've gotten a lot of positive responses for what I've started with so I think I'm going in the right direction.

Sorry it's kind of taking me a bit to upload chapters. This past month has been kind of crazy. In the middle of a global pandemic I had to go get, essentially, emergency wisdom teeth extraction. I've already had my lower set taken out a couple years ago, but my upper set was pushing so far up against my sinus cavity that there was a concern that it could possibly make a hole... Sorry if that was TMI. XD I'm fine.
Also, my birthday is was the 3rd! Finally out of my teens! TTOTT

It's also taking me a bit because I've had to think a lot about the development of some of my stories, like Princess of Akatsuki. I put a lot more effort than you would think for story development (lol). But I've also had to think about my stories that I just don't have the motivation for anymore, or at least right now. Like if I should leave them up for the heck of it or delete them and redo them if the inspiration comes back.

Don't want to keep you all waiting any longer so enjoy,

~Blackwolf0603

Sakura was sat down in the mouth of the base. Her green eyes looming over her home village. It was in Amegakure that she was born and raised. It was typical for the village to rain, as in it's namesake, but there was more use to it. The rain was used to detect chakra signatures in the village and specifically look for shinobi trying to sneak in. After she learned his fact a couple years ago, she appreciated the rain more. It was how her parents kept the village protected.

She would sit near the ledge listening to the rain as it was soothing to her. It was her favorite place in the Akatsuki base to contemplate her thoughts. A behavior that she took after her father.

Sakura was now 10 years old. Today was actually her birthday. A lot had changed since when she was younger.

She was still a happy child but more mature than others her age. She wasn't as naive since she grew up around the Akatsuki. Concepts like death, dying and killing were nothing new to her. She knew what they did but didn't really judge them too much. The Akatsuki was her family to her. some members had been around since she was a toddler and helped raise her when her parents were on their own assignments. Members like Sasori, who she still called Sasori-nii, and also Itachi. But what if the kind of missons they did were given to a village instead of the Akatsuki? What it then be 'good' or 'ethical.' Village shinobi also kidnapped and killed for pay. The idea of the Akatsuki being singled out and accused of being evil, and labeled to be criminals didn't make sense to her.

There had also been a lot of people going in and out of the Akatsuki over the years. Orochimaru, for example, had defected a couple years ago. She was actually thankful for that. He used to be Sasori's partner, and with all the time she spent with Sasori, she was happy she didn't always have to look over her shoulder because of that snake anymore. Deidara had recently become the puppet master's new partner, and Sakura liked him a lot better. She found his speech patterns funny at first. She also found it ironic that he and Sasori had completely different opinions about art. She was entertained with their arguments on the topic. Sasori seemed to like him better too, since he can put up with the every-day arguments. They, morealess, respected each other as artists even while disagreeing. With Orochimaru, Sasori found his idea of eternal beauty and preservation ridiculous. It was better this way.

Sasori continued to train Sakura in puppetry and she was now good enough to start moving full-size puppets with some weapon mechanisms. He still kept her far away from any poisons for now. He assured her that she would learn about it eventually, when she was ready. Sadly, she can't really learn much from Deidara since he has a kekkai-genkai. He would be a good sparring partner though. He had a lot to offer when it came to learning to fight long distance. Well.. He also taught her some Earth-style techniques. But generally speaking, learning from him was difficult.
Itachi had been training her in genjustu for about a year, and also how to fight against the Sharingan. She always admired his kekkei-genkai, it's abilities, much to Deidara's displeasure. As with chakra control, she was a natural talent with genjustu. Itachi knew that she would probably far surpass Chunin level genjustu in a couple years.
Kisame was a member she only more frequently aquainted herself with the last couple months. She was learning swordsmanship from him. He was careful to go easy on her and wouldn't use Samehada yet. The first month they used wooden swords, and now they were currently training with dull swords. It would still take a while before she could move on. Kisame and the pinkette liked each other and often joked. He was like an uncle to her. She called him 'Sharky' and he called her 'Pinky.' He would also tell her stories of the Seven Swordsman of the Hidden Mist, and from times when he was apart of them. Since he was practically in Water-style justu, Sakura's other nature, she made it a priority to learn all she could from him.

Kakuzu was someone she didn't speak to often, and he didn't train her in any ninja art. What he did have to offer her was far more practical than anything that required chakra- Personal. Finance. He influenced her on the value of money, that she should save and spend wisely, and would occisionally give her a small allowance if they had a profitable month. Sakura was pretty frugal to begin with. She wasn't really into fashion or needed the best, overly expensive equipment. She was still in training after all, and was grateful for everything she had.
Sakura also learned about plants from Zetsu, and he took the longest for her to get along with because of his appearance. It was startling to say the least, if you weren't used to it. She was learning about plants that were edible, toxic, symptoms from toxicity, and medicinal plants. It was interesting to her and would definently be of use one day. Tobi was rather an enigma around Sakura. He acted like a child, to the point where she would ask herself who's really the youngest in the base, but as soon as he would show up around her he would be gone.

Sakura's parents oversaw all her training. She was still young and inexperienced. But they were happy of her progress, and knew since birth that she would be special compared to most children. They felt truly blessed.

Konan would take Sakura into the village, all the shops and homes, and teach her the importance of protecting the village. Konan was known as the Hidden Rain's 'Angel.' Her duty was watching over the village along with Pain using her unique justu. It was these kind of lessons that Sakura took to heart. She wanted to grow up to protect the village too, and her family the Akatsuki.

Pain, as the leader of the village and Akatsuki, and as her father, had a lot to teach her. Sakura spent a lot of time with her mother when she was younger, and now as she gets older she starts to spend more and more time with her father too. She would eat with her parents, attend some of the organization meetings, and talk to her father about her progress in training. It all got more intense when Pain discovered that she could use the Rinnegan too.
His Rinnegan had been given to him by his fallen comrade, it was not originally in his family, but he was surprised to see that his daughter could also use the dojustu. There had been a training accident where she accidently injured Deidara, and out of extreme guilt she had activated it. Since then, Pain had been teaching her to use it. He had lots to leave to her such as lessons from the last war he was involved in, and the pain present in the world in the aftermath.

Everyone in the organization thought that with how things were going, with being trained by multiple infamous Akatsuki members, that she would be a monster of a kunoichi. Possibly one of the most powerful in history during her lifetime. But for now, there was a birthday that needed to be celebrated.

Very rarely would all the members be together in person. Usually they would use projections to discuss plans, due to being miles apart on any typical given day. One of the rare days was on the pinkette's birthday. Some years there would be a member or two missing due to missons but this year everyone joined.

Sorry but the criminal organization did not do surprise parties either.
Okay.. Maybe when she was 3 or 4...
But by 10 years old, Sakura didn't really like surprise parties anyways. She knew what was coming her way so there would be no real "surprise" from her point of view.
Everyone agreed to come together in the early evening to celebrate. Deidara and Konan set up everying in the base's 'living room.' A large room next to their community kitchen. It had a large dining table with chairs, a couple couches with a coffee table in the middle, and a television. One of the chunky, boxy ones too. Ugh. Rather minimal, Kazuzu would be groaning too much otherwise, but had the essentials. Not many people used it anyways and only on occasion.

Itachi had gone into the village center to pick up a cake and some ingredients to cook. He would help Konan later with dinner. They were the only two who were decent cooks, the best that most of the members could muster up was burnt rice - no one wants that.

Deidara had been working over the week to make clay decorations, much like centerpieces, for Sakura's birthday. He would take them outside with her after the party and blow them up together. It may have been left out previously, but Sakura and Deidara were best friends and pratically joined at the hip when together. They were both the youngest in the organization after all. 4, 5 years age difference or so? Not like they cared about that fact anyways.

Deidara was being all fussy, trying to find the perfect places the decorate the room with his art. Konan also made origami flowers which Deidara also distributed throughout the room. Ever since he joined the Akatsuki, he had become the 'unofficial'... 'official'.. Interior decorater.. Party planner...?... Forget the title, I think you get the idea; anything to make the princess happy goes.

Not long after and the members started to arrive one by one or in pairs. There was a designated area for gifts, the table was filled with food and drinks. The members used the couches, some the the chairs at the table, or even the floor to sit on. Now all that was needed was the birthday girl herself, and her father who would be bringing her.

"Huh?! All of you are here?" The pinkette made her entrance through the doorway not far behind her father.

"Haha! Are you surprised Pinky? Sorry I missed the party last year" Kisame grinned from his seat by the table.

"Well.. Yeah. It's been a long time since I've seen everyone together," Sakura replied. A faint blush dusted her face out of shock. This probably would be the only kind of surprise she'd be okay with - more than okay with.

An arm with loosely slung around Sakura's shoulders as she turned her heard to see her blonde best friend. He had a wide, happy grin on his face while stating, "We don't all usually have the chance to be here, and 10 is a big one so we made sure to make it hm!"

Sakura looked right at him as he spoke. "Dei.." She then wrapped her arms around his torso as he was two or three inches taller than her. He was startled for a moment but quickly relaxed, putting a trade-mark Deidara grin on his face. Deidara wasn't really into hugs, neither was Sakura really, none of the members really were actually, but this was a special time for Sakura. And as long as it was his best friend, he'd be fine with her hugs.
"Thank you, Deidara." He in return had an arm around her and another that patted/stroked the top of her head. He momentarily leaned his head to the side of hers, "You're welcome Cherry."

As soon as she saw all the Akatsuki members together, and then Deidara's reaction to her shock, she just knew that he had a hand in arranging them all being together. It wasn't that the other members didn't care, they did, immensely, but they were older and used to the way things were. Deidara just had the guts, was young, and sentimental enough to convince Konan- and Konan convince Pain- that everyone needed to be there for her 10th birthday.
To her, it was the best present she could have gotten. Internally, Sakura was brimming with happiness. But then, her moment with Deidara was brought to an abrupt halt.

"I believe that's enough now." Beyond her control, Sakura pulled herself away from the bomber, and was quickly but gently swept away to a seat next to the other artist of the Akatsuki.

"Sasori-nii" she muttered. She realized that based of the feeling she had while being moved, and also her actions, that Sasori had used chakra strings to move her. She then heard a gasp and yelling from the direction she just came from.

"DANNA!" "Quiet down you obnoxious brat."

"What did you do that for?! We were have a moment hmm!"

"You're little moment was taking too long. Do you want her to be eating cold food on her own birthday because of your little moment?" Sasori gritted out the last word, all while locking his eyes onto the blonde teenager.

Deidara could only fume. His partner, who was a puppet, so he didn't need to eat, couldn't take a couple minutes and leave them be. The food was freshly cooked and still hot, and the cake hadn't even been taken from the fridge since Itachi brought it from the store. But it was Sakura's birthday so he was going to take a breath and let it go... Until Sasori decided to push him further.

"Also, you were getting too.. Cozy with her than what I approve." With that, Sasori hardened his expression even further and placed an arm to hang over the top of his student's chair in a defensive manner. You could practically see steam coming out of Deidara's ears as he marched over to the chair on the other side of Sakura and sat down. "Hey you two, take it easy. There's no reason to argue"
Sakura gently smiled and placed each of her hands of an arms of the two artists beside her. Sasori only nodded in agreement while Deidara gave a calmer "hm." The members then started to get their plates and start eating, all while telling Sakura about some funny stories on their missions. It was one of the only times they could relax after all.

To elaborate on what was going on in Sasori's head, since he's played an important role in Sakura's life thus far.
He knew Deidara and Sakura were best friends and both were still young; Their actions towards each other were innocent in intent. But Sasori didn't want Deidara was still a few years older and didn't want him getting any ideas at any point, even if they weren't present now.

He was once a teenage boy too. And he knew when those hormones really kicked in, it would hit him like a freight train.

You know for such an emotionless person on the outside, he was such a worrier in his head.
Whenever he'd see them getting too close for comfort, at least for him, he got all sorts of rushing thoughts that secretly made him nervous.

To put simply, the puppet master would rather poison his partner in his sleep than let him ever put his hands on his student in a more than friendly way.

After eating the food and cutting the cake to eat, it was now time for Sakura to open the presents the members got for her. Deidara was insistent that she open his first but she said she wanted to open Kisame's first. The blonde pouted but accepted her decision.

"No way! Sharky, these are amazing!" Sakura practically had hearts in her eyes as she stared at the beautifuly made katana. The blade was crafted from black iron and the handle was wrapped in black and red material in a criss-cross pattern. The sheath was also painted black.

Kisame grinned and gave a low chuckle. He really outdid himself this year, and you better bet that he was proud of it. Some of the members had an unspoken rivalry with each other on who gets their organization's princess the best gift.

"It's real too so be careful, Pinky." He made the point since the pinkette was gliding her fingers against the length of the blade. "It's made for an adult. You'll have to grow into it but with your training, by the time you can fight with real swords, it should suit you." Sakura nodded but was still mesmerized. Even though the sword's design was very black - literally - to say the least, it was like it made the sword come together in its own way. Sakura obviously knew Kisame was a master swordsman, so it was a given that he knew a good blade when he saw it.

She stood up and walked up to Kisame. She had the now sheathed katana in her hands.
"Thanks a lot... Kisame." Sakura only called him by his proper name when she wanted to address him seriously. She saw his gift as a gesture she was truly grateful of. It meant he recognized her potential in weilding a sword.

Kisame laughed his amusement. "Don't sweat it Pinky." He laid a blue hand on her head and ruffled her pink locks. The air turned more playful; Sakura backed up and frowned at her now messy hair. As she patted it back into place she stuck her tongue out at the shark-like man. They both laughed it off afterwards as Sakura moved onto the next present. If there wasn't such a big age gap, Kisame would probably be alongside Deidara as one of her best friends.

Her emerald orbs glided across the packaged presents, trying to decide what to open next. Before she could decide anything, a hand that held an envelope shot out in front of her. She took the envelope in her hands then looked up to see Kakazu. She looked back down and blinked. Did he actually get her something?
She carefully peeled back the top. A few sets of pieces of paper were inside. Weird...
She took all of the contents out and read the top that stated 'SAVINGS ACCOUNT.' Go figure that the Akatsuki's accountant would enroll her in a savings account at the village's bank. She then scanned to the bottom of the page to see that the account's current balance was 50,000 ryo, which was equivalent to $500. Her eyes froze in disbelief. The most frugal man she knew had willingly given her $500? She then read the rest of the pages. The account could only be accessed once she turned 18, but the value of what was invested would only grow too.

"But.." She looked up at Kazuzu.
"Make sure you use it wisely." Was all he said as he walked away from her. Sakura smiled happily at what he had given her as well, and what it showed.

It took a while, but she had gotten through most of the presents.
Sasori gave her a scroll that contained a new puppet. At the demand from Konan, Sasori wasn't allowed to give her one of his human puppet creation. At least this way, he was able to customize the puppet to Sakura's liking. Sasori wasn't one for much affection but he let the girl wrap her arms around his torso while she thanked him. He had placed a hand on her head, satisfied with her reaction.

She then had finally gotten to her pouting best friend. He had been nudging her to look at his present and groaned how his partner managed to give her his first. Sakura laughed off his greivances and opened the box he had passed her. Inside was a clay sculpture of a detailed cherry blossom tree. Deidara had told her how he was famed back in the Hidden Stone for his artistic talents as well as his kekkei genkai. The interesting thing about this piece of art that the bomber had crafted for her was that it was made with normal clay, not his usual chakra-infused material.
The birthday girl could only think about how long or how much time he had invested into making this just for her. It was beautiful and she would always treasure it. She thanked him too and gave him a hug.

To speed things up, Zetsu and Tobi gave their gifts to Sakura at the same time. Well, more like White Zetsu, Black Zetsu and Tobi. Each got her a gift that kind of went together. The masked man and Black Zetsu had gathered training manuals for spying and infiltration tactics, while White Zetsu had gifted her a set of rare plants that could be used in medicine or poisons.

Itachi had also given Sakura some scrolls that outlined useful justu she could learn, as well as taijustu exercizes. Sakura wielded Earth and Water chakra natures.

Lastly, Konan came up to Sakura to give her gifts from herself and Pain. The leader needed to step out to attend to an important matter and wasn't able to make it back in time to give Sakura her present with his wife. There were two sets of gifts, and both came in boxes. Konan presented Sakura with the smaller box first.
Sakura's eyes gleamed as she laid her eyes on it's contents. It was a Rain village headband.

"Does this mean...?" She looked up at her mother. Konan gently smiled down and nodded. "You're now a Hidden Rain Genin, congradulations."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. She had been dedicated to her training and studies, and all of it was for this. To be an official ninja of her village. Sakura had to hold back the tears that pricked her eyes. She wanted to be strong and not cry but she couldn't help how happy she felt, nonetheless.

"You still have one more from your father and I." Konan indicated to the biggest box on the floor that had holes poked through on each side. It was too big and so Sakura had to open it where it sat.

She was intrigued by the holes, wondering why a present would need them. She brushed that thought aside for the moment and proceeded with opening her last present. And inside.. Held a juvenile wolf pup, sleeping soundly on a blanket. It's coat was dark brown with dark grey fluffs emerging from it's ears.

Sakura stared at the animal in amazement. Her parents were giving this wolf to her? What about it's parents? She looked to her mother once again for answers.

"Your father came across it while tending to a matter just outside the village. It was alone and soaking in the rain. Rather than leave it be, he thought to give it to you, Sakura."

Sakura stared down once again at the pup with wide eyes. She then calmed herself and came up with the biggest smile she could muster. She picked up her new companion in her arms, looking into it's drowzy eyes. "I think I'll name you... Kenta." She giggled.

"Thank you so much, everyone." She looked around the room of black-listed shinobi.

It may not have been what others would consider a typical 'family,' but for Sakura, this was hers.