Be strong, saith my heart; I am a soldier;
I have seen worse sights than this.
Sakura had never been to Rain Country, and upon nearing its borders she decided that she'd never been anywhere remotely close to a place like this.
Modern-style buildings, the tallest she'd ever seen, rose so far into the sky off in the distance that clouds obscured them at the tip; she could barely comprehend such a thing. Even here on the outskirts the smog was thick in the air, her nose scrunching uncomfortably as if that would do anything against it.
They'd gone all this way to the current rendezvous point of the Akatsuki, which according to Kisame, was very near to their actual base of operation in Rain. He'd also explained that Rain was somehow both its own country and a hidden village, unfortunately caught in the middle of the Five Great Nations and their conflicts over their short existence.
But his little history lesson had only served as a brief distraction for her, as they were presently standing in a cold rain with polluted air near to choking her. And if this was how she was feeling, Itachi must be in hell.
As the three of them stood beneath a small ruin of metallic sheets—Yes, Kisame had promised with an annoyed click of his tongue, this is the spot— she cocked her head to glance at Itachi. That she'd been correct to assume he was an Uchiha did not surprise her, as any idiot who'd seen the two of them would make the connection, but brothers was another matter. The shock was a subtle thing at first, sitting in the pit of her stomach and growing like a weed the more attention she paid it.
She had many thoughts about it, but at the forefront was a simple but fierce protectiveness for Sasuke. Where the hell had Itachi been? Did he even know what'd happened? Surely he did, so why hadn't he come back to Sasuke, or even to take him to go live somewhere else far away from any reminders of the tragedy?
My dream is to kill a certain man.
Maybe, then, if Itachi really was the subject of such hatred, his very absence had been the source.
Whatever the case, she wondered if that absence had to do with his sickness. It was this that was her chief concern as she looked at him now, wondering if the poor air was affecting him. She pushed for his chakra, finding it fine enough—if the tiniest bit sluggish. It was that edge to the ends of each of his inhales that worried her, and she bent slightly at the waist to look up into his face to see nothing but that bored expression. His cheeks were tinted the faintest rosy color, but he did not look anywhere near as bothered as she felt by their current surroundings.
He peered down at her from atop his cloak's high collar, studying her in a way she could not quite place.
Two chakra signatures approached then, and she straightened, propping up on the tiptoes of her boots to peer around. Not that she was eager in a good way to meet the rest of their organization, but new faces would be a change of pace. Maybe even that adventure she was so desperately craving would be among the people she was soon to meet, or the orders they'd be sure to give.
"Oh? New recruit?" The voice was upbeat, though maybe only in comparison to the drab company she'd been in the last week. The man to whom it belonged came into view, a handsome enough face with silver, slicked-back hair. The front of his black cloak was opened, exposing part of his muscled chest, and he looked down at Sakura with marginal interest before giving an annoyed grunt and leaning on a long scythe in his hands. "She's just a kid."
"Idiot," said another voice, this one much deeper and infinitely more annoyed than Itachi and Kisame and Kabuto combined. "It pisses me off when you don't pay attention."
"You shut up," the first man said to the second, whose appearance made Sakura think of a reanimated corpse or something otherwise straight out of Orochimaru's laboratories. He offered no further reply, and he stood still as a statue with his arms crossed as the silver-haired man gave Sakura another once-over.
"Sakura," she said flatly, annoyed by the strange half-attention.
Her introduction seemed to work, as his face brightened in some understanding. "Oh, the springtime girl. I remember now."
Before she could suck her teeth and ask Remember what, asshole?, another two chakra signatures appeared, so overwhelming that she knew in an instant that whoever they belonged to were no one to be taken lightly for how much they'd been suppressed until now. She looked in their direction, struggling to keep her face impassive in the presence of something so powerful and...not quite sinister, not like the vibe she'd gotten from Itachi but...
"Itachi, Kisame, it pleases me greatly to see you've brought the young lady as requested," said the man as he approached. He stopped a fair distance away, his silhouette framed against the grey, rainy sky. His hair was spiked in a way that reminded her of Naruto, but his voice held a certain air that made her want to crawl out of her skin. Whoever he was, his presence was nothing short of commanding, and it was then that she saw another figure stop at his side, shorter and leaner. A woman? "Thank you for fulfilling these orders so diligently."
It was not the pleasant victory she'd been expecting, to have her suspicions confirmed. Of course the men had ulterior motives in forcing her to come along; why else would they have forced her? Needing a medic had been a flimsy excuse from the start.
"Oi, oi," the silver-haired guy piped up, "we quashed that peasant uprising for Waterfall like you asked. Where's our thanks?"
Something like that intrigued Sakura greatly, though not in a good way. Just who were these guys and what the hell were they up to? Peasant uprising? Her former master's words from their first meeting rang in her ears, that the world was soon to be at war. Were the Akatsuki the cause, or a symptom?
The new man regarded the silver-haired guy. "Hidan, I thank you. Kakuzu as well—it's good to know my trust in you both was not misplaced. However, we've business to discuss." How Sakura knew that his eyes had leveled to her, she couldn't say, but she felt a shiver shoot down her spine to be stared at by this man. "Haruno Sakura, is it?"
"That's right."
"I am called Pein. Thank you for joining us; please, allow me to get right to the crux of the issue. It is my belief that you are instrumental in the achievement of the Akatsuki's ultimate goal."
There was a part in her, deeply rooted now, that stirred at that sentiment. To be needed at all after a lifetime of mediocrity (and only a few short years of finally excelling) could quickly intoxicate her, and she knew she had to get a grip fast. She had to find out just who these guys were, and so far the only clue she'd gotten was that comment about a peasant uprising. She could not help the sneer that fell over her face. "What's that, being a bunch of glorified sellswords?"
But despite her dig, Pein did not miss a beat. "Peace," he said plainly, "of the purest kind."
She watched him seriously to hear such a thing, her heart skipping a beat. Maybe this really was where she belonged. "I'm listening."
And listen she did, about the state of the world and the wars that all led here. Hidden Villages, the military arms of any country wealthy enough to afford one, were being pitted against each other and sabotaged and desecrated for no purpose but power, nothing more than the seizing claws of wicked men. She'd seen the evidence of this very thing in her brief travels alone, and she swallowed as if she were staring into the face of destiny itself.
"Sakura, it has come to my attention that you have been gifted the genetic components of Senju Hashirama."
Her breath caught. Of course all ninja had to be versed in gathering information as stealthily as possible, but to hear such a thing...had he seen her battle with Team 7? Or had someone informed him that she'd underwent the transfer?
Then again, Kisame had referred to her as Orochimaru's girl, and Itachi had supposedly heard rumors about her departure from Konoha.
"What of it?" she asked, deciding that making a big deal of it would only turn the situation sour.
"It is fabled that he alone conquered the Tailed Beasts entirely of his own power, taken down through use of his Wood-style jutsu and precise mastery of chakra."
She did not like the direction in which the conversation was headed. "Okay," she said cautiously. "Spell it out for me."
"If you truly possess the mokuton capabilities, I humbly ask for your assistance in the capture of all nine Tailed Beasts."
Her mouth flattened into a straight line, her anger threatening to break loose. But she was surrounded by six people of incredible power, and was not keen on dying some valiant death right in this moment. "So you're the same as the villages you claim to despise."
"Not quite," he said. "When we control the most powerful weapons in the world, conflict can be snuffed out in an instant. It is my firm belief that conflict will therefore not be an issue at all."
Could something like that be called peace? To Sakura, that seemed tenuous at best and tense at worst, a war that'd gone cold and bitter. And that wasn't pure at all; it was not even real.
Still, though, she had to be smart in her scenario, and she felt all eyes on her as she carefully crafted her next question. She remembered Naruto and the few times she'd seen the Nine-Tails' chakra in a whirlwind of power around his body, his eyes going red and his temper flaring beyond even hers.
"If you capture them, what guarantee do you have that they'll do as you say?"
"We've a method for extraction," Pein explained. "Separated from the host body, they will be malleable to whichever goals their new master chooses. It will be a shame, though, that the jinchuuriki will die in the process, but no sacrifice is too great for the sake of peace."
All was still for a long moment as the gears turned in her head.
To end bloodshed, he would cause it in spades. And he already had, hadn't he? The man named Hidan had spoken of killing civilians.
Sakura saw nothing but red then, and moved in a speed so blinding it was surprising even to herself. Her hands were a blur, weaving signs that caused treeroots to burst forth from the grassy floor and constrict around Itachi and Kisame, who'd been standing off behind her. Not that she didn't want to ensnare everyone here, but she could not very well do that without making them all very angry.
"There's your proof," she growled. Sure enough, she could feel the chakra begin to sap from their bodies, and understood with a flip of her stomach that Pein had been correct in his assessment of Lord First's abilities. "But your timing's shit. If you'd gotten me last month, the answer would be no. Now, though? It's a fuck no. If your idea of peace is to use unwitting little girls to kill innocent people and scare the world from doing anything at all, count me out."
"I'm afraid that the choice is not yours to make, Sakura. We have need of your skills. If you walk, what guarantee do I have that you will not use your power against us in the future? Spill our secrets to the very nations we're doing our best to protect?"
Her brows were furrowed so deeply that they began to ache. "You're sick. Get help."
"Enlighten me, then," he said through a faint chuckle, "on how it is you plan to achieve the peace you seek."
She was vaguely aware of a small commotion behind her, as Hidan took his strange scythe to the roots around her two escorts in an effort to free them. "I never said anything about my intentions. I'm finding my own way, not bloodying my hands and calling it mercy."
"I'm curious, though, how much blood stains your hands." His voice held a light tone of curiosity that almost made her sick. "Haruno Sakura of Team 7 in the Village Hidden by Leaves. A diligent student, top grades, with plenty of combat experience due to a series of rather unfortunate events. Your teacher, Hatake Kakashi—do you know how many he's killed?"
"We've never killed anyone who wasn't there to kill us first," she spat.
"Oh? You might be surprised. And I'm sure the shinobi whose lives you cut short thought the same as you. This is the cycle of violence that I seek to end, this meaningless thing that causes nothing but strife. You and I both know that you did not leave home in search of the power to kill—but to protect."
He was right, of course, but this just made her all the more angry. "You're no better," she said. "Doing the dirty work for a hidden village just means they're playing you."
"You're free to disagree with the means. Plenty of your new comrades have their own, private goals in mind as we all work toward the same end."
Fuck. If she was going to get out of this, her best bet was now: by agreeing to disagree, then make her escape once this man and his silent sidekick left. If she tapped into the curse mark, she was sure she could at least fend off the remaining men in time for her to dash away.
"Then there must be something in it for them to make it worthwhile," she guessed, hoping he would catch her meaning and mistake it as genuine.
"Indeed," Pein answered. "For you, Sakura, we offer protection from Konoha, which has doubled its efforts to bring you back within its walls, and from Lord Orochimaru, whom we have reason to believe will search for you by year's end."
"Fine," she said, just wanting to finally be done with this. Now that her plan to escape was in place, she felt anxious and cornered. She lowered the roots, releasing Itachi and Kisame in hopes that it would solidify her answer in their boss's eyes.
"Excellent," came his simple reply. "You will stay with Kisame; your chakra-draining abilities combined are sure to detain any enemy quickly enough. Itachi, as always, will escort. Your first assignment is to scout the western borders of Earth Country, where last the Five-Tails' host was seen."
With that, he turned his attention to Hidan and Kakuzu, and Sakura could have sighed she was so relieved to be out of the spotlight. But thoughts were spiraling so far that she could scarcely remember how to breathe; she had to steel herself, and she flexed her hand once from habit, glancing down at the curse mark on her wrist to calm her nerves.
To her great surprise, all of the parties except for her own broke, leaping away or porting off into clouds of smoke. She pushed for chakra just to be sure, and found that she was truly alone again with Itachi and Kisame while the rain clinked off of the metallic ruins around them. Where the others had gone, she was not sure, and she would keep her guard up even if she could not feel anyone around.
For all of her glaring that afternoon, she'd saved her best one for Kisame as she turned to face him.
"So much for honesty being among your 'top concerns.'"
He merely shrugged, not at all bothered by his hypocrisy.
"We're shinobi," he said as plainly as if he were commenting on the falling rain. "Surely you understand the value in concealing information until the right moment. To create a world without lies, we do what we must."
She did not miss that Itachi bristled only slightly at that.
"Dumbass," she spat, spinning one last time to take to the road. She refused to be used yet again, being the means to someone else's end after years of being ignored and looked over. She would save Konoha and all of the villages and countries some other way. She would keep children from dying needless deaths some other way. Her way. The muddy path squished beneath her determined footfalls, and she made it only six steps before Itachi spoke up.
"We make for Earth Country immediately. You're headed in the opposite direction."
She stopped with a heavy sigh and a roll of her eyes. "Look, you both know I have no intention of going with you. So if you're gonna kill me, go ahead and do it." Why would she care anymore?
It was quiet for a long moment, even the pattering rain easing as if to allow her to hear his response.
"I won't kill you," he said quietly as Kisame watched on. "But what I will do is something much worse." So they really did care that much, did they?
"Don't forget," she shot back, "I know a thing or two about the sharingan—and you don't scare me." She hoped they'd buy that bluff, anyway. She did not think she could handle being trapped in a genjutsu like that, for all the horrific things she'd heard it could do to the mind and spirit. Especially since his chakra actually did scare the shit out of her whenever she caught a trace of it. She had to remember that she had no idea what he was capable of, and she braced to jump away and make her escape.
But Kisame was there in an instant, slamming Samehada down into the wet earth before her. He looked down at her with those strange eyes of his, and even though she had proof now that he was nothing more than a liar, she saw something there that could have been mistaken for compassion.
"Don't run, little sister," he said softly." It won't be worth it. You really want to go back to the road alone? Itachi-san and I have fought your old sensei, you know, and I don't think you could handle the likes of him on your own."
She stared at the massive blade blocking her path, then closed her eyes in deliberation. To her very core she struggled against being part of what Pein had described, and she also heard Orochimaru's silken voice in her mind. If she couldn't change the world, should she change herself? Could she?
Whatever the proper choice, if it was going to come down to a fight, she needed to act fast. But then, the very moment before she unleashed the full power of her curse mark, she heard perhaps the only thing that could have convinced her to stay:
That sharp edge to Itachi's breaths, the faintest wheeze there where his throat poured down into his lungs.
Damn Uchiha bastards, Inner sighed, her resignation the final nail in the coffin for Sakura herself.
"Fine," she muttered, clutching tightly the straps of her pink bag. "But only because you idiots would get nowhere without a medic around."