Chapter THREE

Sakura and Gaara led the members of the Akatsuki through a passage not marked by the maps. The Akatsuki kept their hands on their weapons, ready to defend themselves when needed.

What they needed to shoot, they still didn't know.

Another explosion from outside shook the building but Gaara and Sakura seemed unfazed.

Nagato checked his earphone, but the static was still there.
"Where are we going?" Itachi asked quietly.

"Outside." Sakura said.

Nagato noted a metal door at the end of the corridor. It looked to be locked, and a card scanner was attached to the wall beside it. Nagato was pretty sure neither Gaara nor Sakura had anything for them, so he watched curiously when Gaara stepped up to the door and simply snapped his fingers.

The red light on the card scanner turned green and the door slid open.

Nagato glanced at his teammates, and they looked as shocked as he did. However, they decided to pretend that they didn't see what had just happened. They would question the pair later.

They had just stepped through the previously locked corridor when suddenly, an explosion much louder than before shook the building. Sakura flinched and Gaara froze in his steps. He let out a few violent coughs and collapsed onto his knees. Blood dribbled down his chin, soaking into his clothes.

"Gaara!"

For the first time since they had met the two, Nagato sensed a hint of worry and concern in Sakura's voice.

The redhead wiped at his mouth and dragged himself to his feet. "Breach." He said, breathing heavily.

"Yes." Sakura nodded. "Outer wall F04." She drew back when Gaara straightened himself.

"How would you like to deal with it?" Gaara asked.

"Block off corridors C19 to C21." Sakura said. "We need to hurry."

Gaara nodded curtly and a second later, the ground began to shake again. He staggered to his feet as Sakura turned towards the way they had been headed.

"Will he be okay?" Itachi asked softly.

Sakura blinked at him, then nodded. "Yes, but we must hurry. The longer he's connected, the worse it'll become." The way she spoke, while void of emotions, told them that she wouldn't be answering any questions.

During their shot interaction, Gaara had composed himself and he simply watching them. "Should we move ahead?" He asked. When Sakura nodded, he planted himself in front of her and took a deep breath. He held out a hand to her and she took it.


As a part of their job, underground structures and routes were someone all of them had memorized. However, Nagato was as surprised as any of his teammates when the path Sakura and Gaara had led them through slowly changed to a wooden material and they finally stepped out of a covered well by a temple atop a hill not too far off from the city center.

Gaara stepped to the side, gesturing for the Akatsuki to step out first. Nagato did so with confidence he wasn't feeling and subconsciously checked his earpiece to still hear the static.

Gaara crouched at lifted Sakura and Sasori, who had been the last of his teammates to step out, understood what the other redhead wanted. He reached down and took Sakura's outstretched hand and pulled her out.

Gaara lifted himself out and sat down on the patch of earth. Before anyone could question him, Gaara reached up and tore open the front of his shirt. His hand flashed over his chest and he doubled over.

Out of instinct, everyone moved toward him. Sakura grabbed Zetsu, who had been closest, and fixed him with her emotionless eyes. She shook her head.

Gaara's hands blurred again and something clattered onto the ground.

Nagato eyed the disk shaped hole in Gaara's chest, then at the blood on Gaara's hands and the bits of flesh under his nails. He heard a quiet, sizzling noise and looked up in time to see the wound vanish.

Sakura didn't' seem fazed at all. She stepped around a frozen Zetsu and picked up the disk tat Gaara had deposited. He raised the disk and the blood on it also vanished, as though it had evaporated. The stains on the earth also faded away before their very eyes.

Just then, the ground began to shake, more violently than before. Nagato caught a flash of movement from the corner of his eye and turned around in time to see the Center Core building collapse with a tremendous roar and a cloud of smoke.

Nagato faintly noted that the static had once again vanished and he could hear Konan's frantic voice, but he couldn't make out the words she was saying.

"What happened?" Zetsu asked. "What's going on?"

Gaara stood up, as though he hadn't just taken out a disk from his chest through a hole he had torn with his own hands.

"That building simply a shell, controlled by the Core and supported by the Defensive system." Sakura said. "Without both, it is nothing by a useless shell." She moved closer to the edge of the hill and looked over the fallen building with what could only be called vague interest. "And useless things have no place in this world." She turned around and fixed them with her piercing green eyes. "Or that is what people say.


The commotion caused by the collapse of the Center Core building was more than enough cover for Nagato and his team to leave the scene unnoticed. He sent Konan a brief message explaining the situation and the Akatsuki agreed to meet up back at their office.

Sakura and Gaara complied without complaint or even saying a word. They simply allowed themselves to be led through the shadows and into their base.

Nagato had Sakura and Gaara sit in the guest chairs of their meeting room and ordered Zetsu to see if he could find anything on the two.

By the time Yahiko's team managed to return to the base, it was well into the night.

Nagato was alerted of their arrival via cameras and he went out to meet them.

The moment he got the chance, Yahiko was in his face. "So you really found people like things in the Center Core?" Yahiko asked.

Nagato pushed his friend away and nodded. "I have Zetsu looking into them, but he's come up with nothing so far." He raised his hand to stop the barrage of questions coming his way. "They're sitting in the office right now." He said. "We will ask them."

"You haven't questioned them yet?" Kakuzu asked.

Nagato nodded. "I thought you guys would like to hear this and I'm not in the mood to repeat everything they say." He led them back into the office.

The members of the Akatsuki were showing signs of exhaustion after the excitement finally began to fade away. However, Sakura and Gaara looked as aware as ever, and they hadn't moved from their positions ever since they had first sat down.

However, as Nagato and the rest of the Akatsuki crowded around the door, Gaara raised his head and looked at Sakura. "Are they what you expected them to be?"

Sasori, Itachi and Zetsu also looked up as Gaara spoke the first words between the two of them ever since they had left the temple grounds.

"I...do not know." Sakura replied.

"You know everything." Gaara said, sounding as though he had rehearsed said lines a countless number of times.

"I only know what the world knows." Sakura said simply.

"Is the world not everything?" Gaara questioned.

"There is a beyond." Sakura said. "No one knows how far this beyond goes on for."

"Not even you?"

"Not even me."

Gaara looked down at the cup of warm tea sitting in his hands. "Is this beyond the world not what people call space?"

"That is simply beyond this planet. The planet does not necessarily mean the world." Sakura replied, sounding very much like the computer she had claimed to be.c

Gaara finally raised his cup slowly to his mouth, just as he had seen Itachi do. The tea flooded his mouth and dribbled down his chin, beginning to soak his clothes.

"You swallow it." Sakura said, then raised her own cup to her mouth. She took a sip and lowered it. "Tea is a drink flavored by tea plant leaves."

"Drink...like water." Gaara lowered his own cup and eyed it. "Water is a necessity of life."

"Yes." Sakura straightened herself and looked over her shoulder at the Akatsuki gather around the door, watching with wide eyes. "You have questions, no?"

"Yes.' Nagato walked in and the rest of the Akatsuki filled in after him and sat in their respective seats.

"What would you like to know?" Sakura asked.

"The beginning." Gaara said quietly. "You said people like beginnings."

"I did." Sakura agreed. "But I can only think based on majority." She looked at Nagato. "Are you part of this majority?" She asked. "Would you like to hear it from the beginning?"

Nagato nodded.


Many people have been asking us exactly that a 'Core' and 'Root Diagram' was. This will be answered in the next chapter...Yeah. (Probably)

Darque: So, I've just finished re-watching D Gray man, and-

Raven: And you can't wait for the new season to start.

Darque:...How did you know?

Raven: That's cause you say the same things over and over and over again.

Darque: That just expresses my excitement, doesn't it?

Raven: You complain about tests and homework and school over and over and over again, but that doesn't mean you're excited for it, right?

Darque:...Good point.

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