Sakura had returned home in the early afternoon, and it was a strange feeling to do so, being so used to her usual long days at the hospital. Tsunade had given her permission to take the rest of the day to prepare for her journey into the enemy's territory.
She spent some of her time reading through Kabuto's file from when he had been a resident in Konoha. She was surprised to find almost his entire childhood in detail packed into a folder within the binder, discovering that he was a war orphan who never knew his parents. He was adopted by the captain of the medical team at the time, and she taught him the medical ninjutsu that he had honed to a fine point later on. What a waste of such amazing skills — using them for the benefit of an evil creature like Orochimaru, Sakura thought as she read through the list of his known jutsu. She wondered how someone who came from a seemingly good place could turn and decide to do such awful things.
She closed the binder, feeling like she had just read a tragic story as she glanced at the clock.
It was late now, and the stars were out already.
She sighed before entering the bathroom, where she turned the shower on. Steam fogged the mirror as she stared into her own emerald eyes, telling herself that this wouldn't be easy, but she could do it. She was no longer a nearly defenseless girl who needed her teammates protection, thanks to her determination and of course Lady Tsunade. She wasn't exactly sure why she had pushed so hard for permission to do what she was about to do, besides the injured man. This seemed to go deeper now that she had all of this new information on the gray-haired shinobi.
"I can do this." She said aloud to herself before turning and undressing. She stepped into the stream of hot water, her body relaxing. This might be the last time she got to enjoy a simple thing such as this.
When she finished cleaning up, she threw on some comfortable pajamas and laid down, pulling her comforter up to her chin and almost immediately falling into a deep sleep.
It was in the earlier hours of the morning when Sakura awakened. The birds weren't even singing yet, and the sky was a deep shade of indigo where the sun would rise. Sakura was already dressed and preparing to set off on her journey towards the Sound Village, packing away any things she might need such as food pills and a few spare kunai.
The plan was to try to lure Kabuto out of hiding to discover where Orochimaru's hideout was located. And if that didn't work, she would go with the backup plan to get his attention somehow and make him believe she had defected from Leaf. Simple, right?
She knew it wouldn't be, but one way or another she was going to find out why that mysterious man had been pumped full of poison.
With her things ready to go, she headed toward the door, turning to give her home one last glance before she went outside.
Before she could even step fully out of the alcove, an ANBU agent faced her. His mask was painted like a fox's face with red accents.
"Haruno Sakura, Lady Hokage has requested that you keep your departure discreet as possible, as to avoid any disturbances. I will escort you to the Sound border as requested." His voice spoke clearly.
"Understood," Sakura replied with a nod.
And with that, the agent stepped aside to allow her to pass.
She wasted no time, taking a shortcut through the village to the entrance where she stood in thought for a moment. The ANBU kept a short distance behind her in silence. The stars still twinkled overhead; everything was so peaceful and still, so unlike it was normally.
It could be the last time she ever saw this, she thought. She then turned to walk through the towering gates of Konoha and into the forest.
She darted through the trees with the masked man hanging back a few yards behind her.
Deep down under the Earth's surface where it was darker than the inside of a coffin, Orochimaru sat upon a throne made of cracked polished stone. He appeared to be deep in thought as thunder from above shook the ground surrounding the bunker.
He knew that Kabuto would not fail to hold up his end of the deal they had made — if he captured the girl, he would be allowed to train her to make faster progress with their experimentation. If she should refuse, he knew there would be consequences and he decided to let his servant decide what those would consist of.
"It's so not like him to take this long," Orochimaru said to himself aloud.
"Although I'm sure there's a good explanation as to why." He continued with a sinister grin before standing to make his way toward a nearby stairway, giving a passing glance toward a glass vat; it was full of fluid, and a man with balloon-like lumps covering his torso and arms.
Sakura decided it was time to take cover for the night due to a heavy thunderstorm. The ANBU from earlier was nowhere to be seen or detected.
She climbed under the roots of a large tree resembling a cavern. She took out a folded and rolled up piece of cloth from her tool bag, shaking it out before wrapping it around her shoulders.
Maybe it would've been a better idea if she'd brought a backpack with an actual blanket, but it was far too late for that kind of thinking.
Sound wasn't very far away now, only about a half-day to go. The thought of it didn't scare her as she thought it would, now that she knew a bit more about the man she was after, it made her heart ache for reasons she didn't quite understand. He was the enemy, yes, but with her newfound knowledge, she knew he had been manipulated into becoming someone he may not even want to be. Sakura didn't like that she was thinking this far into it, but the caring and kind side of her was overpowering.
She laid back, pushing the previous thoughts from her mind and shifting to get as comfortable as one could on a highly uncomfortable surface, and closed her eyes to attempt to sleep.
The morning was damp and thick with smarmy air. Sakura sat up, brushing off dried mud that caked onto her cheek in the night. She re-folded the cloth and stuffed it away, taking out a food pill in the same motion.
As she chewed, she heard footsteps approaching, immediately masking her chakra, even if it didn't matter now.
"I know you're in there," A strangely familiar male voice said, sounding slightly amused.
"And you can come out, I won't attack you unless that's what you'd rather do,"
Sakura furrowed her brow as she slowly crept toward the opening of the tree-cave, and once she stepped out she saw that it was the masked ANBU, but something felt off now.
"Who the hell are you?" Sakura asked bemusedly. She knew that voice wasn't the same as it had been yesterday, no, this was someone different altogether.
The impostor chuckled lowly, reaching up to remove his mask, and once he did it was clear to Sakura that things were about to take a turn, but she didn't know in which direction.
"It is you," She nearly hissed, her body going rigid at the sight of the gray-haired man.
"I'm sorry, were you expecting someone else?" He asked rhetorically, pushing his round-framed glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
Sakura swallowed hard and slowly stood up, not bothering to brush the remaining dirt from her clothes.
"Yes, actually," She answered anyway, gesturing to the mask Kabuto still held in his hand. He tilted his head to the side slightly, his gaze flickering between it and Sakura.
"Ah, yes, about that. Let's just say I didn't have to try very hard to go unnoticed by your village's highly trained operatives," He said smugly, turning the mask over to show its fox design.
"So you didn't kill anyone? It was you the whole time?" Sakura asked in disbelief, gritting her teeth.
"No, that would've been unnecessary. And yes, the whole time. It wasn't the first time I've had to enter Konoha in disguise, as you should know." He replied smoothly, placing his free hand on his hip.
Sakura knew he had in fact disguised himself as an ANBU agent back when he used the Nirvana Temple jutsu when Orochimaru invaded Leaf. And then again when Kakashi-sensei caught him in Sasuke's hospital room. She should have been more perceptive, but it was understandable she hadn't been this time, because she honestly didn't know what brought him to Leaf this time.
Kabuto's voice broke her train of thought, as if he could read her mind by the look on her face.
"Just stop trying to figure it out and I'll tell you why I followed you out here,"
Sakura's attention was fully on him again as he continued.
"I know you found that man, just like you were supposed to. And you came looking for me as well… I assume to convince me to tell you why he is poisoned or something of that sort. It all would've been a good plan if I hadn't been one step ahead of you the whole time." He explained, a small smirk curling the corner of his lips.
"I know you've trained under the fifth hokage, and I've heard so much about you from various sources. Your skills are valuable to someone like myself, and I have an offer to make you. I can teach you so much more that what you've already learned. It's like I said before, I wasn't planning on fighting you, but I will take you by force if I must. I want you to join me, Sakura." Kabuto watched as Sakura took a hesitant step towards him. Things may not be going the way she though they would have, but it was all working out in its own way regardless.
She watched him with a steely gaze, every rational voice inside her howling in protest to what she was about to say.
"Alright. I'll do it, but don't expect me to be so eager when it comes to your little experiments."
Kabuto gave a short nod, tossing aside the mask in his hand.
"Fair enough," He said simply, and in a motion faster than the blink of an eye, he stepped forward and lifted a chakra infused finger to tap Sakura on the temple, instantly knocking her out and catching her just as swiftly.
"I'm sure you'll understand, since we're not exactly on a trust-building level yet." Kabuto said as he took Sakura's limp form into his arms, moving to dash onward into the forest towards Otogakure.